Fasting?

supershala

So, I've been reading up on fasting, and lots of people are of the opinion that intermittent fasting is healthy, safe, and will definitely help you lose weight. I've been thinking about fasting for 24 hours once a week, on my day off from exercise and work. Does anyone here do anything similar? If so, do you feel like you benefit from it?

ChaseAlder

I couldn't do it. I'd be so depressed. I love food. But if it works for you, more power to ya!

Aileen46

I'd love to know the answer to this one as well. I've been thinking about it too and I'm curious to know if it helps with weight loss.

kamoira23

Bump! I hear it's good for your metabolism... but I don't know of any scientific reason why. I'm curious to see what others have to say!

emmaNEEDSskinny

you'll want to even more & end up eating even more therefore putting on weight

MuchMovement

I love intermittent fasting... I trainer longer and harder when I train on empty. A lot of times I'll run on E all day and eat one meal of whatever I want at night. Eating even a small meal during workouts will make me feel sick, bogged down, or lethargic.... but you should always be careful and air on the side of caution when making changes to the metabolism.

I also recommend raw apple cider vinegar fasts

McKnightAM

Well I only fast from a Biblical point of view, and I fast other things than just food so I'm no help.. BUT...

My Pastor fasts for the first 21 days of each year... nothing but water... could you imagine?? lol

SpaceMarkus

Doing a fast or cleanse every 6 months or so is beneficial to your body. Even with the filters our bodies have, in our culture of crap food and artificial everything we can't process it or keep up. I always liken it to something like an oil change. Your car will be fine if you run it over 6000 miles on the same oil, probably even 10,000. But you have to clean it out and start fresh eventually.

southernbelle0364

I have done a fast before and it does make me lose weight. Don't do this if you don't have willpower to turn food down because your body will be calling out for it and it gets much harder to turn it down and you may end up blowing the whole day. Also, don't expect to lose much the second day when you do eat again because your body went into mini starvation mode and will probably hold on to the food.

I've heard tons of good stuff about fasts but make sure you're careful that you don't get light headed or too weak. Good luck!

cruiseking

I wouldn't do it for me, because I enjoy food too much. I went on vacation and ate all the "bad" food (pizza, summer ale, ice cream, etc.); during the two weeks I lost one pound. Granted there was some ridiculously hard mountain hiking on vacation, so my calorie burn was pretty high, but my body thought it was off the healthy (less colories) routine. Upon returning to the healthier eating I dropped six pounds in less than two weeks. So maybe the opposite of the "fasting" theory is true also. I guess as long as you maintain the trajectory of downward weight loss, you can give it a try. I have read studies that suggest one day a week of fasting does have health benefits (Glycemic metabolism or something); I just couldn't do it. Good luck.

inatay7

I'm curious about this too, shall we form a group of some kind (or just become MFP friends :-)) and test it out?

agent300

intermittent fasting is great. your body quickly adjusts to the new eating schedule. ive been doing 16/8 style so i eat from 4pm-12am. i know other people who have done this and they got to the leanest they have ever been. it totally blows all the bs diet myths out of the water, like having to eat 6 small meals a day or having to eat breakfast.

agent300

I have done a fast before and it does make me lose weight. Don't do this if you don't have willpower to turn food down because your body will be calling out for it and it gets much harder to turn it down and you may end up blowing the whole day. Also, don't expect to lose much the second day when you do eat again because your body went into mini starvation mode and will probably hold on to the food.

I've heard tons of good stuff about fasts but make sure you're careful that you don't get light headed or too weak. Good luck!

when you do intermittent fasting, you metabolism actually raises during the fasted state, so the mini starvation mode thing is not true.

mhnyman28

I agree with the premise yhay it is good to clean out our bodoes periodocally. I did the "Master Cleanse" for 7 days and it did not hurt my diet at all. Of course you are not really fasting. There's calories in the maple syrup and lemons, etc., but I did lose an extra number of pounds during the cleanse.. Try it...........but don't overdo...........

DanaKinzer

I am of the belief that fasting is okay very occasionally, but "cleansing" is very harmful to your body. If you eat right, and drink plenty of water, your body cleans itself. It was designed by God or nature (whichever you choose to believe in) to be cool like that! Heat and serve foods, or add water, heat and serve foods, are processed foods that your body doesn't need. I stay away from those. I stay away from fake butter, fake sugar, processed anything as much as possible.

Before starting any fasting or cleansing, I suggest you speak with your doctor. I've known a lot of people to be seriously harmed by these 'cleanses.' It is better to speak with your doctor to get their advice before starting something like that. They may say go for it under their supervision, or they may say stay away from it. Only your doctor that is familiar with your medical history can give proper advice in this manner.

AlienBaby

Oh I'm going to have to try this

supershala

Well, I'm not really talking about a "cleanse". I'm really just talking about a fast where, for 24 hours, I do not consume any food, and only drink water and possibly tea. I would not exercise that day, or even work.

TinaS88

Fasting isn't a smart thing to do IMO. You shouldn't deprive your body of the nutrients you need. Fasting was originally used in religious beliefs.. they believed by not eating their prayers wouldn't be "weighed down" and could reach God faster... (or something like that)

TinaS88

Well, I'm not really talking about a "cleanse". I'm really just talking about a fast where, for 24 hours, I do not consume any food, and only drink water and possibly tea. I would not exercise that day, or even work.

But your body still requires roughly 1400 calories a day just to function, even if you sit on the couch all day long.

supershala

Some informative articles I've found :

http://drbenkim.com/fasting.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-04-28-fasting_x.htm

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/02/health/he-fasting2

chantel111184

So, I've been reading up on fasting, and lots of people are of the opinion that intermittent fasting is healthy, safe, and will definitely help you lose weight. I've been thinking about fasting for 24 hours once a week, on my day off from exercise and work. Does anyone here do anything similar? If so, do you feel like you benefit from it?

check out this thread lots of people do intermittent fasting
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226488-intermittent-fasting-support-group

I also fast every day i am doing leangains 16/8 i eat from 9.30am-5.30pm i eat all my calories breakfast lunch and dinner in this 8 hour eating window then i fast for 16 hours. Also with fasting i no longer have the craving to binge it at night as i am fasting and my body has just got used to eat.

BR1986FB

So, I've been reading up on fasting, and lots of people are of the opinion that intermittent fasting is healthy, safe, and will definitely help you lose weight. I've been thinking about fasting for 24 hours once a week, on my day off from exercise and work. Does anyone here do anything similar? If so, do you feel like you benefit from it?

check out this thread lots of people do intermittent fasting
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226488-intermittent-fasting-support-group

I also fast every day i am doing leangains 16/8 i eat from 9.30am-5.30pm i eat all my calories breakfast lunch and dinner in this 8 hour eating window then i fast for 16 hours. Also with fasting i no longer have the craving to binge it at night as i am fasting and my body has just got used to eat.

Use the LeanGains protocol myself and eat between 12pm & 8pm but it's usually only 2 large meals. I do this daily and have become accustomed to it. If people can do the "5-6 small meals a day thing, every 2-3 hours" go for it. From my experience, most people are usually complaining about being hungry eating this way (5-6 small meals...myself included before going 16/8).

I also train fasted with only BCAA's in my system. This has allowed me to go into straight fat burning mode. My strength is increasing and my bodyfat is dropping.

Best of luck to the OP with whatever you choose.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html

marie_2454

I'm not against fasting. I know people do it for personal and spiritual/religious reasons, but I'm personally against fasting for weight loss. I haven't tried it, so I can't say in my experience, but I don't see how not eating once a week would really make that much of a difference in your weight loss goals. If you really want to try it, I think you should weigh yourself the day you do the fast, weigh the next day to see if you lost any weight (which would most likely be just water weight), and then weigh a day later, because I would think that as soon as you start eating again you would put the water weight back on. Again, I've never tried it and I'm not an expert by any means, but this is just what I think.

rileysowner

I have been fasting 1 or 2 days a week for 24 hours since December. I fast usually from supper one night to supper the next although I have done breakfast to breakfast and lunch to lunch as well. Basically I stop eating and only drink non-caloric beverages (mainly water) during the fast. Then I break fast with a normal meal. This is the Eat Stop Eat approach in a nutshell, and if you want an excellent e-book on it you can purchase it at http://bradpilon.com/

Here is another good article on intermittent fasting http://www.thefatlossninja.com/2011/06/27/the-truth-about-intermittent-fasting-and-how-to-do-it/

And of course there is http://www.leangains.com and I would recommend lots of reading there as well. In particular this 10 myths about fasting http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

The great thing about Brad Pilon (Eat Stop Eat) and Martin Berkus (Leangains) is that they both base their views on actual clinical research not on epidemiological studies of people's behaviour.

If you are in good health there is nothing dangerous about fasting for 24 hours.

rileysowner

I'm not against fasting. I know people do it for personal and spiritual/religious reasons, but I'm personally against fasting for weight loss. I haven't tried it, so I can't say in my experience, but I don't see how not eating once a week would really make that much of a difference in your weight loss goals. If you really want to try it, I think you should weigh yourself the day you do the fast, weigh the next day to see if you lost any weight (which would most likely be just water weight), and then weigh a day later, because I would think that as soon as you start eating again you would put the water weight back on. Again, I've never tried it and I'm not an expert by any means, but this is just what I think.

I think you may want to research it more, because my experience is that is not how it happens. The Eat Stop Eat approach is to eat normally on your non-fasting days and have your fast day or days establish your caloric deficit. When your body goes into fasted mode (about 16-18 hours after stopping eating) it starts burning a lot of fat. In fact fasting increased your metabolism slightly for the first 36 hours at least and I think I remember the study they did found up to 72 hours with an increase. It increases growth hormone production, insulin sensitivity, glucogon, and more. Remember our bodies can only be in one of two states, fed or fasted. It in only in recent times (maybe the last 200 years) where a constant fed state has become the norm. Further, the more we are in a fed state, the more obese we seem to be. In the past we has to work for or hunt our food. That meant periods of lots of food (remember no refrigeration) follow by periods of no food at all. Our bodies are made to handle that, not to handle constant eating which is what we do today.

Azdak

There are no health concerns with intermittent fasting. I suspect that much of the benefit is psychological--you invest in it emotionally, so you are more likely to be compliant. I also think the concerns about "binge eating" in response are also overstated. My biggest problem with IF is just the fact that I don't think it is amenable to making a permanent lifestyle change and I feel that any radical lifestyle restructuring method has a much higher chance of long-term failure. Doesn't mean that people can't be successful long-term, I just think the odds are stacked against you.

Huskeryogi

I recently started intermittent fasting - I use the leangains approach of a 16 hour fasting with an 8 hour feeding window. I eat between 1PM and 9PM. I started this after reading Martin Berkham's research on leangains.com.

For me this is a lifestyle change that feels like I can do it for the rest of my life. I think I'm wired as an overeater so essentially shutting off the intake valve mentally for 16 hours a day makes it so much easier to not eat too many calories (I am still counting).

Since beginning this lifestyle I have done more research (I've gotten a little obsessed) and am convinced there are so many benefits of fasting beyond weightloss (improved cognitive function, increased insulin sensitivity, etc) I'm now also incorporating one 24 hour fast monthly.

I only started 2 weeks ago and I'm down 4 lbs. The kicker for me is how easy it is. I'm not planning my day around food - I get to enjoy preparing dinner because I have so much more flexibility now that I can eat more that 300-500 in that meal. No more forced grazing for me.

agent300

I recently started intermittent fasting - I use the leangains approach of a 16 hour fasting with an 8 hour feeding window. I eat between 1PM and 9PM. I started this after reading Martin Berkham's research on leangains.com.

For me this is a lifestyle change that feels like I can do it for the rest of my life. I think I'm wired as an overeater so essentially shutting off the intake valve mentally for 16 hours a day makes it so much easier to not eat too many calories (I am still counting).

Since beginning this lifestyle I have done more research (I've gotten a little obsessed) and am convinced there are so many benefits of fasting beyond weightloss (improved cognitive function, increased insulin sensitivity, etc) I'm now also incorporating one 24 hour fast monthly.

I only started 2 weeks ago and I'm down 4 lbs. The kicker for me is how easy it is. I'm not planning my day around food - I get to enjoy preparing dinner because I have so much more flexibility now that I can eat more that 300-500 in that meal. No more forced grazing for me.

Isn't it liberating to not have to think about food all day long? after doing this for the past week, i can honestly say i could do this forever just from the convenience part of it.

suzycreamcheese

i couldnt do it. I feel soooo ill when my blood sugar gets low.

cruiseking

After commenting; then reading the responses, I may try to prepare myself for a fasting program. I have to do a little research and find an approach that appeals to me. But it sounds interesting. Does it really get any easier for your body to stop craving? Just wondering.

agent300

After commenting; then reading the responses, I may try to prepare myself for a fasting program. I have to do a little research and find an approach that appeals to me. But it sounds interesting. Does it really get any easier for your body to stop craving? Just wondering.

it really does stop. you get hungry at certain times, because that is when you regularly eat. my body adjusted pretty quickly to the point of where i feel like i could easily go longer than the 16 hours of fasting.