Intermittent fasting - who has tried it?

emmab0902

Especially interested in hearing from people who have tried more than one method and found one better than the other in terms of results.

I generally do a leangains approach, and today tried the Eat Stop Eat 24 hour fast. Managed about 21.5 hours then caved before I ate my children. I will try it again but not sure in the long run that this will suit my preferences.

Are there significant advantages in the longer 24 hour fast over the 18 hour one - I had read in ESE that increases in growth hormone only occurr after 18+ hours.

chevy88grl

I've heard a lot about it but I admit that there's NO WAY I can go 24 hours without eating.


I would be eating my own limbs. Or someone else's limbs.

Or my cats.

Dogs.

Children.


LOL

supertracylynn

http://www.cutandjacked.com/Get-Ripped-With-Intermittent-Fasting

This guy is beyond amazing! I follow him on Facebook and he inspires me in so many ways, and explains things in such easy to understand terms!
If I were single and we lived closer...
Heck. If we lived closer Period!!!!

Pebble321

The way I read it, she has already eaten her children. But then I reread it and worked out that she caved first!

I think it's an interesting theory and I'd like to try it, but I suspect that either I would eat my husband or he would kill me because I was being so grumpy. He may work away for a while next year, if so I might give it a go when I'm on my own at home for a while.

Kymmu

I have done it for a while once a week, or if I've had a big food day.
I keep reading about the extra health benefits.
It gets easier the more you do it.
It's also good if you know you have a party/function coming up.
When I was young I used to it with out trying because I was rushing from work to "out". I certainly was slim back then .

HonkyTonks

I'm interested too (bump)

venetianz

I dont see anyone commenting about intermittent fasting. I have tried it for a while. Im really not sure about the health benefits but i know it is the quickest way to lose weight. especially if you want to kick start. The problem with any kind of fasting is you might, well i have gained all the pounds back and more because you have to be careful how you get back to eating.

I tried the 24 hour one. where id only eat dinner, then i tried the fruit one, where i eat fruits only the entire day and one full meal at dinner. The fruit one was much healthier though and i didnt feel starved.

yesiwillbeloosingit

Especially interested in hearing from people who have tried more than one method and found one better than the other in terms of results.

I generally do a leangains approach, and today tried the Eat Stop Eat 24 hour fast. Managed about 21.5 hours then caved before I ate my children. I will try it again but not sure in the long run that this will suit my preferences.

Are there significant advantages in the longer 24 hour fast over the 18 hour one - I had read in ESE that increases in growth hormone only occurr after 18+ hours.

I have tired it. Once only though.. Going to retry it again after new years. Been moving and been very stressed so ya.. It is the eat stop eat plan I have tried.

I am a huge fan of Rusty Moore and I got this document on one of his newsletters that I find to be filled with loads of info. I am going to link it and hopefully you will find more info about it here :

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

AnthonyScalco

I might actually try this within the next few days.

Neonazu

I've actually tried for ONE DAY with my friend just to see how people in less developed countries feel when there's not enough food. It was quite energising, it being only one day.

I haven't repeated it again yet but I want to though.

Anyone wanting to just fast with me?

staceeyy3

bump!

crux

I'm not using IF at the moment because I’m doing too much endurance training and my body is constantly calling for carbs... But I do use it when I travel overseas with work (Maybe one week in every 4 on average). I use the lean gain’s method as I can’t get through a whole evening without eating. Going 24 hours, that would drive me nuts and I will not try what I know I can’t sustain.

The Lean gains method suits me very well, fit’s my natural inclination to eat more in the second half of the day. And fit’s very well with travelling in company when you know you’re going to be eating calorie dense restaurant food each evening.

It does have limits for me… Because I train lunch times and evening, that also cuts down on re-fuelling time, If I Intermittent fast while training endurance, I can’t get enough food inside me to maintain my weight and recover day to day... But that’s on about 12+ hours a week aerobic training, constantly depleting muscle carb stores.

lulabellewoowoo

Chrisdavey, where are you? He's awesome at this...

I have done the 24 hour fasts before. But I am using this month to do some serious goal changing and seeing what works, and that includes starting with heavy weightlifting. So I think starting tomorrow (as I have already eaten today), I am going to try the 8 on/16 off. This will be a little difficult at first as I go to sleep most nights around 9:30 and then am up at 2:30 for work, so I don't get to sleep 8 of those hours away. But hopefully after awhile it will become a habit and I won't notice. And it won't affect the kids as I don't tend to sit down and eat with them on any given day until late lunch or dinner time. So I'll dedicate to trying to do it for the rest of the month at least 6 out of 7 days a in the week.

Thanks for the reminder

nonafit

I am from Malaysia...its a Muslim country. I am not one though.

Anyway all Muslims fast for one month in a year. From the break of dawn till sunset. While going about their daily routine. And when they fast it means they do not take anything ...not even water. Most of them lose easily 5 to 10 kilos. But generally they gain all back (if not more) after the fasting season over. So its nothing new or created recently. Anyway they do that for religious purpose. And it was intend to develop empathy towards those less fortunate and to improve health.

That's from what I know. And if I am wrong correct me Muslim MFPians here.

sandislim

I've tried it. My fat is very stubborn so I used intermittent fasting to get some weight off. It wasn't difficult not to eat in one day - it was extremely difficult to eat normally on the off days. I found it difficult to lose weight also, but then I find it hard to lose weight with any diet. I've found that intermittent juice fasting is better. Its easier, I lose weight and don't feel starved that I over eat on off days. I also try to eat as much veggies as I can - and veggie up all my meals.

_JPH_

I try it in between meals..... Just kidding.

Bump!

Jacquibennett

I'd never heard of this but thanks for the links! I've read up now and think I'll give it a go

PBJunky

I've done it...

www.leangains.com

Kamalka

I had a "fasting period" a year in my life. The first thing is not considering fasting as a way to lose weight (I started with this objective while doing 2 hours sport/day). No need to explain that as soon as you get back to food, you get your weight back in 100% case (with extra in 85%). The fact is that fasting get your muscle mass down, not your fat. It was stupid but I wanted to try something new.

What I really appreciated with fasting was the clean feeling in my body. I would drink about 4liter water/day. The first 24h are the worst. After more or less 48h, you completely forget about food, you just think about water. At this time, you can look at people eating without any envy (you reject food and wonder how they do it), you also feel kind of happy. It is very easy then to fast for a week as long as you have water. The only thing that I could eat afterwards was fruits and vegetables. I sometimes stayed in this veterian mode for an extra week.

I see no point in fasting one day but, every 3 years, I like to have a week where I clean completely my body from salt. Instead of complete fasting, I would prefer fruits and vegetables now, maybe some eggs for proteins. Another consideration is that I did my "experiments" while being single. I find it impossible in living in couple simply because we have to eat together and that any person around you would tend to dissuade you (and they are right).

Finally, fasting also means high drops in blood pressure, meaning that for second, everything becomes "yellow", it would therefore not be a good idea to work, drive, etc. Basically, fasting gets you weaker and nervous, so that it is ok if you are in a position of stopping cmpletely your social life for a while (I remember getting angry with my mom because of the size of a bag, and many more stupid cases).

To conclude, many disavantages to "feel clean"...and you could get the same feeling eating grapes for 2 days. If I have dietetic food all year long, why should I fast? So after so many tries (1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, 3 weeks with complements, etc.), I end up with a "I can do it but why?"

skbruewer

bump

patsyanne

My opinion --for what it is worth-- is that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat right and do some exercise each day. One day fasting might show a loss but it will not show up in the future days after you start eating again. I am only losing 0.8 lbs a week but it is consistent and I still enjoy my life by eating meals with my husband and friends.

Sidesteal

I've used Martin's method without BCAA supplementation on a 16/8 window although realistically it's more like a 18/6 or 20/4 for me.

I don't view this protocol as physiologically advantageous but I absolutely love it, and I think meal timing/frequency should be driven by personal preference above all else (it's not all that important in comparison to hitting your macros).

My personal experience with this is as follows:

- It takes a few days to adjust to the fasted portion of the program and you need to let your body adjust to it before giving up and saying "this sucks". I THOUGHT (key word as I hate spreading crap info) I had read a study that ghrelin (hunger signaling hormone) actually adjusts to this schedule in that you'll produce less of it during the day once you adjust to the cycle, but I could be full of crap on that.

- Fasted training is awesome. Some people can do it, some can't. I LOVE it. I train very well fasted, and I do it when my schedule allows, but on days that I lift at 5pm I can't do it because it gives me TOO short of a feed window.

- Most importantly, short feed windows are AMAZING. Think of it this way: If you have 1800 calories to spend in a day, spending them in short window of time will make it FEEL like you're feasting. It's rewarding when the feed window starts because you've basically given yourself an opportunity to eat rather big and satisfying meals, whereas when you spread cals over 6 meals every 3 hours (just to use an opposite but realistic example) you get these little girly-*kitten* meals that just piss me off.

Shorter feed windows feel like more food once you adjust to the fasted portion of the program.

Lastly, while I'm speaking highly of IF/Leangains, I don't think it's for everyone. I think that scheduling your meal frequency/timing should be driven by personal preference and gym performance.

But, I do think there are people who will read about the concept and think "That sounds unhealthy to not eat breakfast" and dismiss it when they could find something that is a fantastic fit for them and really makes their diet easier.

For me, IF was a key piece to leaning out.
-

loombeav

My opinion --for what it is worth-- is that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat right and do some exercise each day. One day fasting might show a loss but it will not show up in the future days after you start eating again. I am only losing 0.8 lbs a week but it is consistent and I still enjoy my life by eating meals with my husband and friends.

I agree completely with this. I've tried all the fad diets and none of them worked, most actually made things worse. I've got to make this a lifelong change that I can live with and keep up. I know for me all fasting would result in is binge eating, which is not productive in the least. Balanced healthy meals combined with a active lifestyle is what is going to get me the results I'm looking for.

samb

my body naturally wants to do intermittent fasting so I have always done it really, but now I focus on sticking with it. I like it because I would rather only have to prepare 2 meals a day and for me lunch and dinner are the healthiest meals I would eat anyways. it helped me get off night time snacking. And actually your body adjusts to it. Many people say they couldn't do it, etc, but same goes for low carb. You have to take it slow and allow your body to get used to it and start to feel the effects before giving up. IMO intermittent fasting is most worthwhile because it cuts out unnecessary snacking and allows you to focus more on making the meals you do eat complete and healthy.

vim_n_vigor

I've used Martin's method without BCAA supplementation on a 16/8 window although realistically it's more like a 18/6 or 20/4 for me.

I don't view this protocol as physiologically advantageous but I absolutely love it, and I think meal timing/frequency should be driven by personal preference above all else (it's not all that important in comparison to hitting your macros).

My personal experience with this is as follows:

- It takes a few days to adjust to the fasted portion of the program and you need to let your body adjust to it before giving up and saying "this sucks". I THOUGHT (key word as I hate spreading crap info) I had read a study that ghrelin (hunger signaling hormone) actually adjusts to this schedule in that you'll produce less of it during the day once you adjust to the cycle, but I could be full of crap on that.

- Fasted training is awesome. Some people can do it, some can't. I LOVE it. I train very well fasted, and I do it when my schedule allows, but on days that I lift at 5pm I can't do it because it gives me TOO short of a feed window.

- Most importantly, short feed windows are AMAZING. Think of it this way: If you have 1800 calories to spend in a day, spending them in short window of time will make it FEEL like you're feasting. It's rewarding when the feed window starts because you've basically given yourself an opportunity to eat rather big and satisfying meals, whereas when you spread cals over 6 meals every 3 hours (just to use an opposite but realistic example) you get these little girly-*kitten* meals that just piss me off.

Shorter feed windows feel like more food once you adjust to the fasted portion of the program.

Lastly, while I'm speaking highly of IF/Leangains, I don't think it's for everyone. I think that scheduling your meal frequency/timing should be driven by personal preference and gym performance.

But, I do think there are people who will read about the concept and think "That sounds unhealthy to not eat breakfast" and dismiss it when they could find something that is a fantastic fit for them and really makes their diet easier.

For me, IF was a key piece to leaning out.
-

Ironically for me, I followed this method pretty closely without even knowing it existed. Naturally, I don't normally want to eat much before noon, and if I do, I am much hungrier throughout the day. I tried to work so hard through the 'you must eat 6-7 small meals a day' mindset for years, and I never felt good doing it. Now I have coffee in the morning, water, and if I am really hungry, I will eat a meal in the morning on those days. I usually have my first meal between 11 and 1, and it is very small. I tend to eat a larger meal. Since I started listening to my body and doing this, I am slowly losing weight, but most importantly, my size is going down quite a bit. It isn't for everyone, just as eating several small meals a day isn't for everyone, but if you never felt quite right eating all of the smaller meals, this may be something worth trying.

samb

My opinion --for what it is worth-- is that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat right and do some exercise each day. One day fasting might show a loss but it will not show up in the future days after you start eating again. I am only losing 0.8 lbs a week but it is consistent and I still enjoy my life by eating meals with my husband and friends.

I agree completely with this. I've tried all the fad diets and none of them worked, most actually made things worse. I've got to make this a lifelong change that I can live with and keep up. I know for me all fasting would result in is binge eating, which is not productive in the least. Balanced healthy meals combined with a active lifestyle is what is going to get me the results I'm looking for.

I don't fast for an entire day though ^^ I eat usually from around 11-7 or 12-8 depending on the day. However, if I am starving when I wake up or at night, I will eat. I eat when I am hungry and I don't when I am not. I listen to my body and it seems to work very well. Yes sometimes my body will signal to eat crap, I use common sense lol. However, when I eat clean I don't crave "crap" at all anymore usually

TheRoadDog

I fasted once for 7 days. Living on water only. Some supplements. Did it after discussing it in a Pathology class. It met every Wednesday. Left class with a wild hair up my *ss and didn't eat again until after the next class. That was 24 years ago. just remember being very tired. Couldn't do it again now. Might try though, if someone wants to throw a challenge out there.

lemonadem

Bumpity Bump

PBJunky

Wish people would actually take the effort and go read the site before attacking IF, it feels like they are insulting my mom haha

vim_n_vigor

Intermittent Fasting and eating disorder are two completely different things.

Please do not immediately assume that the word "fasting" means unhealthy. www.Leangains.com for better information on this subject. It is simply a different meal timing and quite honestly I think it's excellent.

Intermittent Fasting and long term fasting are also different things. Long term fasting can last days, IF is short term - you still eat during every 24 hour period, and you eat your caloric goals daily.

tracy287

Fasting shouldn't really be a way to lose weight, do like a 24 hour fast to prove that food doesn't have control over you. one day won't mess up your metabolism. It is good for emotional eaters like me who use food to cope. fasting for one day proves to me that food doesn't control my life and I can survive for one day without it. It is explained in a book by Chantel Hobbs called The One Day Way, great book!