Intermittent Fasting - Explain To Me

carrieanthony
carrieanthony Posts: 70 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok ... I've been doing some research and maybe it's my abscess tooth that isn't allowing me to retain this information and help me understand how this works but could someone explain how this works to me please? No flaming please .... just some information as I am curious about it. Always interested in learning.....

Replies

  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
    well it can run in either a condensed eating window eg: eat for 4 hours and nothing for 16 hours

    or you can eat one day and then miss a day. Or just miss one day a week of eating.

    Studies have shown this system can do all kinds of good in your body. One big one is the increased mental focus that comes when fasting.
    One study i read up on had observed a lower amount of muscle tissue loss in the dieters, but they did not understand the reason for it.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    well it can run in either a condensed eating window eg: eat for 4 hours and nothing for 16 hours
    ?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    "how it works" - you eat less on average per week by not eating at all for a period within the week - a part of one day perhaps, or 24 hour.

    It does rely on you not "catching up" the day after the fast, but intermittent calorie reduction has been shown to be as effective as continuous calorie reduction.
  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
    well it can run in either a condensed eating window eg: eat for 4 hours and nothing for 16 hours
    ?

    Yeah ive read this system on a few body building sites.

    so you eat from 12pm till 4pm and nothing until then the next day.
    Its suppost to carry the same good points.
    The up side to IF is that as long as you keep the fast less than 36 hours you can work it how ever you want over the week.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    well it can run in either a condensed eating window eg: eat for 4 hours and nothing for 16 hours
    ?

    Yeah ive read this system on a few body building sites.

    so you eat from 12pm till 4pm and nothing until then the next day.
    Its suppost to carry the same good points.
    The up side to IF is that as long as you keep the fast less than 36 hours you can work it how ever you want over the week.
    4 + 16 = 20
  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
    ah yes here in scotland we work on a 20 hour day

    haha jesus ive not been working for 3 weeks and ive forgotten how long a day is,

    4 hours then 20 fasted haha
  • chris2365
    chris2365 Posts: 76 Member
    Check out this site: http://bradpilon.com/

    What's nice is that he backs up the theory with serious medical studies, not some of the bogus 'studies' you'll see at fad sites.

    As long as it's controlled and short-term, you're not going to trash your metabolism as is one unsupported theory.
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,089 Member
    here you can find more info
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/66-intermittent-fasting
  • onedayillbeamilf
    onedayillbeamilf Posts: 966 Member
    One big one is the increased mental focus that comes when fasting.

    ?? Does that increased mental focus happen once they've eaten? I know when I get really hungry, I'm a dumb *kitten*.
  • fraser112
    fraser112 Posts: 405
    haha well it can go either way
    i find i get dopey when i eat
  • MizSaz
    MizSaz Posts: 445 Member
    LeanGains.com is super informative. I took a lot of the information there and designed a modified IF plan for myself.
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    Ok ... I've been doing some research and maybe it's my abscess tooth that isn't allowing me to retain this information and help me understand how this works but could someone explain how this works to me please? No flaming please .... just some information as I am curious about it. Always interested in learning.....

    The three styles that I am most familiar with are Eat Stop Eat, Leangains and Fast 5

    Eat Stop Eat = 1-2 x 24 hour fasts per week. eg. from 7pm Monday to 7pm Tuesday do not eat anything (fluids such as water, black tea and coffee are okay), resume normal eating (for example have dinner and the next day breakfast/lunch/dinner or whatever works for you). Brad Pilon (author of ESE) recommends eating lean meats/green veg etc. but does not have a strict regimen about macronutrient content. The idea is you relax about eating and don't get caught up in calorie counting.

    Leangains = 16 hour fast, 8 hour eating window. Leangains is more strict about macronutrient breakdown.

    Fast 5 = eating window of 5 hours per day. I believe Fast 5 also recommends high protein + avoid grains etc.

    Overall, the idea of fasting is a) you create a calorie deficit and b) your body burns a lot of fat after a period of fasting. Your body also gets a break from eating.
  • hazelsmrf
    hazelsmrf Posts: 96 Member
    I do alternate day fasting, so on one day I eat a max of 500 calories in a day, and the next I eat 2300. I alternate between the two, which averages to 1400 per day, but doesn't give me the diet fatigue that eating 1400 per day would give me. I've been doing this since early January and it's been great for me, easy to fit it around real life situations and doesn't lead me to compulsive overeating like some other plans have in the past. I don't feel hungrier on my low cal days than on my high cal days strangely enough, and I have just as much energy on both!
  • spazofthedead
    spazofthedead Posts: 175 Member
    One big one is the increased mental focus that comes when fasting.

    ?? Does that increased mental focus happen once they've eaten? I know when I get really hungry, I'm a dumb *kitten*.

    Me too haha. I did IF, Leangains style, for a couple of months before my poor brain just couldn't take it anymore. I need breakfast.
  • ColleenRoss50
    ColleenRoss50 Posts: 199 Member
    I just realized recently after reading up on it on the internet that I practised intermittent fasting five days a week for 12+ years back in the late 70's and for most of the 80's although I didn't know it at the time. I believe what I did was similar to what is now called the "Warrior Diet" (fast for about 20 hours; eat for about 4 hours).

    For me it was a lifestyle I adopted and it had little to do with weight control or health. You could almost say it was born more out of laziness (hating to make lunches) than anything else -- lol. I never was hungry before going to work in the morning, so skipped breakfast. I didn't feel like making lunches and couldn't afford to eat out so skipped lunch and therefore I didn't eat till I got home from work. After work I would eat whatever I wanted. Instead of eating, what I would do at lunchtime was go for a walk and browse around the stores. Where I worked I could do this summer or winter without worrying about the weather because there was a skywalk from where I worked where you could walk long distances to major shops in the area without ever going outside. I enjoyed this lifestyle and found that on the few occasions that I did eat lunch I would feel more sluggish in the afternoons. When I went for a long walk instead of eating, the afternoons went much better and I was more alert and better able to concentrate on my work. Never had a weight problem during that time. It wasn't until after I got into my mid to late forties that the lbs started sneaking up on me.
  • kate_sunflower
    kate_sunflower Posts: 152 Member
    I have been doing a lot of reading on it - there's also a good site called the bulletproofexec.com and he has a great system of IF and diet. I am going to fast by eating in a specific time frame.

    If it goes well I'll come back and update on my loss in a week or so!

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