UK Programme on fasting

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  • rockingallovertheworld
    rockingallovertheworld Posts: 89 Member
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    I am going to try it as I have 11 weeks before my holiday so could be just what I need :smile:
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
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    i may have missed this earlier in this thread, but it talk specifically about fasting and the results with women? i've read a ton on fasting and results with men, but haven't found too much regarding women... thx.
  • acidosaur
    acidosaur Posts: 295 Member
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    I found the programme really interesting. I had previously fasted a few years ago and found it helped my energy levels, although I didn't lose a huge amount of weight. I have read recently though that women shouldn't fast, as in here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/women-and-intermittent-fasting/#more-29763

    So as of now I am wondering if I should fast at all....

    If anyone has any comment on this that would be helpful :)
    It's only been a couple weeks but so far I've responded favorably to fasting and I know other women have had a good response as well. It's probably also worth mentioning that the article doesn't actually say that women shouldn't fast ever, just that our experiences with fasting might be different or less beneficial under certain circumstances.
    As it stands right now, I’d be inclined to agree that pre-menopausal (and perhaps peri-menopausal) women are more likely to have poor – or at least different – experiences with intermittent fasting, at least as a weight loss tool. That said, it appears to be a potentially gender-neutral therapeutic tool for chemotherapy, cancer, and age-related neurodegeneration patients.

    Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/women-and-intermittent-fasting/#ixzz23vdPJ7oC

    I think the Paleo For Women article is valuable but it also states that perhaps weight plays an important role in fasting for women so in the end I just think it's like everything else -- find what works for you and don't be so married to an approach you're not willing to make changes if it doesn't work for you or stops working for you at some later date.
    It’s not definitive, since the literature is so sparse, and it necessarily differs for women who are overweight versus normal weight (and who have different genetic makeups regardless), but when it comes to hormones, women of reproductive age may do well to err on the side of caution with fasting.

    http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shattering-the-myth-of-fasting-for-women-a-review-of-female-specific-responses-to-fasting-in-the-literature/

    The comment sections on both of the blogs linked to above have lots of women sharing their experiences with fasting (both positive and negative) and myself and some others shared our experience with fasting in this thread that you might be interested in:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/697735-alternative-day-fasting

    Thanks very much for your response. I might try it and see how it goes :)
  • Agator82
    Agator82 Posts: 249 Member
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    i may have missed this earlier in this thread, but it talk specifically about fasting and the results with women? i've read a ton on fasting and results with men, but haven't found too much regarding women... thx.

    Most of the legitimate research has been with women, although much of the anecdotal research (including me) is men. Women have seen signifigant weight loss and improved blood chemistry. All the other benefits are still to be determined.
  • bonjovibabe
    bonjovibabe Posts: 6
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    I get that you are suppose to eat 500 kcals on the fast days for women, but what's the limit on your feast days - BMR or RDA? That's the bit that confuses me! Also, you should stick to no more than 60g protein on feast days, or is it 1g for each kg you weigh? CONFUSED, and I really want to try this!
  • LuizH
    LuizH Posts: 211 Member
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    I just found this thread. I'm on my second week now of 5/2 'fasting'. Yesterday was my second day of this week, and I have to admit that I cheated a little. Wednesday night is my long swim session, and Thursday is my run to work day, so I allowed myself a litre of orange juice after the run (orange juice is my favourite post-run treat). My total calories for the day was 814, but I burned 1282 between the run to work and the walk back home so I was negative overall for the day.

    I'm finding that the more fasts I do, the easier it is to stick to. I was on holiday last week, and my first fast day of the week is Sunday, so yesterday was the first time I'd done a fast at work. I was tired when I got home (possibly more to do with the 6 mile run in the morning and 6 mile walk home again), but I was able to sit with my kids while they ate pizza without stealing it from them :drinker:

    On non-fast days I'm trying to keep my calories around the level that MFP set for me to maintain, but I'm not worrying if I eat too much the day after a fast - when I was off work with the kids last week we spent far too much time in KFC.

    I work out most days either swimming, cycling or running, and I try to do at least an hour per day. I am worried that this may be excessive on the fasting days, but I've coped ok so far.

    I'd love to have a few buddies who are following this plan, please feel free to friend me and criticise my diary!
  • mousepaws22
    mousepaws22 Posts: 380 Member
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    How do people manage to exercise while fasting? I have done one 24 hour fast and had no energy at all- I struggled to stay awake so there is no way I could have gone to the gym and exercised.
  • Agator82
    Agator82 Posts: 249 Member
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    I get that you are suppose to eat 500 kcals on the fast days for women, but what's the limit on your feast days - BMR or RDA? That's the bit that confuses me! Also, you should stick to no more than 60g protein on feast days, or is it 1g for each kg you weigh? CONFUSED, and I really want to try this!

    Technically in the Chicago ADF study (fasting 3-4 days a week) they found that people could eat just about anything on their feast days because they could not eat back all the deficiant calories from the fast days. Since I am doing a 5:2 I have my fast days and otherwise try to stay around 1600 - 1900 calories a day the rest of the week. I also treat the weekend as kind of a free time, but try to eat sensibly (3000 cals max at most).

    It is worth noting that even with last weekend where I made some calorie rich choices I still maxed out at 2100 calories in one day.

    I will post my weekly summary on Sunday for anyone interested.
  • Agator82
    Agator82 Posts: 249 Member
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    How do people manage to exercise while fasting? I have done one 24 hour fast and had no energy at all- I struggled to stay awake so there is no way I could have gone to the gym and exercised.

    When you say fast do you mean 'fast' or do you mean 500 calories? I do light workouts on my fast days (2-3 miles; 500 - 800 calories) depending on how I feel. Generally I do not feel weak and it is surprisingly easy (speaking of the fast). That being said, you could increase the calorie intake a bit (assuming you are eating) and see if you feel any better, or just rest on those days the body needs rest too.
  • mousepaws22
    mousepaws22 Posts: 380 Member
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    How do people manage to exercise while fasting? I have done one 24 hour fast and had no energy at all- I struggled to stay awake so there is no way I could have gone to the gym and exercised.

    When you say fast do you mean 'fast' or do you mean 500 calories? I do light workouts on my fast days (2-3 miles; 500 - 800 calories) depending on how I feel. Generally I do not feel weak and it is surprisingly easy (speaking of the fast). That being said, you could increase the calorie intake a bit (assuming you are eating) and see if you feel any better, or just rest on those days the body needs rest too.

    I didn't eat anything from Friday night until Saturday night, just drank water, and then I had a protein shake and another protein shake and some almonds on Sunday morning before I went to the gym.
  • bonjovibabe
    bonjovibabe Posts: 6
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    Well, according to MFP my BMR is 1764 kcals per day , and my basic daily needs (as a sedentary person) is 2210 kcals. What do I aim for on feast days? Do you need to eat back your exercise calories or just forget them?
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    I don't have a specific aim on "feast days". I just eat til I'm not hungry - and log what I've had. It usually works out 1400ish - 1600ish. I think it's possible to over-intellectualise here.
  • prov31jd
    prov31jd Posts: 153 Member
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    bump.
  • bonjovibabe
    bonjovibabe Posts: 6
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    I think I may set my limit at 1900kcals for all feast days to start with, leaving me with around a 5000kcal weekly deficit + exercise cals if I earn them. Also gives me a lot of wiggle room for decreasing the cals if that doesn't work, or I need to reduce it as I get smaller and my needs drop. I won't stuff myself though - if I can't reach the 1900 (eat fairly healthily), then so be it!
  • jansus
    jansus Posts: 58 Member
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    I also watched the programme - and for me the message was about allowing your body to rest and prepare on the fasting days and the resulting improvements on glucose ,cholesterol etc and was it IGF?. The message was that it was not about calorie counting as on the non fasting days you could eat what you want. I am just about to go away but on my return I am going to give it a go and it will be interesting as I suffer from thyroid problems and glucose intolerance and it has taken me a whole 12 months to lose 14 lb I have tried everything including recently being on 1100 calories per day . I have regular blodd tests so I guess I will be a good guinea pig.
  • bonjovibabe
    bonjovibabe Posts: 6
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    Is there a reason that you can't drink black coffee on fast days instead of/as well as black/herbal tea and water?
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    Is there a reason that you can't drink black coffee on fast days instead of/as well as black/herbal tea and water?

    Who says you can't? I drink my normal coffee which has a couple of tablespoons of skimmed milk and a sweetex. Life wouldn't be worth living without it!
  • bonjovibabe
    bonjovibabe Posts: 6
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    All I've seen/heard for the fasting days was black/herbal tea or water. I'm doing my first fast day now and enjoying a big mug of black coffee (although I prefer it with milk & sugar (never touch artificial sweeteners)!). I too would not be able to give that up as well lol! Monday is my normal heavy house cleaning day, but I'm going to do the mountain of ironing instead and leave the heavy work until tomorrow when I can eat what I want ;)!
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    As I see it, you have 500 calories to use as you see fit on your low-eating days & I use about 75 of them on the milk in my coffee. I'm sure it's sensible to "spend" them on nutritious food, not junk, & that's what I'm doing. I'm going to try not to eat any fruit today as you get a lot less filling power from fruit compared to vegetables.
  • steevio_uk
    steevio_uk Posts: 1
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    Super bump

    Of those who decided to start a long term trial of this, how did it go?

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