fasting

lowm8nance

HELP! I know too little about the intermittent fasting I've heard of in the books to know how to go about it correctly and am wondering if can be just started randomly when you're not hungry.
So yesterday I have 4 sausage links, coffee, and throw jerky in my purse before I take off outa town for the day. I felt good all day til about 1:OO when I ate the two oz. of jerky. In the evening I ran in a fast food for a large unsweet tea cuz I was outa water but felt no hunger at all. Went til late feelin just fine. When I walked in the door about ten, it dawned on me that I didn't eat nearly enough calories or protein for the day. My God! I don't want my body to go into starving mode because I didnt feed it at least 1200 calories.(This was not a craving, It was just me reasoning to myself and actually trying to do the right thing.) So I start shovelin in food. Very soon after I'm feeling that was the wrong thing to do. Don't wanna sleep but finally did on a full belly. Woke up with a brick in my stomach. I'm pretty sure I woulda lost some weight this morning if I hadn't done that last night. I'm due a reward on that scale. I know I shoulda went to bed empty last night.The last time I missed a meal I was advised to listen to my body.
I guess I'm just confused. I know that less than 1200 calories only lets your body maintain and is not optimum for fatloss. And I know that cavemen didn't always have food available so they didn't eat regularly, and we're suppose listen to our bodies. So when am I supposed to do what?

caribougal

Don't freak out. I'm no expert on IF, but here's my take on what I would have done. Others will have other views.

- I would not freak out if my cals and/or macros were under for the day. One day of limited eating will not send you into so-called starvation mode.

- if I came home hungry, I would have eaten something light but filing. Maybe an apple with almond butter, or some lunch meat/cheese roll-ups, or whatever I had leftover as long as it wasn't a huge piece of meat that would be hard to digest. I might even just make a quick egg cooked in coconut oil. Filling and plenty of good protein and fat. But easy on the belly.

- if I came home and wasn't hungry, I wouldn't eat, but I'd be sure to get a nice breakfast the next day.

The issue with IF in my opinion is that for many people, it can be a slippery slope into an eating disorder. If you fast and then binge, that's not a good thing. If your binge feels out of control, that's dangerous. If you start eating junk food in your binges just to eat enough cals, that's bad too. I think a 16 hour eating window for someone doing IF is safe, but when that window shrinks too much, it can be hard to eat in a healthy way if you have a tendency or history of EDs. There was a sad post about this on Nerd Fitness recently.

I also would say that in general, listen to your body's cues for hunger. Eat when you are truly hungry, regardless if it's the perfect 3 squares a day. However, again, if someone has a history of ED or has been eating very low cal for a long time, those hunger cues might be misfiring. Shoot to hit your cal and macro goals but it's ok if there are days over and under. Probably better to focus on weekly goals.

lowm8nance

Thanks. I'm thinking you're right. Absolutely no history of not eating here. I guess trusting my body rather than doing what my mind tells me is the proper thing to do is a whole new thing for me. I used to listen to my body when I craved sugar and carbs and would binge. Listening back then got me in trouble.

ricestephanie11

I know a lot of people swear my IF, but I am not a fan. I am more of a "eat when you're hungry, stop when you're not" kind of person. Paleo for Women did a really nice blog about women and IF a couple months ago.

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

LeidaPrimal

The whole idea of the IF is calorie control - you are expected to go low on calories, much lower than your normal intake on your fasting days (under 1,000 calories is expected). In a 24-36 hour fast (dinner to dinner or dinner to breakfast) you are not expected to have any caloric imput for 24 hrs min, and you are not to compensate it once you break a fast. It is after 72 hours of a complete fasting when problems with catabolic state may start appearing (i.e. you start breaking down muscle).

There are hypothesis floating around that complete or ketonic fast in the 16 to 72 hrs window might help burning fat and/or help activate alpha 2 receptors which may lead to freeing up the stubborn fat (with cardio) and yada-yada-yada, but it has as many yes as it has nays. Like all science. Like all science it gotta be tested on oneself.

Going under 1000 calories for a few days is nit going to make things worse. As long as you feed normally and once in a while over-feed (that's going over your calories). That calorie staggering imitates the normal feeding patterns of the past. It actually helps you because your average calories are low, but your hormones (leptin, ghrelin, etc) are not being suppressed into the fat-conserving mode as they would if you continualy maintain the deficit for over a week. Again, that's all mumbo-jumbo needed to be tested on self. But, yes, remember all the posts from people: "OMG, I ate terribly yesterday, but dropped XYZ lbs this week anyhow, WTF?" Those posts are not a testimony to the dietary benefits of eating pizza daily, but more likely the result of people's hormones level going up, sending a signal to the poor starved body that "Hey, we are in the times of plenty, we don't have to hold on to the fat now."

All and all, the healthy way of doing fasting in my view is simply eating when you are hungry and NOT eating when you are not. If you try IF for a few days a week, and continue binging after a couple of weeks of that practice, it is not recommended to continue fasting.

There are three fasting methods that call for short fasts, Fast 5, Lean Gains and Eat Stop Eat. Fast 5 has a free downloaded leaflet on the net if you sign up for the something-something newsletter. Lean gains is a nightmare to explore, and I doubt it works for people who do not train heavy in a dedicated fashion. Finally, Eat Stop Eat will have a few documents on the net. Warrior Diet might as well, and iirc it has a book as well.

There is also a 4 Hour Body method book out by Ferris, who advocates a controlled overfeed once a week with deficit for the rest of the week (with or without the fasting window).

Hope this helps.

lowm8nance

Thanks. I appreciate the info. I think the smart thing woulda been to sleep and have a hearty breakfast this morn. I'm sure I would have been ready for breakfast. I'm pretty sure if I made a plan to fast at a certain time, my mind would start playing psychological games with me and make me think I was just starvin. Better to just go with what happens naturally.

LeidaPrimal

I agree, I prefer that approach as well. It is described as "WHEN" approach by Mark here (it is a good article on fasting & it has a bunch of links to more articles on fasting, lol, if you still want to learn more):

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-fast-part-six-choosing-a-method/#axzz29klof400

lowm8nance

Really do appreciate the help. Not actually particularly interested in fasting. I've just never experienced this non hunger feeling til real recently and didn't quite know how to react. I will look up the 'WHEN' thing by Mark Sisson.