UK Programme on fasting

Naively I had always put this down...

I'm not looking forward to the end of Ramadan as I don't want to start putting the weight back on with more regular eating

Well, if the fasting you are doing for Ramadan works for you then just tweak the schedule a little bit and see what happens (maybe restrict to certain times a day). The only problem trying to apply a Ramadan style fast during the rest of the year is that it is hard to maintain. That is why MFP really seems to drive people towards simple caloric restriction instead of being a 'diet' in the traditional sense of the word. As others have said, different strokes for different folks, you might have found something that can work for you that certainly would not work for me.

On a different note, I actually did my first official 'fast' day yesterday (I am going to call it VLC day in the future). I broke it into two meals:

Breakfast:
Two Eggs (70 cal each) 140 Cal
2.5 Cups frozen mix berries 175 Cal


Dinner
3 oz Salmon 105 Cal (Seems low and I will confirm)
Fat Free Italian Salad Dressing 53 Cal (5 Tbsp)
Tangelo 50 Cal
Salad 60 Cal
Hebrew Natl 98% Fat Free Dog 40 Cal (My wife made it for my daughter and I could not resist)

Add on some sugar free gum (5 Cals/piece) and Lemon-Ginger Tea I wrapped up the day just below 640. A little bit higher than I expected, but I did have the hot dog so I am not surprised. I am going to try again on Thursday with a similar menu and we will see what happens. All in all I have already lost 45 lbs (3 stone 3 lbs for you UK people) from simple diet and exercise and I am curious to see if this has an effect on how I feel.

As an aside, I also did 30 minutes on the Elliptical yesterday for a very low net calories. Very easy, but admittedly I come from a tradition where fast means no food and no water for 24 hours so 600 calories with all you can drink seems very easy. Time will tell.

Wow! Great to see this still being discussed and debated!!

I tried one fast day last week, I actually managed to divide my 500 calories into 3 small meals - some fruit for breakfast, salad and a slice of ham for lunch and turkey stir fry (no noodles!) for tea. I struggled with this fast day and felt hungry, but didn't have any headaches or anything. I tried another fast day yesterday and this time had 2 meals, having a slice of ham and some cherry tomatoes and cucumber around 2pm and then some lean meat and veg for tea. I found yesterday much easier and didn't feel hunger during the day and only felt slightly hungry in the evening. So think I'm better not having any breakfast.

A question about the 16:8 fasting regime, is it as simple as say if I eat my evening meal at 6pm, then fast starts at 7pm until 11am then next morning so just have a late breakfast/early lunch? So basically you are asleep during most of the fast? Do you guys do this everyday?

There's more nutrition in a yolk than the white.

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

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.