Who does intermittent fasting?

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  • shanice_22
    shanice_22 Posts: 202 Member
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    I'm watching the programme that was on BBC2 about intermittent fasting (recorded it and only just had the chance to watch it). I don't currently do it myself, but now tempted after watching this programme.


    Edit: Also, I think the programme I'm watching is the same one you've mentioned!!
  • ChelSleeve
    ChelSleeve Posts: 144 Member
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    I've unknowingly been doing IF for years.. i dont eat after 9:30- 10:00 pm.. and normalling dont eat again until 2:30-3:00 pm.. i eat most of my food while im at work.. i have a job where im pretty much confined to my desk for 8 sometimes 12 hours.. and sometimes its so busy that i CANT eat
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    I do it from time to time, sometimes inadvertently, that is, I'll wake up not feeling hungry and won't eat until the late morning or early afternoon. Sometimes I feel the need for at least some coffee and milk. I think it's a great, elegant, simple method if you have the system for it.

    My brother-in-law is gradually losing weight by eating one large meal a day. He learned this method when he was a wrestler in high school.
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    So now I'm interested in trying this out, but I'm curious. Is the 500 cal/day for fasting days a good number for just women, or does it apply to both genders? According to this website, I'm supposed to eat ~1610 cal/day, and my BMR is around 1850. So on exercise days I try to eat right around that 1850, and the rest days, <1610. I'm considering making my two rest days IF days, but how much should I eat on those days? Anyone know?

    Male, 5'10, 205, age: 32

    Men get to eat 600 calories a day on "fasting" days, women get 500. Why not look up the programme on Youtube? I notice different people are taking away slightly different ideas from the same programme. I'm going to do my third fast day tomorrow (did Tuesday & Friday last week)
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I'm curious about understanding why this is effective. Is it simply a choice of how to take calories in? I naturally have a few days in a row in which I eat more (say 2500 calories), followed by a few days where I eat less (1600 calories), so it's not extreme, but my body just knows when it's more hungry and then feels less hungry after being well fed. I'm not sure I would like IF. I just like to eat the same basic amount from day to day according to my hunger and energy levels, and allow natural fluctuations. I don't think I would feel very good on fast days, but maybe that is because I am already quite slender and do not have large fat stores to draw from in times of famine. My brain tells me I am not supposed to go hungry, so I would be ignoring the signals of my mind and body.

    Is this just for people trying to lose fat? Or is it especially helpful to bodybuilders? I would put myself more in the body building interest.

    I'll look it up and read more about it.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
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    I'm curious about understanding why this is effective. Is it simply a choice of how to take calories in? I naturally have a few days in a row in which I eat more (say 2500 calories), followed by a few days where I eat less (1600 calories), so it's not extreme, but my body just knows when it's more hungry and then feels less hungry after being well fed. I'm not sure I would like IF. I just like to eat the same basic amount from day to day according to my hunger and energy levels, and allow natural fluctuations. I don't think I would feel very good on fast days, but maybe that is because I am already quite slender and do not have large fat stores to draw from in times of famine. My brain tells me I am not supposed to go hungry, so I would be ignoring the signals of my mind and body.

    Is this just for people trying to lose fat? Or is it especially helpful to bodybuilders? I would put myself more in the body building interest.

    I'll look it up and read more about it.

    The documentary talks about the science behind it. The research is still in its infancy - they started by doing trials on mice, and the subsequent trials on humans have only been going for ten years, I believe, so there is not yet a solid evidence base for it. But there have been positive results so far. It's about inhibiting growth hormone - which makes children grow and makes adults age, and contributes to diseases like cancer.

    It's not about losing fat, and the documentary didn't talk about body building. It's more for health and longevity. I recommend watching the documentary - it's very interesting. It's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfna7nV7WaM

    Like you, I tend to listen to my body and eat more on some days and less on others, according to how my body feels, so I'm also not sure about how intermittent fasting would work for me. I'm interested to try though.

    In fact, it might not be suitable for bodybuilding, as it also talked about reducing protein to the regular amount that your body needs.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Thanks, I'll check that documentary out.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I watched the documentary. It was very good. Actually, I think I saw that before a long time ago. I did not know that the people that restrict calories to extend life are of the same philosophy as IF. I thought it was different. I already eat in a very similar way as the movie described, but just not nearly as strictly. I'm going to show the documentary to my husband and discuss it with him (he is a scientist also). The amount that they restrict the calories on a day to day basis is not too low. I generally eat between 1800 and 1900 a day (but I am small). Sometimes I increase for a day here and there and sometimes eat less (but I try not to go below 1600 or 1700). I already have a low BF%, so I do have to be careful not to drop weight. I also have a high metabolism partly because I am very active. Also, I'm not a body builder. That may have been the wrong word for me to use, I've just seen body builders talk about it before. I'm a contemporary dancer, but have always been interested in fitness and optimum health, so lifting weights and increasing LBM is part of that for me. Thanks so much for this post and sharing that full documentary and discussing this topic. I am interested in learning more about it. I could relate to the man in the movie very much that eats the low calorie, dense nutrient diet. I also like to eat smaller amounts that are dense in nutrition. I find that tasty. And I enjoy the benefits of a healthy diet. I don't usually crave junk foods.
  • myIF
    myIF Posts: 15
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    I just started a new blog and I posted my own personal account of my journey to IF.

    http://shaylhem.blogspot.com/2012/09/nom-stop-nom.html

    hope it helps!
    By the way, I'm 18, 5'5 (or 5'6) and went from 140 lbs to 115-118.
    If anyone would like to know if they could use IF to maintain their weight, the answer is YES!

    :)

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