fasting??

You want to fast? Go ahead. Want to drink meal replacement shakes? Have at it. Want to juice? Juice it. Want to take pills? Take them. Want to do some fad diet or do the raspberry ketone thing, or whatever it is? Just do it. But if weight loss is what you are after, it's as simple as eating at a deficit. Really. If it takes one of these things to get you to a deficit, great! I just try to eat a little smarter than yesterday and move a little more, but I'm new, what do I know.

you can't possibly be new if you already know to truth :-)

eat less than you burn = weight loss. Doesn't really matter how you get it done.

Not one person on this thread has said anything different to that though.

Perhaps I should have just said I concur. I was simply agreeing in what I intended to be a friendly manner.

Yes but you're concurring with a post that puts regular fasting in a group with popping pills and drinking diet shakes.

I think its pretty obvious from the science behind it and the knowledge of the people doing it that it is NOT a faddy diet or akin to popping diet pills.

Sure. I understand that, Ive been eating lean gains style for a good 18 months now. But I don't think that simply fasting is the reason for my weightloss. I think even you would agree that weightloss just requires a change in energy balance and it doesn't really make a difference in how you do that.
Also, why so defensive? Im not bashing fasting at all, but I also am choosing not to be judgmental about a person that feels the need to take other supplements in order to help them achieve their goal. If It works for a person, great, if it doesn't then find something that does.

I suppose I wasn't defensive over your comments per say, but certainly over the 'oh i'm such a beginner and even i know this' comment which came across as if us 'fasters' didn't know what we are talking about which i really dont think is the case. x

And this silliness did indeed follow.

To those of you that can't seem to comprehend IF...it isn't about 'starving' (in fact, most people that IF naturally consume higher calories than those that just calorie count), nor is it just about losing weight.

Many people feel ravenous all day when they eat a morning meal. I am one. This makes it difficult at best to stay within your daily calories.

Many people find that if they snack all day, they end up over calories rather often.

Many people find that they will have snacked all day, and then get invited to a dinner or some other function, and their calories are blown...or they have to feel deprived for not enjoying themselves.

Many people find that eating six small meals a day (or four and snacks), is incredibly unsatisfying. To me...THIS is masochism. With IF, I can eat higher calorie, more enjoyable foods of an evening with my family. I can go out to lunch with my coworkers or boss (my window usually starts around 11am, and goes until roughly 7pm...this fluctuates daily...with an hour to three hour slide, meaning some days I might break my fast at 1-2pm, and have a bowl of cereal or ice cream at 9-10pm if I want it). If I'm unexpectedly invited to a social function (how many of these happen at 10am?), guess what? I've got roughly 3000-3500cal to enjoy that function with.

Many people find that IF is 100% sustainable in their daily life. I've been practicing it for years now. Happily.

And last (for now), modern 1st world society hasn't a clue what real hunger is. What you feel in the morning when you haven't had breakfast, isn't hunger. It's habit. YOU STILL HAVE FOOD IN YOUR STOMACH DIGESTING FROM DINNER. How the hell is your body going to tell you it needs more when what it already has hasn't been utilized yet?? Ignore that sensation for an hour or so...see what happens. Drink some water...see what happens. Play a board game, get busy at work, do something productive...see what happens.

Yep...it goes away. If you were truly hungry...it would NOT go away.

So...lets stop with the 'starving yourself', 'eat when you're hungry', 'IF isn't sustainable', and 'IF leads to under eating and binging' misinformation. Shall we?

Just to be clear. I was speaking specifically to weight loss. My personal opinion is that fasting is on the same level as fad diets and pills. I have seen lots of anecdotal evidence presented but I don't buy it. I am sure there are studies that will laud the benefits of the various methods of fasting. There are studies that laud the benefits of green coffee beans and raspberry ketones too. I don't buy them either. With all that said, if that's what it takes to get someone to a deficit so they become less fat, then I am all for it. As far as other benefits of fasting, I'll leave that argument to others. Again, I am speaking strictly to weight loss.

Just to be clear. I was speaking specifically to weight loss. My personal opinion is that fasting is on the same level as fad diets and pills. I have seen lots of anecdotal evidence presented but I don't buy it. I am sure there are studies that will laud the benefits of the various methods of fasting. There are studies that laud the benefits of green coffee beans and raspberry ketones too. I don't buy them either. With all that said, if that's what it takes to get someone to a deficit so they become less fat, then I am all for it. As far as other benefits of fasting, I'll leave that argument to others. Again, I am speaking strictly to weight loss.

you can't 'speak' to weight loss, because weight loss is not a person.

Faddy diets all have one thing in common, they are unhealthy, fasting is not unhealthy therefore it cannot be put in the same league as it. People who fast are under no illusion that the reason they lose weight, while fasting, is because of a calorie deficit created in the body, it is simply created in a way that also stops you getting a variety of age related diseases.

You can talk solely about weight loss all you want (I assume that is what you mean, rather than speaking to something that doesn't exist as an entity) but that is not what fasting is or ever has been about. So your comments are pretty much moot.

You can tell someone has a weak argument when they resort to this. If your goal is weight loss, and fasting gets you to a deficit, awesome. I heard fasting cures acne and bad manners too.

I fast if I'm just not hungry for an extended period or if I happen to be on the go I don't worry if I skip a meal and also when I know I'm going to be having a particularly large meal later in the day. I don't typically do it as a planned event, it just kind of works out that way sometimes. I also almost always still meet my caloric/nutritional intakes for those days. I don't think it's particularly harmful as long as you don't do it for extended lengths of time and are still meeting your body's nutritional needs. People have been doing it for various reasons stretching far into our past. If you're doing it purely to lose weight, I'm not sure you'll find any benefit there.

Just to be clear. I was speaking specifically to weight loss. My personal opinion is that fasting is on the same level as fad diets and pills. I have seen lots of anecdotal evidence presented but I don't buy it. I am sure there are studies that will laud the benefits of the various methods of fasting. There are studies that laud the benefits of green coffee beans and raspberry ketones too. I don't buy them either. With all that said, if that's what it takes to get someone to a deficit so they become less fat, then I am all for it. As far as other benefits of fasting, I'll leave that argument to others. Again, I am speaking strictly to weight loss.

you can't 'speak' to weight loss, because weight loss is not a person.

Faddy diets all have one thing in common, they are unhealthy, fasting is not unhealthy therefore it cannot be put in the same league as it. People who fast are under no illusion that the reason they lose weight, while fasting, is because of a calorie deficit created in the body, it is simply created in a way that also stops you getting a variety of age related diseases.

You can talk solely about weight loss all you want (I assume that is what you mean, rather than speaking to something that doesn't exist as an entity) but that is not what fasting is or ever has been about. So your comments are pretty much moot.

You can tell someone has a weak argument when they resort to this. If your goal is weight loss, and fasting gets you to a deficit, awesome. I heard fasting cures acne and bad manners too.

Its nothing to do with bad manners, its a basic grasp of the English language.

I think its a pretty weak argument when you are unable to acknowledge the entire issue, instead picking one bit of it and suggesting thats the only thing you are willing to take into account. Regardless of whether you agree with it or not, that is the very definition of a weak argument.

If anyone still wants to talk about this, I think I should mention my son. Twelve years ago at age 30, like every other male in his family, he started to grow a lower "waist" and a bigger, lower "chest." So he started eating only one meal a day, lunch out with his buddies at work, and he has been a thin person ever since. Twelve years ago, the one meal a day thing was weird! Now, there is a lot of science saying he has probably been right and his fat relatives wrong.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/08/intermittent-fasting/

I fail to understand the point of fasting when you can lose all the weight you want by eating properly at a caloric deficit and exercising frequently. Why starve yourself unnecessarily?

Because being able to be at a healthy body weight, AND regulary eat 1500+ calories in single meals makes this whole life style much easier and more sustainable for me. Also, I never feel starved ?


:noway: So you fast so you can enjoy a 1500 calorie meal? Lmao. I don't understand fasting when is not a religious reason, even after the explanations. Despite you saying you're not starving, if you don't eat the whole day that's called starving. What do you do when someone is eating a favorite craving of yours? I get it, you've got willpower.

I like calorie counting. It encourages mindful eating and i've learned more about food. I've been preparing my own meals more than ever upon realizing how much fat and calories are snuck into your food. Cheese cake factory is a grand example. A bunch of masochists we have here...

Thats great, its great that you have found something that works for you, humans are different people, they have different things that work for them, I would never say that the thing that works for you is 'wrong' because it isn't, it works for you.

It doesnt work for me though, i often put 7 different vegetables into a meal along with a homemade reduced sauce, beans, pulses, seeds and nuts. To input it all into a caculator is a ball ache, for me. I enjoy fasting, i enjoy being able to refrain from eating food when there is a huge part of my emotional self that only wants to eat food. Its healthy for me and its incredibly therapeutic. I dont fast to punish myself, quite the opposite, i eat to punish myself, to keep myself in a permanent state of un-comfort. I have done it since i was a child.

Fasting is, for me a very clear way to take absolute responsibility for the person that i am and the food that i eat and the control it has over me. I am not scared of being hungry anymore, because of fasting. I am losing weight but i was anyway, it is the emotional benefits that help me.

That sounds horrible, it really, really does. You use eating to punish yourself?? And you've done so since childhood? And you no longer fear being hungry? You're digging a deeper hole here, it screams eating disorder and deeper psychological issues.

Yes I get it. I do what works for me, you do what works for you. Though its a public forum and I'm gladly expressing my freedom of speech. And I conclude fasting sounds utterly ridiculous.

I definitely use eating to punish myself, its part of my eating disorder, any obese person, if being honest with themselves would probably say the same.

As I said, its great that you find something that works for you, I have no need to call it or you 'ridiculous' because everyone is different and there is no part of me that wishes to force you to do it my way, if you are unable to see why people fast, given the reasons offered then really that is your blindness, not an inability to share on part of the fasters.

Yes it is horrible that i have used eating to punish myself, its also horrible that from a young age i believed with all my heart i was a worthless, unlovable piece of crap. Life is about working with what we've been given and moving on from it. For me, that includes weekly fasts. It is a shame you are unable to open your mind up a tiny bit and see why it is beneficial to a person like me (despite not perhaps, being beneficial to a person like you)

Just to be clear. I was speaking specifically to weight loss. My personal opinion is that fasting is on the same level as fad diets and pills. I have seen lots of anecdotal evidence presented but I don't buy it. I am sure there are studies that will laud the benefits of the various methods of fasting. There are studies that laud the benefits of green coffee beans and raspberry ketones too. I don't buy them either. With all that said, if that's what it takes to get someone to a deficit so they become less fat, then I am all for it. As far as other benefits of fasting, I'll leave that argument to others. Again, I am speaking strictly to weight loss.

Ok, weight loss only.

Calories in versus calories out right?

Who cares how they are split up? I split mine 3000 one day and 500 the next. You can split your's 1750/day if you want.

Moving along...

I agree with some of the above posters. The correct answer is really "it depends". Not all types of fasting are the same and the correct answer really depends on the individual situation and your specific goals.

I suggest you narrow your focus to a specific type of fasting you are most interested in and then research whether or not it might be beneficial in your situation.

If anyone still wants to talk about this, I think I should mention my son. Twelve years ago at age 30, like every other male in his family, he started to grow a lower "waist" and a bigger, lower "chest." So he started eating only one meal a day, lunch out with his buddies at work, and he has been a thin person ever since. Twelve years ago, the one meal a day thing was weird! Now, there is a lot of science saying he has probably been right and his fat relatives wrong.

This is how I lose weight the fastest and easiest. Except I would eat a bagel for breakfast and then whatever I wanted for lunch and not eat the rest of the day. I still took in all my calories but I did it all before 2p. I think I might try it again but with healthier food choices.

I believe this is called IF. A lot of people are really raving about this. Many of them are on here with the fittest and most muscular bodies. I just added a man to my friend's list who is buff and wanting to help ppl on here by being their fitness coach. He wrote an entire segment on how IF helps you lose fat and hold onto muscle if it is done at the right times. If you want to read it, email me and I'll direct you to his profile (it's open to the public).I am not comfortable copying and pasting his work anywhere without asking him first.

Gotta ask, are folks who are doing IF doing it for weight loss or for the health benefits?

I've done IF before and although I lost 5lb over the course of a month, I found the mental benefits far outweighed the "weightloss" (still not overly convinced by) benefits. I felt much more alert, concentration increased, slept better, skin was better...

Can you or can someone explain how to do IF for weight loss and to be sure to maintain muscle mass. I feel soo amazing when I fast but I don't understand WHEN to do it. Isn't "when" the key?

Fasting is stupid and you'll just ruin your metabolism. You will lose weight even faster if you have a healthy calorie goal and excercise a lot

There is a lot of science that says intermittent fasting is healthy for you. Intermittent fasting is way different from an uncontrolled and random fasting schedule.

This!!

IF is GREAT for weight loss, however its not for everyone. If what you're doing is working stick with it. However if you've hit a brick wall while eating at a caloric defecit, I would suggest looking up intermittent fasting. Don't listen to people saying it will ruin your metabolism like the quote I showed IF is backed by science.. and the "6+ small meals a day boosting your metabo" is actually bro sceience. However what IF is to me, isn't what most people would think of when they hear the word "fasting."