Eat Stop Eat..how it's worked for me.

I just found this thread, very interesting!

jenjabbour: I believe that when she started this thread I remember reading that the fast starts to work at 18 hours so anything less than that would be a waste of time, I'd look into it. Also, I would really reconsider doing it three times a week, two is the max that they suggest in the actual program because your body needs more calories than that, it's up to you but I wouldn't.

Anyway, I started my fast last night at 8, I like doing my first fast from Sun-Mon to make up for the weekend when I don't drink enough water and am more lenient with what I'm eating. So tonight at 8:00 I will eat my homemade spaghetti, yum! And I will be going to Kickboxing and Core Pole tonight, lets see if I can make it through both while fasting. I'm also really sore from skating on Sat for the first time in prolly ten years, lol. I fell 4 times so I'm pretty bruised and sore, but it's not too bad! One of my reps (it was a work thing) shattered the bones in her wrist when she fell and is in a cast, so it could definately be worse!

Good luck to those who are fasting today! :bigsmile:

jenjabbour: I believe that when she started this thread I remember reading that the fast starts to work at 18 hours so anything less than that would be a waste of time, I'd look into it. Also, I would really reconsider doing it three times a week, two is the max that they suggest in the actual program because your body needs more calories than that, it's up to you but I wouldn't.

thanks, i know I've read in several places that some people do a 16 hour fast on a daily basis. basically, they eat for 8 hours and fast the other 16 and they've had good results from that. maybe the 24 ESE fast has better results, though...

The reason I think I would do 3 days (which i wouldn't do regularly) is because I think I"m getting too many calories on my nonfasting days. I think 3 would allow me to create the calorie deficit I need to lose my weight. Two days a week only creates about a 2,000 calorie deficit... Three days would create a 3,000 calorie deficit. Obviously, that's not undereating by any means. I would still need to cut/burn 500 cals...

I need to sit down and work out a plan. This is why counting calories while doing this is so important - I do not understand how people can do it and lose weight w/ out counting calories.

jenjabbour, I've been doing 3 days a week for about 4 weeks (minus last week, i only did 2) and I haven't been hungry, in fact, less hungry than I was before I even started ESE. I lost about 3 lbs within those first 3 weeks and I think it was because I was eating too much on the non-fast days, so I limited those days to about what you do, 1500 cals. In the last week I lost 2 lbs. The only reason the author of ESE says not to do 3 days per week is because he thinks it is too hard to do that in the real world, but if you are really dedicated and want to, I don't see why you shouldn't, it is not bad for you and may even be better for you!

jenjabbour, I'm glad that you're looking at it at a weekly basis to make sure that you're getting enough calories in. Your plan seems sound, and really, you can try it and decide how you feel. I count cals and eat pretty normal on my non fast days so this keeps me in check pretty well, maybe this will work better for you.
SkierElle thanks for letting us know why they don't suggest 3 a week in the plan, I knew I'd heard it but wasn't totally sure of the reasoning, if that's the only reason I don't see what it could hurt. :bigsmile:

Done, finished with a healthy spaghetti reward, AND I burned 1300 calories today, woo hoo, but man am I tired!!

This is like a LIGHTBULB just lit up over my head!! A big thank you to the thread starter! :flowerforyou:


Apparently it seems I've been doing intermittent fasting for years now. I eat when I'm hungry, and I don't eat when I'm not. 4 out of 7 days a week I actually only get max 800 calories through the day (mostly through green tea as I don't drink coffee). But I do have 2000-3000 calories on 2 out of the 7 days.

In early September I started to eat 3 square meals a day (1500-2000 cal per day) because I was told it makes me healthier and will help me manage my weight better. But all that happened was that I put on 1 kg every week, for 3 weeks consecutively! I initially only had 3kg to lose (and a lot of post-baby toning up to do), and now that's become 6kg in total.

All my attempts to lose weight since then have been futile. Which led me to MFP.

I'm going right back to where I started: Intermittent fasting. Except this time round I'm going to use MFP to help me chart my calories on eating days.

But i think there are other benefits to ESE rather than the calorie deficit, like giving your digestive system a break. learning how to sense when youre really hungry and I know there are many other benefits of fasting 18-24 hours. I,personally, feel really great towards the end of my fast, really energized. And I know I couldnt stick to a diet of 1200-1300 per day because ive tried it, and it didn't work. This method seems to be the only one I can stick to.

I agree. Even though I have reached my weight loss goal and am eating about 1600 plus calories a day to maintain, I still like fasting as it gives my mind a chance to reset and concentrate on more than food (I feel more focused on life on days I am fasting) and also gives my body a break.

That being said, today is my fast, but 20 hours til 4 p.m. So only 11.5 hours for me to go

P.S. i LOVE the support here. Thanks guys.

Nice Jenn, you got a good deficit today then!

jenjabbour, I think I have more of a calorie deficit than the "traditional way" I dont really know what you mean by that, but I am assuming if i was to eat like 1200 per day and that would make 8400 per week. With ESE I have about 7500 per week... which may be a little low, but I think having those days of 1500 will prevent the starvation mode from happening, as Brad says it wont happen unless you don't eat for 72 hours, or are continuously eating less than 1200 per day. I am still a little confused on that.

But i think there are other benefits to ESE rather than the calorie deficit, like giving your digestive system a break. learning how to sense when youre really hungry and I know there are many other benefits of fasting 18-24 hours. I,personally, feel really great towards the end of my fast, really energized. And I know I couldnt stick to a diet of 1200-1300 per day because ive tried it, and it didn't work. This method seems to be the only one I can stick to.

by "traditional" i mean by eating the 1200 cals a day every day... i know that supposedly while fasting you are able to burn more fat helping to become more lean, so i would assume that fasting helps you lose weight more quickly. not sure though. i guess i'm just hoping so...LOL... I do know that the day after fasting I feel so much skinnier...LOL... I guess if I fast 3 days a week, that should help to keep that look.

I also agree that fasting is beneficial in other ways. I feel great when fasting and I love that I don't have to think about what I'm going to eat!

I am finding coming off of a fast to be quite difficult though. I might need to change my fasting hours. I am at home when I come off the fast and sit down to a dinner and am tempted to snack and eat dessert as well. I went over my cals by 500 yesterday (even at my exercise cals) so today I have to eat 500 less than i had planned. however, I don't think it will be a problem to only eat 1000 cals today, even though yesterday it was tough to eat less than 1000... lol... maybe that's just the way it's going to be and I have to adjust my calorie distribution accordingly... what do you think?

it's not easy, that's for sure!!! i personally do so much better with my diet when I'm at work than when I'm at home... why do i eat so much and so much junk when I'm at home????

I'm starting my 2nd fast of the week today at 6 pm.

i need to have a plan in place for tomorrow when I come off of my fast though - planning a chicken and veggie dinner, that should help.