fasting

Has anyone tried fasting and does it work?

I am doing 5:2 (sometimes 6:1) and it works for me, I broke my plateau with it

What kind of fasting are you interested in and what kind of results are you looking for?

I'm not a big fan of Ramadan either. I hate not being able to workout, and I always overeat when the sun goes down.

Intermittent Fasting is awesome, you pick any 8 hour window of the day to eat.....for me, its usually 3 PM to 11 PM because that is the window of time I am hungry....interesting because it throws the whole "you MUST eat breakfast, you cant eat after 6 PM" BS out the window.....I do it during the week and eat normally on the weekends (while still staying under my calorie limits) and it works great-lost 40 pounds since January 2.

For those interested in IF, either 5:2 or a 16/8 or 20/4 there are a few things to know.

First 5:2
You are supposed to eat as maintenance 5 days of the week and "fast" for 2 days.
Fast does not mean eat nothing for 24 hours ~ fast means you eat 500 calories for women or 600 for men (I've also read that fast day is 1/4 of maintenance so I actually am having closer to 700) on fast days
It would not be a good idea or healthy to eat nothing on fast days and it wouldn't be a good idea to eat at a significant deficit on your reregular days. The PP who said they do 4:3 and only consume 6500 calories for the week is not following IF and I cannot recommend that anyone tries this. This averages ou too only 900 something calories a day.

For 16/8 or 20/4 or any other combination IF, you set a period of time for eating and only eat during that window. For women, it's generally best to make that window no more than 16 hours fasting 8 hours eating, from what I've read. You would then eat at your calorie goal during your eating window. I also generally do about 15/9 and usually don't eat before noon, then I have a decent lunch, a snack, a large dinner and room for a nighttime snack, usually whatever I'm craving at the moment. I find this way of eating leaves me more satisfies than doing a lot of smaller meals did and I have less problems with binging while doing IF.

Well done on the loss, I have started fasting again today after a brief fall off the wagon, I found it worked, it's flexible, in that, I do what I like really, only "side effect" is I feel cold on an afternoon of my fast day, nice hot drink helps, then come my evening meal I am fine, the next day, back to my usual grub no problem x

For those interested in IF, either 5:2 or a 16/8 or 20/4 there are a few things to know.

First 5:2
You are supposed to eat as maintenance 5 days of the week and "fast" for 2 days.
Fast does not mean eat nothing for 24 hours ~ fast means you eat 500 calories for women or 600 for men (I've also read that fast day is 1/4 of maintenance so I actually am having closer to 700) on fast days
It would not be a good idea or healthy to eat nothing on fast days and it wouldn't be a good idea to eat at a significant deficit on your reregular days. The PP who said they do 4:3 and only consume 6500 calories for the week is not following IF and I cannot recommend that anyone tries this. This averages ou too only 900 something calories a day.

For 16/8 or 20/4 or any other combination IF, you set a period of time for eating and only eat during that window. For women, it's generally best to make that window no more than 16 hours fasting 8 hours eating, from what I've read. You would then eat at your calorie goal during your eating window. I also generally do about 15/9 and usually don't eat before noon, then I have a decent lunch, a snack, a large dinner and room for a nighttime snack, usually whatever I'm craving at the moment. I find this way of eating leaves me more satisfies than doing a lot of smaller meals did and I have less problems with binging while doing IF.

Yes, fast CAN mean eat nothing for 24 hours. Eat. Stop. Eat promotes that. That is what I have been doing and works well, and hasnt been taht difficult

For religious reasons I fast once a month for a 24 hour period. It's a great reminder that our minds/spirits are stronger than our bodies. That I, I mean really ME, is in control over my body and not my body in control over my mind/spirit. This is helpful for a number of reasons.

I don't buy into the intermittent "diet" fasting. I think being moderate in all things is best.

I don't follow it daily but I do 16/8 IF at times (just the way it works out). If nothing else, I find it really helps learn when you're truly hungry versus boredom eating/wanting a snack/etc. The first time I tried it I felt a bit hungry, but these days I can go for 16+ hours without eating and still feel fine. And that's really helpful to be able to do, since it helps you budget calories when dining out, it's useful for skipping dinner if you've already hit your goals earlier in the day and not feeling miserable in the evening, and all around just makes it easier for me to hit my numbers.

I have just started the 5:2 fast (3 fast days so far, approx 500 calories consumed on each fasting day) and I feel like it's working. The first thing I noticed is how it really forces you to count calories and that has been eye-opening for me. Just the sheer knowledge of how many calories are in different foods carries over into the days when I am not fasting and I am eating less calories overall. Second, it hasn't really been that hard. When you figure out which foods have the least amount of calories, you can still eat quite a bit; just spread your calorie intake over the entire day, use MFP to track the calories, drink a lot of water and you're on your way to losing weight. Just don't overdo it on your non-fast days.