Fasting and the myths?
kenzienal
Posts: 205 Member
I was raised to believe that it is very unhealthy to skip a meal on purpose. That is was a type of eating disorder. My family is not obese by any means, but not the fit type either.
As I read on here, it seems that fasting is just that. Skipping a meal on purpose, and its possibly not as unhealthy as I was led to believe.
I have breakfast every morning. Two sunny side up eggs. So now I am considering cutting breakfast from my diet. Perhaps until I hit 145lbs (so only 5lbs worth).
Last week, I was sick with stress which always makes me lose my appetite, and skipped probably 3 breakfast meals, and two dinner meals.
I lost 2lbs. Which is the first loss I have seen in over a month, bringing me down from 150.6lbs to 148.6lbs. I was beyond ecstatic because I have been doing HIIT for 6 weeks now, 6 days a week with limited weight loss. I have been seeing loss of inches however.
I told myself last weekend I needed to go back to eating 3 meals a day or else I would give myself an eating disorder. Now I am back to 150.4lbs.
But is this true? I found my hunger pains were few and far between, versus the constant empty stomach feeling I had begun to get use to prior. I didnt have the munchies, and I didnt eat big portions after.
What are your thoughts on this?
As I read on here, it seems that fasting is just that. Skipping a meal on purpose, and its possibly not as unhealthy as I was led to believe.
I have breakfast every morning. Two sunny side up eggs. So now I am considering cutting breakfast from my diet. Perhaps until I hit 145lbs (so only 5lbs worth).
Last week, I was sick with stress which always makes me lose my appetite, and skipped probably 3 breakfast meals, and two dinner meals.
I lost 2lbs. Which is the first loss I have seen in over a month, bringing me down from 150.6lbs to 148.6lbs. I was beyond ecstatic because I have been doing HIIT for 6 weeks now, 6 days a week with limited weight loss. I have been seeing loss of inches however.
I told myself last weekend I needed to go back to eating 3 meals a day or else I would give myself an eating disorder. Now I am back to 150.4lbs.
But is this true? I found my hunger pains were few and far between, versus the constant empty stomach feeling I had begun to get use to prior. I didnt have the munchies, and I didnt eat big portions after.
What are your thoughts on this?
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Replies
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I hardly ever eat breakfast - just lunch and dinner, sometimes a snack between. It's not disordered to listen to your body and eat only when you are hungry.5
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for normal weight loss meal timing isn't very important at all. you can eat all of your calories in one big meal or you can eat 7 small meals a day. as long as your calories in are less than your calories out, you'll lose. skipping breakfast (or any other meal) isn't disordered behavior in and of itself. of course, if coupled with a problematic mindset it can be one component of a disorder, but i wouldn't worry about it in your case. what matters is what works for you. if you're happier eating your calories starting later in the day then go for it. if you end up grumpy or starving when you skip the meal then go back to brekkie.
do you track your calories? also, you're really close to goal, so it's going to be a slower process than having a lot to lose. if you recently started HIIT you can also be retaining water from the change in workout intensity that could mask fat loss. when i started lifting i didn't see a drop in the scale for about 2 months but i lost inches. eventually the scale caught up.2 -
Facts: Breakfast studies done in America were sponsored by General Mills (cereal company). The importance of breakfast in cognitive development of children has also been studied, NOT for weight loss for ADULTS. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" is largely a myth, and is very American. Many peoples outside the US don't have a huge attachment to eating first thing in the AM. Another fact - dieters who didn't eat breakfast took in an average of 200-300 calories less per day every day than dieters who ate breakfast, meaning they stuck to their plans better on average!
I ditched breakfast a month ago and have lost 9 pounds doing the Every Other Day Diet.
If you lose weight while eating early in the morning, great! We're all wired a bit differently! Just know that not everyone needs to eat breakfast to be considered healthy.
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Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss. Far more important concerns are that your eating pattern creates satiety and promotes adherence. The best eating pattern is one you can stick to and that doesn't make you feel like you're starving 90% of the time. Weight loss doesn't have to be a miserable white-knuckle excursion.4
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jessiferrrb wrote: »do you track your calories? also, you're really close to goal, so it's going to be a slower process than having a lot to lose. if you recently started HIIT you can also be retaining water from the change in workout intensity that could mask fat loss. when i started lifting i didn't see a drop in the scale for about 2 months but i lost inches. eventually the scale caught up.
I log everything i eat here on MFP. This past week has been a little slack from stress and other issues, but 98% of my time on MFP I have tracked every little thing.
I do have a bit of anxiety that gets obsessive about logging what I eat. To combat that, I relax on the weekends with logging. I eat a lot of chicken and veggies during the week, and probably only two meals a day on the weekends. A lot more active on the weekends also. Desk job during the week.
I started this HIIT program on Feb 13th. Ive seen a loss in inches on my waist, arms and hips, but the scale hasnt moved other than down 2lbs. I lost 7 lbs back in January from just changing my diet up. Hopefully the scale decides to catch up at some point.2 -
Congrats OP, those inches count for even more than weight loss for improved health and looks!1
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Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss. Far more important concerns are that your eating pattern creates satiety and promotes adherence. The best eating pattern is one you can stick to and that doesn't make you feel like you're starving 90% of the time. Weight loss doesn't have to be a miserable white-knuckle excursion.
I eat three meals a day and prior to last week had that starving feeling ALL THE TIME. It was really causing me to struggle. I was eating the right portions, snacking on proteins, but just couldnt shake it. Someone would mention food and my stomach would do backflips.
Last week is the best I have felt since I started working out on this program, in terms of hunger and cravings. My workouts felt a little harder, but maybe I need to snack on something energy wise before them.Congrats OP, those inches count for even more than weight loss for improved health and looks!
You are right! and I can wear certain shirts a little more confidently now. I am just battling my slightly obsessive personality of "the scale isnt moving, something is wrong". Im pretty impatient, lol.1 -
I also heard from many sources (including my dear friend who is a PhD in exercise physiology) that you should only do HIIT every other day max! 6 times a week? I don't know how you even can move haha.0
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you can certainly work out 6 days a week, but alternate HIIT with something else...resistance training or long walks or something else.0
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you can certainly work out 6 days a week, but alternate HIIT with something else...resistance training or long walks or something else.
This is a Jillian Michaels Brain Child. Its called Body Revolution. Day 1 is Push Muscles, Day 2 is Pull Muscles, and Day 3 is Cardio. You repeat that twice a week. The first week was killer, coming from no prior consistent workout experience, and being totally out of shape, but I am 6 weeks in now, and have found a good groove. Luckily, they are only half an hour workouts. I am usually dead by the end of them.0 -
I also heard from many sources (including my dear friend who is a PhD in exercise physiology) that you should only do HIIT every other day max! 6 times a week? I don't know how you even can move haha.
The good thing is that most people who think they're doing HIIT, aren't actually doing HIIT. It's been bastardized by the fitness industry and anything that involves intervals is called HIIT because it's trendy. Most of what people are doing is actually aerobic intervals - which is fine, but it's a different thing than HIIT.
True HIIT workouts should only be done 2-3 times a week because they're very taxing on the CNS and can impair recovery from other workouts - especially if one is also strength training.3 -
Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss. Far more important concerns are that your eating pattern creates satiety and promotes adherence. The best eating pattern is one you can stick to and that doesn't make you feel like you're starving 90% of the time. Weight loss doesn't have to be a miserable white-knuckle excursion.
I eat three meals a day and prior to last week had that starving feeling ALL THE TIME. It was really causing me to struggle. I was eating the right portions, snacking on proteins, but just couldnt shake it. Someone would mention food and my stomach would do backflips.
Last week is the best I have felt since I started working out on this program, in terms of hunger and cravings. My workouts felt a little harder, but maybe I need to snack on something energy wise before them.Congrats OP, those inches count for even more than weight loss for improved health and looks!
You are right! and I can wear certain shirts a little more confidently now. I am just battling my slightly obsessive personality of "the scale isnt moving, something is wrong". Im pretty impatient, lol.
it sounds like you do well skipping breakfast. so stick with it. there are a lot of people who have success with intermittent fasting (IF) of various sorts. one version has you fast for 16 hours of the day and eat for an 8 hour block, so maybe that's from noon to 8 pm. you can search the boards or groups if you think that's something that may be helpful for you.2 -
I also heard from many sources (including my dear friend who is a PhD in exercise physiology) that you should only do HIIT every other day max! 6 times a week? I don't know how you even can move haha.
The good thing is that most people who think they're doing HIIT, aren't actually doing HIIT. It's been bastardized by the fitness industry and anything that involves intervals is called HIIT because it's trendy. Most of what people are doing is actually aerobic intervals - which is fine, but it's a different thing than HIIT.
True HIIT workouts should only be done 2-3 times a week because they're very taxing on the CNS and can impair recovery from other workouts - especially if one is also strength training.
This is what I was just going to mention next. I log this exercise as Calisthenics usually. I know Jillian calls it HIIT, and to me personally it feels like HIIT, but I know that its a bit of a stretch on the word for marketing.3 -
This fits in with interval sessions / speed sessions for running so I understand what you are saying :-)I also heard from many sources (including my dear friend who is a PhD in exercise physiology) that you should only do HIIT every other day max! 6 times a week? I don't know how you even can move haha.
The good thing is that most people who think they're doing HIIT, aren't actually doing HIIT. It's been bastardized by the fitness industry and anything that involves intervals is called HIIT because it's trendy. Most of what people are doing is actually aerobic intervals - which is fine, but it's a different thing than HIIT.
True HIIT workouts should only be done 2-3 times a week because they're very taxing on the CNS and can impair recovery from other workouts - especially if one is also strength training.
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Yes, the HIIT my PhD buddy was having me do a few years ago WIPED ME OUT for a day in like 15 minutes! It was INTENSE! Full out sprints for as hard as I could handle with walking intervals. Had to start at 6 minutes and had eventually worked up to 17-18 minutes! I'd get my heart rate up to 170+ at times! Then, I would do weights every other day, plus Kempo Karate twice a week. I was in the best shape of my life back then (2012). I am a little injured and extra overweight right now but hope after I lose a little more weight and heal from my injuries, I can pound it out again and get those little ab cuts that I had back in the day! I could almost wear a crop top without looking gross lol.0
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I don't typically eat breakfast, or I eat a really small one. I often have a coffee for breakfast. I'm just not really hungry at that time, and I figure why eat when I'm not hungry, and deprive when I am
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Agreed with filbo. Just hate that "fasting" is taboo throughout our culture and in much of the medical community. It is one of many possible methods to improve one's health (not the only, of course). Should be a tool up for consideration for someone's toolkit, depending on your physical and mental challenges and goals.0
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Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc3 -
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manderson27 wrote: »Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
Just because it worked with his group, it doesn't mean it would've been different if all those people did that but with meals spread out with the same number of calories. Like I said, I am a fan of IF when trying to lose weight because it's more convenient, but it's not the cure to all weight loss problems. Just go in the weight loss section of this forum, you always get posts from people saying "I am not losing weight despite doing IF" ... That's because they still don't understand the concept of being in a caloric deficit.
^Truth.
I more or less do 16:8 IF, but not because I feel there's any advantage to it other than it fits the way I like to eat. I'm not terribly hungry in the morning so it's easy for me to push my first meal until around noon. That meal is usually around 500-600 calories, then I have plenty of calories left (1500-1600) for a big dinner and an evening snack afterward, because I AM always hungry in the evenings and I like having most of my calories in a big, satisfying dinner.
The reason I say that I "more or less" do 16:8 is that I don't put a rigid timer on it and stick to it come hell or high water. If I happen to be hungry when I wake up for whatever reason, I eat; if I want a late night snack beyond the 8 hour window, I eat it. It's just a general pattern that works best for me in terms of satiety and adherence.2 -
if you eat the right foods I think you will get to a healthy weight without trying tbh, counting macros helps fine tune and lose an extra 3kg-6kgmanderson27 wrote: »Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
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there are many reasons people don't lose weight imo but the most common issue is they aren't doing exactly what they say they are, if people eat the right things the caloric deficit looks after itself, just really need to use macros to fine tunemanderson27 wrote: »Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
Just because it worked with his group, it doesn't mean it would've been different if all those people did that but with meals spread out with the same number of calories. Like I said, I am a fan of IF when trying to lose weight because it's more convenient, but it's not the cure to all weight loss problems. Just go in the weight loss section of this forum, you always get posts from people saying "I am not losing weight despite doing IF" ... That's because they still don't understand the concept of being in a caloric deficit.
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runner7102 wrote: »
if you eat the right foods I think you will get to a healthy weight without trying tbh, counting macros helps fine tune and lose an extra 3kg-6kgmanderson27 wrote: »Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
You wouldn't be "not trying" if you're overhauling your whole diet. You may do well enough that you don't have to count calories, but that's not the same as not trying1 -
putting very little effort in then to lose weight by eating good healthy foods when your are hungry without counting caloriesPaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »runner7102 wrote: »
if you eat the right foods I think you will get to a healthy weight without trying tbh, counting macros helps fine tune and lose an extra 3kg-6kgmanderson27 wrote: »Doctor Michael Mosley did this documentary on the BBC a while ago. He had tests done prior to starting the fasting diet, during and after. He was quite impressed by the results and was won over to the idea of intermittent fasting being quite a healthy way to eat.
I have considered trying it as the results were quite compelling but I haven't tried it yet. Although I did used to skip breakfast when I was younger and I was still fat so I was obviously still eating too much so you do have to still watch your calorie deficit even when fasting. Very interesting though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
You wouldn't be "not trying" if you're overhauling your whole diet. You may do well enough that you don't have to count calories, but that's not the same as not trying
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I have been struggling with my weight for 3 years. Gained 80 pounds while I was dieting & logging my food. Ends up I have a bunch of auto immune issues and my body is overworking & attacking healthy cells. Last month my doctor told me to continue eating the same number of calories per day but only eat during an 8 hour window. So I stopped eating at 7pm and started eating at 11am. Happy to say I have lost 7.5 pounds in 3 weeks and the only thing I changed was the timing of my meals. So from my own personal experience I can say that it's not just about total calories in, sometimes we need to give our digestive system a break so that our bodies can do what they need to do. Good luck!1
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It amazes me that on days I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I spend the day starving. Yet days I skip breakfast, I am not as hungry.
I definitely understand the need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, regardless of the "diet plan". I eat under 1500cal per day(10,500cal a week), and work out 6 days per week without eating back those calories burned. I haven't been losing any weight like this, so cutting breakfast should correct my weekly calorie deficit(given that no results hint to an error in my calorie counting) by substracting around 1250-1750 cal a week from my diet. That should create a decent enough deficit.
Think I am starting to figure this whole process out.0 -
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You’re either eating more calories than you think you are (due to any combination of underestimating, under reporting, miscalculating, etc. etc. etc. additional details here), burning less calories than you think you are, or both… and no consistent deficit is present.
This was my point of why I think I am okay with calories. Obviously I am logging my calorie intake as less than it truly is, and my calories burned as more than i truly burned. Therefore no deficit.
Removing breakfast from my agenda would create that deficit. Correct?
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