Intermittent Fasting...

Hi, I I’ve been wondering, is this something you do every day or a few times a week? I’ve started it this Monday so I’m only on my second day. I’m going to try to keep it up all week and see what happens.

mosspm123 wrote: »

srdyce wrote: »

Hi, I I’ve been wondering, is this something you do every day or a few times a week? I’ve started it this Monday so I’m only on my second day. I’m going to try to keep it up all week and see what happens.

There are various methods to do intermittent fasting. Some people do it every day and some do it a couple of times a week. The first method is 16:8, 16 hours fasting and an 8 hour eating window. Then you have the 20:4, 20 hour fasting and a 4 hour eating window. Then you have the 'One Meal A Day' (OMAD) which is a 23 hour fast with a one hour eating window. Lastly you have the 5:2 fast which is 5 days of eating during your regular eating times and 2 days of fasting. @srdyce

5:2 is eating 500 calories (for women.600 for men) 2 days a week and 5 days you eat at maintenance. its not you eat during your regular eating times. when you eat doesnt matter . if doing 5:2 you could eat all day long and get your maintenance calories in on the 5 days( fasting or not) and the other 2 days you are creating a deficit of calories. doesnt matter if you fast or not. many do 5:2 and while its called fasting many dont have a window of time in which they do the 5:2. so you can still do 16:8 or what have you on the maintenance days if you wanted. it really makes no difference.

you are supposed to eat enough calories to fuel your body as well as your exercise. if you are losing 20 lbs a month(which some of its going to be water) then your deficit is too big unless you are over 300 lbs and anything more than 2lbs a week unless under the care of a dr is not a healthy rate of loss. in the beginning it may be ok but undereating is not healthy. as for how you feel doing IF and before you tell me to try it .I have done 16:8 or 18:6 most of my life(the timing depends on when i get hungry) and I dont feel anymore energetic than when I didnt fast. fasting works for some and may amke some feel like you do but its not going to be the same for everyone.

b_lade215 wrote: »

I am a new-grad healthcare practitioner and have maintained IM for about a year now. We actually discussed this in our health/wellness class in school. Some of the science behind it makes sense from a physiological perspective, however we have yet to see high level evidence (RCT's) that supports this to my knowledge. I unintentionally started IM during a clinical rotation (no time for breakfast, early hours leading to me going to bed early (no late night dinners/snacks)). I went from 145 to 128 in about 4 months, and have since maintained this loss. Other contributors to my personal weight loss include cutting processed wheat intake by about 60-80%, and in general eating higher quality, less processed foods. I also only follow IM strictly on weekdays, intermittently on weekends. I've linked an article that runs through some of the theory, it may be useful if you are curious. As a provider, I like IM better than other "diets" because it is flexible to patients' dietary needs and doesn't eliminate specific foods/food groups. Obviously if you are diabetic or need help regulating blood sugar/glycemic index, fasting may be dangerous so you should consult with your RD/MD.

http://burnfatnotsugar.com/assets/if.pdf

weight was lost because you were in a deficit. you mean IF not IM. IF is not a diet per say its just a window of time in which you eat your calories.if you kept the weight off its because you arent eating enough to gain weight. you are eating enough to maintain your weight.

sylvia270 wrote: »

I know some people that are getting results with if. Some people are combining it with a diet such as low carb or keto. They love the great results.

yes because they are in a deficit of calories doing it if they are losing weight. I lost weight fasting in a deficit and I lost weight not fasting in a deficit. see how that works? keto or low carb isnt needed either but its a personal choice, or for many its a choice for health reasons to go low carb/keto.you will see results if you are in a deficit of calories.

I’ve been doing this for over a year, but purely by accident my body is just set up that way I don’t get hungry before 1pm. I don’t have time to eat before that. I haven’t had any problems or lost any major amounts of weight. But I like it

mosspm123 wrote: »

I'm fast on track to lose 20 pounds with intermittent fasting in one month! It's free and it works! What I love about it the most is that I can actually feel full when I eat my food in a short eating window and still stay under my caloric goals. Years ago I would eat small meals throughout the typical breakfast and dinner hours and I would feel hungry all day because I wasn't having a "big meal" to truly satisfy my hunger. With intermittent fasting it will feel like you are having that big meal and still stay under your calorie goal because you have a short eating window. It also makes it so much easier not having to cook or buy food at a restaurant for 3 meals throughout the day plus snacks. I'm doing the 20:4 fast although most days I've been consuming all my food within one hour or two so it's more of a 22:4 fast. This is great because I only have to prepare food once a day. It's working great for me and I feel more alert and energetic throughout the day. Everyone should research intermittent fasting! And congratulations on your great results, it's inspiring! @jonathanthewlis

It's great that it's working for you, I would highly caution you on your protein levels. Aggressive weight loss, plus low protein (which most days I suspect you are) will increase muscle loss.

psuLemon wrote: »

jonathanthewlis wrote: »

IF isn’t just eating a Caloric defecit or a window of eating, your body produces insulin when you eat which is an anebolic hormone....reduced the amount of time your body produces this impacts the way your body transports sugar around your body and what it does with it. I’ve tried explaining this a number of times, however given up as there are so many experts that know better. I haven’t at any point said “IF made me lose weight” it didn’t, HIIT exercise, whilst in a caloric deficit drove my weight lose. IF helped get me past the last bits of fat and has helped me bulk whilst controlling the amount of fat I put back on. For those that call it a “fad” there are recorded cases of IF being used in the early 1600’s in Europe, and suspected cases before this in other parts of the world. Gentecists have also recorded other physiological benefits such as improved cell reproduction through IF, again there will be experts that say im completely wrong. That’s why I showed my own results.

The argument isn't against IF. In fact, most of the people that are arguing follow IF themselves or have follow it in the past. The argument is that there are a plethora of hormones to inhibit lipolysis (ASP, GID, Ghrelin, etc...) and suggesting the modifying insulin is someone needed or helps improve fat loss. The fact is, human trials do not support insulin theory and/or any additional benefit to fat loss using various forms of IF over a convention diet (you can see below). Also, autophagy improvements are only being shown preliminarily and only have been shown in animal models.

What we can say, is that it certainly worked for you and has for many others. They are impressive results. It certainly didn't work for me. I was always starving and caused me to binge.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516560/

QFT.

As has been said in all the other IF threads recently, no one is "against" IF, it's a great strategy for many people to more easily stick to their calories. There is just push back to the insulin theory and other health claims that may or may not have merit but are certainly not confirmed science as is often suggested.

Up until recently, we would encourage people to skip breakfast if they weren't hungry, and get people scolding us for ignoring starvation mode. Now it's swung the other way, and we are being scolded for suggesting the science behind the benefits of daily fasting for health is iffy. I think this is what whiplash feels like.