Anyone fasting??

rsclause wrote: »

I saw a lot of push back and dislike on MFP for Dr. Jason Fung so that caused me to read the "Obesity Code". That got me curious about IF so I started another one of his books "The Complete Guide to Fasting". So far I have only fasted through breakfast twice but that has been something I have never done before. It did not bother me a bit. What was unique is I was on a long weekend trip to see my son and that meant lots of cocktails and very elaborate dinners in restaurants. I didn't gain a pound, a first for me. I plan on diving deeper into fasting with a longer fasts but that will need to be after Thanksgiving. From what I understand if may be easier, less stressful, for people on a low carb diet because they are at or closer to fat burning than a heavy carb eater but I am sure many non low carb people do IF with success. At this point I think I am more interested in the health benefits than weight loss.

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

TLDNR version. Meta analysis of 32 (?) studies that show no health benefits to IF in humans to date. Animal studies do show some and more studies on human subjects is indicated.

It's important to note that a significant percentage of the time, the results of animal studies are not replicated in humans. This is evidence as opposed to the opinions of Fung who is widely discredited in scientific circles.

To date, the only demonstrable evidence for IF is that it is an eating schedule that may help people hit their calorie targets. Many have successfully used it that way including me. The energy balance equation still applies.

mmapags wrote: »

rsclause wrote: »

I saw a lot of push back and dislike on MFP for Dr. Jason Fung so that caused me to read the "Obesity Code". That got me curious about IF so I started another one of his books "The Complete Guide to Fasting". So far I have only fasted through breakfast twice but that has been something I have never done before. It did not bother me a bit. What was unique is I was on a long weekend trip to see my son and that meant lots of cocktails and very elaborate dinners in restaurants. I didn't gain a pound, a first for me. I plan on diving deeper into fasting with a longer fasts but that will need to be after Thanksgiving. From what I understand if may be easier, less stressful, for people on a low carb diet because they are at or closer to fat burning than a heavy carb eater but I am sure many non low carb people do IF with success. At this point I think I am more interested in the health benefits than weight loss.

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

TLDNR version. Meta analysis of 32 (?) studies that show no health benefits to IF in humans to date. Animal studies do show some and more studies on human subjects is indicated.

It's important to note that a significant percentage of the time, the results of animal studies are not replicated in humans. This is evidence as opposed to the opinions of Fung who is widely discredited in scientific circles.

To date, the only demonstrable evidence for IF is that it is an eating schedule that may help people hit their calorie targets. Many have successfully used it that way including me. The energy balance equation still applies.

While I agree that animal studies are out-of-context as it pertains to humans and more studies are needed; there is a lot of good peer-review available even just via Google Scholar discussing the benefits of IF in humans.

I would also agree that calorie management is still needed with IF, one cannot binge and expect to hit their weight management goals.

Aside from available information, I'll give my personal observations after just six months of IF. To note, that before starting I was 235lbs at 6 foot tall, not horribly overweight but wanting to drop some bodyfat.

Pre-IF: I was eating at a health calorie deficit for about 1 year and had lost some of the weight I wanted. I had been training 3 days a week and my programming was based around compound lifts and some other volume exercises, conditioning was nothing more than walking with a weighted vest, walking without the vest, or occasional bike intervals. However, within that one year my cholesterol had not changed (bad was okay / good too low / overall total flagged my cholesterol as bad). I am also a TRT patient.


6-mo IF: My training has not changed, my calorie deficit has not changed. My nutrition sources are basically lean meats, better carb sources, green veggies; dare I saw a more "clean" diet (unchanged from what I did pre-IF). My weight is down another 10lbs, I have visible abs. My good cholesterol took a drastic upward tick, which was great and quite surprising. My total testosterone spiked about 300 points and my doctor actually lowered my dosage (happened at month 4). Again, my training had not changed, my calories consumption was unchanged, and nothing else had changed in my life except adding IF.

I am NOT claiming this to be scientific and it is a consideration that another 6-months of being at a calorie deficit by itself had made some of these changes happen. But to have these changes occur with literally no other variables in my life change except the introduction of IF is a little compelling to me. I actually have a chart of my cholesterol over the last 8 years and it's basically a flat line over time, until this year when my good cholesterol went up several points. I've also been as light as 198 lbs and stronger than I am today, but not as lean as I am today at 222lbs and my training methodology then was similar enough to what I do today.

For anybody interested, go to Google Scholar and search "Intermittent Fasting in Humans" and you'll find a lot of peer review. Do ignore the animal specific studies as they are out-of-context. Also, never draw conclusions from one piece of peer-review unless the results are just so incredibly strong and irrefuteable.