My Day Fasting Success!

No matter how little time you spend eating, or your reason for eating, if you eat more calories than you burn, you won't have "weight management success".

Rea20021989 wrote: »

Yeah, anyone who is saying fasting has no benefits other than calorie deficit really ought to look up autophagy. Just saying.

You can't say that "fasting" has any specific benefits since there are so many different things people use the term for, and because the research so far is pretty all over the place and inconclusive. Some seem to think that skipping a meal (which is a very common practice) = "fasting" and even is something hard to do or that requires working up to. I think sometimes the idea that one is doing something "hard" (even when it's not) can help some people with motivation, whereas others are the opposite.

With respect to the research to date, I find most likely that there could be some benefit to circadian rhythm based eating patterns and to occasional fasts (like a real fast, a day, not just eating within a window), and there's some evidence about reduced calories overtime too. (There's some evidence that putting all calories at the end of the day can be counterproductive, in contrast.)

There's also some evidence about lower protein or periods of lower protein, but those are in conflict with the evidence about the benefits of protein, especially as people grow older.

In any event, what I've seen is pretty minor or, again, inconclusive, and given that choices about when to eat can make a big difference to how easy eating well or calorie-appropriate is, I'd say those matter much more. But IF is currently popular, and for some people feeling like they are doing something special as part of a group can provide added incentive, at least for a while.

For me, I think the schedule you pick can make things easier and it makes sense to experiment to see if different schedules help, but since I'd find it hard to eat 10+ servings of veg, and adequate protein on OMAD (and the research seems to be that if you are going to do it the most healthful way is in the morning or lunchtime, when I would have an even harder time and when it would interfere with the ability to have social dinners/eat with family and friends), I know that would have serious negatives for me.

I think it's great for people to find out that they are people for whom it works well, but not cool to suggest that it's what everyone should be doing or in some way superior, given all the other considerations that go into weight maintenance, and a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes people seem to fixate on the diet du jour and ignore that many other things tend to be more important (like appropriate calories, generally healthy diet, being active). Rather than stress the differences, why not acknowledge that there are many choices that are healthy and work for people?

I do not intentionally do IF but some might say that is what I do. I usually don't eat before 11am and I usually don't eat after about 7pm. I just find that works for me on many different levels. I eat brunch and dinner and some type of mid afternoon snack. I have found that this method for me has stopped the all afternoon eating, my appetite is down and has eliminated my binging tendencies. It encourages me to focus on the foods that I need for my health(lean meat, vegetables, fruit) without me over thinking things. These things are the "pros" of how I eat.

The "cons"...sometimes my calorie counts are low with no desire to eat more because I am satiated by the foods I have eaten.

One other "pro" is that it has allowed me to get acquainted with my hunger pains, feeling full and let me learn that my desire to sometimes binge has nothing to do with being hungry.

I don't object to IF but I don't use the term even though my WOE might fall in to that category. Nor do I use the term "clean eating/whole foods/anything else even though about 90% of the foods that I eat might fall into one of those categories. I also don't like rules about eating especially if they were made by someone else.

I used the term "usually" to describe how I eat. That is because if for some reason I am hungry(truly hungry) at 8am or 11pm I will eat.

Rea20021989 wrote: »

Yeah, anyone who is saying fasting has no benefits other than calorie deficit really ought to look up autophagy. Just saying.

Bold of you to assume no one who's said it has not. Particularly when bodies do it even if not fasting.
I've yet to see anything particularly that can be attributed to fasting that isn't attributable to weight loss.

pierinifitness wrote: »

@snickerscharlie, thanks for your comments. Good for you that you're a seasoned IF practitioner, therefore "qualified" to make the comments you have based on your experience. I've never gained weight practicing IF.

Never say never. By your own admission, you've only been doing this for six months:

pierinifitness wrote: »

I've got about 6 months under my belt practicing IF in my current journey and just started OMAD.

I've known lots of people (myself included) who have lost, gained or maintained weight doing intermittent fasting. My point was - and still is - IF is merely a method that works for some people to control caloric intake, and that there's nothing magic or special about it.

Thanks also for your comments about how fasting provides no other benefits besides contributing to a calorie deficit but I prefer to get my information about this from more qualified sources.

Yet you want noobs here to listen to you? There's a bit of a disconnect there. Or Fung? Dude is a quack whose theories have been thoroughly debunked by people who are actually qualified within the medical and scientific community to do so, if you were inclined to research farther than the 'info-videos' he's produced. You are completely entitled to your own beliefs, but not your own facts.

Obviously weight management success comes from only eating when you're hungry and knowing the difference between real hunger rather than an excessive desire to eat out of boredom, habit or an emptiness in your life that you will with food. For some, it does become a little more challenging after fasting for 22-hours and that was likely your case with the weight you gained while practicing IF.

Did you miss the part where I said I've been doing IF for over three decades? If you read my profile, you will find that I lost the 75 lbs I needed to several years ago, and have been in maintenance ever since. Yes, I lost the weight doing IF by eating less. The very same way that I had gained it while doing IF by eating too much. That's the entire point. Intermittent fasting - in and of itself - does absolutely nothing to control or manage weight unless it's combined with the appropriate caloric intake.

For people new to weight management, promoting anything else is simply making an overwhelmingly confusing subject even more so.

pierinifitness wrote: »

Obviously weight management success comes from only eating when you're hungry and knowing the difference between real hunger rather than an excessive desire to eat out of boredom, habit or an emptiness in your life that you will with food. For some, it does become a little more challenging after fasting for 22-hours and that was likely your case with the weight you gained while practicing IF.

Wishing you the best.

Well, the bolded isn't necessarily true. I sometimes eat when I'm not hungry because I know I'm going to be busy and not get a chance to eat for some time. Weigh management success comes down to eating the correct amount of calories for your body. And I have been pretty much maintaining a 125+ pound weight loss for years.