How to not mess up hormones when starting IF?

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Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    On the hormone thing, I haven't studied it, so I would look into it if planning to do a more extreme version of IF, but given how many people routinely skip a meal and the variety of human eating patterns I can't imagine that merely eating in an 8 hour window would be a problem if you are eating enough and a well-balanced diet with enough fat.

    I would be more concerned about extensive fasts, and I would be very careful that you don't pick a pattern that causes you to eat too low (or a less healthy diet to get in all the cals in a short window).
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Your comment was: "What I learned from that experience is how hard it is to eat the calories one can eat in a normal eating pattern unless you're practicing gluttony. And, if you are practicing gluttony, you're not going to achieve weight loss no matter what eating schedule protocol you follow."

    On the definition of gluttony: in casual conversation, yes, it means habitual excess in eating. That does not merely meaning "eating too many calories and gaining weight." It's commonly used to refer to eating huge amounts of food at a time (ironically) and gorging on expensive or wasteful things. A really good example of classic gluttony (in pretty much all ways) is Petronius' Dinner With Trimalchio section in the Satyricon (working title for Great Gatsby was Dinner With Trimalchio, btw, and Petronius was Nero's arbiter of taste, as well as an author of this truly bizarre novel that is fascinating for its insights into certain aspects of Roman culture).

    More broadly, it's one of the seven deadly sins, and again the definition is more broad than merely eating. In particular, it is the sinful the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything. Excessive means both more than one needs (so habitually overeating to the point of obesity can be included -- but I note that you chose a word with an inherent moral connotation). The more significant use of the term is excessive in the sense of using more than your share, causing others to go without, not being willing to share with others. (And importantly again, this is not merely, or primarily, about food.)

    According to St. Thomas Aquinas and others, gluttony would also include thinking about food excessively, over-anticipation of meals, and -- again similar to the conversational usage -- too much focus on fancy, costly, indulgent foods.

    What I personally found incorrect in what you said was the idea that one cannot overeat when doing IF unless one is gluttonous, as if this were different from other ways of eating. If you were not trying to claim that was something different in general (and to insult those for whom IF doesn't work, or who find that they can easily gain on IF, not sure what you were trying to say -- I think you did not communicate it well).

    FOR ME, it's FAR easier to gain weight (to mindlessly overeat) if I graze for a period of time on higher cal foods than if I eat 3 meals a day that basically fit my usual meal templates. I would find it very difficult to gain weight if I ate mindfully and only at regular meals (even if they are spread over the day, as mine are -- at 6, 12, and 9, usually). However, in contrast to you, I don't insist that someone for whom my preferred and easy schedule does not work must therefore be practicing gluttony. (An example of what I (unlike you) do not say: "what I learned from my experience in losing and maintaining weight is how hard it is to eat the calories in 3 standard time meals that one can following some other eating patterns unless you are practicing gluttony." See, that would be to suggest that anyone who tended to overeat on 3 meals = glutton, and that would not be correct. But it's precisely the same as what you said.)

    I suppose you could argue that you only meant that no one gains weight without being a glutton, and while I think that's needlessly moralizing about the issue and not helpfully addressing the reasons many people find it easy to overeat without realizing how many calories they are consuming, I might have objected to that less. But that wouldn't explain why you were drawing a contrast between IF (IF works for everyone who is not a glutton) and other ways of eating. In theory, if eating more calories than you burn = gluttony in your mind, everyone who gains is a glutton and IF or no makes no difference. Just don't be a glutton. (But since that ignores the context and history of the word glutton, I would say it's a poor or uneducated word choice if that's the intended meaning.)

    I refreshed before I posted my reply which said "if you are so greedily consumed by your desire to eat that you would take food from a hungry person you are a glutton."
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Well, that would be a much shorter and better way to say basically the same thing!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    I am not working out at this time but I have worked out fasted before. It increases autophagy whether you may believe it or not.

    How would I be able to measure this autophagy increase for myself? And does this have anything to do with hormone production?
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Now, someone asked me what my comment had to do about female hormones. I probably got off original topic as did others and for that I ask for your forgiveness. But, and this will result in more stones being thrown at me, this female hormone stuff is not a free card to hang your hat on with regard to weight gain. Men have hormones too. You don't hear me going around blaming my weight gain on my hormones. Nope, it's because I am or was a glutton. Now given, hormones can wreck havoc with one's body and us guys can have our testosterone which can contribute to us being ballistic at times, even get into fights, exhibit road rage, you name it. We all have a responsibility to manage our emotions and thoughts and be responsible for our conduct as a human being. If I eat like a glutton, I'll gain weight and I won't be blaming it on my hormones. Nor will I cry about it because I've gained a few lbs. and attribute it to my hormones. This hormone thing blame game is a woo at it's finest.

    Everyone has testosterone. It's a myth that natal females just don't produce testosterone.
  • lleeann2001
    lleeann2001 Posts: 410 Member
    @lemurcat2 I dont understand your statement. You guys have a good day...Ciao .💝
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    @lemurcat2 I dont understand your statement. You guys have a good day...Ciao .💝

    I had a typo, which might be the problem. Anyway, I edited to make it clearer. Hope that helps!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Fasting is healing to the body. I know you people dont agree, but you dont have to because I see the good results and positive effects in me..😁

    What good results are you referring to?
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Fasting is healing to the body. I know you people dont agree, but you dont have to because I see the good results and positive effects in me..😁

    What good results are you referring to?

    I'm very curious about this myself. Because I lost the bulk of my weight adhering to an IF protocol, and now I'm leaning out chasing aesthetic goals not using one.

    I really feel no different.

    At all. Except my bras are looser :p

    I'm an experienced dieter. I've tried everything, failed multiple times. I'm successful this time and have maintained a large weight loss for three years now, which is allowing me the luxury of playing around with vanity weight.

    So, I'm interested in what measurable results someone else has that they can specifically attribute to IF alone.