Intermittent Fasting

What is the reasoning behind wanting to do this?

I don't see the point of it... but I'm not sure your reasons.

Here we go again. LOL.

I do this, my eating window is 6-10pm. It works well for me. I love not having to prepare multiple meals and snack and stop and eat every 3 hours.

Your body doesn't care when it gets fed, your body does not shut down digestion and metabolism at night time. Food eaten late at night will not automatically be stored as fat.

Exercising while fasted feels great!

I'm not so sure this is a good idea. The body needs a steady flow of fuel throughout the day and denying it this will lead to low blood sugar and generally feeling crap.

If your body gets a steady flow of fuel how will it ever use up the fuel stored on your hips, thighs and stomach. Serious question, I'm not for or against regular meals but I'm just trying to think critically about it.

Ding ding ding! Ten points to the critical thinker! This is exactly the point. And people obsessed with snacking on special k ans kashi bars every two hours to "keep their metabolism going" wonder why they can't lose weight! Hello give your body a chance to use its store of energy instead of grazing all day!

I am personally fond of the form of IF where you fast for one or two whole days a week. [:

For anyone interested in more information about IF, the diets are called either Eat Stop Eat or JUDDD (which stands for Johnsons up day down day).

I personally am doing JUDDD now. Simply put, rotate between up days and down days. A up day would be eating just about anything up to a max of 2000 calories. Then the next day would be a down day where you can only eat up to 400 calories.

Research the diets, you can get the scientific explanations.

I’ve been doing Intermittent Fasting since mid-January. Using MyFitnessPal, I was consuming 1,700 calories spread out over 5-6 meals, which can be somewhat difficult. That was my first attraction to IF, the ability to eat a large social meal if I wanted to. It is much easier to eat a 1,700 calorie meal.
I started off with the www.leangains.com 16/8 IF, but now I do more of a 20/4 IF. I always consume some pre-workout protein for weightlifting and I end the fast right after my weightlifting session. I have done fasted cardio with good success and I’ve tried a 42 hour extended fast. I’m not sure if I got much benefit off the extended fast, but I’ll try it again sometime. I lost 5 lbs, but then gained it right back and I seemed to have lost some lean muscle.
The first week or two of IF are difficult to adjust to, but after that it is a breeze. Controlling hunger during the day is much easier than controlling the snacking at night. I never was a coffee drinker, but now I am finding I really do enjoy black coffee while on the fast. I also found some sugar free cinnamon gum to chew on when hunger pains strike.
I don’t know if IF is any better or worse than eating multiple meals throughout the day, I just find it more likeable. My weight loss progress has stayed about the same either way. Either way the macronutrient goals set by MyFitnessPal are what I go by, IF is just the method I consume them in.

I'm not so sure this is a good idea. The body needs a steady flow of fuel throughout the day and denying it this will lead to low blood sugar and generally feeling crap.

This is a common misconception. I have fasted every day since mid-January (20/4) and I have never had a low blood sugar episode. As for the feeling like crap, I get that question often or “how do you have energy?” too. Truth is food doesn’t give you energy, your activity level does. I am very active now and have never felt better. Activity level is also what drives your metabolism. I compare our bodies to cars. Food is the gasoline we put in, but the amount of power we have is determined by our engine size (muscle). If you lack energy, you need to put on more muscle not eat more food. If anything we have too much energy from food, that’s why it gets stored as fat.
Now days I play racquetball about once a week, and most of those times I am in the fasted state for 16-20 hours. I play hard from start to finish and never think about how long I’ve gone without food. Afterwards I’m tired, which is to be expected fasted or fed. One time I did play racquetball 3 hours after consuming a 1,200 calorie meal. I’ve never felt worse or more lethargic on the court.

I do a window style of eating, mine is usually somewhere in the realm of 12-9 on at the "office" days, and when I'm at my own clinic I try to do 2-9.

I've been thinking of making my window a bit shorter, but I'm still a little nervous about it, I work in a registered massage therapist so massaging somebody's head while my stomach "serenades" them is a bit much sometimes :P

for some more information, check out

www.theiflife.com

www.leangains.com

I try to be an intuitive eater. I eat when I'm hungry

and my "natural" eating pattern seems to basically be this. I'm only ever really hungry between 6 and 10pm.

I eat between 7-12 at night, well sometimes to 3 am if I still have calories to eat . I've never been starving and have lost 19 pounds so far.

I've been doing the leangains IF (16 hour fast, 8 hour feeding window) for just over 6 weeks now, and I absolutely love it. I'm never hungry, and always go to bed satiated. I can eat a massive meal out with friends and have them wonder how it is that I'm losing weight I've lost around 8 pounds since starting (this is with very little exercise). I plan on trying ESE (eat stop eat) this week. I was never one to eat in the morning and found eating during the day to be a chore, hence why I love IF. You need to find something that suits you.