Fasting

I heard of a book called "eat stop eat" it is all about fasting 1 or 2 days a week. I haven't read it, am interested to see if anyone else has?

It's a great book, it explained why when I was on a 6wk plateau, then got sick (incredibly...along with my kids)...then through sheer exhaustion started eating fast food again (easier to drive to Taco Bell than drive to the grocery store to shop for an hour) in a huge calories once a day format...I lost almost 14lbs in 2wks...and hit my target goal (another 6lbs), within the next 2wks.

IF is a VERY useful tool...but it's not a cure all. Also...it requires self control to properly execute. I use something like the leangains approace 5 days a week, and then on the weekends I eat when I like. Interestingly (but not unusually), my hunger on the weekend follows my typical schedule of eating (2-4pm/8-10pm)...so most weeks it's a 7 day thing. I just like being able to cook breakfast for the kids, or go out to breakfast with my family with no restriction. This doesn't happen on weekdays.

Very helpful...Thank you so much! Do you mind me asking if you have tried this and if you weighed if there was a postive or negative result because of the fast? I plan on weighing tomorrow and feel it will be counterproductive to my reset if I see a positive number tomm when I weigh in. :-) Thanks

I will be honest, your fixation on your scale, and IF...aren't really compatible. If you can't stay off the scale when you know you're going to have a problem...you won't be able to control your eating after 14, 16, 18, or 20hrs of fasting (much less the 24hrs recommended in ESE). Work on your self control, and then think about IF. Unless you believe that you can use one to subdue the other. Just remember, all the IF in the world isn't going to do you any good if you binge after.

Good luck!

Fasting is not healthy. I've done fasting for good causes (to win money for poor people in Le Caire and for mentally ill people in central Africa). They were 47 hours long. But even if you do not have a binge after that and you still eat healthy food, you'll gain weight. How? For a long time, your body will take its energy from your fat to stay active. When you start eating again, your body will be craving food and make twice reserve of fat as if it was ready to go back to fasting mode. That's what my nutritionist told me. Seriously, don't fast. It's not good for your body and even if it's somehow good for your willpower/self-control, I am sure there is other way to do that (like meditating, for example).

Fasting is not healthy. I've done fasting for good causes (to win money for poor people in Le Caire and for mentally ill people in central Africa). They were 47 hours long. But even if you do not have a binge after that and you still eat healthy food, you'll gain weight. How? For a long time, your body will take its energy from your fat to stay active. When you start eating again, your body will be craving food and make twice reserve of fat as if it was ready to go back to fasting mode. That's what my nutritionist told me. Seriously, don't fast. It's not good for your body and even if it's somehow good for your willpower/self-control, I am sure there is other way to do that (like meditating, for example).

Complete and utter conjecture sauce on a steak seasoned with fairytales and grilled in Narnia.

You really want to lose weight ? It's pretty simple. Two simple rules to live by:
1) Eat right
2) MOVE YOUR *kitten*
No need to fast. You can even eat a WHOLE LOT without having to be hungry at all. There are loads of foods you can have tons of that hardly have any calories. It's just a mindset. It's tough the first 3-4 weeks to get used to it, but once you're past that first block it all gets easier. I have lost tones of weight, and a lot of people on this site have done so too, without fasting for a single day.
You can do it too, but it takes a lot of dedication. Don't give in when you "want" the bad stuff. You can have some in moderation, but it has to stay "moderation" and not 600 kcal every single day ;-)
Don't worry when you have a bad day every once in a while. I have one every single week. Some weeks I have 2 or 3 of them. Still lost 90 pounds, with the bad days :-)

Very helpful...Thank you so much! Do you mind me asking if you have tried this and if you weighed if there was a postive or negative result because of the fast? I plan on weighing tomorrow and feel it will be counterproductive to my reset if I see a positive number tomm when I weigh in. :-) Thanks

I'm not the person you asked, but I typically see about a half pound of fat loss after my fast days. (The scale is even lower immediately after breaking my fast, but some of that seems to be water weight... so I wait until the day after to weigh in.)

I just wanted to say to the op, this guy here? Hes the one you need to listen to on fasting. I've seen several of his posts around the site and hes done extensive research on fasting and has implemented much of it. As a religious person, I fast on occasion for religious reasons, but all too often, people do fasts hoping for overnight astronomical weight loss and don't do it properly. There is a way to fuel your body extra efficiently the days prior heavy on the nutrients and vitamins, and work up to long fasts very slowly. Talk to this guy here, he knows his stuff.

Fasting throws you for a spin for sure... I fasted every Friday for 40 days (lenten) and it was a little challenging at the beginning... this was not done for loss purpose, what I'm finding very helpful is slowly replacing (started with 1 a week) regular meals with either raw vegetable and or fruits, I'm also throwing in the mix juicing you will be surprised by the benefits of raw fruit and vegetables.... whatever you do slowly ease yourself in...

Fasting is not healthy. I've done fasting for good causes (to win money for poor people in Le Caire and for mentally ill people in central Africa). They were 47 hours long.

Fasting to win money for poor people strikes me as a very poor reason to fast, and no one here is talking about fasting for 47 hours. Maybe if you were on a hunger strike and protesting some unjust regime . . ..

Shhhhhhhhh

I just wanted to say to the op, this guy here? Hes the one you need to listen to on fasting. I've seen several of his posts around the site and hes done extensive research on fasting and has implemented much of it. As a religious person, I fast on occasion for religious reasons, but all too often, people do fasts hoping for overnight astronomical weight loss and don't do it properly. There is a way to fuel your body extra efficiently the days prior heavy on the nutrients and vitamins, and work up to long fasts very slowly. Talk to this guy here, he knows his stuff.

Haha, thanks! There are extensive literature and case studies about IF online... so I spent nearly an entire day reading a lot of it during my first fast. My 'psychological hunger' had me pretty ravenous, so I had to distract myself by learning about the good I was doing for my body. If anybody has any specific questions, I'll see if I can comb back through my history for citations.

Your body will NOT even CONSIDER going into 'starvation mode' and slowing your metabolism inside of 72hrs with little or no caloric intake. This has been proven by study after study after study. ALONG WITH THE REST OF WHAT I SAID.

So again. Total BS.

Yup. True 'starvation mode' (or more accurately, 'famine response') is when carb and fat stores are completely depleted after a long period of extreme calorie deficiency, and you start metabolizing lean tissue and muscle. Not remotely gonna happen in 24, or even 72, hours.

Fasting does, of course, affect the metabolism. With one and two day fasts, these effects are entirely temporary and upon breaking your fast your metabolism returns to normal. (And can be partially offset by upping your activity level during fast days.) Beginning with three day and longer fasts, your metabolism *can* be more chronically depressed. But a lot of that can be avoided by breaking your fast properly, and maintaining activity levels while fasted. Still, you're looking at diminishing returns after 24 hours, so unless you have some very specific health reason for fasting longer than a day, stick to 24 hours (once or twice a week).

I tried to do two fasts a week, but I felt too deprived. I *love* food, and I work in a very foodie-centric office. It's hard for me to say no to the delicious dishes my coworkers always bring in to share. So I've settled on one a week, which I can do without feeling like I'm missing anything.

She seemed to go out of her way to insult me, but as long as people get information ....

Yikes! Missed that. Sorry!

P.s. I am currently 20 hours fasted and just got back from a nearly two hour run... burnt ~1,500 calories according to my HRM. Once you're used to being in a fasted state, energy is simply not an issue.

I've never heard of fasting just 1 or 2 days before. I will look up the Fast 5 book. Thanks!

That would be one or two 24 hour fasts each week. That is what Eat Stop Eat is all about. The book is worth the read.

Fasting does, of course, affect the metabolism. With one and two day fasts, these effects are entirely temporary and upon breaking your fast your metabolism returns to normal. (And can be partially offset by upping your activity level during fast days.) Beginning with three day and longer fasts, your metabolism *can* be more chronically depressed. But a lot of that can be avoided by breaking your fast properly, and maintaining activity levels while fasted. Still, you're looking at diminishing returns after 24 hours, so unless you have some very specific health reason for fasting longer than a day, stick to 24 hours (once or twice a week).

This is what I meant when I suggested that your body won't even consider 'starvation mode' within 72hrs. The definition of starvation mode on this forum is incredibly liberal, inaccurate, and highly over used. In a 24hr fast, often...your metabolism speeds up. Adding activity and/or exercise to that just increases the fat burning benifits.

P.s. I am currently 20 hours fasted and just got back from a nearly two hour run... burnt ~1,500 calories according to my HRM. Once you're used to being in a fasted state, energy is simply not an issue.

DEFINITELY!! I get my BEST workouts fasted...and that's heavy strength training (I loathe running lol).

This IF thing has got me really interested now..

BUT

.. I have a history of eating disorders, and find that as soon as I say "I'm on a diet", my body freaks out, I binge, eat things in quantities I never would have on any other day, and I think it's because my body is stocking up because it doesn't know when it's next going to get any food! (sounds ridiculous i know but it's the only way i can explain). This time round I'm doing okay as I'm making lifestyle choices - going to the gym alot, eating well but not denying myself anything.
I fear that if I fast, even just for 24 hrs, it's going to trigger a response in me and cause me to binge! and whenever I binge, the first thing I go to do is purge (generally spend 20 mins arguing with myself about it, then when i decide to go to do it, i know all the cals have been absorbed anyway so i don't do it, i just go in a bad mood all day.)

I guess I would have to look at it differently. Sometimes this happens anyway without me even realising it, if i have got a busy day in university for example, I won't eat until 4 - 5 o clock which is about a 22hr fast.

Pointless post, just wondering whether anyone has any views on what i should do, or a way to do it without triggering that instinct?

find that as soon as I say "I'm on a diet", my body freaks out, I binge, eat things in quantities I never would have on any other day, and I think it's because my body is stocking up because it doesn't know when it's next going to get any food!

Your body?

It sounds like you are describing something you clearly don't have any ownership or control of.

Nope, couldn't be -your- body.

This is what I meant when I suggested that your body won't even consider 'starvation mode' within 72hrs. The definition of starvation mode on this forum is incredibly liberal, inaccurate, and highly over used. In a 24hr fast, often...your metabolism speeds up. Adding activity and/or exercise to that just increases the fat burning benifits.

I figured that's what you meant--just wanted to shed some extra light on the issue. As you said, there's a looottt of misinformation floating about.

DEFINITELY!! I get my BEST workouts fasted...and that's heavy strength training (I loathe running lol).

Running is fun! Have you tried barefoot or minimalist running? I hated running, too, until I tried it without running shoes. Totally different world.

find that as soon as I say "I'm on a diet", my body freaks out, I binge, eat things in quantities I never would have on any other day, and I think it's because my body is stocking up because it doesn't know when it's next going to get any food!

Your body?

It sounds like you are describing something you clearly don't have any ownership or control of.

Nope, couldn't be -your- body.

No, I'm not denying that it is MY body, and my choices. Have you ever had an eating disorder? Do you know the psychological battles that it causes you to have with yourself?

I'm asking for help, not judgement. So if you don't have anything useful to say, I'd rather you said nothing at all.

Cheers.