Fasting - does it work?

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  • imbanter
    imbanter Posts: 72 Member
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    So.......this is day three of my diet, i am starvin, i am eating and yet i can eat a big meal and still be starvin......im hungry right now! The things im curious about:
    does over night count as a fast window? someone else seems to think?
    i get dizzy with no food......i treadmill when i gym, does dizziness go away with hunger pains lol
    besides this, so much has been said about having right meals 6 small over the day blah blah, now fasting is good and i am tempted to put my head in a bucket of water :sad:
    i for the last two days have been SUPER hungry, so i eat a small/medium meal which use to quench me, now does nothing....
    so today for example, at 10 i ate.....i was hungry at 11 again....and im about to go an eat again now before tea cos lets face it i am :explode: :grumble: :angry: :mad: :noway: :frown: :devil: when im hungry .......so is my i feel like im starving myself fasting rofl, benefitting me at all, i hate diets!


    You should still be consuming all of your required calories. From what other members have sent me and what I've read women can consume their calories over 10 hours vs 8 for men and yes your sleep time counts. Maybe done of you experienced IF rs (thats right I said it) could help out here?
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    I fast daily from 10pm-2pm.
    This helps also when your calories are lower because you are have a couple big meals as opposed to 5 small meals.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    To answer the questions re: combining fasting with working out and sleep...

    Yes, everyone has their fasting window encompass their sleeping hours. That just makes simple sense. My fast is from 8pm-noon every day. Much of that is spent sleeping.

    In terms of timing fasting and workouts, the *ideal* format for Leangains is to workout just prior to the first meal of your feed cycle, but to get some pre-workout protein (ideally in the form of pure BCAA), and then to take in 60-80% of your daily calories in your monster post-workout meal. Keep in mind that his system is designed primarily for lbm retention and strength building, with a side benefit (he claims) of being good for fat loss. In my experience: it is effective for maintaining slow strength gains while very gradually reducing bodyfat on a calorie cycling program. Not everyone on Leangains will have the same goals, and mine are likely not representative of the majority of its adherents.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
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    Hey there!

    Let me go over your post point by point:
    So.......this is day three of my diet, i am starvin, i am eating and yet i can eat a big meal and still be starvin......im hungry right now!

    You can't really look at IF as a diet, for one. It's not...it's just a different method of eating. You still eat ALL of your calories...just in a smaller window of time.
    The things im curious about:
    does over night count as a fast window? someone else seems to think?

    ABSOLUTELY!! Most of us wouldn't do it if we had to refrain from eating during all of our waking hours lol. We all love food too much!
    i get dizzy with no food......i treadmill when i gym, does dizziness go away with hunger pains lol

    This brings up other issues, but what you have to get your mind around is that cardio isn't really about fat loss (yes you lose 'weight'...but the large portion of that weight, isn't fat!)...it's about burning calories which in the end simply allows you to eat more and maintain your deficit. So yes, it's NO SURPRISE that you're hungry lol! My advice is to get yourself onto a heavy lifting program. Search heavy lifting on the forums...there's a TON of good information out there. The benifits are much improved body recomposition (burned fat, maintained lean mass), improved metabolic response, fat oxidation, and again, maintaining lean mass. Cardio provides none of these. The other real benifit is that you're burning less calories while exercising...which helps you keep your hunger in check. In all honesty, cardio does have its benifits (heart and lung health), but when compared to strength training, for fat loss, body recomposition, and muscle/bone health...it doesn't even compare.
    besides this, so much has been said about having right meals 6 small over the day blah blah, now fasting is good and i am tempted to put my head in a bucket of water :sad:

    This...wouldn't be good for you =p. Seriously though...I know it seems complicated. But it really doesn't have to be. That's the joy of IF. You simply eat what you normally would, include plenty of each macro nutrient (being general here for simplicity), and just do it over a 6-10hr window in your day (usually starting sometime in the early afternoon). How much more simple could it be? No eating every four hours, no complicated effort to carry all kinds of foods with you...none of it.

    Simplicity itself.
    i for the last two days have been SUPER hungry, so i eat a small/medium meal which use to quench me, now does nothing....
    so today for example, at 10 i ate.....i was hungry at 11 again....and im about to go an eat again now before tea cos lets face it i am :explode: :grumble: :angry: :mad: :noway: :frown: :devil: when im hungry .......so is my i feel like im starving myself fasting rofl, benefitting me at all, i hate diets!

    Again, no diet!! Picture it like this. You have a large dinner at 6-8pm...maybe a snack right before bed at 9pm...go to sleep, wake up...work (or spend) your day doing things that keep you occupied, then at 1pm 'ish' you eat a middle sized meal...gym at 3pm 'ish' (on lift days, you only need to work out 3x a week if you're doing it right), then dinner and your snack again. I used to do this 5 days a week, and would eat more normally on the weekends. Lately though, I've found that I'm just not hungry in the mornings on the weekend, so unless I'm making a big breakfast for my kids (bacon, eggs, french toast, etc)...I don't eat until pretty close to my normal afternoon window anyhow. So the weekends just end up being a slightly larger window, rather than an all day eat fest =p.

    Anyhow, I hope that I've helped you. NOTHING will work if its overly complicated and confusing. Once something is broken down into a more simplistic view...things come together quickly! If you have any other questions feel free to ask, please. I certainly don't mind helping.
  • lion_queen
    lion_queen Posts: 37
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    Fasting for health? This. Is. The. Most. Stupidest. Thing. Ive. EVER. Heard.

    Come on - do you really think that not eating for 16 hours is going to harm you? Chances are you will be asleep 6-8 hours of that so really you aren't eating for 8 of the hours you are awake. Doesn't sounds too dangerous or extreme to me. You still take in your required calories and up them slightly on workout days.

    Umm, I was quoting a reply, that someone said, that was fasting 5-7 days a week? Im not a nutrician, but it sounds pretty unhealthy for me. ;P My last meal is around 7 pm. And my first one is around 11-12 am, so I can tell, Im fasting everyday. ;)
  • bluecrush21
    bluecrush21 Posts: 3
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    I cleanse twice a week with my program, inches and pounds melt off!!
  • MeMyCatsandI
    MeMyCatsandI Posts: 704 Member
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    I do eat stop eat. 24 hour fasting twice a week. AND it works for me.
    Good golly.. I don't know if I'd be able to go 24 hours without food one time much less twice a week! Are you working out on your fasting days or are you leaving that for the days you eat? Since so many responders have said it works, I'm willing to try fasting, I just think it might make me ... sad )=
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    I do eat stop eat. 24 hour fasting twice a week. AND it works for me.
    Good golly.. I don't know if I'd be able to go 24 hours without food one time much less twice a week! Are you working out on your fasting days or are you leaving that for the days you eat? Since so many responders have said it works, I'm willing to try fasting, I just think it might make me ... sad )=

    ESE is 24 hours but you still eat every day.
    You could have your last meal on monday night at 8pm then eat the next night at 8pm.
    Do the Intermittent Fasting enough and youll program certain hormonal responses in your body.
    This helps with fat loss and hunger issues.
  • ColleenRoss50
    ColleenRoss50 Posts: 199 Member
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    I just did a 36 hour water fast (included coffee and tea) from about 8 pm Thursday to about 8 am Saturday. A bit different than what others are talking about here but I believe it is still within the time range to be called intermittent fasting. I might start doing it once a week for now. (I wouldn't recommend more than once a week for a 36 hour fast). My goal is not to reduce calories as I am currently averaging a loss of a tad over a lb. a week as is and I am satisfied with that. What I have done is added on the calories I saved by not eating for one day of the week to my daily calorie goal so I get to eat a little more on the other six days. :smile:

    I am not a stranger to fasting (have done it every now and again throughout my adult life) so for me it is easy.

    It is simply a mindset. You start the day with the decision not to eat that day or for however many hours you choose and as long as you keep that mindset the rest is easy.
  • delikium
    delikium Posts: 196 Member
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    I think fasting can have many health benefits mentally as well physically.
    People have done it for centuries, for various reasons.
    (before science even invented asphertame and started using it as a 'healthy' sugar replacement)
  • delikium
    delikium Posts: 196 Member
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    I cleanse twice a week with my program, inches and pounds melt off!!

    sorry, what program is that exactly?
    and how long? are there any bad reactions from fasting too regulary within lets say a year?
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/#axzz1u7aXj500

    This is the start of a good series on fasting.
    Check it out.
    All the benefits are explained.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    i love this thread, i try to stay under my calories most days but it says im going into starvation mode. thank you everyone.

    Intermittend fasting isn't 'staying under your calories'. You eat your calories, you just eat them withing a certain time period each day...or, you eat your maintenance 4-5 days a week, and don't eat for 24hrs 2-3 days a week.
    Again, what benifit is there in a 12hr or so fast? Even the 16hr fast leangains recommends is a compromise. The true, scientifically proven benifits are just before, at, and just past the 24hr mark.

    Source? Martin links studies that indicate that the hormonal responses occur around the 14-16 hour mark.

    @Healthybodyhe: I'm guessing that you are responding from a position of ignorance here. I eat just as much now as I did before I started doing IF; I just do it more intelligently and within a specific window each day.

    You misunderstood me. 14-16hrs is where they begin, what's the benifit to 12hrs? THAT was my point. Also...if they begin at 14-16hrs, and level off at the 24hr mark as the studies show, you reap more of the benifits by fasting 24hrs. The reason Martin's (leangains) method is a compromise, is he's not doing it strictly to burn fat, you're also building muscle. Understand, by 'compromise' I don't mean anything negative. In Martin's method, the compromise is building muscle and burning fat, both excellent goals. In Brad's method, maintaining muscle and burning fat is the goal.

    I hope that makes more sense now.
    What in the world? Fasting is NOT healthy for you! Common sense here.
    Look at those who are doing it. You will notice that very often they have the greatest results and have been here for a long time.

    Because by not eating you are harming your body. Just because somebody has done it and has been here for a long time doesn't mean a thing. It's called anorexia. Your body NEEDS food. By not eating you're actually causing your metabolism to slow down when most people (correct me if I am wrong) want it to speed up. EAT. Your body needs it. You're not cleaning out your system by not eating, you're causing your organs to stop doing it's job. Who wants that? Like I said. Common sense.

    Umm...do I look anorexic? I eat 3000 calories on lift days, and around 2000 on off days. Try forcing an anorexic to do that. And for the record I've been IFing for close to a year now. Please, inform yourself before crusading your way into a topic in which you have no knowledge or experience. I understand you have great intentions. In this case however, you're simply wrong.

    Perfect response. :flowerforyou:
  • delikium
    delikium Posts: 196 Member
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    . I don't personally think 24 fasting its bad because it had been practiced for centuries in various religions.

    those religions used to stone a women to death if she walked in front of her husband. fasting or not fasting should not be guided by religion.

    oh, why not???
  • MeMyCatsandI
    MeMyCatsandI Posts: 704 Member
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    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/#axzz1u7aXj500

    This is the start of a good series on fasting.
    Check it out.
    All the benefits are explained.
    Thanks! I, for one, am going to do some more reading on this topic. It sounds like it might be worth a try,
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    So.......this is day three of my diet, i am starvin, i am eating and yet i can eat a big meal and still be starvin......im hungry right now! The things im curious about:
    does over night count as a fast window? someone else seems to think?
    i get dizzy with no food......i treadmill when i gym, does dizziness go away with hunger pains lol
    besides this, so much has been said about having right meals 6 small over the day blah blah, now fasting is good and i am tempted to put my head in a bucket of water :sad:
    i for the last two days have been SUPER hungry, so i eat a small/medium meal which use to quench me, now does nothing....
    so today for example, at 10 i ate.....i was hungry at 11 again....and im about to go an eat again now before tea cos lets face it i am :explode: :grumble: :angry: :mad: :noway: :frown: :devil: when im hungry .......so is my i feel like im starving myself fasting rofl, benefitting me at all, i hate diets!


    You should still be consuming all of your required calories. From what other members have sent me and what I've read women can consume their calories over 10 hours vs 8 for men and yes your sleep time counts. Maybe done of you experienced IF rs (thats right I said it) could help out here?

    I would need to see her food diary.

    Willing to bet that there is too many carbs (possibly processed), not enough fat or protein.

    I have combined Paleo and IF and working beautifully for me. Have overcome binge eating and bulimia with this lifestyle.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    My goal is not to reduce calories...

    No one doing IF is trying to reduce calories. They eat whatever their current program provides. They merely confine their eating to a particular window, or if they do 24-hour fasts they eat only five or six days a week and the rest of the time they consume liquids: water, tea, coffee maybe with a little bit of dairy, sugarless beverages.

    Any calorie reduction would be in not going over one's program. For example, I was eating stuff I did not need at night. On the days I do IF, I don't eat after dinner until the next day so that immediately cuts out those extra calories.

    Some people call Intermittent Fasting "Intermittent Feeding." You're still eating, just not as frequently.

    Eating less frequently makes it easier for some people to stick to their calorie maximum.
  • keddabee
    keddabee Posts: 81
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    I've just started fasting and I fast from 7pm thursday nights to 7pm Friday nights. In that time all I drink it water and Green Tea. I felt really great afterwards and actually felt hungry! My skin has started to clear up which I'm sure is due to the healthier eating as well. I would recommend it to anyone to give it a go and see if its for them but listen to your body. If you feel faint or dizzy you need to adjust the plan to suit your needs! Good luck!
  • MeMyCatsandI
    MeMyCatsandI Posts: 704 Member
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    Eating less frequently makes it easier for some people to stick to their calorie maximum.

    This is what I hope it might help me with also. When I eat breakfast first thing in the morning and then try to spread my calories over the rest of my waking hours, I feel hungry all day and can hardly wait for the next meal or snack. But the longer I can put off my first meal, the better off I think I might be. Once I start eating, unless I eat enough to get full, I'm never quite happy. So if I have to eat all my calories in the span of 4-6 hours, I think my tummy would be happy/full. Maybe I could stop thinking about food all the time.
  • Leylaos
    Leylaos Posts: 136 Member
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    i have experience in fasting for religous purpose ,fasting is very benefical for self control maybe if u have bad eating habbits ect,but the best way to fast i personally find is to wake up before sunrise eat porriage ,fruits milk or eggs then eat after sunet ,break ur fast with salad or soup n eat light meals ,as greasy/spicey foods will give u heart burn n if u over eat after ur get fatter,

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