Intermittent Fasting Goes Mainstream

[fit44]

Title of Skwigg's latest blog entry.

http://skwigg.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/1874631/intermittent-fasting-goes-mainstream/

I caved and purchased Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat e-book.
DH and I have been IF for a few weeks now. Both of us find it fits with our lifestyle.
Skwigg read my mind. I love it for all the reasons she wrote in her blog.

"I found when I tried intermittent fasting. Rather than making me crazy and binge-prone, it made me more relaxed and appreciative. It untangled all of my normal food triggers (the clock, the television, my mood, my meal plan, conversation, social situations, the smell of food, a bazillion things other than actual hunger). It also gave me a kick of loopy energetic happiness. I felt kind of buzzed on fasting days and had trouble sitting still. I never had headaches or felt dizzy."


I know that buzz feeling she is describing!! I get that same feeling. It's weird around the 20th hour of fasting, that buzz feeling kicks in.
I also have a better sense of portion control. I also believe it is helping me distinguish between emotional hunger and physical hunger.

 

[Shellynfree]

It is amazing isn't it. I get that same feeling too doing Eat Stop Eat. I have found it very hard to go on a diet or anything to do with diet but Eat Stop Eat is so easy to follow. You don't get the sense that you are on a diet but rather like an achievement of doing something nice when you complete the fast. After that, you become aware that before that you actually eat not because you are hungry but for whatever reasons which I now can't quite understand.

 

[Gayle]

Thanks for posting that, Cynthia.

This line in the article totally summed up my IF experience.

"I found when I tried intermittent fasting. Rather than making me crazy and binge-prone, it made me more relaxed and appreciative."

 

[shelsmaha]

Cynthia,

I have been reading alot from the Eat Stop Eat website plus other things on IF. I unfortunately right now can't splurge on the e book. I have been getting info from other blogs etc. Do you do two full 24 hour fasts or smaller fasts? I did two weeks ago try to go from 6pm to 6 pm the next night and it was hard for me. I am thinking I could more easily do from 7pm to 4:30 pm. I know the 4:30 sounds odd but that would give me a chance to eat something before I pick up my grandson at 5:15!! He's one and I need my energy!! So that would be a 21 hour fast. Does that give any benefit? How are you doing your fasts?

Shellie

 

[kariev]

what a coincidence that this topic was posted! i purchased the eat-stop-eat e-book this morning and just finished reading it. I'm not sure what to think of it. For so long we have been taught to eat mini meals. I tend to be binge prone and i think a lot of it has to do with frequent eating. however, i'm very afraid to give this a go. i was thinking of trying it tomorrow but i'm really scared that i will either binge or end up feeling so crappy at work from not eating. i know that i feel so much better doing 3 larger meals per day than i do eating 6. i feel that i may miss my breakast as it is my favorite meal of the day but the easiest time for me to fast would be from 6pm to 6pm the following day. I wanted to know what your meal looks like after fasting? how big is it? did you gradually get into fasting or did you just plunge in? why did you decide to try this program?

 

[fit44]

Shellie,
In Brad's Q&A he states the 24 hour fast falls right in the middle of maximum adaption for fat burning. Research shows the body begins to burn significantly more fat after the 18 hour mark and levels off after 30 hours.

Kariev,
The first fast was the most difficult for me. I think it is for most people. Brad goes into detail the possible side effects in the Q & A section of his book. I experienced sugar withdrawals because I had been eating sugar for weeks. It broke the craving cycle for me but cost me a headache. That would have happened even if I chose not to fast and stopped eating the sugar.
My second fast went a lot easier and each fast after that has become easier. It kind of scary how easy they have become for me.
You don't have to dive into this with a full 24 hour fast. You can begin with shorter fast. Something like 7 pm- 7am and build up to 24 hours.

I usually come off my fast with a chicken salad. I fast from 4pm- 4pm and that is my dinner of choice. I will then have another small meal around 7pm. I do not feel the urge to eat everything in sight. Mainly because the fast gives me a feeling of complete control.

 

[Sunshine1528]

Cynthia - are you drinking any liquid nutrition while on the fast or just clear liquids?

 

[fit44]

Cynthia - are you drinking any liquid nutrition while on the fast or just clear liquids?

Just clear fluids

 

[Sunshine1528]

Hmmmm . . . off to investigate IF . . .

Thanks !

 

[fit44]

I wanted to mention to everyone reading Skwigg's article.....read the comment section.
There are several comments posted both good and bad experiences with fasting.
One that sticks out to me is the comment about fasting causing a knee jerk reaction to overeating and binging with the mindset she will just fast the next day. I think it's important to know this is not a solution for people who have a problem with binging.


Here is a link Gayle gave me a few weeks ago. It has some great info about IF.

http://www.modernforager.com/blog/2008/03/04/my-intermittent-fasting-success-story/

 

[Gayle]

Here is a link Gayle gave me a few weeks ago. It has some great info about IF.

http://www.modernforager.com/blog/2008/03/04/my-intermittent-fasting-success-story/

Shellie - Modern Forager is a great site for IF info. It helped me a lot. I didn't buy "Eat-Stop-Eat" either.

Scott Kustes did a 6-part series on the science behind IF. Here's a link to part one (links to the other parts are at the bottom):
http://www.modernforager.com/blog/2...to-your-body-when-you-fast-energy-production/

FWIW, I do a couple of shorter fasts during the week, in the 16-18 hour range, from 7pm to 12pm (I eat dinner late and skip breakfast the next day). I drink coffee/tea and water during that time. It's really doable, UNLESS I lift REALLY heavy the night before. Heavy lifting makes me hungry the next day, so I don't fast the day after that. However, I find it fine to fast before heavy lifting...no bonking or performance hits.

 

[fit44]

I wanted to post Brad Pilon's youtube videos too

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=bradpilon&view=videos

 

[Gayle]

I just wanted to add: I was also leery of IF at first because I'd been brainwashed into the "must-eat-6-small-meals-a-day-or-ruin-my-metabolism" attitude. The mini-meal plan really just stressed me out about food (to the point of anger & resentment) and made me want to binge anyway!

Also, I really question whether the human body was really meant to be in a state of constant digestion, as mini-meals would have us be...just a thought with, no scientific data to back it up.

 

[fit44]

I just wanted to add: I was also leery of IF at first because I'd been brainwashed into the "must-eat-6-small-meals-a-day-or-ruin-my-metabolism" attitude. The mini-meal plan really just stressed me out about food (to the point of anger & resentment) and made me want to binge anyway!

Also, I really question whether the human body was really meant to be in a state of constant digestion, as mini-meals would have us be...just a thought.

ITA!

I want to clarify my statement about not using IF as a solution to binging.
What I mean by that is not to use fasting as an excuse to binge.
I'll binge today, fast tomorrow.

If you go into it with the mind set to improve your health, binging is not an issue. Fasting is helping me be more aware of the feelings I have for food. When I get a hunger pain, I stop and ask myself it it is physical hunger or psychological hunger. Fasting has given me the tools I need to allow some hunger pains to pass. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Gayle]

Here's one more web site with some useful info:
The IF Life - http://www.theiflife.com/2008/02/27/intermittent-fasting-101-how-to-start-part-i/

 

[trixie108]

Wow, pretty neat stuff!! Question though, what about working out during a fast? Do you wait until the fast is over? I would think you wouldn't have any energy to workout if you haven't eaten in 15 hours or so...

 

[Gayle]

Hi trixie - I've worked out during a fast (actually near the end of it), and had no problems with it. It's a very individual thing. Others may have different experiences and adjust the timing of their fasting/exercising accordingly.

I prefer to workout near the end of a fast, then eat.

 

[Fitmommyof2]

Very intersting.. I def. want to read all this info on this. I am bfing right now so I can't do this, but I have a major sugar addiction and this just might be good for me.

 

[fit44]

I don't have a problem with cardio after a fast. I fasted yesterday-today and did cardio coach without any energy problems.

I bonked once doing heavy lifting with CLX. I was pretty new to fasting so I'm not sure if it was because I was not use to it.
I try to plan my fast around rest days and cardio days.

 

[shelsmaha]

Cynthia,

I used to have an eating dissorder and that is what I would do...binge/fast. Then after awhile I just started binging all the time. I have just now worked my way out of it. It took three years. When I was younger I had anorexia so I think I was just so prone to it. That is one concern that I had with the fasting that it would put me at risk for binging.

Shellie