What were your Intermittent Fasting results?

Govtgirl

Govtgirl

Cathlete
A while ago there were several threads on intermittent fasting (IF) and several people were going to try it (not me...yet! :p) Also, there have been several new articles about how it really is all about "calories in/calories out" and the time you eat doesn't matter.

With all that, I'm wondering if IF might not be something to try, at least a couple days a week. Have you tried IF, how often and long did you fast, and what were your results? Not that I'm waiting for others to be a guinea pig for me, but I'm really curious if it helped you. Thanks!!!
 
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Hi Govtgirl - I started IF last fall along with changing some other eating strategies. I stopped trying to do the "6 small meal a day" eating style and went with 2 or 3 bigger meals a day along with 2 or 3 IF days.

My positives outcomes were:
1. I started to REALLY enjoy my food and eating again. Trying to eat many small meals was very stressful for me. It was just another thing to have to worry about. IF removed a big source of stress and actually improved my mood significantly. This for me is the biggest advantage.

2. I was dealing with some mid-section bloat several months before IF. That bloat went away not long into my IF experiment. Now it could be because IF created a few days of definite caloric deficit or the removal of stress (#1). But whatever the reason, it worked for me.

3. I continued IF during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, but my diet was pretty terrible in terms of what I ate. To my surprise, I didn't put on any weight. I wouldn't try this strategy long-term, but it was a pleasant surprise for the new year. ;)

I still fast a couple of days a week for 16-18 hours, however, for the past three weeks I've been doing a very heavy deadlift program which has me feeling hungry more often, so last week I only fasted on one day. That's part of the process. You learn to figure out when you're actually hungry.

This site has a lot of good IF info: http://lifespotlight.com/health/category/intermittent-fasting/ (it used to be modernforager.com)

HTH

ETA - I should mention that I had NO negative outcomes to report. :)
 
Gayle, that's a great link, thank you!
How did you decide what hours a day to eat?
IOW, I workout first thing in the morning, and I think that I'd want to die if I didn't have a big breakfast about an hour later (that's my biggest meal everyday).

I can't find anything on that page about WHEN to eat. In your opinion, would it work to eat a big breakfast, and then fast the rest of the day, if I were doing a 15 hr fast, give or take?
Just curious for your thoughts, since you're experienced with this.
 
I have been doing IF for the last couple of weeks. I w/o after work around 5pm, so I scheduled my "feeding period" around that. So I basically don't eat breakfest or mid-morning snack, and push lunch back a little ways. I still count calories and get in about 1500 calories during my 7 hour feed.

I love it actually.

I don't worry about food as much- less stress! :D

Also I used to feel weak, (almost like hypoglycemia) durring my w/o's at times. I haven't felt crappy at all durring my w/o. It's just the oppisite actually, I feel really great.

On the weekends I haven't been IF. If I w/o though it's usually in the morning, so I need energy.

HTH--
 
Hi melimnc - There is no right or wrong way to approach this. Part of IF is determining what works for you. I workout in the evening, so on my fasting days are usually from 7 or 8pm-12 or 1pm...I basically skip breakfast.

I think your idea of fasting after your big meal is pretty good, and a 15 hour fast is a good place to start.
 
this is soooo interesting. I wanted to know how you ladies felt the first few fasts? i'm actually afraid of fasting as i have gone 2 hours past the time my normal breakfast occurs at and start feeling shakey and nauseous. I wanted to know if this passes or is this a sign i shouldn't do this? I think my body is just trained to eat at certain times but i often question how much of it is a mental urge to eat as opposed to my body really needing to do so.
 
Hi kariev - I've never gotten shaky or nauseous. I do drink coffee/tea/water at will when fasting. It's usually recommended that you try a short fast to start with.

Every body is different.
 
Kariev,

Brad Pilon from Eat, Stop, Eat says the shakes and nausea are most likely from sugar withdrawals. They go away after you detox. I know, I think I've detoxed off sugar more than a few times:eek:

I love fasting. The first one or two may be a little rough but each fast gets easier. Fasting is a great way to stop your body from feeding on automatic pilot.
 
I am not convinced on this. If it works for you, go for it, that's great, but seriously, if you look at the way our bodies have evolved over the years, this looks to me a recipe for disaster. Fasting, to me, would seem to trigger the fat storage systems in our bodies, and in the long run make our bodies more likely to store fuel as fat.

I encourage people to read everything they can on IF. Here is a great unbiased article on IF - http://www.alanaragon.com/an-objective-look-at-intermittent-fasting.html It basically points out that all of the benefits of IF can be gotten through exercise which has none of the downsides.
 
Thanks for the article, Christine. It's a good unbiased read. Nothing is perfect. One thing I see noted in the conclusions in this article (and I've noticed in others) is the lack of reliable human data in fasting studies.

andtckrtoo said:
I am not convinced on this. If it works for you, go for it, that's great, but seriously, if you look at the way our bodies have evolved over the years, this looks to me a recipe for disaster. Fasting, to me, would seem to trigger the fat storage systems in our bodies, and in the long run make our bodies more likely to store fuel as fat.
Click to expand...

With regard to evolution, the contrary has been hypothesized. We are are genetically identical to our hunter/gatherer ancestors who ate in a nonregimented, seasonal, spontaneous manner. It *could* be said that our bodies have not evolved to be keep pace with what has become our current environment.

Sorry to get all science-y...I just think this stuff is kinda fascinating. :)
 
Gayle said:
With regard to evolution, the contrary has been hypothesized. We are are genetically identical to our hunter/gatherer ancestors who ate in a nonregimented, seasonal, spontaneous manner. It *could* be said that our bodies have not evolved to be keep pace with what has become our current environment.

Sorry to get all science-y...I just think this stuff is kinda fascinating. :)
Click to expand...

I think it's fascinating too:)
Have you read the book The Warrior Diet? After reading ESE, I became fascinated with the concept and bought TWD book.
It is a little more extreme than IF, but very interesting.
I don't know enough to make an educated argument about what triggers fat storage. All I know is that the author of TWD, Ori Hofmekler, is ripped to shreds:eek:.

Here is his website.
http://www.warriordiet.com/content/view/25/36/
 
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