Eat, Stop, Eat

Khannie

Anyone read this? What did you think?

I know there are some intermittent fasters on here. Wondering what led you to it.

metamorphosis

Khannie wrote: »

Anyone read this? What did you think?

I know there are some intermittent fasters on here. Wondering what led you to it.

Temple is the one to ask - she intermittently fasts and swears by it. You have made me curious about this so im gonna go goggle it out.

El_Dangeroso

I haven't read that book, though I've heard of it. How someone can squeeze a book out of 'don't eat for a bit once in a while' is quite impressive.

I do fast about once a week for around 20hrs (early dinner late lunch, ended with a workout and a big ass lunch), I find it really improves my overall wellbeing. I would advise anyone who is considering fasting to be careful though, you need to not be hungry at all for the duration. It should be easy, if it isn't you might have some blood sugar or cortisol issues that need to be ironed out first.

Also, it doesn't suit everyone and there's no point persisting if it doesn't work for you. Never ever to be attempted with anyone with a history of anorexia either of course.

brianthebard

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

I haven't read that book, though I've heard of it. How someone can squeeze a book out of 'don't eat for a bit once in a while' is quite impressive.

I do fast about once a week for around 20hrs (early dinner late lunch, ended with a workout and a big ass lunch), I find it really improves my overall wellbeing. I would advise anyone who is considering fasting to be careful though, you need to not be hungry at all for the duration. It should be easy, if it isn't you might have some blood sugar or cortisol issues that need to be ironed out first.

Why should it be easy, are you talking about after you've adjusted to it or from the beginning? I can't imagine skipping food for several hours feeling ok no matter what.

El_Dangeroso

brianthebard wrote: »

Why should it be easy, are you talking about after you've adjusted to it or from the beginning? I can't imagine skipping food for several hours feeling ok no matter what.

Then you shouldn't do it.

It really should be relatively effortless. I'm lucky in that no matter what I eat the day before I can wake up not hungry and easily wait till 2pm to eat. I do find the evening a bit of a challenge but only in a snacky rather than real hungry way.

brianthebard

I'm guessing from the wink that you're only semi serious there but i don't find that answer satisfactory. There's been threads in this forum about a hunger hormone and programming yourself to eat at certain times, so I think it would be odd that someone could go from one schedule of eating often and at certain times to passing several meal times by when fasting without being hungry.
I've been loosely following IF 16/8 fasting the past few weeks and for the last two hours or so I'm usually quite hungry. I think it would be odd if it was otherwise, you are expending energy and not replenishing it, hunger is the natural result of this.

El_Dangeroso

brianthebard wrote: »

I'm guessing from the wink that you're only semi serious there but i don't find that answer satisfactory. There's been threads in this forum about a hunger hormone and programming yourself to eat at certain times, so I think it would be odd that someone could go from one schedule of eating often and at certain times to passing several meal times by when fasting without being hungry.
I've been loosely following IF 16/8 fasting the past few weeks and for the last two hours or so I'm usually quite hungry. I think it would be odd if it was otherwise, you are expending energy and not replenishing it, hunger is the natural result of this.

Well I guess I'm using a different definition of hunger than you. I mean the type of hunger where you obsess over food and feel weak. The type of hunger I feel in the last two hours of a fast is like I could definitely eat but it's not imperative that I do RIGHT NOW. Then again I've always been rubbish at resisting strong hunger.

brianthebard

Well in that case I would suggest to anyone thinking of starting this that in the beginning you will feel hungry. As for the weak and obsessive hunger, I would say its about two steps down from that, it can depend on whether there's something to distract me or not. Tbh I dislike subjective measures like that which is why reading about IF can be frustrating since everyone's experience is different. Like on leangains the guy who runs the site claims that he doesn't feel hungry at all during the fast but I would suspect he is either just used to it or subjectively assigning a lower hunger level than myself.
One thing I would say is a big plus about IF so far for me is that I don't feel hungry soon after a meal like I used to when eating 4 or 5 times a day, plus I don't really have blood sugar crashes any more. I do worry about getting enough protein in but I'm still getting stronger in training so figure it can't be too bad. Will probably review the diet again in a few weeks and tighten things up cause I don't think I can get away with 'loosely' following the plan for very long without disadvantages.

El_Dangeroso

Very good point, most people's experience will be different. I suppose I just don't want to see anyone suffering in order to fast, and I do know people who just did not get on well with it. It has very tangible benefits but it's not mandatory.

I do LOVE the feeling I get during a fast though, hyper-alert, focussed and energetic.