Fasting

SanoVitae

I've been reading up a lot about fasting recently (mainly Eat Stop Eat and the articles on leangains.com).

Would love to hear about the experiences of others on the forum who have tried it, together with things they found worked best for them.

Thanks,

Paul

rocky

I started by eliminating breakfast from my daily meals, keeping total calories the same in the remaining time.

- I'm not hungry in the morning anyway
- Helps with mental concentration I find
- more calories in the evening, carbs before bed for a great snoozefest

So this was a basic 16/8 IF

Then for the last 2 days I experimented with postponing my feed window more and more (just because I wasn't hungry), and I managed a 5pm-9pm window 2 days ago, and 6pm-10pm yesterday. What can I say, I feel absolutely fine while fasting, no hunger pangs, then a grea feast in 4 hours 2000-2100 calories . See my food log for food suggestions, I;ll just say that PB jam and banana bagels were on the menu and choc brazil nuts.

The proof it it works or not will be tomorrow at my weigh in; If I lost at least 1 pound, it works.

The thing is, I kept the same calories when eating 16/8 IF or 20/4, so in theory fat loss rate should be the same.

SanoVitae

Thanks for your reply.

Quick question about the fasting - are you allowed to consume liquids like vegetable juices and water during your fast?

rocky

In the Lean Gains approach, I think you can consume whatever you want as long as it's less than 50 kcal in total. So diet sodas, water, tea, coffee (watching the milk) are all ok to consume.

Personally, I have 1 coffee at 10 am and I find that if I drink water, I have some minor stomach 'signals' that pass in 10 minutes. Not sure if not having water is less efficient in fat burning.

rocky

PS I'm really having a great 'buzz' at the moment, with no food in me, not thinking about food / worying about my next meal [which happened a lot on the old 6-7 meals a day], and researching fitness- and nutrition-related concepts (liver glycogen and glucagon are the current subjects :cool: )

Edit: meant to say this before, I think 'hunger' is really a mental construct in fasting that's less than 24 hours long. I'd say most people can train their body to expect food at certain times of day. What IF did for me is it legitimized (scientifically) skipping breakfast as an ok thing to do without negative effects.

SanoVitae

Yeah, I'm excited about the possibilities. For over 10 years, I've been advocating the importance of having breakfast to those wanting to lose weight!

Also, I find the prospect of fasting MUCH more appealing than eating 6 meals a day, especially when it comes to food preperation.

rocky

There are some research studies concluding that people that have breakfast tend to have a lower weight than people that skip it. This of course does not take into account that people that skip breakfast tend to have an herratic eating schedule in general, and it was not the skipping of breakfast that caused the weight gain.

Correlation does not imply causation

--Kaiser--

I fast for about 3 days each year after new years. Just to give the old body a rest. I don't get hungry after the first day and for some reason I'm full of energy for the three days.

SanoVitae

I did a 24 hour fast yesterday.

I plan to do another one on Wednesday. Next time, I'll start at 6.30pm rather than in the morning when I wake up - I think that will make things a little easier!

El_Dangeroso

I never managed past 22hrs, that's when my brain slows down, maybe it's some kind of threshold I need to get past. I'm not too concerned in any case, the benefits start after 14hrs. It really is the best thing I have ever found to shrink a belly, which makes sense as it does amazing things to cholesterol too. I need to eat well the few days beforehand though, can't use it as a penance for crappy eating.

beatrice33

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I never managed past 22hrs, that's when my brain slows down, maybe it's some kind of threshold I need to get past. I'm not too concerned in any case, the benefits start after 14hrs. It really is the best thing I have ever found to shrink a belly, which makes sense as it does amazing things to cholesterol too. I need to eat well the few days beforehand though, can't use it as a penance for crappy eating.

How did you go about it? What did you eat the days before the fasting and what did you eat after? What time of the day is best to start?I am considering doing this. I would like to loose about 15lb or a bit more. I have been doing low carb but i havent loose any more weight in the last 2 months.

El_Dangeroso

beatrice33 wrote: »

How did you go about it? What did you eat the days before the fasting and what did you eat after? What time of the day is best to start?I am considering doing this. I would like to loose about 15lb or a bit more. I have been doing low carb but i havent loose any more weight in the last 2 months.

Start with an early dinner (6:30pm) and a late breakfast (10am). That's 15-16 hours easy. Then just push the first meal of the day a little further until a late lunch early dinner (3pm).

You'll get even better results if you end the fast with a workout and then a nice big meal with a few extra carbs. You might not notice the weight loss straight away but you will definitely notice a big change in body composition (more muscle, less fat.)

ETA: The few days beforehand get your blood sugar rock steady, low carb is a good way to do this.

paky

i did the warrior diet for almost 4 months. it was great, you could eat as much as you like and not gain a pound. i looked and felt great. but my exercise suffered tremendously so i had to stop it.
i normally had dinner between 6.00pm-10.00pm everyday. didnt eat a thing outside those times.

beatrice33

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Start with an early dinner (6:30pm) and a late breakfast (10am). That's 15-16 hours easy. Then just push the first meal of the day a little further until a late lunch early dinner (3pm).

You'll get even better results if you end the fast with a workout and then a nice big meal with a few extra carbs. You might not notice the weight loss straight away but you will definitely notice a big change in body composition (more muscle, less fat.)

ETA: The few days beforehand get your blood sugar rock steady, low carb is a good way to do this.

Thanks El Dangeroso!
one more question... should i keep doing low carb as my way of eating in general?

El_Dangeroso

beatrice33 wrote: »

Thanks El Dangeroso!
one more question... should i keep doing low carb as my way of eating in general?

It's up to you and what you think will suit you best. I like a feed of starchy vegetables and meat after a fasted workout, and it certainly doesn't hurt to replenish glycogen once in a while. Go with what you feel best with.

SanoVitae

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I never managed past 22hrs, that's when my brain slows down, maybe it's some kind of threshold I need to get past. I'm not too concerned in any case, the benefits start after 14hrs.

I'm doing another one today - from 6pm tonight until 6pm tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how I get on.

cmyk

SanoVitae wrote: »

I'm doing another one today - from 6pm tonight until 6pm tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how I get on.

Interested to hear why you're going for the 24hr fast (that's brad pilon's recommendations IIRC?) rather than a 16/8 leangains approach? I've also been considering it over the last few months, the only thing holding me back is that I'm currently making small weight increases to the bar with current diet and have some targets for christmas, in a 'if it aint broke don't fix it' kind of way.

I also thought a 16/8 split might be an easier buy-in than a full 24hrs. Also what are your goals on the diet? Body recomp/fat loss/weight gain? or just borne from experimentation?

metamorphosis

SanoVitae wrote: »

I'm doing another one today - from 6pm tonight until 6pm tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how I get on.

Fasting already getting to your head :pac::pac:

SanoVitae

Oops!

Yeah, I'm going according to Brad Pilon's recommendations at the moment. What I'll probably do is alternate the 14 hour fasts with the 24 hours fasts and see how I get on. Just experimenting with at the moment. If nothing else, it builds great mental strength!