What's the dealio with fasting?

Kimia

Hey folks, I've seen lots of posts by people on this forum who I would view as very knowledgeable talking about 'intermittant fasting' etc and I'm wondering - what are the benefits from this fasting? And how does it work? I am a terror for eating loads at the weekends, way over my calorie recommendation (even though I stay relatively paleo, although I do have popcorn ) but I could easily fast one day during the week.

What's the science behind it and how do I sign up!

corkcomp

AFAIK the science is simple - if you fast for one day a week you are down that many calories per week. of course that is assuming you dont consume more than normal during the period before / after fasting which is easier said than done.. have you ever found you eat more than you need to if you go very long between meals or let yourself get too hungry?

Mickery

I'd also be interested to hear what people think about this.

Some info on intermittent fasting here:

http://www.leangains.com

Khannie

Not mad about that leangains site tbh.

I've done intermittent fasting before. I read "eat, stop, eat" which is a reasonable read.

It's good for fat loss and insulin sensitivity if memory serves. My preferred method was either to:

have breakfast then leave it at that 'til the next morning.

or

have breakfast and a reasonably light lunch and leave it at that 'til the next morning.

It's important for me to be able to concentrate during working hours and I found being hungry wasn't working for me. I also don't mind going to bed hungry.

There's not a lot to say on it though. You just don't eat. Black tea / black coffee / water all good.

Gummy Panda

Khannie wrote: »

Not mad about that leangains site tbh.

I've done intermittent fasting before. I read "eat, stop, eat" which is a reasonable read.

It's good for fat loss and insulin sensitivity if memory serves. My preferred method was either to:

have breakfast then leave it at that 'til the next morning.

or

have breakfast and a reasonably light lunch and leave it at that 'til the next morning.

It's important for me to be able to concentrate during working hours and I found being hungry wasn't working for me. I also don't mind going to bed hungry.

There's not a lot to say on it though. You just don't eat. Black tea / black coffee / water all good.

I remember reading in primal that Mark said our bodies are designed to fast or something along those times. He said we should intermittent fast.

Here is something I found on his blog - LINK

How did you feel after doing it?

El_Dangeroso

The benefits of fasting go way beyond simple calorie reduction. There's side by side studies of calorie restriction and fasting on mice and humans showing that fasting increases autophagy, which is the clearing away of junk proteins that accumulate, cal restriction doesn't do this.

I'd stay away from fasting until it's relatively effortless though. Don't starve yourself or anything.

Adelie

The best thing I found about fasting is simply that if I'm busy or travelling and I find myself without decent food prepared, I can easily wait until later instead of grabbing a burger or crisps or whatever to keep me going. I'm vaguely aware there are other benefits but don't know what exactly.

I agree to wait until its effortless. I think that the way I achieved that was to eat proper meals (often only 2 a day) and don't be dependant on snacking. Don't eat before bed if you're not hungry.

By the way I don't do day long fasts or anything, just up to 20hrs or so (say eating at 4pm and again at 12pm). It's not hard and I always eat when I feel I need to.

El_Dangeroso

Adelie wrote: »

The best thing I found about fasting is simply that if I'm busy or travelling and I find myself without decent food prepared, I can easily wait until later instead of grabbing a burger or crisps or whatever to keep me going. I'm vaguely aware there are other benefits but don't know what exactly.

I agree to wait until its effortless. I think that the way I achieved that was to eat proper meals (often only 2 a day) and don't be dependant on snacking. Don't eat before bed if you're not hungry.

By the way I don't do day long fasts or anything, just up to 20hrs or so (say eating at 4pm and again at 12pm). It's not hard and I always eat when I feel I need to.

Me too, I generally just do an early dinner/late lunch thing. Fantastic for shrinking the belly.

I think one of the best thing you can do for yourself if your trying to lose weight is two things, stop drinking fizzy drinks and stop snacking. Snacking is such a new phenomenon in our lives. The odd piece of fruit or nuts is fine, but some people build them into their diet like they'll die if they go more than 2 hours without eating.

Mr Marri

I do this on my non-exercising days, but would always eat something light like a yogurt before bed as it's very hard to sleep if your hungary.

Kimia

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I'd stay away from fasting until it's relatively effortless though. Don't starve yourself or anything.

Adelie wrote: »

I agree to wait until its effortless.

Hi ladies, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but what do you both mean when you say wait until it's effortless. What are you doing in preparation?

Personally, I never eat breakfast. I used to never tell people either because I would get a huge lecture on how I'll put on loads of weight and it's so bad for me etc. But I just never could eat in the morning - I'm not hungry in the slightest and if I do eat I feel really nauseous.

The reason I think this IF will work for me is I'm a huge foodie. I love cooking, I eat out maybe 2-3 times a week and my favourite foods are rich, fatty foods like pork belly, duck, rib of beef etc. I don't eat bread, rice, pasta or anything processed really. I may eat the odd spud.

So if I overeat on calories at the weekend (which sometimes happens with my foodie lifestyle!) it stands to reason that I may benefit from some light fasting on maybe monday or tuesday of a week. Balance things up a bit.

Anyone have any thoughts?

mack32

i think IF can be differentiated from simple fasting in that it doesn't require you to reduce your overall calorie intake for the day. simply put, you eat your days worth of food during your "on" period and don't eat during your "off" period. A common split is 8 hours on and 16 hours off.

it seems to be most beneficial to athletes who consume all of their calories in and around their workouts. this means that the calories are less likely to be stored as fat.

a decent explanation can be found here - http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/why-you-should-be-skipping-breakfast-the-secrets-of-intermittent-fasting/

El_Dangeroso

Kimia wrote: »

The reason I think this IF will work for me is I'm a huge foodie. I love cooking, I eat out maybe 2-3 times a week and my favourite foods are rich, fatty foods like pork belly, duck, rib of beef etc. I don't eat bread, rice, pasta or anything processed really. I may eat the odd spud.

So if I overeat on calories at the weekend (which sometimes happens with my foodie lifestyle!) it stands to reason that I may benefit from some light fasting on maybe monday or tuesday of a week. Balance things up a bit.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm the same with breakfast, I just cannot eat 2 hours or less after waking up. I would literally throw it up.

I'm reluctant to recommend fasting as some sort of penance for overeating. It smacks too much of binge and purge.

How about fasting with a big early dinner on Friday and then not eating until 5pm Saturday, followed by a nice indulgent dinner?

I personally find it impossible to fast at work, I need food to keep going through the 10 hour days I'm pulling at the moment.

gggirl

hi kimia
the idea of fasting is to give your body especially your digestive system a break. the best option for you and so as not to set yourself up for failure is say mon evening after yuor heavy wkend. have no food after 6pm untill midday tues. its much easier to do if you have never tried before and safe to do once per wk. other reasons people fast is to clear the body of toxin overload and would fast from 1-3 days depending on desired result.
benefits of fasting /detoxing= mental clarity and lighter brighter you, hey you may even shed a few pounds. you could also try juicing one day a wk.
always make sure plenty of fluids though thats most important if you consume enough you wont even feel hunger :-)

Adelie

Kimia wrote: »

Hi ladies, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but what do you both mean when you say wait until it's effortless. What are you doing in preparation?

What I meant by effortless is that you shouldn't be really hungry, or feeling faint, or feeling like you're "trying" to fast. Just eat a decent meal in the late afternoon or evening and don't eat the next day until you feel you actually need to. I wouldn't set a target because at the beginning you won't be able to last really long anyway and there's no reason to feel like you failed if you don't make some target. Some days fasting just won't work for your body. And if you feel hungry after 14 hours or so then just eat, you will gradually be able to go longer like 18 hours, 20 hours. You should try see it as a work in progress, something to slowly build up to as it comes naturally.

Khannie

Gummy Panda wrote: »

How did you feel after doing it?

Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, I felt grand. It got significantly easier after the first one. I mean I was a little bit cranky from being hungry but overall it was totally fine.

Limousine Fred

Khannie wrote: »

Not mad about that leangains site tbh.

I've done intermittent fasting before. I read "eat, stop, eat" which is a reasonable read.

It's good for fat loss and insulin sensitivity if memory serves. My preferred method was either to:

have breakfast then leave it at that 'til the next morning.

or

have breakfast and a reasonably light lunch and leave it at that 'til the next morning.

It's important for me to be able to concentrate during working hours and I found being hungry wasn't working for me. I also don't mind going to bed hungry.

There's not a lot to say on it though. You just don't eat. Black tea / black coffee / water all good.

Hey Khannie and OP.

Iv'e been on leangains just over 3 weeks now and will probably eat this way for the rest of my life, couldn't recommend it enough.

That you don't eat is bull****, on training days I eat 2700 cals (3 meals) hitting my macros totals and on rest days 2000 cals (2 meals).

I'm making steady gains, I feel great (few days to adjust though). If you tailor it to your needs half your fast is done when you sleep. I break my fast at 3 r 4 'cos I workout round lunchtime. Was thinking of starting a leangains thread for people who do it but having second thoughts now!!

El_Dangeroso

LF, do start a thread on leangains. Never tried it myself but have seen some of the amazing results and want to know more about people's experience (some of the results on Martin's website could be the cherrypicked from the genetically gifted)

He does advocate a crazy amount of protein, all of which I'm not sure is totally necessary, considering how expensive protein is.

Limousine Fred

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

LF, do start a thread on leangains. Never tried it myself but have seen some of the amazing results and want to know more about people's experience (some of the results on Martin's website could be the cherrypicked from the genetically gifted)

He does advocate a crazy amount of protein, all of which I'm not sure is totally necessary, considering how expensive protein is.

Hey dude!

Most gainer diets are high protein and he is a very big guy you just tailor it to your specific goals.

Protein is very expensive if you take most of it in shake form, i get all mine from food (all of it) apart from what's in Xtend the bcaa supplement I take.
I can only talk for myself and it does work for me, 2 more weeks and I'll be where I wanna be body wise. My abs are clearly visible, my bf% is down (although I was fairly lean anyway) which is what a lot of people want, was one of my reasons for trying it, my strength, lifts and overall fitness are steadily improving.

El_Dangeroso

Limousine Fred wrote: »

Hey dude!

Most gainer diets are high protein and he is a very big guy you just tailor it to your specific goals.

Protein is very expensive if you take most of it in shake form, i get all mine from food (all of it) apart from what's in Xtend the bcaa supplement I take.
I can only talk for myself and it does work for me, 2 more weeks and I'll be where I wanna be body wise. My abs are clearly visible, my bf% is down (although I was fairly lean anyway) which is what a lot of people want, was one of my reasons for trying it, my strength, lifts and overall fitness are steadily improving.

Yeah but 600g of protein?

cgarrad

Fasting is remarkable easy, I've done about 10-12 7 day fasts and a couple of 10 day ones.

Hunger only lasts 25 minutes so either divert yourself or focus on it ending in 25 mins ;-)

Going on holiday is the easiest way, just back from Marbella where I did 7 days.

I mainly do it for weight loss, about a stone a week, but your skin, hair, general appearance and surprising lack of calorie requirement once you start eating again are welcome benefits.

Doing it here in a 9-5 environment would just add unnecessary suffering though ;-)

dubgal2891

cgarrad wrote: »

I mainly do it for weight loss, about a stone a week,

First off - I've read posts on Boards.ie for several years and never posted myself but i just had to sign up to comment on this post! I can't believe what Im reading. Seriously - a stone in a week?? Fasting for days?? This is not healthy and seems pro-anna??...I suffered with an eating disorder a few years ago and to be honest comments like the above would have encouraged me not to eat....Believe me, there will be girls/guys reading this thinkin that if they dont eat for a week they will lose a stone. Which is just so unhealthy and dangerous. I can't believe this hasn't been deleted by the mods.....:(

Mars Bar

cgarrad wrote: »

Fasting is remarkable easy, I've done about 10-12 7 day fasts and a couple of 10 day ones.

Hunger only lasts 25 minutes so either divert yourself or focus on it ending in 25 mins ;-)

Going on holiday is the easiest way, just back from Marbella where I did 7 days.

I mainly do it for weight loss, about a stone a week, but your skin, hair, general appearance and surprising lack of calorie requirement once you start eating again are welcome benefits.

Doing it here in a 9-5 environment would just add unnecessary suffering though ;-)

Oh deary me...

cgarrad

dubgal2891 wrote: »

Believe me, there will be girls/guys reading this thinkin that if they dont eat for a week they will lose a stone. Which is just so unhealthy and dangerous. I can't believe this hasn't been deleted by the mods.....:(

Probably should of said I'm a 16 stone bloke first.

Anyway just because some people have mental issues with eating its not a call for everybody to confirm to their warped view of food.

I'm 36 with a BMI if 26 and have been for years, fit and healthy and have not been to a doctor in 12 years. I eat out at least 5 night a week yet manage my weight no problem.

Who's advice would you rather?

The human body is not designed to eat 3 times a day at regular intervals, think about it a little and you might realize that out f the million or so years we have been around you local shop has only been there for 300 years at most.

The body cant adapt that fast and is designed to go for periods without food.

If you think not eating for a couple of days is unhealthy and dangerous you are incorrect. Please stop scaremongering with your views which have obviously been warped by your experiences.

Benefits of fasting:

http://www.allaboutfasting.com/benefits-of-fasting.html

I can confirm this as being 100% correct :rolleyes:

cgarrad

mars bar wrote: »

Oh deary me...

Your name says it all

Mars Bar

cgarrad wrote: »

Your name says it all

It's a play on my real name...I actually don't like mars bars!

Mars Bar

cgarrad wrote: »

Probably should of said I'm a 16 stone bloke first.

Anyway just because some people have mental issues with eating its not a call for everybody to confirm to their warped view of food.

I'm 36 with a BMI if 26 and have been for years, fit and healthy and have not been to a doctor in 12 years. I eat out at least 5 night a week yet manage my weight no problem.

Who's advice would you rather?

The human body is not designed to eat 3 times a day at regular intervals, think about it a little and you might realize that out f the million or so years we have been around you local shop has only been there for 300 years at most.

The body cant adapt that fast and is designed to go for periods without food.

If you think not eating for a couple of days is unhealthy and dangerous you are incorrect. Please stop scaremongering with your views which have obviously been warped by your experiences.

Benefits of fasting:

http://www.allaboutfasting.com/benefits-of-fasting.html

I can confirm this as being 100% correct :rolleyes:

I'm new to the whole nutrition thingy but my guess would be...

Yes, your body can and will adapt to going long periods without eating because it will work away on the fat in your body.

But what about all the nutrients and vitamins you need? You're completely losing out on them and water is not gonna replace them.

You're probably more susceptible to suffering from brittle bones and probably anaemia than any of us who eat regularly and healthily.

dubgal2891

cgarrad wrote: »

Fasting is remarkable easy, I've done about 10-12 7 day fasts and a couple of 10 day ones.

I've no problem with fasting for a day - i work in the fitness industry and understand that some people use this as a means of calorie reduction - but you don't eat for 7 - 10 days?? Dude, are you seriously tellin me this is a healthy way to lose weight?

As mars bar said - you aint getting nutrients!!

metamorphosis

There's smart fasting and then just stupid fasting!

seriously! I'm not actually sure if its a piss take or not!