If anyone has done this without trying or wanting to lose weight (ie, for some other purpose), could you share more? What was your goal? Did you reach it? For 24+ hour fasts, did you deliberately compensate by eating more before and after?
Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
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Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#12I’ve been doing small fasts: typically in the morning, I don’t eat anything until after I work out. So, these usually end up being twelve to 16 hour fasts.
I would actually like to try to fast for 24 hours, starting after an evening meal.
My problem is I do a lot of cycling. If I don’t eat, I bonk hard and lose energy. So, I would need to time this after a day of resting after a ride.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#13I agree with the advice here to start slowly. I am not fasting right now because I am on the Dr. Fuhrman Eat to Live anti inflammatory diet, but usually I try to eat all my food on a given day in 8 to 9 hours, which leaves 16 to 15 hours a day fasting. Every few weeks, I like to get a one day fast in, but I am not always consistent with that.
By starting slowly, and by eating plenty of food during the eating periods, it is fairly easy to maintain energy during fasting.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#14Anecdote:
I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly.
Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame. My sleep isn't always consistent which may have played a role due to my profession. I also drink two beers (Karmeliet, Chimay are stocked in my house) with dinner when I am off. So I drink roughly 8 - 10 beers a week. I probably could do better with calorie counting, but frankly it seems futile so long as I like the way I look naked, lol.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you maintain energy levels through a 36 hour fast? Edit: Thanks all! This’ll help me progress from 16/8 to consistent longer fasts.
While I haven't done 36, 24 is relatively easy. The idea that your body needs constant food intake is a modern myth. It's mostly your mind that's been programmed to want to eat that often. Also, once you eat the insulin spike triggers the next wave of craving, and so on. Fasting is not the same because you're well, um, fasting.
Also, if you avoid sugar for a week before fasting that helps a lot, or rather, I should say that it helps me. Eating sugar messes up my ability to know if I am really hungry or if it is just too many Candida bacteria in my system messing with my brain chemistry.
Anyway, if you like, try avoiding sugar leading up to avoiding fasting.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#16Anecdote: I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly. Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame.…
Assuming this is accurate, your lifestyle is not typical. Others trying intermittent fasting and/or vegetarian diet will surely see benefits in blood work.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#17Anecdote: I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly. Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame.…
in my experience, sleep is the first problem to be solved. If a person can't get good quality and quantity of sleep nothing else helps. First sleep then meditation to tame the chronic stress response.
nothing else - fasting, diet, exercise etc helps before sleep.
btw alcohol and caffeine screws the quality of sleep.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#18Will it help with gout?
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#19Anecdote: I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly. Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame.…
Have you also tried going a whole day without eating, say 8pm as your last meal and then no eating until 2 days later at 8am, basically 36 hours.
Doing that once a week or so is pretty effective. There's a whole host of benefits to longer fasts as well. Helps so much with appetite control, resets your hormones, plus autophagy, etc.
Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]
#20I’ve been doing small fasts: typically in the morning, I don’t eat anything until after I work out. So, these usually end up being twelve to 16 hour fasts. I would actually like to try to fast for 24 hours, starting after an evening meal. My problem is I do a lot of cycling. If I don’t eat, I bonk hard and lose energy. So, I would need to time this after a day of resting after a ride.
How long are your rides? For rides around an hour to an hour and a half I can ride while fasting, even at the end of an 18 hour fast. The trick is to just work up to it.