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A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

jamesclear.com

1–10 of 202 posts

Re: A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

#5
It's quite interesting reading James' writing from 10 years ago, having read Atomic Habits (in which he talks about his self-publishing extensively). The site layout and theming, the writing style, the choice of subject... I can really see it being used as a case study in effective modern communication by future generations of students.

Re: A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

#6
I've found this youtube channel, The Galen Foundation, founded by a cardiologist really informative: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUp8SWTLsEC6Mn8ExztMIjA

There's a bunch of talks, the earlier ones (Fat lies, Bittersweet Truth) cover how 'we' got to where we are, and the later ones (Fasting for Survival and the followup on Addiction) about intermittent fasting itself as a strong part of the solution.

Personally have started intermittent fasting also termed time restricted feeding, and early signs are positive and its not particularly challenging as far as hunger goes.

Re: A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

#8
I want to put in a good word for old-school calorie counting.

If you don't have good "gut intuition" for how much you're eating, you may find that IF just causes you to eat more in the time you are allowed to eat. CC tells you how much you're taking in, so the numbers tell you when you've eaten enough.

I often find that, when I stop at my calorie target (1500), I'm actually not that hungry... but I still have an urge to eat. Something I would have followed in the past. But with the number, I know exactly when I shouldn't follow that urge.

The requirement to stop and calculate before you eat also makes you a lot more deliberate about what you do consume.

It's definitely not the most spontaneous and fun approach, but I tried all the more spontaneous and fun approaches and CC is the one that is finally working for me.

A couple details: I jot down each day's calories in a Google Note on my phone. I add a number to the list for each thing I eat and keep a tally as the day goes by. I don't use a calorie counting app. I just use the nutritional facts if available, and if not, I Google "calories in x 100g" and use a food scale.

Re: A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

#9
For decades of my adult life I skipped breakfast, going against all conventional dietary wisdom. Having 3 meals a day just felt like turning my body into a conveyor belt that produces faeces. Now I feel kinda vindicated.

A few times I traveled with a friends who did the breakfast - lunch - dinner thing and after two or three days I had to opt out of either breakfast or dinner. I remember asking "how do you even manage to process that much?" and I just got blank stares.

For what it's worth, I'm 51 now and my body weight is the same as when I was 20. It just doesn't LOOK quite the same anymore ;)

Re: A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

#10
post #3

what about when being hungry makes you distracted?

If your diet is sufficiently arranged to contain as little carbs as possible, this disappears. I went from a heavy lunch person to forgetting to have lunch.

Does the amount of carbohydrates intake impact focus/concentration?
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