Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
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Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#2I find it frustrating when people often discuss experience with 'intermittent fasting' without describing exactly what they mean. The term ranges over lots of approaches. I've seen it used to describe just 8 hours (perhaps every/most days) without food, to a full day or couple of days without food (perhaps every other day or once per week or two), to other things, as is the case here.
Fortunately, clicking through to another article in the series (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25498742) gives more details about what was tested here:
The food, during the [5-consecutive-day] period of the restricted diet, was designed to be highly nutritious. It consisted of plant-based soups, kale chips, a nutty bar, a herbal tea and an energy drink. The total number of calories, in five days, was about 2,500 - a little more than the average person consumes in one day. No additional food was allowed. For the rest of the month we were allowed a normal diet. The regime was repeated three times, followed by a control period, when we could eat anything.
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#3I don't think we're even close to really understanding how the body works here.
I'm not obese, but I gain weight from eating a little more, very easily. Last summer, I followed a Keto ("ultra low carb, high fat, medium protein") diet for about 4 months. After the first week of feeling terrible, a well-known side effect, I felt perfectly fine. It felt like I was binge eating, I limited what I could eat and just went mad eating it. Any time I was remotely hungry, grab an approved snack. A big plate of bacon and eggs for breakfast, Chipotle for lunch, and a hefty meal for dinner.
I never went hungry, and as someone who likes food, it felt more like a treat than a diet. Colleagues thought I was trying to gain weight, and my girlfriend thought I'd gone mad with hunger. But the fat melted off. I didn't walk into a gym in those 3 months, and dropped 2-3lbs a week (starting ~250 at 6"3'), every single week.
I'm not saying it's perfect, or even viable for everybody -- it's not cheap, it's awkward to eat with friends, and the first week or two can be hell. Despite what people have been told, fat won't make you fat, and Keto has been shown over and over to reduce the risk factors for heart disease, 'cure' diabetics, and provide huge body transformations.
For anyone interested, /r/keto is a reasonably mature community, and can provide a lot more information.
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#4I find it frustrating when people often discuss experience with 'intermittent fasting' without describing exactly what they mean. The term ranges over lots of approaches. I've seen it used to describe just 8 hours (perhaps every/most days) without food, to a full day or couple of days without food (perhaps every other day or once per week or two), to other things, as is the case here. Fortunately, clicking through to…
8h without food wouldn't be intermittent fasting unless everyone does it when sleeping.
There is one diet type quite popular right now in fitness called Leangains which calls for about 16h of fasting and a 8h eating window (granted that you can reduce the eating window if you feel like it).
Some people even reduce the eating window to just one meal (warrior diet).
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#5Looks like a derivation on the 5/2 diet. The 25/5 diet. My personal issue with these types of diets is that my concentration levels initially drop. I find the first couple of days extremely uncomfortable.
The best lifestyle change I've made is to drastically cut down on carbs, generally avoiding wheat and try never to eat sugar, in particular fructose. Note this doesn't stop me eating carbs but that I generally try and avoid them in my day to day eating. I no longer feel tired in the afternoon.
I also cycle to work.
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#6I don't think we're even close to really understanding how the body works here. I'm not obese, but I gain weight from eating a little more, very easily. Last summer, I followed a Keto ("ultra low carb, high fat, medium protein") diet for about 4 months. After the first week of feeling terrible, a well-known side effect, I felt perfectly fine. It felt like I was binge eating, I limited what I could eat and just went m…
On top of /r/keto Dr. Peter Attia has a great blog on this topic http://eatingacademy.com/
It's a great resource for a more scientific explanation of what happens to the metabolism when keto-adapted and on the effects of carbohydrates and more importantly insulin.
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#7I find it frustrating when people often discuss experience with 'intermittent fasting' without describing exactly what they mean. The term ranges over lots of approaches. I've seen it used to describe just 8 hours (perhaps every/most days) without food, to a full day or couple of days without food (perhaps every other day or once per week or two), to other things, as is the case here. Fortunately, clicking through to…
8h without food wouldn't be intermittent fasting unless everyone does it when sleeping. There is one diet type quite popular right now in fitness called Leangains which calls for about 16h of fasting and a 8h eating window (granted that you can reduce the eating window if you feel like it). Some people even reduce the eating window to just one meal (warrior diet).
Isn't this just skipping breakfast?
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
8h without food wouldn't be intermittent fasting unless everyone does it when sleeping. There is one diet type quite popular right now in fitness called Leangains which calls for about 16h of fasting and a 8h eating window (granted that you can reduce the eating window if you feel like it). Some people even reduce the eating window to just one meal (warrior diet).
Isn't this just skipping breakfast?
That is, in fact, one of the more common forms of IF: one or two days a week, don't eat until the evening meal (and, depending on your specific practice, perhaps eat only lightly then).
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#9Looks like a derivation on the 5/2 diet. The 25/5 diet. My personal issue with these types of diets is that my concentration levels initially drop. I find the first couple of days extremely uncomfortable. The best lifestyle change I've made is to drastically cut down on carbs, generally avoiding wheat and try never to eat sugar, in particular fructose. Note this doesn't stop me eating carbs but that I generally try a…
What did wheat do to you? Are you a celiac, or are there other reasons one might be interested in avoiding it?
Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body
#10I don't think we're even close to really understanding how the body works here. I'm not obese, but I gain weight from eating a little more, very easily. Last summer, I followed a Keto ("ultra low carb, high fat, medium protein") diet for about 4 months. After the first week of feeling terrible, a well-known side effect, I felt perfectly fine. It felt like I was binge eating, I limited what I could eat and just went m…
Did you notice any long term (lasting) effects after those four months? Also, any particular reason you stopped?
Thanks.