Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

If you usually have long enough between meals that skipping breakfast gives you a 16h period without any food, then sure.

When people do leangains they also do tend to focus on getting more protein etc. though, which can turn the 8h eating window into a big ordeal - I struggle to get the calories I need in two meals on Leangains due to the amount of protein I take; I keep wanting to skip the second meal because I'm still so full.

"Crash dieting", as commonly practiced, is to eat less until your weight goals have been reached, and then go back to "normal". IF is hardly that; instead, it's a controlled pattern of regularly, and for specific durations, reducing your caloric intake. Some IF practitioners use a 6:1 cycle, where they have one fast day a week, some 5:2, and yet others 25:5, as in TFA. Some just take a random fast day whenever they feel like it, even.

IF is much less about weight than it is the other, generally scientifically demonstrated benefits of reduced caloric intake — though it does tend to confer some benefit in weight reduction as well.

In some ways it is skipping breakfast.

As vidarh mentionned, you also have to take into accounts macros (carbs/fat/proteins split) and having to eat 3500kcal in 2 meals can be tough sometimes (in the weekend i often do a 6h or so).

I've eaten that way pretty much all my life so it was easy for me to adapt (it mainly consisted of more proteins and alternating more carbs on workout days/more fat on rest days).

I made a quick calculator the other day if you want to see how it would look like http://vincent.is/working-on/leangains (github https://github.com/Keats/kCalculator if any angularjs dev want to review some code of an angular newbie!)

This is not really a new thing. In India, fasting is a like a culture. More common with females though. Some of them fast like once every week. There are festivals which are based around fasting. Like Karvachauth, in which girls fast for their husbands etc (we are not very feminist yet). There are festivals during which people fast for straight 2-10 days! (chath, durga puja, somwari etc).

Even in Islam, during ramzaan people fast everyday for 30 days . They eat before dawn break and eat again after dusk.

I think it was a combination of issues:

1) If I eat a carb rich meal, I will happily go for a nap. Anecdotal evidence, had spaghetti carbonara with garlic bread at the weekend. Fell asleep watching a film for the first time in about a year. I can create the same effect with potato or rice. I don't like it. It wastes my time.

2) After eating a lot of bread I can feel extremely bloated and uncomfortable. I potentially have a gluten intolerance however I find the same when eating a lot of sugar. It could be yeast related. Through experimentation I've found that the white 'gacky' sliced bread is particularly bad.

3) I don't think we are designed to eat modern wheat. I switched from beer (ale) to cider and find I have no morning after 'bowel' effects.

4) I avoid sourdough bread. Who am I kidding. Best bread in the world. My crack cocaine. Thankfully there are some awesome artisan bakers in Bath, UK. However when I buy a loaf, I commit to a 20+ mile cycle ride.

5) If I eat a carb rich meal, I will get hungry quicker. I can feel 'fuller' for longer by avoiding carbs. It makes me avoid snacks.

A lot of the above is about feeling mentally alert at work/home. In the winter it means I cook up big pots of high protein stew, freeze them and take them to work and zap them in the microwave. Summer is all about big boxes of salads, heavy on the meat/cheese/dressing.

At work we have lunchtime Dirty Burger Wednesdays where we grab nasty takeaway food :) Like I said it's not about being religious about not eating wheat, just generally trying to minimise intake. I know what a high carb diet makes me feel like.

One proviso. I cycle to work. The morning is almost a free wheel 2.5 mile down hill ride. The evening is a 2.5 mile climb. It used to be a real bitch. Now only the last 0.5 mile is a bit nasty.