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A beginner's guide to intermittent fasting (2012)

jamesclear.com

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

#81

Post by shaunpud »

Nathanael_M wrote: post #67
shaunpud wrote: post #47

I've been doing OMAD since the start of this year and loving it. I'm sat at a computer all day, why do I really need to feed this body if I'm not exerting the same amount out. I find when I eat lunch now, it's a real drag, and since I'm so full after it I don't even need dinner, and can usually wait until the next day around dinner time to find that I'm hungry again. I do get a ~30 minute brisk walk in daily but no w…

My brother-in-law does OMAD. He has discovered another advantage to it. He had to go to another city for a week for work. They put him up at a nice AirBnB, and... they gave him a $60 food per diem. $60 if you're doing 3 meals? Nice little treat, I guess. $60 if you're doing 1 meal? He eats like a king every night. Now, in this case, it may not be helping him lose weight haha!

You'd be surprised, I do a massive feed every night, but it does reduce over time. I find the tastes and aromas are more hightened after a fast, and everything tastes that much better. But the results would probably be so much more impressive if I didn't have the occassional beer/wine :|

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

#82

Post by nelblu »

I can confirm through my personal experience that intermittent fasting works too. I used to be a personal trainer (15 years ago) and I have experimented a lot with diets and exercises. Back in those days, the fad was to stay in positive nitrogen cycle and eat minimal carbs - basically just eat protein+fats all day. That diet works (assuming you don't eat too much carbs) but it wasn't very good to stay lean. I used to find myself becoming fat eventually because I couldn't always count my calories (I am an endomorph).

Fast forward to 2020, I first read about fasting diets and was extremely skeptical about them because it went against my past knowledge of eating all day to avoid losing muscle mass. Nonetheless I started on it and never looked back. I can eat a lot in one meal so it is actually a perfect diet for me. I do it daily now - normally 8hrs eating and 16hrs fasting, and sometimes I take to extreme with 6hrs eating and 18 hrs fasting or 4hrs eating and 20hrs fasting. I can't ever skip breakfast so I just have my 1st breakfast at 530, then post workout I have my 2nd breakfast (Tolkien fan ;)) at 830. Then between 830 and 1300 I usually eat fruits and finally have my big meal (which is generally the same amount of total calories that I had in all my meals from 530) at 1300 hrs. And that is it!

Results: 1. Definitely lost body fat and there was no difference in my strength training. I mean I am not as strong as I used to be 15 years ago but that is because of aging. 2. Dishes: No need to do dishes multiple times in a day :). I just clean most of it by noon. 3. Energy levels: I find I am less bloated as compared to eating all day, so I find my energy levels are higher - except right after my last meal where it takes a few hrs for it to process. 4. The only disadvantage I have found is that I tend to have acidic stomach at times. This happens more when I eat spicy food for lunch, but if I stick to salads, rice, beans etc. then that is not a problem.

I do think this diet makes sense because evoluntionarily speaking we never had the luxury of eating all day. In fact, we probably had to starve every few days.

That said, if there is anything I have learnt reading nutrition in the past few years is that diets are complex and they don't always work for all so take my anecdotes for what they are worth.

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

#83

Post by JKCalhoun »

random_upvoter wrote: post #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 manag…

My sense is that conventional dietary wisdom comes from an agricultural heritage — where we spent all damn day working the fields. Without that intensive labor, three meals seems to make less sense.

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

#84

Post by rhinoceraptor »

AnonC wrote: post #66
whoomp12342 wrote: post #2

what about when being hungry makes you distracted?

Before anything else, one of the factors to consider is adequate hydration. Sometimes people confuse thirst as a signal of hunger for food, and then start snacking or binge eating.

Another big component of hydration is electrolytes, especially sodium. Particularly if you're eating lower carb, drinking coffee, doing some sort of fasting, and/or exercising. If you're doing any of those things, the RDA of sodium is likely nowhere near enough for you.

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

#85

Post by [deleted] »

chronogram wrote: post #48

These threads probably attract mostly people who are dieting or looking to diet, so maybe it’s helpful to have an observation from someone who has never been overweight: I notice overweight people like low-to-no fiber foods and are unaware that they are only eating a few grams of vegetables per day. Maybe it is a good idea to make sure that every meal you have contains a real amount of it, so if you have 3 meals per…

[deleted]

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

#86

Post by scarface74 »

jacobrussell wrote: post #46
imron wrote: post #31

Intermittent fasting. A.K.A skipping breakfast

Haha this is what I thought reading the article. One thing I don't think was really touched on was exercise. Am I suppose to exercise during the fat burning period i.e. 12 hours after my last meal?

I am not saying IF is “junk science”. But the idea of it helps “burn fat” isn’t scientifically sound. Most studies I’ve seen saying the reason it works is because you end up eating less calories even though you’re not trying to.

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

#88

Post by bumby »

seer wrote: post #16
random_upvoter wrote: post #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 manag…

The work from Dr. Sinclair, and various other scientist seems to agree that its not just weight and body shape, you actually live longer and have less illnesses throughout your life. Really fascinating stuff - the Lifespan podcast really changed how I think about all of this. I'm like you and haven't had breakfast in quite a while, but recently started skipping launch as well. A lot harder, but supposedly will feel a…

What is the main mechanism behind the claim? I've heard it may have to do with the fact that catabolic conditions correlate to a longer lifepan. With that said, I'm sure there are people who (at least occasionally) want to be in an anabolic state, so I wonder how to balance those conflicting goals. E.g., can you get similar effects by creating a catabolic window for a few months every year?

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

#90

Post by nicoburns »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #83
random_upvoter wrote: post #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 manag…

My sense is that conventional dietary wisdom comes from an agricultural heritage — where we spent all damn day working the fields. Without that intensive labor, three meals seems to make less sense.

Indeed. I often skip breakfast without issues, but I once attempted to do this on a cycling holiday where my morning consisted of cycling at a moderate pace for several hours and I ended up collapsing asleep at the side of the road for about half an hour, then continued very slowly until I could find some food. What you're doing can have a big impact on how much food you need.
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