Intermittent fasting update

[gashin]

So anyway - I've been doing random 24-48hr water fasts at least 1x a week for the past month. As of today I've lost 13 lbs (192 to 179 today) even with a lot of drinking. I seem to be more susceptible to drinking with friends since I started fasting I guess because I'm compensating for the boredom that comes with depriving of good food (though I've cut down a lot in the past 2 weeks for some reason). This has been so far the easiest weight loss I have ever achieved - I never exercised during the past month and I still had junk food days at least 2x a week. However, I think the greatest benefit I've reaped is that I can really control my hunger now mainly because it's intensity has been greatly reduced, probably because of built up tolerance to the hunger impulse and body adaptation to the fasting state. I notice that my portion sizes have decreased noticeably - not from conscious choice but because I simply get full much easier. I've lost more weight in the past month than I did in the previous month with running 2-3 miles 3x a week and maintaining a balanced diet (lost around 5lbs which I quickly re-gained when I stopped running). Intermittent fasting has a lot of research support for life extension and weight loss so I think it'll help a lot of people here who are dealing with weight issues.

 

[The Wiz]

gashin......Congrats!! You have way more "Will Power" than I do. Keep us posted on how you are making out!!The Wiz!

 

[gashin]

Thanks for the encouragement! It wasn't easy really - I think what made it doable is that I kind of gradually went into it. Started with skipping one meal, then two, then finally a whole day and then two days. Two days is still tough for me but the results and the increase in hunger and emotional discipline are the great rewards, not to mention the chance to improve my lifespan. The research on intermittent fasting shows that it is as effective as caloric restriction in animals and primates for life extension and maintaining youth. I think it is superior to caloric restriction because in CR your taste buds are stimulated every day and that makes it harder to stick with the program while with intermittent fasting, you don't feel the desire to eat as much because your taste buds aren't stimulated and subsequent fasts get easier and easier as well as portion control.

gashin......Congrats!! You have way more "Will Power" than I do. Keep us posted on how you are making out!!The Wiz!

 

[metapuff]

have you done research on how this affects your metabolism? the thing i would worry about is your body thinking "got to go into survival mode" and slowing its metabolism to a crawl. if you ever go back to eating normally, weight gain will be inevitable.

 

[gashin]

Most people have a wrong interpretation of when survival mode occurs. While metabolism does slow down after prolonged fasting, the body doesn't rely on dietary caloric sources but rather fat. It even ignores muscle as a source of energy and just relies on fat until all fat stores are gone and the only thing left is muscle. This is when survival mode really occurs and is life-threatening as even your heart muscles are broken down for energy. If you research ketosis (the metabolic mode your body goes into in the absence of glucose) you'll see that your body can survive fine purely on fat and that it's not life threatening at all and that carbohydrate intake is in fact a greater factor in weight gain, cardiovascular problems, and premature death than eating a fatty or protein-dominated diet, let alone abstaining completely from food. However, during intermittent fasting you'll never reach ketosis as you're only fasting for days interspersed among eating so your metabolism will never reach the muscle degrading or pure fat burning mode, or even adjust its metabolic rate. I still eat normally (and sometimes badly) on my non-fasting days but the weight has stayed off completely.

Eating IS the greatest factor in the majority of chronic non-cancerous disease AND aging, so our obsession with daily eating of calories beyond what's necessary to maintain health is in fact false and is the greatest cause of cardiovascular disease (yes even more than smoking) as more and more research has been showing. The animals (and even people in regards to biomarkers of aging) who undergo a low calorie diet or intermittent fasting show longer average life spans and a maintainence of youth compared with animals that are allowed to eat what they want or humans that eat the typically recommended amount of calories. The longest living people eat the less amount of calories and caloric restriction or intermittent fasting does provide similar results in test subjects. I don't plan on excluding fasting from my life style anymore because there's overwhelming evidence of it's effectiveness in weightloss and average life span extension - not to mention my own personal experience of the benefits I've noticed in regards to my weight and my ability to manage my hunger and portion sizes. I suggest you read books by Dr. Robert Walford on caloric restriction - while he doesn't concentrate on intermittent fasting he does discuss how it does provide equal health benefits as caloric restriction.

have you done research on how this affects your metabolism? the thing i would worry about is your body thinking "got to go into survival mode" and slowing its metabolism to a crawl. if you ever go back to eating normally, weight gain will be inevitable.

 

[beckah54]

Very interesting, gashin. I'll have to check into this type of fasting.

I have found that after two or three days, the hunger pangs recede, but I've never tried 1 day a week. I really need to discipline my appetite!

 

[lordmage]

sounds interesting i may have to try it as well.

 

[Houdini]

I'd like to try it too but I think the only way I could do it is if there were no food in the house.