Author Topic: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!  (Read 11252 times)

SmileAllDay

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Have you tried it?

My father-in-law managed (a diabetic) managed to control his blood sugar with Intermittent Fasting and cut his need for insulin dramatically. It seems to be an all-around panacea against obesity, cancer, diabetes... Plus, you don't eat... you don't spend money.

I've tried a handful of times but haven't managed to integrate it as a regular habit.

Thoughts?

oldladystache

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2018, 04:10:11 PM »
For about the past 6 weeks I've defined myself as someone who doesn't eat on Thursdays. It seems to be working well so far. Instead of suffering hunger pangs I just think of them as an interesting feeling. I didn't think that would work well, but it does. And on Friday morning I'm not in any hurry to eat.

So far I've lost almost 10 pounds. My blood pressure used to be a little high even though I was taking 3 different medicines to control it. Now it's normal with no medicine.

I'm amazed and delighted with how well it's going.

barbaz

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2018, 02:23:49 AM »
I've tried a handful of times but haven't managed to integrate it as a regular habit.

Thoughts?
Same here. I’m also trying to gain some muscle weight and I’m not sure how these two things interact, so I’m kinda on the fence right now.

blackhart

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2018, 09:13:48 AM »
I use intermittent fasting as part of my weightlifting routine. I will eat breakfast on days that I lift weights but on off days I will forgo eating until around 2PM.

Same here. I’m also trying to gain some muscle weight and I’m not sure how these two things interact, so I’m kinda on the fence right now.

It is possible to gain strength and muscle mass while implementing a fasting scheme, you just have to make sure you're still eating at a surplus and getting the proper amount of macro-nutrients for your body's needs. I would not train while fasted, either.

KCM5

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2018, 09:52:59 AM »
I’ve tried it and like it, but it seems to be a migraine trigger for me. I generally don’t have this problem, but after a month or so of regular migraines I was done. I was trying a condensed eating windows (noon to 6 pm).

mxt0133

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2018, 09:55:28 AM »
I slowly worked my way up to a 7 day water fast, after trying juicing, and then skipping meals, from there I did a two day water only fast, then did the 5:2 diet for a few weeks, where for two days in the week you only eat 700 calories.  I now regularly do a 3 day fast every 3 months and plan on doing a 7 day fast at the end of the year.

I got into it out of pure curiosity when I was trying to figure out how to break my sugar habit.  I could not for the life of me quit processed sugar.  The motivation for a 7 day fast was to reset my relationship with food.  Now I don't become hangry anymore or drop everything if my stomach growls because I know I can go a few days without eating.

As for trying to gain muscle while fasting, for me I definitely feel weaker after a fast and I can't increase the load if I am restricting calories.  I have been able to increase load without eating a bunch of carbs and gaining a lot of fat.  But I do not have the discipline or time to count every macro gram so that I have enough energy to increase load and build muscle while not gaining to much fat.

There are a lot of books on it and YouTube videos, just use common sense and filter out the claims that it can cure cancer, however it might slow it down.

The greatest benefit of fasting for me was to reset my relationship with food.  I no longer have to have alcohol to have a good time in social settings.  I don't need to eat sweets to celebrate a birthday or treat myself after a hard day at work, ect.  Getting my body fat percentage down to 11% was also an added benefit as I feel much lighter and stronger.


mxt0133

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2018, 10:00:37 AM »
I’ve tried it and like it, but it seems to be a migraine trigger for me. I generally don’t have this problem, but after a month or so of regular migraines I was done. I was trying a condensed eating windows (noon to 6 pm).

Were you eating a lot of carbs?  I experience similar symptoms where my brain was adjusting to ketones as a source of fuel vs carbs.  After a while the headaches and brain fog subsided.  I get them from time to time when I have a big carb meal but then when I go back to a low carb diet after a few days they go away.

Try significantly lowering your carb intake and let your brain adapt to using ketones as fuel and that might stop the migraines and allow you to fast on a regular basis.

KCM5

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2018, 10:14:38 AM »
I’ve tried it and like it, but it seems to be a migraine trigger for me. I generally don’t have this problem, but after a month or so of regular migraines I was done. I was trying a condensed eating windows (noon to 6 pm).

Were you eating a lot of carbs?  I experience similar symptoms where my brain was adjusting to ketones as a source of fuel vs carbs.  After a while the headaches and brain fog subsided.  I get them from time to time when I have a big carb meal but then when I go back to a low carb diet after a few days they go away.

Try significantly lowering your carb intake and let your brain adapt to using ketones as fuel and that might stop the migraines and allow you to fast on a regular basis.

That’s interesting. I don’t eat a low carb diet. I also rarely eat animal products, so going full on low carb would be challenging and a change that I’m not really interested in implementing.

I did a bit of googling, and it sounds like others have had success by just reducing their fasting time, which is actually what I have done - I basically just skip breakfast now. Seems to be fine.

SmileAllDay

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2018, 11:35:12 AM »
The greatest benefit of fasting for me was to reset my relationship with food.

Totally agree. Even if it just makes me think about it a little more actively, rather than being like "Well, it's 1pm, time to start eating until I feel like I can't eat anymore."

I had in-laws in town recently and it seemed like 50% of the conversation was what we were gonna eat for our next meal- even when we had just eaten. It was eye-opening. Just like with money, people get passive and habitual over the years.

OtherJen

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2018, 10:48:04 PM »
For the last few weeks, I've been holding off my first meal until 11 am or so, rather than eating at a normal breakfast time. I'm usually done with dinner by 9 pm so that would be a 14-hour fast; even on days when I get home late and have a little nighttime snack, that's usually done by 11 pm.

Interestingly, now that I'm conscious of my eating habits, I've noticed that I don't even get hungry until at least 10:30 am; I was just eating breakfast out of habit before. This new pattern seems to have kick-started a weight loss plateau (I've been calorie counting for 9 weeks and have lost 10 lbs, 4 just in the last couple of weeks). Plus, skipping breakfast means bigger and tastier lunches and dinners without having to cut my afternoon snack, which makes calorie counting not feel like deprivation.

domo

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2018, 08:50:10 AM »
Fasting and weightlifting can definitely work well together. There are entire forums dedicated to intermittent fasting as a weightlifting tactic (Google Leangains). The important thing is to hit your macro-nutrient goals as far as getting enough protein, which doesn't have to be expensive. You can buy whey supplements cheaply, or even the old standby rice+beans.

Rubic

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2018, 01:03:40 PM »
I've tried a handful of times but haven't managed to integrate it as a regular habit.

I'm OMAD, but I got there in stages.

My recommendation would be to first consider switching to a ketogenic
diet.  This makes it easier to fast.  Then shorten your eating window to
whatever works for you (8/16, 4/20, etc.)

My progression over a 3-year period:
  • low-carb
  • keto (3 meals/day)
  • 2 meals/day + recovery drink after morning workout
  • morning recovery workout drink, 1 meal (dinner)
  • OMAD: 1 meal/day (usually dinner at 6pm)
This seems to be working for me.  I don't have any cravings and the progression
made it easy to go from one stage to the next.

I'm also doing a 3-day fast on a monthly basis, and will possibly consider an
annual 7-day fast.

Honestly, the hardest part is social expectations.  I'll join family/friends, but
often just order coffee/tea if it's outside of dinner.  Easy to do for breakfast,
since lots of people skip it -- harder for lunch.  Sometimes I eat lunch with
friends, then skip dinner, but this kinda throws me off a bit.

Benefit #1: When I travel, everyone else is urgently worried about what food
they can get on the flight or what's available at the next road exit.  OMAD
saves me from eating a lot of unhealthy food, but even if I end up at a fastfood
restaurant for dinner, I don't sweat it.

Benefit #2: When you're only eating one meal per day, you have more time
to prepare quality food at home, and I don't mind spending more for quality
ingredients.

 

3Mer

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2018, 06:57:16 PM »
I read Ori Hofmekler's Warrior Diet years ago, and followed it for a long time.  He recommends undereating during the day and/or intermittent fasting.  I do feel better when I do this, and for sure, it saves money on lunches.   Also, when traveling with other people, I am usually a bit taken aback how frequently they feel the need to eat compared to me.  I usually go all day and just eat dinner.  Though I do like breakfast when on a trip sometimes.

When I undereat and/or fast most of the day, I feel more energetic, mentally sharper.  If I have big lunches every day, I catch colds easier, feel sluggish and bogged down.

Schmidty

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2018, 08:59:30 AM »
I gained quite a bit of weight after I quit drinking a while back.  Literally had no appetite when I drank.  When I quit, I wanted to eat everything.  Thirty pounds crept up on me over a year.  I'm small framed so it was huge to me.  I tried reducing calories and such, but really I saw a major difference when I tried intermittent fasting, and eventually just one meal a day.  Thirty pounds came off quite easy in a few months.  Now I maintain my 5'6" 140lbs by keeping intermittent fasting, just eating a reasonable lunch and dinner.  I'm in my upper 40's and weight is easier to gain now days, but I have no problem.  No counting calories or staying on a certain diet of any kind.  Just eat real food those two meals.  Sure cut down on the grocery budget, as well.

Also, the sugar addiction was real after I gave up alcohol, and had a struggle with that for a while.  It took a while and a lot of willpower to cut out the sugar addiction.  No more sodas, coffee and tea unsweetened, and very rarely a desert.  After getting past that it's pretty easy, but man, I did have a soda a few weeks back (only thing offered while visiting a relative) and couldn't stomach how damn sweet it was, like drinking syrup, yuck!!   

golden1

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Re: Fasting seems like a badass dream- miracle cure for body and wallet!
« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2018, 07:04:38 PM »
I have been doing 16:8 IF for over a month, and I am really digging it. 

I don’t eat until around noon, just black coffee.  Then I stop eating usually by 7-8pm.  I think I could fairly easily do a 20:4 or one meal a day at this point, but it doesn’t really fit into my schedule. 

It is a great way to simplify the morning routine, and it does save some money at the store since I have eliminated my breakfast foods.  I have noticed much less sensitivity to blood sugar swings.  I used to eat immediately after waking and every few hours after that, feeling weak and dizzy if I didn’t eat.  That is pretty much gone now.

I have lost about 4-5 lbs, but I was at a normal BMI before this. 

This is the first “diet plan” that feels sustainable.  I know a lot of people do Keto with fasting, but I am not convinced of the long term viability of that diet in terms of cardiovascular health and not interested in giving up carbs.