[Closed] Fasting

How are you putting on 4 pounds at the weekend? what are you doing differently?

[i]then at the weekend I put it back on[/i]

4lbs on in [b]one[/b] weekend?

wtf do you eat or do you just dehydrate all week and then drink loads of water on Sat and Sun?

why not just cut down a bit at the weekend. It's not losign weight durign the week that's thje issue for you is it?

How overweight are you?

I need to know whether to take the piss or give you serious advice.

I just turn up my restraint mode to 11( and take the pie shop off speed dial)

Intermittent fasting to get very lean is really only advised if you've already got low body fat and your diet is 100% sorted. Lot's of stuff on-line about it. Tried it a couple of times but didn't enjoy it personally.

4lbs on in one weekend?

Not difficult at all to do. I've seen 8-10 lb spikes after a wild iDave cheat day and it's all gone again in a couple of days.

IME, the faster you lose weight, the faster it goes back on. This is based on absolutely no stringent peer-reviewed research, just a personal observation.

If you are serious, then this sounds like a really really stupid idea and won't help at all.

Again from experience, not eating for long periods of time messes with your brain, and leads to very bad decisions ! It's the path to eating disorders, don't take that first step.

This is interesting reading

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Most of the weight you put on on cheat day will be water and it'll go over the next few days.

Lots of paleo diet people fast occasionally. If you're reasonably healthy you're not going to die from one missed meal.

If doing a big ride starting in the morning, I don't eat beforehand and tend to eat less during the ride than I would on a normal day.

Lots of paleo diet people fast occasionally. If you're reasonably healthy you're not going to die from one missed meal.

This ^

Most people fast every day.

It's called sleeping.(apart from the 3am fridge raiders)

The whole intermittent fasting thing ties in with iDave as it's a lot to do with insulin response

I'm 12.8 today and always get to around 12.3 or 12.4 by friday, I'd like to get to 11.5 to 11.8. I can assure there is zero chance I'll ever have an eating disorder! I'll check out your link BB.

People... just eat decent home cooked food.

You'll be fine.

Fasting, eating like a cave man, Dr Dukan, blah blah blah... stop worring about it and start cooking your meals from scratch.

Do some exercise.

Don't snack.

Good luck.

I'll check out your link BB.

Dr Berardi is considered to be the expert on IF and his stuff comes highly recommended

fasting won't help long term. Your body will want to retain more fat afterwards to respond to the hunger. I think you should try and lose it gradually over a couple of months. Then it won't go back on so easily.
I have a Islamic friend who say he gains weight when he fasts even thou he doesn't eat more

sorry I cant help (I thought you said fisting)

sorry I cant help (I thought you said fisting)

Were all friends here! 😀

I have a Islamic friend who say he gains weight when he fasts even thou he doesn't eat more

That was something I had thought about, will it have a reverse effect on me.

I can go quite happily for a day without eating. Don't seem to get grumpy ( well any more grumpy LOL )

I limit myself to a ~4 hour eating window most weekdays. Works well for me.

I limit myself to a ~4 hour eating window most weekdays

Why?

Dr Berardi is considered to be the expert on IF and his stuff comes highly recommended

Being the expert on something does not necessarily add credence to that something.

Eg, consider the sentence, "Dr Cougar is considered to be the expert on Homeopathy and his stuff comes highly recommended". This could easily be factually correct, but it's not actually a recommendation to run out and buy water that's been shaken in a special way.

I'm not saying that IF is good or bad - I have no knowledge or opinion either way - I'm just suggesting that your reasoning here is flawed.

I find it to drafty by the window.

TSY speaks sense....

I have a Islamic friend who say he gains weight when he fasts even thou he doesn't eat more

Does he stuff himself silly beforehand in preparation and again afterwards, perhaps?

TSY, it frees up a lot of time, i'm persuaded it has various health benefits, and it's pretty cool to be able to go 20+h without getting tired or ratty about not eating if the need arises.

I should add it took me a good three months or so to be comfortable regularly eating once a day.

Martin Berkham does a far better job of rigourously explaining the science behind why (he believes) intermittent fasting is a good idea than i can. See the link below if you're interested.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

Interesting finbar, but I've found not eating rice, potatoes etc in the evening is great for weight loss.

Each to their own... I like eating way too much to not eat for 24 hours.

So, has it made you as lean as you'd like to be? Can we have some stats to help others?

TSY, it frees up a lot of time, i'm persuaded it has various health benefits, and it's pretty cool to be able to go 20+h without getting tired or ratty about not eating if the need arises.

I should add it took me a good three months or so to be comfortable regularly eating once a day.

Martin Berkham does a far better job of rigourously explaining the science behind why (he believes) intermittent fasting is a good idea than i can. See the link below if you're interested.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

i followed leangains to strip bodyfat and found it quite easy. basically its always gonna be cals in vs cals out and eating in a deficit to lose weight, but IF (and leangains in particular) makes it easier IMHO.
i then decided i was too skinny and wanted to gain weight but still using IF (basically, 8hr eating windows, 16hr fast) but i just wasnt hungry enough in those 8hrs to eat surplus cals. so i just ate what i wnated when i wanted. and put on too much round my waist 🙂
im now doing IF again to lose a bit and will then have another bash at putting on lean mass.

waffled on a bit there, but basically its a healthy (yes really) way of eating less food each day. its better if you can stick to it as a lifestyle choice, because as finbar says, it frees up time and is just soooo easy 🙂

as well as the leangains method (16/8) theres also the idea that having 2X24hr peiods per week zero calories works too. which it does as i also did that once upon a time 🙂 sounds harsh, but really its just having evening tea, nothing else that night, miss breakfast, get hungry bout dinner, see it through, then eat tea again. and then eat as normal 5 days per week. obviously less cals consumed that week.

both ways work, are healthy and i found easy. HTH.

BoardinBob - Member

Not difficult at all to do. I've seen 8-10 lb spikes after a wild iDave cheat day and it's all gone again in a couple of days.

wtf? I don't think I've lost or gained that much in 10 years.

People that fast... you don't really like food then?

So, has it made you as lean as you'd like to be? Can we have some stats to help others?

Well, i have leaned out some and definitely put on muscle since i started IF. I'm not exactly shredded though - I've got a four pack rather than a six pack 😉 .
But, i've been doing more bodyweight exercises and significantly less cycling over the past six months or so (no ironman this year), so it's all a bit unquantifiable. I'm not really into measuring that sort of stuff anyway so i wouldn't know about my bodyfat or weight lost.

I should point out that i really didn't come into fasting through a bodybuilding direction, more a palaeo/health direction.

Also, i LOVE food. Eating 2-3000 calories in a couple of hours is very satisfying.

So 'no' then.

Edit: You so Fasting I say Binge eating.

I'll be honest... I think fasting is **** up. My dietary advice is listed above. It's a normal solution for normal people.

People that fast... you don't really like food then?

Love food. Total food snob in fact.

I'll be honest... I think fasting is **** up. My dietary advice is listed above. It's a normal solution for normal people.

Great - different strokes etc. I'm not trying to convert anyone or preaching about IF, but i like it.

I'll be honest... I think fasting is **** up. My dietary advice is listed above. It's a normal solution for normal people.

Except the "normal" solution doesn't work for most people.

You may have been lucky enough to come out of the womb looking like an adonis, and you're even luckier you've held onto that look, but most haven't.

As iDave says, the human body isn't a simple closed loop system.

Does your partner fast with you?

Does your partner fast with you?

Yes

My girlf very rarely has lunch and eats breakfast like a sparrow, so not exactly, but it doesn't cause any friction.

Yes

Ahhh... that makes some sense. I was thinking they'd have to.

Regarding the normal solution... it does work.

There's so much conflicting advice and evidence... eat 6 meals a day, fast intermittently, eat this don't eat that.

People didn't use to fret and worry about this rubbish. They didn't find new and unique ways to maintain a healthy weight...

They ate home cooked food and they didn't snack.

It works.

People didn't use to fret and worry about this rubbish. They didn't find new and unique ways to maintain a healthy weight...

They ate home cooked food and they didn't snack.

It works.

I agree.

But the unfortunate fact is that isn't "normal" any more. Normal now is fast food, sugary drinks, microwave dinners, McDonalds, massive bags of kettle chips etc etc.

People are addicted to that stuff nowadays, and like any addiction, it's hard to break for a lot of people (not me personally). Most people have no perception of what was normal years ago and what they need to be doing. iDave correctly advocates your interpretation of normal as people weren't eating processed crap 30 years ago.

I was putting forward a normal solution to the current problem... not suggesting it was what the average person currently does!

Fasting IMO, is a bit 'out there' to help the average person.

Safe to say me and food aren't bff.

You don't even eat sausages.

...it frees up a lot of time...

...it's pretty cool to be able to go 20+h without getting tired or ratty about not eating if the need arises...

Fasting IMO, is a bit 'out there' to help the average person.

Again, I agree. It's not for the normal person. As I mentioned at the outset it's for those that are already lean and have their diet 100% sorted.

Fair enough BB... how hard do you exercise when not eating for 20 hours at a time?

[i]But preparing your own food and eating it should be a pleasurable way to spend time, and has positive benefits other than just satisfying your energy requirements.[/i]

That is where a significant part of our problems with food lie.

We've taken a basic physiological need and seen it develop into an activity with so much baggage attached that we, as humans in a society where food is plentiful, cannot have a 'normal' relationship with it.

We still have fairly basic drives for shelter, warmth and food, but haven't developed a method of regulating our intake in a way that avoids us getting obese. We are still animals who think starvation is only a week or so away, so eat accordingly if we don't conciously try to over-ride that stimulus.

I know some unfortunate people cannot afford to feed themselves, but for most of us, when is it necessary to survive a full day without food?

It was actually really helpful not having to worry about making breakfast and making / finding somewhere to buy lunch when i was camping in Scotland last week.

Again, I agree. It's not for the normal person. As I mentioned at the outset it's for those that are already lean and have their diet 100% sorted.

Fair enough BB... how hard do you exercise when not eating for 20 hours at a time?

That's pretty fast... 😯

So do you just eat a whole days food in one sitting rather than spreading it out through the day?

On Saturday i did a parkrun (17.37)

Impressive, I've signed up for my local one but have not been yet.

Ta TSY. My PB is a little faster (17.23) but i freely admit that was breakfasted-up and with more carbs than usual the night before 😀

So do you just eat a whole days food in one sitting rather than spreading it out through the day?

That's absolutely what i do, although it's more like:
6pm banana & some carrots/leftovers/something prior to some sort of exercise
7.30pm ish - big dinner - usually some sort of meat(s) and veg, maybe roast potatoes
8.30/9pm ish - pudding - maybe a big bit of cheese, some coconut or something involving lots of cream

Right, sod the fasting diet tips... give us some fast running tips!

Can't see fasting working for me, ever. 100% happy with my diet, as lean as I'll ever be... which is why I see no rational reason for adopting it. Thanks for answering my questions though!

Fair enough BB... how hard do you exercise when not eating for 20 hours at a time?

I've only ever done it a on a Sunday and it's generally been a gentle cycle for a couple of hours.

Ahhh... do you reckon you could train regularly and with intensity whilst doing it?

...just eat decent home cooked food.
Do some exercise.
Don't snack.

Seems to work for me. 10 lbs down in 3 weeks. 10 lbs to go. I don't intend to go back to snacking on sugary cr*p and eating processed junk. Well, maybe the odd takeaway 😈

boxfish - it works for everyone... as long as they actually do it.

Right, sod the fasting diet tips... give us some fast running tips!

Any tips on recovery after a sprained ankle would be good as well. Haven't run for ages now, feeling fat and unfit. Can't even cycle that well ( hurts when I flex my ankle)

Write the alphabet in the air with your toes twice a day.

Balance with your eyes closed whilst standing one legged on a cushion. (Work up to this by doing it with open eyes / not on a cushion)

Walk along a skipping rope laid on the floor.

Stretch the ankle in every direction you can think of but don't do it so it's painful.

Massage gently the painful area... you may have scar tissue you need to massage out.

as a slight aside, this thread is highly amusing if you read it all with the word 'fasting' replaced with 'farting'.

IGMC.

Dave

Ahhh... do you reckon you could train regularly and with intensity whilst doing it?