I fast. Then get blood drawn. Then go to Cracker Barrel.

I’m a huge fan of fasting. I’ve touted Dr. Fung and his books on this board before.

quote:

Originally posted by g8rforester:

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
When in the heck did eating become so complicated?

The obesity explosion in the US is relatively new. Maybe the last 20-30 years. Back in the 60s or 70s (when BMI was much lower) no one ever fasted except at Lent. For that matter, no one went to the gym, ran for "fun", or rode a bike after they were 16 and could drive a car.

There are many and varied reasons for this. During the same 20-30 years, the low-fat/high-carb diet has been promoted as the "healthy" way to eat. In that same time frame, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have skyrocketed. I realize that correlation =/= causation, but where there is smoke...

Low carb/Keto/Paleo/Carnivore/No Sugar No Grains, is far closer to what we ate prior to the invention of agriculture. It's what our ancestors were eating for hundreds of thousands of years vs. the 5000 or so that we have been consuming wheat and the 100 or so that we have been eating pre-packaged processed foods.

I wouldn't disagree with what you are saying about calorie dense carbs being consumed in greater quantities over the last 20 years,but are you saying that prior to that (1950s-1970s) most people were in a constant state of ketosis due to their normal diet? No fasting, relatively little gym-style exercise compared to today and very little obesity.

Of course, people died of heart attacks and lung cancer in their 60s, so maybe that masked some of the other problems

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:

I wouldn't disagree with what you are saying about calorie dense carbs being consumed in greater quantities over the last 20 years,but are you saying that prior to that (1950s-1970s) most people were in a constant state of ketosis due to their normal diet? No fasting, relatively little gym-style exercise compared to today and very little obesity.

Of course, people died of heart attacks and lung cancer in their 60s, so maybe that masked some of the other problems

No, they weren't in a constant state of ketosis, however the norm was 3 meals per day without all the snacking. Before fat was vilified, they were eating more of it (and less carbs) and thus more satiated. Not eating garbage carb-laden snacks, not getting 500 calories of sugar in the form of a frappuccino every day between meals.

It has always been laughable to me, even before learning about nutrition, that boxes of candy advertise they are "fat-free!" Freaking absurd, as if that makes it healthy...

Try eating a breakfast of 2 fried eggs and 2 bacon strips vs. a bowl of cereal. The eggs n' bacon will have you going strong until (even skipping) lunch. The Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs will have you hungry for the break-room junk by 10am.

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:No, they weren't in a constant state of ketosis, however the norm was 3 meals per day without all the snacking. Before fat was vilified, they were eating more of it (and less carbs) and thus more satiated. Not eating garbage carb-laden snacks, not getting 500 calories of sugar in the form of a frappuccino every day between meals.

Try eating a breakfast of 2 fried eggs and 2 bacon strips vs. a bowl of cereal. The eggs n' bacon will have you going strong until (even skipping) lunch. The Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs will have you hungry for the break-room junk by 10am.

That makes sense. In that regard, "fasting" is just another way of controlling calorie intake, regardless of the keto effect. I think that it used to be quite rare for people to snack at their desks at work. That seems to be common now.

I definitely agree with your breakfast plan. I don't eat B&E, but typically eat leftovers from other meals. If I do have cereal, it is Fiber One with blueberries. I don't think that has much in the way of net carbs. More like a bowl of sticks. My work pretty much prevents snacking until lunch other than maybe a quick banana or apple in between patients.

Look at the Fiber One box, you may be surprised how many carbs it has.

For me, I fast just as much for the health benefits and because it is time-saving and convenient as I do to control calories. Skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch saves time, money, and having my body in a fasted state longer gives it time to do stuff like autophagy-getting rid of bad cellular materials that your body otherwise can't do if you are always in a "fed" state.

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:No, they weren't in a constant state of ketosis, however the norm was 3 meals per day without all the snacking. Before fat was vilified, they were eating more of it (and less carbs) and thus more satiated. Not eating garbage carb-laden snacks, not getting 500 calories of sugar in the form of a frappuccino every day between meals.

Try eating a breakfast of 2 fried eggs and 2 bacon strips vs. a bowl of cereal. The eggs n' bacon will have you going strong until (even skipping) lunch. The Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs will have you hungry for the break-room junk by 10am.

That makes sense. In that regard, "fasting" is just another way of controlling calorie intake, regardless of the keto effect. I think that it used to be quite rare for people to snack at their desks at work. That seems to be common now.

I definitely agree with your breakfast plan. I don't eat B&E, but typically eat leftovers from other meals. If I do have cereal, it is Fiber One with blueberries. I don't think that has much in the way of net carbs. More like a bowl of sticks. My work pretty much prevents snacking until lunch other than maybe a quick banana or apple in between patients.

Strambo pretty much hit it. It's not that we were in ketosis en-masse, so much that we were eating less carbs, more fat, and processed foods were far less-available.

Additionally, you can't make low-fat food palatable without mass quantities of sugar. So while we are eating less fat, we are eating far more carbs than we ever have.

Again, correlation =/= causation, but in my personal N=1 experiment, I feel better than I ever have. I have lost 80 lbs. without the associated suffering of calories in/calories out restrictions. I have no issues skipping one or two meals several days a week, and still maintaining an active life.

I’d like to start of saying thank you! I couldn’t find the thread, there was a discussion on different diets and someone posted check out a couple of books by Jason Fung and someone else I think.. I’ve tried most diets and eventually failed. I trust this forum way more than the rest of the internet and feel like we are family.
So I took the advice, bought the books, read them, found many Fung videos on YouTube, and started intermediate fasting.
I have several bad habits. On work days, I need a big breakfast. Usually a mid morning snack. Large lunch, followed by 1-2 beers or 1-2 bourbons depending on back and foot pain after work. Booze and ice cream are my two favorite food groups!
I weighed 282 and 5’10-1/2”. I’m big boned and broad shouldered, but of course, fat!
I started on a Saturday so I’d be home suffering. Low carb lunch and dinner between the hours of 12pm and 5:30 pm.
For the next five days I realized how addicted I was to sugar! Wicked headaches, foggy, didn’t feel good. I now eat one or two meals a day, feel great, and some days I skip lunch because I’m not hungry.
This Saturday will be week five. I’m down 20 pounds, went from a 44” work pant to 40, had to drill more holes in my belt. I’m walking faster and working harder at work, and have energy to tackle projects at home, which was difficult before. My biggest thing is it now feels easy. This is the first “diet” that I feel could be my change of life eating habit. I now have a vision of losing 1 pound per week, and a year from now being around 210-220.

Thank you guys,

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TBH:

This Saturday will be week five. I’m down 20 pounds, went from a 44” work pant to 40, had to drill more holes in my belt. I’m walking faster and working harder at work, and have energy to tackle projects at home, which was difficult before. My biggest thing is it now feels easy. This is the first “diet” that I feel could be my change of life eating habit. I now have a vision of losing 1 pound per week, and a year from now being around 210-220.



Terry

I was wondering why this thread was revived. Congratulations! Keep up the good work.

quote:

Originally posted by TBH:
I’m down 20 pounds, went from a 44” work pant to 40, had to drill more holes in my belt.

Amateur. I just buy extra belts, now I have waist holder uppers that range from svelte "holy-cow-he's-stayed-in-great-shape" all the way to "dang-son-you-just-quit-dincha?"

Kidding aside, congrats. You've done well.

You all know I originally started this thread simply as a joke.

I'm fasting at the moment, because I haven't in a long time. I plan to do a couple days in a row for the first time in a long time. Probably well over a year.

I was having health issues mostly brought on my anxiety/stress. It didn't matter what I did or didn't do, I wasn't losing any weight and had put back on about 20 of the 50 I was down. Finally I was able to change jobs, MUCH less a/s^ and I immediately dropped 5 lbs. But I fell back into the old habits of the old, old job. Routine eating, social eating. Weight wasn't really going up that much but I could see I was putting on fat in some places. Then most recently when I decided it was time to get back on the wagon as it were, other pain issues popped up. OTC pain meds brought some relief, but I couldn't take them on a empty stomach. So I was back to eating 3-4 times a day. Which also reverted to the norm. Things are slowly getting back to normal pain wise (the normal day to day levels lol) so I decided to fast for a few days.
It's amazing how much routine and habit plays into it. I can got 24 hours without eating on the weekend without even noticing or thinking about it. But the work week cycles... morning, break time, lunch time, break time, home from work... that's trouble. I think it part it's because I'm working WITH someone again, and they are a very schedule oriented person, especially when it comes to breaks / lunch. When I worked by myself, I couldn't care what time it was. Took lunch, missed lunch, who cares.

I work out daily, including 5 strength days per week in the gym. Fasting is not an option for me.

My mistake, i misread the title as "fisting".



I was intrigued...

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I've in the past done 2 days a week of 600 calorie near fasts with great effects. I'm 5'11" and the most I've ever weighed is around 210. I've only ever done 3 diets, the 2 days per week 600 calorie near fasting, paleo, and a food allergy identifying diet. I'd say all 3 diets have been successful, the allergy diet identified a dairy intolerance, which after avoiding dairy for two years went away.

I went from near fasting to paleo, and before long was around 180. I've been eating a pretty normal American diet for the last few years, but mostly eat food cooked from scratch, and avoid buying ice cream. I'm about 190 now. Except for ice skating several times a week and cycling 4-5, I'm pretty inactive.

Noted in several posts in this thread, I definitely noticed how calorie restriction sharpened my senses. I deduced it was my body's way of improving and motivating my food seeking, before reading about that in this thread. This improvement of senses was notable when it was timed with the start of sailboat racing season. I had a really good year that year skippering the sailboat, but have had good years every year since without fasting.

If you are ever in need of really having to be sharp for any reason, I recommend doing the 2 day of week 600 calorie fasting diet, or some other fasting regimen. Egg whites and strawberries got me through the day on the 600 calorie days.

I do it one a day a week. I don't fast to lose weight. I do it to practice self control. I found that a lot of my eating was out of habit, not hunger. So one day a week I wake up and decide I will not eat solid food that day and I stick to it. It's taught me that I can control what and when I eat, and that being hungry is not such a terrible thing. (Tell that to an Ethiopian right?) The weird part is is that I feel really good when I'm empty. I have more energy, not less. I sleep better that night on an empty stomach, and the next morning I feel really good. On occasion I've fasted a second day. I have a few friends I work with that do it and we tell each other when we're fasting. It's funny, because instead of encouraging each other, we tell each other about our lunch or snacks to the person fasting. We do that as a joke but even that serves to help me overcome temptation to eat. It's the best thing I've done to help me understand that I rule my stomach, it doesn't rule me.

I extend the interval from my last meal to my first meal of the day - aka time-restricted eating (TRE). Many times this turns into an omad (one meal a day). Every now and then I'll throw in an intermittent fast (IF) - greater than 24 hour fast.

I don't know that I'd call it "intermittent fasting", but I've scaled waaaaaay down my eating intervals. A lot of days I go 20-24 hours (and sometimes more) without eating...just keep myself busy. I've also started playing tennis more regularly and really need to get the bicycle off the rack for the off-tennis days.

I thought I'd be so hungry that I'd eat anything and everything in site. I've managed to control that and have stuck to pretty healthy choices...salads, crock pot chicken dishes, bowl of cereal, e.g. And when eating out, it's semi-healthy choices there, too. It helps TREMENDOUSLY that I don't have a sweet tooth. I might...MIGHT...eat ice cream 2 or 3 times a year? Not a month...a year. I also watch what I eat when working, as it's so easy to get trapped in the fast food rut. I just try to find semi-healthy alternatives.

All that to say, I was 235 at my absolute heaviest...I'm 5'10". I've lost down to 208 and can feel really the difference, ESPECIALLY when lugging my fat ass around the tennis court. At 60 years old, I'm chasing down balls from one side of the court to the other and have the energy to keep going on the ensuing points. I was looking in the mirror the other day and my uniform blazer looks like a friggin' tent! I need to either get a new one or have this one tailored so it doesn't hang on me like a garbage bag. Good problem to have...

It's funny how your body reacts to it. When I first started doing it, sometimes I could do a couple days and be just fine. Other times I was a mess, my brain just wasn't there. After a while I seemed to get no side effects, other than an occasional headache. I'd usually have a bit of salt and it would go way. I did a five day once and the only issue was a headache on day two, that went away with salt.

Another one that didn't start happening until I'd been doing it for almost a year was joint aches. I'd plan on doing a couple to several day fast, and on the first day my elbows, shoulders and knees would be screaming. The first time I didn't really think it was related, but it was. It only happens once in a while, but it stops my fast right quick.

This time, I've had a headache non stop for the last two days. (though the weather is odd right now, cool, then rain, then the temps shot way up high, so that might not be helping) Salt was no help this time, nor vitamins. Not even Tylenol which I'd rather not take on an empty stomach, but did. I ate lunch on tuesday, and some plain greek yogurt tuesday night. My plan was not to eat again till friday night, maybe even saturday night, but this headache is kind of wearing on me and I may give in.

In November i went 72, 72, 96 hours and it helps in certain regards.

If trying keto it instantly puts you in a state of ketosis.

If trying to manage your meals it instantly shrinks your stomach so you dont eat as much.

For me the personal gratification of completing something difficult was nice. Overall i find eating small meals more regularly is better because i can still do cardio. I cant work out at all while fasting.

I know this thread is a little old but seeing this video reminded me of this thread.
I used to think that fasting was stupid and eating several meals a day was more prudent.
After seeing a video from this guy I realized that neither was a right or wrong answer.

This does address meal frequency with a lot more detail than I can absorb but it shows that is is not one or the other.




THIS video is much easier to watch and quite enlightening
It basically boils down to take in less than you burn.
Frequency is not important unless it helps you achieve your goals.