Intermittent fasting

[Renfred]

I've tried IF with some success.  I haven't lost that much weight yet, maybe about 5 pounds.  I usually skip breakfast, and maybe skip lunch on certain days.  Still, I find that I always am getting hungry around dinner time.  But I never thought of it in terms of "conditioning" before.  So maybe I should mix it up a little, just to see if that works.

Hi fellow, In my opinion you will not skip the breakfast and lunch because in this sense you feel weakness and got fell down you health. You in this era not making  a good deal with your health. Take some amount of the food in both the times and use some diet food's like fresh fruit juices and bread with yogurt etc.......

[Jbird]

This appeared in the NY Time's Well blog today, an article on fasting being good for heart health:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/regular-fasting-may-boost-heart-health/?ref=health

This is on 24-hr. water fasting, but hopefully the findings have some bearing on intermittent fasting too.

[Todd Becker]

This appeared in the NY Time's Well blog today, an article on fasting being good for heart health:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/regular-fasting-may-boost-heart-health/?ref=health

This is on 24-hr. water fasting, but hopefully the findings have some bearing on intermittent fasting too.

Jbird,

Thank you so much for this intriguing article on the two fasting studies. The caveat to the conclusions for the first study is that it was an observational study and not an interventional study, so it shows only association and not causation. But nevertheless a 58% reduction in coronary disease in the fasting group is pretty dramatic. Wouldn't a drug company or diet like to claim that!

The second study was an interventional study.  Here the results were equally dramatic:

Among other changes, they found that levels of human growth hormone, or HGH, surged after fasting — increasing 20 times in men and 13 times in women. The hormone is released by the body in times of starvation to protect lean muscle mass and trigger the body to start burning fat stores.
“There is a lot more to be done to fill in the research on the biological mechanism,’’ Dr. Horne said. “But what it does suggest is that fasting is not a marker for other healthy lifestyle behaviors. It appears to be that fasting is causing some major stress, and the body responds to that by some protective mechanisms that potentially have a beneficial long-term effect on risk of chronic disease.”

Again, how many other interventions can claim to increase human growth hormone 13-20 times!  And doing it in an intermittent, pulsatile manner is known to have benefits.  Horne's comment that fasting benefits derive from a "major stress" that induces "protective mechanisms" aptly identifies fasting as a form of hormesis.

So this research is a big boost for intermittent fasting, and adds to the panoply of other documented benefits, such as the elevation of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) and the increase in autophagy, both of which are cardioprotective and neuroprotective.

Todd

[stephenmarklay]

I can't wait to get fully into the IF pattern.  I am working right now on eating 2x (late breakfast or lunch and dinner) with the goal of just dinner as tolerated.

I am starting to train some endurance for cycling so I will see how energy is.  I am training low intensity and I never need to eat on the bike or after.  After a couple of months on a Ketongenic Paleo diet I can at least burn some fat.  Now I just need to burn the fat I have not what I am eating!

[shadowfoot]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, so I want to mention an interesting personal anecdote on intermittent fasting from my at least three or four months eating only breakfast and dinner most days. It has been my experience that under those contitions the body will adapt to only get hungry at those times and skipping lunch is no longer something unusual. However, if I wanted to avoid lessened energy and coldness during extended times like that then I ahd to eat enough. As long as I could have two massive meals each day I was fine. Perhaps that is why some people find it so effective for weight loss -- because it is so diffucult to get the daily number of calories in two sittings or less.

On a side note, I no longer eat that way. I decided it was getting to monotonous and no longer provided a challenge for my body. So I know eat three meals most days and two or three times a week I only take one or two meals the whole day.

-shadowfoot

[stephenmarklay]

I think that whatever works applies.  I am going to way my energy with my eating.  I am going to do 1-2 meals per day starting today but WHEN I get to my desired weight of about 160 I will likely go to 2 meals (skipping lunch like you) and just dinner if I need to modulate my weight a bit.

Today is the first day with just dinner -wish me luck!

EDIT:  First 24 hour fast was a breeze.  Actually a lot less mental duress than having to try and not eat too much.  I think I will just do 1 meal for a while and see how it goes.

[ankylosaurus]

do you guys think it's possible for IF to reverse aging?

I'm 22 but I seem to be aging extremely fast compared to other people my age. I already have fine lines on my face.
I'm hoping IF will not only stall, but even somewhat reverse this. Is that too much to hope for?

[SkiPK]

I'll just add my experience with IF on here and hope it is helpful.  Started reading about IF 16-20 months ago, as a 32 year old male I was looking for the best way to get back to my fighting weight.  At 5'7", I felt best around 146-148 but was currently hovering around 160 for several years.  I stumbled upon Eat Stop Eat and gave it a shot.  I have always lifted weights and stayed pretty active.  I run several days a week, race in 5k, 10k, and half-marathons, and play beach volleyball every weekend for several hours.  That said I also eat pizza a couple times a week and enjoy sandwiches and an occasional soda and chips for lunch.  The rest of my diet is fairly healthy - meats, fruits, eggs, Greek yogurt, Veggies (greens, peppers, onions mostly) and nuts. 

ESE style Intermittent Fasting and then later Leangains style eating windows got me down past my target to between 140 and 144 depending on the day and whether I buried a pizza the night before.  I love it, I feel great, no longer think too hard about it and I still feel fine on my runs, whether it's fasted weight training, fasted sprints, and fasted longer runs.  The only time I feel the need to eat before a run is when I'm trying to hit my race pace for an extended period.  I can still play 3 plus hours of beach volleyball as long as I'm hydrating enough.  Hope this is informative and or a little helpful.

[Todd Becker]

do you guys think it's possible for IF to reverse aging?  I'm 22 but I seem to be aging extremely fast compared to other people my age. I already have fine lines on my face.  I'm hoping IF will not only stall, but even somewhat reverse this. Is that too much to hope for?

Hi ankylosaurus - welcome to this forum!  To answer your question, while you can't stop or reverse aging, you can slow down its effects, and you can become healthier in specific ways, such as improved strength, fitness, endurance, immunity and mental clarity.  Certain signs of aging, like grey hair, may not be reversible.  The question of skin aging is an interesting one, and has spawned an entire cosmetic industry.  I don't know much about cosmetic treatments, but certainly there are skin nutrients like Vitamins C, A and D, zinc, dietary oils (particularly omega-3 oils like fish oil or flax seed oil, and medium chain triglycerides like coconut oil) which can dramatically improve skin texture and tone, plump it up, and reverse or at least soften wrinkles.

I also think that cutting down on sugars and reducing insulin seems to help skin texture.  One effect I noticed from IF (perhaps helped along by fish oil) was the total disappearance of rough skin I used to have on my elbows.  Now the skin there is smooth and shiny.

ESE style Intermittent Fasting and then later Leangains style eating windows got me down past my target to between 140 and 144 depending on the day and whether I buried a pizza the night before.  I love it, I feel great, no longer think too hard about it and I still feel fine on my runs, whether it's fasted weight training, fasted sprints, and fasted longer runs.  The only time I feel the need to eat before a run is when I'm trying to hit my race pace for an extended period.  I can still play 3 plus hours of beach volleyball as long as I'm hydrating enough.  Hope this is informative and or a little helpful.

Welcome, SkiPK!  Sounds like you have found a way to harness IF very effectively to stay fit and feel great.

[Jertive]

Hey congrats to all of you who have reduced so much weight with IF.But in my point of view IF is not good for health.May be it works but sometimes it makes our body weak so try to avoid it and always prefer natural ways to reduce weight like with exercise and diet food.