It's best to keep a hunger on.

Well this has been fascinating. I'm certainly not overweight (6'0" and 165lbs) but at 42 have the aches and pains that most of us get at this age. I eat relatively healthy food (no fast food, mostly home cooked, and mostly low processed foods) but feel like I could gain something from fasting. I have the same problem as a couple folks here - I get shaky and irritable when I don't eat. But I suspect a lot of that is due to habits. I'm going to have to give this some thought. Thanks for the interesting post!!

Also, I did not recognize the quote, but remember it once you clarified where it was from.

I don't follow any particular diet program or plan, but for the last 6 months or so I've basically been doing the 16/8 method described here. I stumbled onto this method myself based on my own experiences. Mine is more like 18/6. I fast from 6PM until Noon the next day. I regularly go 24 hours between meals though - probably once a week. Lately I've been making that noon meal really light, like a smoothie and nothing else.

To anyone considering trying this, the only advise I'd offer to start with is to give it time. I was in pretty good shape when I started, and I'm in even better shape after 6 months of this. I didn't have any aches or pains to contend with before starting, but I definitely feel better and more...sharp mentally than I was before. It took a while to get used to it. I don't feel like I'm starving myself, and I don't even really feel all that hungry when it's time to eat. At first I really felt my stomach grumble hard, and it took a lot of practice to not give in and start eating.

The only side effect I can say I've seen is that it seems like I need a little more sleep now. I sleep a full 8 each night whereas before it was more like 7-7.5 per night. Not a bad trade off.

volvoclearinghouse said:

I've heard about this whole fasting thing....my problem is, if I go without food for any longer than a few hours I feel really terrible.  The flip side of this is, I usually eat pretty small meals.  Breakfast is a 1/2 cup of trail mix and water.  And I typically snack throughout the day, usually trail mix (we make our own, so it's just nuts and dried fruit and seeds) or a piece of fruit.  I have found that I feel much better if I stay hydrated- I follow the "half your weight in ounces" rule for water- E.g., I weigh 185 lbs, half that is 92.5, so I drink (at least) 92.5 fluid ounces of water per day.  And that's just straight water.  

Volvo, I quoted you here because I started out the same way - I'd feel weird and crappy if I didn't eat pretty much constantly. It took time for my body to adjust. I also hydrate extensively.

TLDR: I've been doing this a long time, and I lost a ton of surplus fat and feel better and more mentally alert.

Honestly I've been watching videos and reading about this non stop since I decided to start. There is a lot of information out there. Some of it is very sensationalized and a lot of articles have cherry picked information whether it's in favor or against fasting. Like anything else if you dig hard enough you can find plenty conflicting "evidence". But from what I've seen the hard science mostly points to it having numerous benefits. The basics of it make sense to me and my experience has been nothing but positive so far. 

I will say from what I've seen and read that during fasting the body loses minerals quickly. Especially sodium and potassium. So that's something to be aware of.

Another person that goes into the science of fasting quite a bit in YouTube is Thomas DeLauer. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFbLg_bIQgxDQXq6Azd_4cQETi1xAVlAg

In reply to Mezzanine :

I talked to my B-I-L about the fasting thing, and he said the same thing- he gets shaky, and sometimes headaches, if he goes too long without eating.  

On weekends, we usually have a fancier breakfast, but still I'll get up and toss a quick bite of trail mix in my mouth, or fry up an egg quickly and nibble on that.  I just feel like I need _something_ in the morning, first thing.  I will say, I used to always have a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of juice for breakfast on weekdays, and since I switched to a 1/2 cup of trail mix and water I feel better and I think I lost a belt notch (I don't own a scale, so no idea what my weight is day to day, but my pants do fit better lately).

Well, I’ve done some more research on it. I’m going to try it. I really need to lose about 5 pounds by next Saturday, which may not be possible-we will see, I’ll be adding in some significant cardio as well.

Here is a good summary of my findings—basically the only significant risk for a non-diabetic, otherwise normal person, is an increase in LDL. As I’m moving back towards plant based, that isn’t as much of a concern for me. 

Link: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/intermittent-fasting/

Sounds very interesting, although my body probably works differently.  If I haven't eaten lately then I get to be so crabby that even I notice it.  And no energy/drive to speak of at all.

In reply to mtn :

Good luck! Let us know how you respond to it and how you feel. I'd also be interested to know which method you go with.

I'm sorry but if you're active, do not fast. Especially if you work out regularly. I am 29 years old and am in amazing shape but I have arthritis in my hands and all kinds of joint pains from my job and injuries. 

The best way I found to ease that pain was to check my diet. While I already ate healthy there were still some things I ate that were unnatural. I got rid of those things and basically stopped eating red meat all together. The joints are feeling better and my hands aren't crippling me anymore. 

I think when people fast and everything feels "better", it's because you're not consuming that E36 M3 that's in our typical American foods. So we relate that to oh it's because I'm fasting. You really never want to have your body go into starvation mode for long periods of time. 

I welcome anyone to try to eat a healthy natural diet with whole foods. Get rid of processed foods, sugars, and high meat consumption. Eat a good breakfast everyday. Exercise (food fuels your body) and challenge your mind with puzzles and memory games. The reason my advice isn't the most used method of a healthy mind and body is because it's hard to do in our society. We are bombarded with E36 M3 food and people really think working out regularly is impossible to fit in their busy day. 

In reply to yupididit :

I disagree. I think you do want to fast once in a while. There have been proven benefits that happen when you do. If you are active and healthy, like dculberson above, then I wouldn't do it frequently. Maybe once a month, once a quarter or once a year. Certainly not weekly or once a day. 

It's a practice that is as old as people are. Either out of necessity do to lack of food or prescribed by almost every single religion in history. Hippocrates called for it., Benjamin Franklin promoted it. Mahatma Gandhi called for it. Muslim, Christian and Buddhist monks all have prescribed periods of fasting. And now science is taking a look and finding that there are numerous health benefits that are a result of fasting. It's not do to calorie reduction, it's due to the physiological changes that happen in the human body while in a fasted state. And certainly eating the right foods will do the most to improve your health and increase your longevity but I believe fasting can provide benefits that diet alone cannot.

But like I said it's not for everyone. Do your own research and reach your own conclusions.

Also this is Thomas DeLauer. He fasts regularly. And it certainly appears that he works out pretty regularly too. 

Like anything, there's evidence to support both sides of the argument. I stated for long periods of time. Which is subjective. But, whatever works for you. 

I have a similar physique to the guy in the picture. Posting it doesn't help or hurt your position because there's too many variables in the process to obtain such a physique. A lot of which are frowned upon in regards to your overall health. 

There's been a lot of buzz lately about probiotics and gut health. How does this fasting affect that?

In reply to Indy-Guy :

I haven't seen or heard anything about how it directly relates to the gut bacteria. However I have seen that it gives the gut mucosal layer a chance to heal up and repair itself. 

Interesting concept.  Read this thread yesterday and haven’t eaten yet today.  TM and I are staying at a nice hotel out of town (long story) so today was sleep in, lounge a bit, work out, swim, read in the sun.  She had some fruit but so far i’ve Only had water and feel fine.

We’ll be having dinner around 7 which makes 24 hours.

In reply to Nick Comstock :

Being muscular doesn't necessarily mean active.  Long distance runners are very active and they tend to be rather wiry.

Rereading this thread, I'll mention it to my employer and see if he's ever tried it.  He tries all sorts of stuff.  Right now he's big on the effects of taking Vitamin D supplements, apparently as one gets older the body doesn't produce nearly enough of it.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

Anything to report? Plan to continue?

Knurled. said:

In reply to Nick Comstock :

Being muscular doesn't necessarily mean active.  Long distance runners are very active and they tend to be rather wiry.

 

Rereading this thread, I'll mention it to my employer and see if he's ever tried it.  He tries all sorts of stuff.  Right now he's big on the effects of taking Vitamin D supplements, apparently as one gets older the body doesn't produce nearly enough of it.

Most white people probably need to be on a Vitamin D supplement. 

In reply to Nick Comstock :

Actually felt good.  I’d been considering something like this for a while.  I was surprised by how non-eventful it was, no headaches, no dizziness, no hypoglycemic crankiness.  Just a bit hungry from 3 pm till dinner.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

Pretty much the same with me. No headaches or shakes or anything other than some hunger that eventually disapated. I pretty much had no hunger when I did the 36. 

yupididit said:

I'm sorry but if you're active, do not fast. Especially if you work out regularly. I am 29 years old and am in amazing shape but I have arthritis in my hands and all kinds of joint pains from my job and injuries. 

I'm glad you mentioned your age - I'm 37, and I was always tired of hearing from people that were older than me as they'd blather on about how their metabolism changed in their early thirties. Turns out it is true, and worth mentioning here because I'm sure I wouldn't have the same opinion of fasting if I started doing it in my 20s.

Not saying that 29 is significant to the general conversation - just that it's worth considering that the results of fasting will vary by your age and metabolism.

mtn said:

Knurled. said:

In reply to Nick Comstock :

  Right now he's big on the effects of taking Vitamin D supplements, apparently as one gets older the body doesn't produce nearly enough of it.

Most white people probably need to be on a Vitamin D supplement. 

Or, you know, get it naturally.

The weekend had too many plans for me to really start. So I've started today. Last meal was about 10PM last night; I'll be fasting today. 

• Meals today consist of coffee, water, and a vitamin supplement. 
• Tomorrow will be a smoothie in the morning (that admittedly probably has about 1000 calories), and probably some rice and beans for dinner. 
• Wednesday I'll fast again. 
• Thursday I'll eat whatever the wife wants to eat. 
• Friday I'll fast until dinner. Saturday and Sunday I'll be eating full meals, probably 3 meals because of my [physical] workload. 

In reply to mtn :

I'd certainly be interested in hearing  about your experiences with it. 

I understand where you're coming from with the vitamin supplement. Just know that they will likely create an insulin response and thus break the fast. Not the vitamins and minerals themselves but the material that's used to bind them together in a pill.

I make a drink that I take about halfway through. About 10oz if water, 2tbs Apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tbs pink Himalayan salt (contains over 80 minerals), 1/4-1/2 tsp cream of tartar (potassium) and the juice of one lime. When fasting,  especially while drinking lots of water, you quickly loose minerals, especially sodium and potassium. While the lime juice will probably break the fast there are benefits that outweigh that.

Nick Comstock said:

In reply to mtn :

I'd certainly be interested in hearing  about your experiences with it. 

I understand where you're coming from with the vitamin supplement. Just know that they will likely create an insulin response and thus break the fast. Not the vitamins and minerals themselves but the material that's used to bind them together in a pill.

I make a drink that I take about halfway through. About 10oz if water, 2tbs Apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tbs pink Himalayan salt (contains over 80 minerals), 1/4-1/2 tsp cream of tartar (potassium) and the juice of one lime. When fasting,  especially while drinking lots of water, you quickly loose minerals, especially sodium and potassium. While the lime juice will probably break the fast there are benefits that outweigh that.

I'll probably throw some ACV back into the diet as well. Forgot about that, and all the benefits for weight loss that it provides. 

As for breaking the fast, I mean... Maybe? There aren't any calories in it, assuming you don't get the gummies. I'd be more concerned with my black coffee. 

volvoclearinghouse said:

mtn said:

Knurled. said:

In reply to Nick Comstock :

  Right now he's big on the effects of taking Vitamin D supplements, apparently as one gets older the body doesn't produce nearly enough of it.

Most white people probably need to be on a Vitamin D supplement. 

Or, you know, get it naturally.

[picture of sun]

 

Fair skinned folks are not able to synthesize vitamin d sufficiently. What's more, to get to a reasonable level of vitamin D, you need to spend about 12 hours in the sun for a weekend. For those of us in Northern climates, that often is not possible. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10552-011-9827-3

In reply to mtn :

What he was telling me is that as one gets older (40-50+) the body stops producing it as effectively, no matter how much sun you get.