Intermittent Fasting
 

Right after reading a positive article by Hugh Fernaly Wittingstall of all people about intermittent fasting I'm ready to step up and give it a proper go.

The plan is to have Tuesday and Thursday fasting with just a small meal of oats and a protein shake in the morning. This should fit in nicely with my rest days.

Anyone got any experience or thoughts on the matter? othwise ill let you know how I get on.
:argh:

I don't know why but I trust their dietary views

Ah, I feel like I can 'give back' to you guys in this section :clapclap:

Intermittent fast is great..been doing it for the past 12 months. Not only has my body composition improved, the best thing is the cognitive and mood elevating effects. I eat 1-2 big meals a day at around 12-6pm. TONS of veg, meat, eggs, fruit, rice, oats etc.

Probably getting around 1500-2000 cals, at 90kg and 6'1ish. As far as i'm concerned this dietery approach (along with good food, exercise and rest) is the secret to health and vitality which will carry over into every other of your life.

...yeah, i'm passionate about this stuff hah.

If you can do it, its great. If you can do it! Not eating for an entire day is tough on your body, mind and even hard to sleep on an empty stomach.

Also majorly catabolic but that depends on your goals and desires :)

anyone can do it..it just takes a while for energy pathways to adapt.I disagree with respects to it being catabolic too. I'm probably more muscular than most guys would wish to be and like I say I eat one meal a day, at around 6pm. so never go to bed hungry. :-)

I had my first day fasting yesterday, I was suprised how easy it was. Plus I managed to get in about 45 minutes of cardio.

Once you've made the decision not to eat its easy. it made me think how automatic eating was.

Good stuff Darood. It definitely takes the obsessiveness out of eating too. I used to do the whole 5 meals a day thing. In retrospect, it was an absolute waste of time and energy.

Don't be afraid to mix it up, you don't have to set it in stone. Some times I'll have 'breakfast' at 1pm, sometimes as late as 6pm. As long as you're fasting for 18-20 hours a day and having last meal no later than 7 you'll get the benefits.

I've been doing some proper research. I love science.











I do feel fucking fantastic today though.

*Update

I've done two days now and its hard seeing how I'll ever go back.

Other feeliing tired around 5 i've more energy than ever. I managed to fit in a two hour walk on my fasting day on Thursday, Normallly on a rest day I do jack shit in the evening. I'm surprised how little hunger I feel through the day. Before when i'd feel slightly hungry Id automatically think what I'm going to eat and do it. Now I can just pay attention to the signals my body send and their never that bad. Plus when I do eat it now I fucking savoiur each bite.

Not only has my mood shot through the roof I feel sharper mentally. I catch myself saying and doing more and more things that surprise me.

That's awesome! You won't go back..i've been at it a year and the difference is night and day.

This is closer to how our bodies have evolved to live with periods of fasting before we had industrial farming and such an abundance of food. That's what I understand from what I've briefly read. Gonna try make some time for some reading about this. Hitting google scholar and see what studies have been done

BBC - Eat, Fast And Live Longer

Definitely ^ It even goes as far as epigenetic changes passed onto children. Ie. Periods of intermittent fasting/starvation during history gave birth to a healthier, longer living generation.

Got to be careful though..Can't spout this stuff too much or the big pharma companies will have to start assassinating preachers as no one will require all the chemicals they want to pump into us. :2guns:

Not sure if I believe that its how we lived in hunter-gatherer times and we're healthier than ever these days

of course we're healthier these days but that doesn't necessarily mean that an abundance of food is the healthiest for us

Done my first day of this today, been wanting to since I read the first post but busy times have not allowed it, will try and fit another day in late week although it's awkward socially as I usually make evening plans that inevitably lead to food..

I didn't get loads of sleep last night so I had a hours nap during the day which helped a lot and broken up the day, however I don't feel one bit hungry physically and I'm about to have my first meal for 24 hrs?

Psychologically speaking i struggled, couldnt stop opening the fridge and thinking of food/ tempting myself. Just habit I guess though since I'm not feeling hunger pains.

Evening plans shouldn't interfere at all. In fact a day of fasting will do wonderful things to your insulin sensitivity which will mitigate the effects of a bit of junk if you so wanted to indulge!

The best way to do this by far is to skip breakfast and maybe lunch and have an evening meal, that way you don't go to bed hungry and you sleep better.

Nicotine gum (1/2mg) for food cravings and appetite is awesome too :)

I do weight training 4 times a week in a fasted state and if anything i've got more energy. 'Energy' isn't released from food when you eat it..well it is, but it's far from optimal. Sympathetic neural activity and hormonal release associated with that (adrenaline, cortisol, glucagon etc) will all increase when your insulin is low and that's when you truly feel energized.

The only issue is reducing your reliance on the glycolytic pathway, that is immediate energy from ingested carbs and increase lipolytic and glycogenolysis (fat burning and stored glucose use).

Either way 24 hour fasts twice a week will be benficial for sure :)

Yeah i've seen that youtube guy and he talks sense.

Yup, low blood sugar. As soon as the adrenaline stopped acting on your glycogen stores blood sugar fell. Keep at it, you'll adapt. Trust me :-)