Fasting for a few days with only a handful of almonds, has anyone tried this or something similar?

sounds like a bad idea. you'll slow your metabolism. everyone ate too much this last week. take it easy and gradually get back to a healthy racing weight without compromising your health.

What's unhealthy about slowing his metabolism?

Jgv wrote:

What's unhealthy about slowing his metabolism?

You gain weight.

To answer the original poster, yes, I have done something similar to this. Short-term weight loss, long term health problems and injuries, followed by the aforementioned slowed metabolism and weight gain.

Thanks for the reply everyone.

The main reason I want to try it is because I struggle with some level of binge eating when I'm eating day to day and I've found that doing something along the lines of fasting etc. briefly really helps cut down on these cravings and helps me eat more mindfully. I find that sometimes trying to eat healthy day to day just makes me want to eat a LOT (as opposed to a brief fasting that eliminates that desire).

I was thinking of trying it initially for just 3 days or so (so not looking at huge weight loss, more for mindful eating) and then extend or see how I feel based on that.

Never going to get fast doing stupid sh!t like that.

Jgv wrote:

What's unhealthy about slowing his metabolism?

Slowing your metabolism is a very healthy thing to do. Studies show that you will live longer.

To be honest I am pretty out of shape right now and many pounds overweight (at least 20-30). I need to drop some weight / get started on that (which is why this could help) and train for some months before I can get anywhere back to where I used to be.

It was me who posted that fast. I also drank black coffee.

I did not gain weight after or any of those horror stories Tx is saying.

I had the best year of my life after that demolishing stagnant PRs that were about 5 years old.

What do you do with the handful of almonds while you're fasting?

what's with the almonds? wrote:

What do you do with the handful of almonds while you're fasting?

Put them on your chin next to the other nuts.

leraladira wrote:

To be honest I am pretty out of shape right now and many pounds overweight (at least 20-30). I need to drop some weight / get started on that (which is why this could help) and train for some months before I can get anywhere back to where I used to be.

And you have a history of binge eating too. So, your plan is to do the inverse of binge eating and therefore not deal with the emotional issues surrounding the binge eating.

Seek therapy to deal with the binge eating. The weight will come off if you are restarting working out. I have doubts you have a healthy, reasonable body image based on what's posted. You will deal with that too if you deal with the emotions behind eating.

Good luck.

It's me wrote:

It was me who posted that fast. I also drank black coffee.

I did not gain weight after or any of those horror stories Tx is saying.

I had the best year of my life after that demolishing stagnant PRs that were about 5 years old.

So did you usually eat a handful of almonds and black coffee in the morning, and then go for a run, and then run again in the evening? How did this schedule typically look?

Pop_pop!_v2.1.1 wrote:

leraladira wrote:

To be honest I am pretty out of shape right now and many pounds overweight (at least 20-30). I need to drop some weight / get started on that (which is why this could help) and train for some months before I can get anywhere back to where I used to be.

And you have a history of binge eating too. So, your plan is to do the inverse of binge eating and therefore not deal with the emotional issues surrounding the binge eating.

Seek therapy to deal with the binge eating. The weight will come off if you are restarting working out. I have doubts you have a healthy, reasonable body image based on what's posted. You will deal with that too if you deal with the emotions behind eating.

Good luck.

I've struggled with binge eating for a few years now =/ Before I wouldnt gain too much weight because I was running a lot but now I've ballooned because I'm not running as much (and I'm older).

The closest I have been able to control some of this binge eating has been by doing things like fasting - I find I'm much more calm and collected and able to make better decisions, etc.

A lot of the time I eat for taste (sometimes boredom) and keep eating even though I'm full because I like the taste. I'm not sure how to stop this except something like fasting which removes some of the cravings.

It's an eating disorder, which is very common in runners, but easy to be in denial because there's still a stigma. You can't control binging with fasting, that's basically bulimia. Binging is not natural, nor is fasting. Anyone who says they do either and are fine are in denial and/or haven't had it catch up to them yet. If you want to be a good runner, stabilize your weight and be happy and healthy, you need to first seek treatment for the underlying ED.

I am REALLY shy and have a hard time talking about this at all - the only place I've ever talked about it is online (cant bring myself to tell someone in person).

Are there any good self help books? I've tried a few to eat more mindfully etc. which works sometimes but then I cave for whatever reason (visiting my parents is often a trigger to eat a lot).

I was more going to use fasting to help me be more mindful and transition to more mindful eating.

If you want to be "mindful" of your eating then carry a little notebook with you everywhere...and in it, enter everything you eat and drink (except maybe water), including approximate amounts.

I do this. Sometimes it's a pain, but OTOH there've been plenty of times that I skipped eating/drinking something, just because I didn't want to write it down.

FWIW I also discovered that I eat more when I'm short on sleep. Engineering the time for an occasional nap helps a lot.

bump

Native Americans binged and fasted and had no problems until they were introduced to white food.

Stop trying to make everyone just like you.

leraladira wrote:

It's me wrote:

It was me who posted that fast. I also drank black coffee.

I did not gain weight after or any of those horror stories Tx is saying.

I had the best year of my life after that demolishing stagnant PRs that were about 5 years old.

So did you usually eat a handful of almonds and black coffee in the morning, and then go for a run, and then run again in the evening? How did this schedule typically look?

I had coffee twice a day (before each run) I would make the almonds last the day .I didn't try to fill up on water as is usually recommended.

Coffee is said to aid fat burning and I never felt like I had low energy.

When I started eating again I ate less and savored it more.

Binging is fine and natural as long as it's not a day in day out type of thing.