Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting and What Results?

I inadvertently intermittent fast everyday. Don’t eat past 9pm and don’t eat until after my run around 11am. I’m not sure why people tout it as some kind of starving struggle fest

I don't eat from 7 at night until about noon.

I walk in the morning then do a cardio tabata circuit 3 days a week and play basketball or jog a few days a week- I do a strength routine in the evening.

For my first meal I drink a protein and green shake.

At first I was worried I wouldn't have the energy but it hasn't been a problem.

I don't eat from about 10pm to 6am everyday and always have. I actually call my first meal of the day my breakfast, because it is the meal that I "break" my "fast" with.

I fast from about 8 pm to 12 noon almost every day. It imposes discipline on me and reduces snacking. I recommend you try it for a few weeks and see how you like it. It can be pretty tough the first few days but you get used to it and it becomes very easy.

kindof wrote:

I inadvertently intermittent fast everyday. Don’t eat past 9pm and don’t eat until after my run around 11am. I’m not sure why people tout it as some kind of starving struggle fest

Because that’s your routine. Your body sends hunger signals when you typically eat. Try to not eat until 3 in the afternoon instead of 11am. I’m sure you will be hungry.

I found that it works if you are trying to lose weight. I don't have the background to evaluate other health benefits.

my girlfriend does. She claims it makes her feel a lot better. She looks way more fit and super hot for what it's worth.

It works.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/editor/n6/zutcv3jhiuyw.jpg

I used this to jump start by weight loss.

For me, the best part was it shrunk the stomach.

But as my mileage went up this year, I reached a point my hunger became more important & weight stalled.

8 years ago I effectively used it to prevent and treat the recurring lung infections I used to get every winter while eating whole foods high carb. It stopped several infections, and in particular the first which had gotten quite threatening.

This led me on a path through keto and now 1.5 years full carnivore (generally no plant foods, only for flavorings). I eat a light lunch of sardines at noon and a large pan of meat and eggs in the evening, so 16 hours not eating. On carnivore I can easily fast 24-36hours should I feel the need. It was VERY tough in the context of a high-carb diet.

just a regular guy in the neighborhood wrote:

my girlfriend does. She claims it makes her feel a lot better. She looks way more fit and super hot for what it's worth.

Pics?

Quasi-Boom wrote:

just a regular guy in the neighborhood wrote:

my girlfriend does. She claims it makes her feel a lot better. She looks way more fit and super hot for what it's worth.

Pics?

Just don’t question your girlfriend’s night disappearance for 90 minutes each night. She’s getting enough calories plus protein.

Works great every time. Thoroughly explained on the Colorado Track Club website, along with a couple podcasts that help as well. I am old and it still works - down 12 pounds in 2 months and I am not trying too hard. It is a good way to break the sugar / calorie addiction.

I tried it, but I like having a Klondike bar as a snack every night / fyi I'm bald and angry at work.

I started intermittent fasting about four years ago. First, I read a lot of the research and then I read 2-3 books on keto/low carb diets. The book I would strongly recommend is The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance. Most diet books are adamant that their way is THE WAY to do it. Volek and Phinney explain how everyone is different and how to test the approaches to find which, if any, work for you.

Here is what I did and what the results were. Oh, and by the way, I started this at age 68 about 4 years ago.

I first did a two-week extremely low carb diet. This is a very important step that you should not skip. It "teaches" your cells to remember how to burn dietary fat as a primary fuel. You could do this as a child, but years of eating high carbs teach your cells to store dietary fats first. (It's more complex than that, but it's a good way to explain it simply.) This not pleasant. You'll get headaches and feel weak at first. There are keto "brain food supplements" you can take to make this more tolerable, but it's not that bad and worth the time spent. Since you're younger, you may adapt much quicker. My friend's 12-year-old son tried it and adapted in about 3 days. (There's a way to test for it. It's explained in the book.)

Then, I went on a modified high fat, low carb, intermittent fasting diet. It is NOT pure keto. There's a lot of misunderstanding about keto so don't have a knee-jerk reaction about the term.

At 7-8 pm, I'll have my last meal of the day. It's usually a whey or collagen protein shake to make sure my body has enough healthy proteins and fats to rebuild my muscles overnight. In the morning, I'll have two cups of coffee with about 1/2 to 1 ounce of MCT oil, some protein powder, and a tiny splash of chocolate milk. I'll work out mid-morning and eat my first meal between 1 and 4 pm. The MCT oil in the coffee makes a difference. It's harder to intermittent fast without it.

From 1 pm to 8 pm, I eat a normal diet... healthy but not obsessively so.

The benefits were as follows:

1. It eliminated my food cravings. I attribute that to getting my cells to burn dietary fats.

2. It eliminated my lifetime of hereditary hypoglycemia, which would make me grouchy and put in a brain fog when it hit after not eating for several hours. To me, this was a HUGE benefit.

3. I lost a few pounds initially, but I put it back on as muscle.

4. I went from being a really good national-caliber age grouper to setting four age-group world records (with the help of my 4x400 and 4x800m teammates). I would NOT attribute this primarily to intermittent fasting, but it was a minor factor. I do think it was a positive factor in our team's most recent WR, when the start was delayed by over two hours. Normally, I would have gone hypoglycemic, but I was able to run at sub WR pace in spite of going longer than normal after my last significant calories.

If you're young and... I forget the term... something like early adapter? high responder?... you can see a quick benefit. If you're not a good adapter to the low carb diet, then you won't see much benefit.

One of the fascinating things I learned from the book is that there are adapters and nonadapters to low carb, high fat diets and that after adaption, there is a wide range in how well your cells can burn fat.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

I’m down 18.5 lbs in the last 6 months; 5’11” started at 185lb, now 166.5. No troubles, zero food or any calories from 10pm to 5pm, 19/5 fast, eating anything from beer to pizza. Averaging 60 miles per week and haven’t had this type of energy in years.

eat less food wrote:

It works.

https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/editor/n6/zutcv3jhiuyw.jpg

I've been unknowingly fasting for about 7 years. I eat a large breakfast after my morning run around 7am, then eat a large dinner after work around 5:30pm. It always boggles people's minds that I don't eat lunch. I'm just not hungry until dinner. You get used to it after a while. It hasn't had any effects on my running.