# Has anybody tried intermittent fasting for weight loss, if not, I suggest you try it.



## Darkwindz (Mar 30, 2013)

I did intermittent fasting for 2 weeks and lost 7lbs. If you don't know what it is, it is basically when you fast for 12 or more hours a day. So, for example, you would finish eating at 8pm tonight and then you go without anything to eat until 12pm tomorrow. You can only consume liquids, but I usually drink only water or green tea. You can eat between 12pm and 8pm, then start over again. You could also increase the amount of hours without food to 18 or 20 and only give yourself a 4-6 hour eating window. 

I would definitely suggest trying it out if you really want to lose weight. I usually workout during my fast and consume an energy drink like lucozade/powerade. 

Anyway, give it a try and see how you feel.


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## alenclaud (Mar 31, 2013)

I've seen a Horizon documentary with Michael Mosley which explored a similar kind of diet. Instead there's only 2 to 3 days of fasting per week with an energy intake of 400-500 kcal for women or 500-600 kcal for men, and any other day of the week is unrestricted ( without overeating of course).
It seemed to work as far as scientific evidence goes, and turns out to be healthy also.

Here's the documentary if you're interested: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms#.UdxlGqxLE1A


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

How many days a week were you doing this?


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## Darkwindz (Mar 30, 2013)

komorikun said:


> How many days a week were you doing this?


I do it everyday. The reason for this is, I don't like eating breakfast because it makes me feel sluggish. I prefer to go without food until midday or mid afternoon. Strangely enough, I actually have more energy while fasting than I do when I eat normally.


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## Billius (Aug 7, 2012)

Why don't you just eat casein for breakfast. I grow sick of this 'lose weight at all cost' paradigm:roll. Much more valuable is to lose fat while conserving/building muscle.


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## FerociousFleur (Oct 30, 2012)

jon snow said:


> I've seen a Horizon documentary with Michael Mosley which explored a similar kind of diet. Instead there's only 2 to 3 days of fasting per week with an energy intake of 400-500 kcal for women or 500-600 kcal for men, and any other day of the week is unrestricted ( without overeating of course).
> It seemed to work as far as scientific evidence goes, and turns out to be healthy also.
> 
> Here's the documentary if you're interested: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms#.UdxlGqxLE1A


That video was super interesting! The scientists in the video claim that fasting/intermittent fasting improves your health and increases your life span because it allows your cells to stop replicating and start repairing themselves.

I really want to look into this now! :b


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## Darkwindz (Mar 30, 2013)

Billius said:


> Why don't you just eat casein for breakfast. I grow sick of this 'lose weight at all cost' paradigm:roll. Much more valuable is to lose fat while conserving/building muscle.


As long as you're consuming the adequate amount of protein & carbs per day, it wouldn't matter if you ate all that food within the 6 hour time frame or a 16 hour time frame. You should take a look on youtube at people who've done it and now they look great. If you want to build muscle, you still have to work out though.


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## Paper Samurai (Oct 1, 2009)

Fasting, particularly done over a regular period of time (even intermittently) is a terrible thing to do. Your body needs to re-build itself after you've essentially embarked on breaking it down through starvation. 

Fasting gets rid of any retained water first and foremost - giving the illusion of substantial weight lost. After that it's all muscle cells that will be broken down (for fuel) and assimilated not fat cells which most people desire. 

There also comes a point with regular fasting where you've simply run down all your reserves, and you're doing yourself much more harm than good. This usually manifests itself as heightened anxiety, insomnia and chronic fatigue. 

So in short, I can't really recommend it.


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## cloister2 (Sep 2, 2011)

I just eat small meals and snack on fruit or even have a piece of fruit for a meal (w/coffee and cigarette). I tried counting calories for a week but it was a pain in the #$%. The bread I eat is that flourless sprouted one from Trader Joe's and I only eat 1 slice at a time. I drink buckets of coffee/tea. Dinner is usually better with some chicken or fish and veggies. I allow myself 1 altoid for dessert. Also, I run daily. It seems to be sort of working.

If I fasted I would be miserable, unable to do anything, and probably pissed off too.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

FerociousFleur said:


> That video was super interesting! The scientists in the video claim that fasting/intermittent fasting improves your health and increases your life span because it allows your cells to stop replicating and start repairing themselves.
> 
> I really want to look into this now! :b


Yeah, I thought the video was pretty interesting too. Eating 500 calories two days a week seems a lot easier than eating healthy everyday. I might try it. See how I feel. I don't think I could hack eating nothing at all though.


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

I'm not enthused with fasting on a regular basis but I do feel that that the body needs to rest a little after say, a day of gluttony, particularly an excess of bad foods that the body needs to rid of 

I like to practice a moderate consumption of all varied things - so my sweet tooth won't be agitated!


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## alieneyed (Jul 3, 2013)

Paper Samurai said:


> Fasting, particularly done over a regular period of time (even intermittently) is a terrible thing to do. Your body needs to re-build itself after you've essentially embarked on breaking it down through starvation.
> 
> Fasting gets rid of any retained water first and foremost - giving the illusion of substantial weight lost. After that it's all muscle cells that will be broken down (for fuel) and assimilated not fat cells which most people desire.
> 
> ...


Bingo.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I think I lost a pound or two just recently from not eating peanut butter.


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## always starting over (Mar 15, 2013)

If you do intermittent fasting with weight training and cardio, are you setting yourself up for failure/extreme exhaustion?


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## Melvin1 (Jul 12, 2013)

Bad idea...You can lose weight in much more healthy ways and eat 5 times/day. Its all about burn more calories then you consume,proper training(cardio and weights) with good rest of course.


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## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

I tried intermittent fasting about 4 days a week for 2 weeks, and I lost some fat. It's a good strategy, but extremely hard to do everyday. I'd recommend going only 3-4 days a week.

I have to start again tomorrow. I stopped because I was on vacation.


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## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

Melvin1 said:


> Bad idea...You can lose weight in much more healthy ways and eat 5 times/day. Its all about burn more calories then you consume,proper training(cardio and weights) with good rest of course.


I don't see what's so unhealthy about fasting for 16 hours as long as you're not doing heavy physical work.


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## Melvin1 (Jul 12, 2013)

Its not good for your metabolism. Its pointless to lose weight like that. You can develop some diseases if you do that for some long time like diabetes. When you stop doing that weight will come back. Someone said he also workout while fasting...Wow...


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## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

Melvin1 said:


> Its not good for your metabolism. Its pointless to lose weight like that. You can develop some diseases if you do that for some long time like diabetes. When you stop doing that weight will come back. Someone said he also workout while fasting...Wow...


What?! Diabetes? That's nothing but baseless speculation. Also, one would be eating the same amount of food, so I don't know how that person would gain the weight back.


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

Metabolism will slip like no tomorrow if you fast regularly to the point of no eating. In the short-term, it will just eat up your muscle mass; longterm the fat
...When you pig out one day though, I find that you've gotta fast just a tad - but not exclude some amount of nutrient foods, from which a home made detox juice, vegetables and fruit provide . 'Fasting' doesn't strictly have to mean eating anything at all - just eat light and liquid foods that isn't so digestive heavy. Fasting beyond that, I can't deal

My b/f semi fasts and it seems to control his bad eating habits


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## FerociousFleur (Oct 30, 2012)

I found an interesting article on this subject, citing peer-reviewed research. It looks like your metabolism isn't affected until around 60 hours of fasting. The diet Jon Snow mentioned (5:2 diet by Dr. Mosley) doesn't involve fasting for more than 12 hours at a time. I think that's a pretty safe range. As he said, you spend two days a week eating 500-600 calories that you can consume at any time during the day, and you eat regularly the other 5 weekdays, so it's not literally "starvation."

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

That diet and the one Darkwindz mentioned basically equate to skipping one or two meals a day. 5:2 seems less extreme/more sustainable because you don't do it every day.

Some research also shows that regular intermittent fasting could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110403090259.htm

:int


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

Thank you for the links Fleur... it's v. interesting


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## Lincolnradiocat (Dec 10, 2005)

I am a big believer in intermittent fasting. Leangains.com has a ton of information on it as far as bodybuilding goes. For a while I did 24 hours on and 24 hours off. I didn't do it for weight loss as much as trying to focus the mind at the time. When I got through 24 hours there is a euphoria that settles over me knowing that I could now eat. Oh, and I saved money on groceries too!

Edit. Whoops. I didn't mean to sound redundant. Ferocious Fleur, you beat me to the punch on the Lean gains website. Do you go to his site often or did you happen upon it via search engine?


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## FerociousFleur (Oct 30, 2012)

Lincolnradiocat said:


> I am a big believer in intermittent fasting. Leangains.com has a ton of information on it as far as bodybuilding goes. For a while I did 24 hours on and 24 hours off. I didn't do it for weight loss as much as trying to focus the mind at the time. When I got through 24 hours there is a euphoria that settles over me knowing that I could now eat. Oh, and I saved money on groceries too!
> 
> Edit. Whoops. I didn't mean to sound redundant. Ferocious Fleur, you beat me to the punch on the Lean gains website. Do you go to his site often or did you happen upon it via search engine?


I just found it while researching! Haven't read much other than the page I linked to, but the ripped shirtless men did look pretty legit... lol


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## ForeverStallone (Apr 4, 2011)

Some further reading for those interested in intermittent fasting - Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon

http://www.2shared.com/document/5cQn0e7m/Eat-Stop-Eat.html


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## catcharay (Sep 15, 2011)

I really think i shld go the fasting route. It makes me feel like im cleansing my body

Very interesting


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## MM Gloria (May 14, 2012)

I tried intermittent fasting for a week straight and it was great. I highly recommend it. I lost a few pounds and I felt great overall, more energy, slept better, etc. It was hard the first few days though, having to drink a lot of water when hungry and let the body know that it wasn't getting any food. But after those few days...boy, it was smooth sailing.

I definitely recommend everyone to read up on it if you don't know what it is and how it works. And then possibly (if you're able to) give it a try.

I stop IF and didn't do it anymore because I'm going after different goals now that I don't feel I can fit intermittent fasting around (and I possibly still could...but I'm feelin' like trying something different for now).


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I'd tried doing this awhile ago I'd always crashed and burned. How is this realistic if your doing a real laborous job? 

Starving most the time you think you might just end up killing someone. Get that murderous hungerous rage inside you and start ripping people apart!

Just like that snickers commercial!


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## versavice (Jul 9, 2013)

Fun fact for those who didn't watch the original posted video...During the great depression, you would think, because of the scarcity of food, the life expectancy would go down...It went up 6 years. Do the research about "intermittent fasting" and you'll find it's not only okay, but it's actually healthy. 6 small healthy meals a day can be healthy too, it's just hard for some to do that correctly. Intermittent fasting is just an easier way to maintain your caloric intake. 

-Brant


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