Intermittent Fasting

Its been close to 20 years since I been under 200 lbs.

Summers, I can get to the 200 and upper teens level, winters, well...…… winters are not so kind to me!

 

I'm down 30lbs from last summer. No fancy diet plan, gym membership or anything. Just eating responsibly. I haven't been this weight since my teens. I'm 42 and have been technically overweight since about 12 years old. Drastic reductions of sugar, salt and fat intake. Soda out, water & green tea in. Skipping free donuts at work on Fridays (had a Belvita biscuit and yogurt this morning). Fast food is mostly a distant memory ( I had Chipotle yesterday for my 'cheat day'). Most days I have oatmeal and a piece of fruit for lunch. I managed this during and after quitting a 22 year pack a day habit (took me 6 weeks to wean myself off). In two days, I'll have 4 moths without a single puff. I still have a little ways to go to get to the place I want to be (10-15 more pounds) and plan to achieve that goal if the weather would ever let me get active outside again. I tried joining a gym some years back and it wasn't for me. Much rather get my exercise working in the woods.

Willpower and moderation/modification of diet have been my tools. I don't walk around hungry, I just eat healthier foods and reasonable portions.

 

The beauty of IF is it's easy! I never knew it had a name until recently, but after dinner my next meal is usually 11am+ the next day. No extra planning, it's actually easier to fast than eat!

I tried 23/1 past couple weeks. Surprisingly not very difficult at all. Best part of 23/1 = no lunch prep for work!!

The added benefit, as you pointed out, is water intake increases dramatically. This is a good thing. As I type I'm at 17 hrs now, easy peasy.

 

My head starts to spin at about 6 hours.

Fasting isn't safe for everyone, but can certainly be an effective diet for some.

 

3 yrs ago my son had to fast for 72 hrs as part of a requirement to get his black belt. I did it with him in support. It wasnt too bad but since I finished I've had a voracious appetite and he says he's never hungry. He says he eats because he knows he has to.

 

I know what you mean.

This IF thing is easier for me than a restricted diet. I like to be able to eat between 10AM and 6PM all my normal foods, which over the last few years over 50 does not include many, in any carbs in the form of breads, candy, sweet drinks/pop, donuts, sweet rolls, etc.. It is so easy for me now to walk right past that stuff in the break room at work and just drink some water, or top off my black coffee. I will enjoy my wife's homemade stuff as a treat now and again, but that is not very often.

My wife and i also restricted our beer and wine intake to the weekends. We are are definitely not too rigid about any of this, so if there is a special occasion on a weeknight, or we end up eating later than normal, it is not something we worry about. So instead of not eating for 16 hours it might be 12, other days it might end up being 18. It seems easy to stick with the general plan given our current life and work schedules. During the week are too mentally busy in our jobs to think much about eating anyways if we just skip breakfast at home.

An exception are our special breakfasts consisting of venison sausage hash, eggs, toast, butter and homemade jam up at the cabin, or at home before we are doing something physically active/demanding during the days on the weekends. Which includes walking 5-10 miles while hunting, cutting wood, a building project, ice fishing outside in the cold, canoeing/portaging, snowshoeing/skiing, etc..

Over the last month or so my clothes are noticeably more loose around the middle. I didn't think I looked really that overweight, but I was noticing that I didn't like the feeling of my stomach pushing so much on my belt line when sitting down at the office, driving, moving, and bending over. Plus I would notice that after eating I would feel too full and tired for a long time afterwards. Now all that is reversing. I could see the writing on the wall, that if I kept up my old ways of eating whatever, whenever after age 55 that it would have gotten worse. I remember older people telling me close to age 50 that they couldn't eat the same way without putting on weight after their metabolism slowed in middle age. I now know they were right. It is a slippery slope.

 

I'm not sure how old you are TurboDiesel, but I think I would have felt the same way before age 50 or so. Now at almost 56 I feel better for doing it in my modified format.

 

52 now, but i know my sugar gets out of whack...

 

Yes. One thing that my physician told me was that my fasting blood glucose was getting into the pre-diabetic stage over the last few years, probably after about age 50.

 

Thats me...


Actually, its not that im cranky hungry, but when my sugar is off i get moody and dont realize it.

 

I wake up at 2AM starving. I know it's just an empty stomach and I'm not really starving but a glass of water just doesn't work.
I've gotten the evil eye because I've decided to make spaghetti banging three pans around on the stove because PB&J just won't do.
When I was running 3-5 miles every day I didn't get hungry at night at all.

 

I've always been hypoglycemic. I have found for me that IF seems to help with it. More often, my issues were a result of breakfast. When I diet and eat healthy, the issue goes away, but with IF I never seem to feel it in the occasional afternoon cheat snacks.

Its interesting how things can be so different for people.

Right now, I'm effing starving! Sitting around with nothing to do makes the hunger FAR worse. Get me out and busy and I can go far longer than if I'm sitting around the house.

 

Yes boredom can be a huge factor.
Also, mindless eating.

 

See food diet for me, I see it I eat it.

 

I was obese until 34...topped out at 250lb, I'm 5'8". My older brother who was also overweight but not as much as me had a heart attack...rang my bell for sure. I had a beautiful life with kids and a wife that depended on me. I just decided, I'm not going to be fat anymore and then I did it, stopped drinking alcohol at the same time, I would have 3-6 drinks most days. I lost 80lbs in about 4 months, drastically cut calorie intake to around 3-400 a day, fruits and veggies only, and started walking everyday. Looking back it was probably not a good way to go about loosing the weight. I was grouchy all the time. It took another 4 months after I lost the weight to feel regular again. I have been within 5lbs of 170 ever since. I just pay attention to what I eat and get absolutely dead regular heart pounding, sweaty, exercise...everyday. As I approach 50, I can feel the weight creeping back on even though my routine hasn't changed. The IF is interesting to me and may be an aspect that I include into my routine.

 

I grew up with fasting, just didn't call it that. On the farm we would work until we got to a stopping point. Don't stop working a field, fence row, herd of cattle, until it was done. Lunch could be from 11 am to 3 pm. Alot of times we would drink water for lunch. Especially in the summer, just too hot to eat. Would eat supper after dark, after a shower....some times after 10pm. Sleep and donit over again

In college is often just eat supper. Then I got married and my wife has to eat 3 meals a day within 30 minutes of the regular time or she would have a super crash. Get moody moo not be able to make decisions. Her whole family is that way. I put on alot of weight the first few years.

Now i eat supper and that's usually it. If I'm doing alot of physical labor I'll eat another meal. Alot of times, just 2 slices of bread and some lunch meat is all I need. Wife still gets mad if I don't stop working and feed the kids on the weekend. They are all old enough to feed themselves if they're hungry....but often the don't eat lunch if I don't stop and make them.

If I would cut out soda I would probably loose some more weight. Water all day but I'll have a caffeine free pop with supper sometimes. I guess I'm on a 20/4 fast/ eat schedule. If I'm really tired after work I may skip supper some nights.

 

**Disclaimer: this post entertains the possibility that everything we’ve been told about nutrition and eating may have been BS over the last 50 years. If you don’t want to read about that, feel free to skip it**

I’m 45 and have been overweight pretty much since I can remember. I had tried the reduce calories & increase exercise, I’d tried Atkins, paleo, counting points, you name it. Periodically I would lose 10-30 pounds but nothing stuck. And I should mention, all of those diets sucked! I was always hungry or tired or sore or some combination of all of them.

I came to intermittent fasting a few years ago kind of by accident. I was trying to shed some pounds and thought what the heck- lemme see if this works. I ate whatever I wanted once a day - and gorged myself for that one meal. I lost 15 pounds and just like all the other times, I crashed and burned.

Fast forward to about a year ago and I started carnivore. In a nutshell, it’s as close to zero carb as possible and just animal products. Meat, eggs, fish, some dairy. That’s it. Naturally intermittent fasting paired up with the carnivore way of eating because when you eat nutrient dense food like meat, you’re satiated MUCH longer. IF just kind of happened. I eat about 2-3 pounds of fatty meat a day, usually in one sitting, but sometimes twice.

I’ve lost 45 pounds and kept it off for the first time in my life! My energy, mental clarity, focus - all increased. The 2:00 sleepy monster is gone. Skin tags, calcium deposits under my eyes - gone. Joint pain in my shoulders & hands, decreased. I was on BP meds, thyroid meds and cholesterol meds my whole adult life. All gone!

But - but - but- , what about fiber, vitamin C, cholesterol levels, salad? You might be thinking...well, I have an answer for all of those - but, this post would end up being entirely too long.

Observations I’ve made over this last year:

1. It’s all about the insulin. Every time you eat, you spike your insulin. If you eat a high carbohydrate meal, the insulin turns the food in to instant energy, the rest it stores as fat. Then it crashes and you get hungry again (see above where someone says you should eat 6 times a day. You shouldn’t.)

2. If you want to lose weight, exercise is irrelevant (it’s good for you, no doubt) it’s 100% what you eat.

3. Your body is really smart. It already intermittent fasts every single day while you sleep. And during that time, your body is on a high fat diet. Your own body fat! You can fast much longer than you think.

4. The food pyramid is keeping us all fat, dumb, and not-that-happy.

5. Eat fatty meat. It tastes good, your body craves it, and it prevents you from eating junk.

There are dozens of resources available on YouTube, check them out if you’re still reading!

A few Carnivore/IF YouTube channels (none of which are me):
Dr Ken Berry
Dr Shawn Baker
Dr Boz
Dr Paul Saladino
Nutrition with Judy
Carnivore Yogi
Health coach Kait
Strong.Sistas

 

I rarely, if ever, eat anything before 11AM. I get hungry around 10AM...but think it's good to be hungry for a while. If I make it past noon I can go all day without eating, especially if I'm busy doing something. Rarely, if ever, eat anything after 8PM. I've done this since I can remember (never ate breakfast before going to grade school...drove my mom nuts)....way before IF was ever a "thing".

I'm far from a nutritionist, but this has always worked for me:

Don't eat if you aren't hungry, even if you think you will be later. You aren't going to die....for at least a few weeks.

Generally speaking, don't eat food that comes out of a box or a bag. Most of it isn't food anyway.

Don't eat/drink more than 1 thing a day that is high in sugar. I put 2tsp of sugar in my morning coffee and that's about it.