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Is Anyone Else Intermittent Fasting?

million$$$smile

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I have been fasting intermittently for awhile now with great results.

I basically fast 5:2 and really feel great right for the new couple of days.

Also have lost about 20lbs in the last couple of months since I've started it though that isn't really the main goal I had in mind. I just wanted to be more healthy and have changed my diet along with fasting.

Just curious if anyone else has been IF for any period of time.

If so, what days and how do you fast, ie water only, juice, coffee etc?
 
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AndrewNC

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I have been fasting intermittently for awhile now with great results.

I basically fast 5:2 and really feel great right for the new couple of days.

Also have lost about 20lbs in the last couple of months since I've started it though that isn't really the main goal I had in mind. I just wanted to be more healthy and have changed my diet along with fasting.

Just curious if anyone else has been IF for any period of time.

If so, what days and how do you fast, ie water only, juice, coffee etc?

I never really set the intent or had any plan behind it, but this is what's been working for me.

I wake up in the morning and climb one of the mountains here in Colorado.

As I drive back around 11 a.m., I grab a coffee, shower, get some work done, and sometime around 12:30 or 1, I eat whatever meal I have for the day.

Then I work until around 4 or 5, where I have a lighter meal, and then back to work/out for the early evening. Not really eating much at night anymore.

Between climbing the mountains and this, I dropped 37 pounds in the past 2 months.

One thing I noticed is how much more focus and energy I have in the morning when I do things on an empty stomach.
 

million$$$smile

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Sorry,
I should have made it known:
Eat normally 5 days a week with 2 days (non consecutive) with less calorie input or possibly none.
 
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Dan_Fastlane

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I have been fasting intermittently for awhile now with great results.

I basically fast 5:2 and really feel great right for the new couple of days.

Also have lost about 20lbs in the last couple of months since I've started it though that isn't really the main goal I had in mind. I just wanted to be more healthy and have changed my diet along with fasting.

Just curious if anyone else has been IF for any period of time.

If so, what days and how do you fast, ie water only, juice, coffee etc?

i guess the 2 days you dont eat are not stressfull or do you work on these days regular?
 

eliquid

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I do mine during the day.

Typically I don't eat until maybe 2pm. That window stays open to about 7pm.

Haven't moved to full days without eating that was in a cycle yet.

Last time I tried reg fasting, I went a full 6 days without eating and broke down. I'm gonna go for 10 days soon.

At that point, I might do 6:1 or 5:2 like yourself.

.
 
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million$$$smile

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i guess the 2 days you dont eat are not stressfull or do you work on these days regular?

No, not as bad as one would think. As long as I don't start my fasting day with any food intake (I personally abstain from all food on my fasting days) then I'm ok.
I usually even work out exercising for an hour or so on those days. I do drink coffee along with a lot of water.

I actually prefer more movement on those days than just sitting at my desk.
 

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Hi. I started doing intermittent fasting mid July. It worked really great for me, health and logistic-wise.
I do OMAD (One Meal a Day). Might sound crazy but it's easy to get used to and I can spend more into that single meal to make it better, healthier and tastier than having to spread it over 3+ meals a day.

I also went the Keto way, with less than 20g net carbs per day, and focusing more on good fats and some protein. Lost around 15 pounds in 45 days without any exercise and feeling great. I wasn't that much overweight, so those 15 pounds might not seem like much, but it put me at my ideal weight.
Besides, it was noticeable how my belly reduced a bit, could have been more if I had kept the diet consistently.

My brother moved in with me to Canada and I'm still caring for him and, this is a bullshit excuse but well, I'm going out with him from time to time and eating out. It's not too bad, haven't put any excess weight anyway. But the belly has kept its size.

Soon enough I'll be living by myself again and will be able to focus on having a better looking body, instead of looking at numbers on a scale.
 

million$$$smile

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Last time I tried reg fasting, I went a full 6 days without eating and broke down. I'm gonna go for 10 days soon.

Yes, I know what you mean. Anytime one fasts for any length of time like that, at least for me it is more mental than physical. I have to keep busy.
I've gone on longer fasts up to 12 days and it was the mental for the most part that I had to battle. The hunger pangs come and go. I continued the same routine and even worked out during the longer fasts.

I have noticed it is a lot easier to fast for a day mentally since fasting for longer periods of time. The mental preparation prior to fasting is for me the key.
 
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Scot

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A fitness group I’m in is really big into IF right now and their results look incredible.

It’s somethig I’ve been considering more and more lately. Glad to see it’s got some endorsements here.
 

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I have been fasting intermittently for awhile now with great results.

I basically fast 5:2 and really feel great right for the new couple of days.

Also have lost about 20lbs in the last couple of months since I've started it though that isn't really the main goal I had in mind. I just wanted to be more healthy and have changed my diet along with fasting.

Just curious if anyone else has been IF for any period of time.

If so, what days and how do you fast, ie water only, juice, coffee etc?

I've been eating one low carb meal a day for about a year now and just recently I started incorporating the 5:2 fasting schedule into my regime as well. Not only does it have weight loss and overall health benefits, but it also has entrepreneurial benefits as well.

I'm not in the fast lane yet so I really care about how much my food costs. Eating one meal a day in the morning is very cheap because it's nothing but eggs, cheese, nuts, and broccoli. I'm never really hungry during the day and I can use my lunch time productively at work instead of wasting time and money going out to eat every day.

I also have more mental energy to dedicate to my business because I'm not fretting about what I'm going to eat that day, it's basically the same thing every day. I like it this way because I know if I keep eating the same thing every day that I will eventually hit my weight loss goals. Because I think about my food as something that gets me closer to my goals, I don't really mind eating the same thing every day. There are days where I haven't stuck to it (social events, holidays, etc..) but overall I try to stay pretty strict.

I've also done a 9-day water only fast. It was pretty easy once I got past the first couple days. I lost a bunch of weight doing it but after I was done I binged pretty hard and gained it all back because I kept thinking about what I was missing out on instead of the benefits of the fast.

Overall I'd recommend eating one meal a day. John Sonmez (who has had MJ on his channel before) regularly does it and he has a really good explanation for it in this video.
 
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Niptuck MD

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I will be trying this week actually. My old trainer buddy suggested it as well.
My only problem has been alcohol consumption which I have now started to monitor and things are looking up.
 

million$$$smile

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I do OMAD (One Meal a Day).

Interesting. When do you eat that meal? Have you noticed any drawbacks on OMAD? Do you drink more liquids during the day? Is it water only, or other liquids? Do you use Supplements?

I have been experimenting with more of a vegan diet for several months now. If you would have asked me to go vegan 8-10 months ago, I would have said you are nuts. I think I would have said the same thing regarding IF or OMAD. Have always been a meat eater, all my life and still have a bit of meat maybe once a week, but for the most part, I have currently dropped it from my diet.

It is just interesting to learn about the health benefits and life extension experiments that some people are doing.
Here is an interesting video that had sparked my interest:

View: http://youtu.be/dR1FCJS8DoM
 
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scott wisniewsk

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Interesting. When do you eat that meal? Have you noticed any drawbacks on OMAD? Do you drink more liquids during the day? Is it water only, or other liquids? Do you use Supplements?

I have been experimenting with more of a vegan diet for several months now. If you would have asked me to go vegan 8-10 months ago, I would have said you are nuts. I think I would have said the same thing regarding IF or OMAD. Have always been a meat eater, all my life and still have a bit of meat maybe once a week, but for the most part, I have currently dropped it from my diet.

It is just interesting to learn about the health benefits and life extension experiments that some people are doing.
Here is an interesting video that had sparked my interest:

View: http://youtu.be/dR1FCJS8DoM
Hello fellow IMF, ers Ive been doing a 16 hour fast for several months now . Your last meal , mine would be around 6-7 PM. Then the next day no breakfast and lunch around noon and dinner . Keep my eating in an 8 hour window . Seems to work for me . Any hunger is very manageable. Keeps my stomach in check and weight loss eaiser .
 

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Interesting. When do you eat that meal? Have you noticed any drawbacks on OMAD? Do you drink more liquids during the day? Is it water only, or other liquids? Do you use Supplements?

I eat after my 9-5 job. Get home, cook and eat. No drawbacks, might be hard in the beginning, but you build serious self-control with it. I drink water constantly while at my desk, just water. As of supplements, I just have a generic vitamin complex. I had designed a diet plan that would provide 93% of the recommended vitamin/mineral daily intake, but the amount of food that I had to ingest was absurd. Still around 2k kcals, but it's just too much food.

When you do OMAD, you basically eat less naturally. There's just not enough space to eat. Which is good, again, I can focus on eating better, instead of eating more. The vitamins help cause I can just eat focusing on macros instead of micros. It might not be the perfect diet, but the benefits are outstanding for me.

I just want to go back on living by myself so I can get back on track with my keto OMAD, spend less on food, spend my time being productive.

EDIT: As an example of it being a better diet logistics-wise, I don't have to bring food to work. I can spend my lunch time with my eyes closed and relaxing or doing something else on the computer. I guess people in NA don't really have a culture of "siestas", sleeping after lunch break, but it really helps for me, even tho I'm not mexican xD
 

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Hello fellow IMF, ers Ive been doing a 16 hour fast for several months now . Your last meal , mine would be around 6-7 PM. Then the next day no breakfast and lunch around noon and dinner . Keep my eating in an 8 hour window . Seems to work for me . Any hunger is very manageable. Keeps my stomach in check and weight loss eaiser .


^^^ THIS ^^^ along with fasting 1 day a week IF you feel necessary (due to exceeding your calorie limit daily/cheat meals or if you flat out just want to try interment fasting). If you are ALL NATURAL (no additional hormone's) then 1 day is fine but anything beyond 1 day NATURALLY is when your body goes into a catabolic state where it starts breaking down your muscle then converting it into energy rather than breaking down just fat... Even if you don't "lift weight's/workout" or care about building a "muscular physique", you do not want to be in a catabolic state as your energy and estrogen, cortisol, etc. will increase causing counter productive results combined with a mental state that is hard to be productive.

Fasting is essentially "starving" yourself and each person has their own opinions... yet fasting longer than 24 hours NATURALLY will lead to LOSING WEIGHT just as a person in a survival situation or say on a survival TV "reality show" drops 20-30 pounds very rapidly... They lost weight but again feel like crap the whole time and are rather "malnourished" from starvation looking like hell, but again they did lose weight which one could argue...

Try restricting your calories while eating only 1 meal a day... Another trick is to drink ~1 gallon of water daily (or any non caloric beverage) that is ICE COLD! Ice cold water has is heated up by your body upon drinking which sounds silly but doing this daily with ~1 gallon BURNS 124 CALORIES simply by using calories as energy to heat the water to your core body temperature at ~98.6 F.
 
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Anuj Raman

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Yes, IF works like a charm.

I pretty much fast 5 out of 7 days.
My day starts at 6:30 am. I don't eat anything till 1-2 pm.
Sometimes in between the fasting period if I feel hungry, I'll eat an apple.

The best things I have noticed is that when I am doing IF is that I don't crave sugar anymore.
I have better appetite control and when I eat my first meal, I get full pretty early.

One problem I personally had while doing IF is explaining to my friends why I skip breakfast. They think that I am weird for skipping breakfast (lol).
 

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Skip breakfast FOOD and just enjoy a large cup of coffee while they eat....

Caffeine taken on an empty stomach (last meal prior to taking say ~3-4) OR caffefine taken on the end of a fasted stomach (20-23 hours without food) will hit you 10x harder! Typically you can lower your caffeine per serving and when you hit that mid-day "slump" take another serving of caffeine to keep the appetite supressed while increasing mental focus/clarity. When it comes time to eat dinner and say you only are eating 1 meal daily... This is where "dieting" can become EASY as if your trying to lose weight and whatever your excuse is not to workout... You can simply focus on eating 1,200-1,500 calories daily.

1,200-1,500 in 1 meal gives you a variety of options to become "full". Rinse and repeat daily eating at say 6:00 pm then going to bed at 10:00-11:00 wake up at 5:00-6:00am your day with a nice serving of caffeine...
 

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I did Intermittent Fasting during summer (whilst getting lean).

The results I got were great, I think I even dropped down to single digit bodyfat.

Since school started, I've stopped fasting, but plan on doing it as soon as my next cutting phase starts.
 
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Intermittent fasting right now. Did it years back and cut down to 8.9% body fat at 190LBs. Best shape I was ever in.

Currently cutting about 1/2 a pound a day on IF (started at 17% body fat, and getting very rapid results).

My daily schedule:

11:15AM: Coffee. No sugar. Just black with ice.
11:30AM to 1:30PM - Muay Thai with personal trainer
1:30PM - First Meal
8:00PM - Eating window closes

I eat about 1,500 calories a day heavy in protein. Severe calorie deficit but with IF you don't feel it as much.

Do it everyday Monday to Sunday.

For those of you saying you only fast 5 days a week, you're ruining your results.

Intermittent Fasting • r/intermittentfasting has some great threads on the topic.

IF works but you have to be disciplined and have a decent understanding of how it works first. Check out Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health to develop a solid understanding.
 

becks22

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I actually fast some days without noticing. I just get to busy with work and just end up not eating until 1pm by accident. Until recently, I didn't know it was a 'thing'. It helped me lose my last pesky 5 pounds that I couldn't shed no matter what. Just wanted to put in a female's POV on IF
 

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I eat about 1,500 calories a day heavy in protein. Severe calorie deficit but with IF you don't feel it as much.

Do you eat "junk food" during the eating window? Or only "clean foods"?
Some IF influencers eat junk every day and still look great, whilst others are against it.

Personally, I chose the "clean" route, because of health benefits, but am wondering if it's truly plausible to get leaner by doing it the other way.
 
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Do you eat "junk food" during the eating window? Or only "clean foods"?
Some IF influencers eat junk every day and still look great, whilst others are against it.

Personally, I chose the "clean" route, because of health benefits, but am wondering if it's truly plausible to get leaner by doing it the other way.
I'll give you my answer: while it is best to eat entirely clean, you can sneak in a bit of junk.

One of my first experiences in Intermittent Fasting was a consultation with Martin Berkhan the creator of Leangains.

He gave me a meal plan that was mostly made up of clean foods, but there was a little room every day for a small treat -- ice cream, kids' breakfast cereal, chocolate. But it was only a treat.

I suggest that you give yourself a little wiggle room: have a chocolate bar, a bag of potatoe chips, or a bit of candy:

 

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I have been fasting intermittently for awhile now with great results.

I basically fast 5:2 and really feel great right for the new couple of days.

Also have lost about 20lbs in the last couple of months since I've started it though that isn't really the main goal I had in mind. I just wanted to be more healthy and have changed my diet along with fasting.

Just curious if anyone else has been IF for any period of time.

If so, what days and how do you fast, ie water only, juice, coffee etc?


I do a 16:8 each day since I'm just starting.
 

scott wisniewsk

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I do a 16:8 each day since I'm just starting.
16- 8 is a real good way to start ,you will get used to it quickly. Just dont give in and it will be easier than you think
 
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I used to do 16/8 ala leangains style but gravitated to a 12/12 feast/fast schedule and feel way better now than before. In other words, I eat breakfast. Some days its 14hr fast or 12 hr does't matter

Studies have found that eating breakfast is important because it is one of main factors that your circadian rhythym. (Sunlight, movement). You want at the very least a 12 hr fast because of autophagy to kick in, which is basically time for your cells to do housekeeping so they run better.

I always crashed after my 1st meal of the 8hr feeding window. Everyone's different though, you got to try both (Take action haha!) and see which works better for you.
 

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Do you eat "junk food" during the eating window? Or only "clean foods"?
Some IF influencers eat junk every day and still look great, whilst others are against it.

Personally, I chose the "clean" route, because of health benefits, but am wondering if it's truly plausible to get leaner by doing it the other way.

I'm eating clean right now, but will say that I'm a junk food addict. I love pizza, ice cream, cheesecake, etc. I'm addicted to sugar and cheese.

And that's why IF is perfect for me when cutting.

In my personal experience, if you limit your eating window then two things happen:
  1. You don't have cravings outside of your window. So let's say your window is 1pm to 8pm. From 8pm to 1pm the next day you don't care about eating. You know those late night snacks you ate because you were "hungry"? On intermittent fasting (after the first two weeks) you stop getting those cravings and just naturally cut down on the number of "bad" calories that you're eating.
  2. Food tastes better. The first meal I eat of the day is always amazing. Foods that I usually would consider bland are several times better because I no longer have that "numbness" to taste.
These two factors naturally make it easier for you to get lean.

Now to answer your question if it's plausible to get leaner eating junk food, I'd say yeah if your calories stay low. But what you will lose is more muscle due to the lack of protein, the speed at which you get results, and the difficulty in cutting increases because junk food isn't as filling as other high volume foods (salad takes up a lot more space in your stomach but has next to no calories, whereas a twinkie takes up very little space and has a ton of calories).

By the way, I'm not an expert on IF, but I've read a couple books, a handful blog posts, and experimented myself until I figured out what works for me.

For you that's what's most important. Start testing, tracking progress, and then figure out which formula works. What works for me might not work for you.

When tracking progress, make sure to buy a body fat monitor. That's the #1 indicator if you're getting results or not. You can experiment with IF and junk food for a couple weeks and see if your body fat goes down. If it doesn't, then you need to change up your routine.
 
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