Fasting - Anyone Tried It?

[Carbomb]

39 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

I know people who did the 5:2 diet, they generally put the weight back on after and felt unhealthy during. They didn't eat healthy enough during the 5 days, and just ate as they usually did then fasted on the 2 days so they lost weight. You need to eat well to make sure you feel okay those other 2 days. Because they didn't eat healthy during it they picked up no real good habits and when they finished they just went back to normal. Some may be happy sticking on the 5:2 diet forever, but most won't.  However this is an issue with plenty of diets rather than this one specifically, people think they have now lost 2 st so they can pig out or stop exercising and go back to normal forgetting that's how they became overweight in the first place and that 2st is back on within a year or 2. 

Yeh, that's definitely something I need to keep an eye on, although, thankfully, one thing I don't have to worry about is quality of diet - we don't eat loads of procesed food, and everyone in the house cooks, so we eat fresh-cooked stuff regularly. My main issue is portion sizes, and the difficult part is my sugar addiction.

I've been thinking about giving this a proper go, but I realise I'm going to have to plan this out properly and clearly, so that I have the red lines drawn in my head, and don't end up drifting back to my weaker self and undo all the good work.

[CavemanLynn]

52 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

Some may be happy sticking on the 5:2 diet forever, but most won't.  However this is an issue with plenty of diets rather than this one specifically, people think they have now lost 2 st so they can pig out or stop exercising and go back to normal forgetting that's how they became overweight in the first place and that 2st is back on within a year or 2. 

That's why I make the distinction between going on a diet and having a diet.

I eat normally but healthily, prioritising protein, veg, herbs and spices in my meal and only adding stodge like rice, pasta or potatoes depending on how active I'm going to be/have been that day.

On top of this, and on topic, I've been doing a 24-hour fast every Saturday (so, Friday dinner time to Saturday dinner time) for the past two years or so, and feel great doing it, as I always cap it with a decent 'cheat meal.' Whereas the rest of the week I'll stick to fairly cheap basics, I'll get a proper prime cut of meat or fish, or spend some time putting together something special using ingredients I wouldn't normally use. I'll also pig out on some healthy version of a pudding I've made. I've been making brownies using cans of pumpkin puree, which means you can make (and eat) an entire batch with less than 100g carbs involved! In all, my meal on fasting days probably comes in at around a third to a half of the calories I'd've had on a normal day.

This means, when it comes to summer or holidays that I might want to lose a couple of pounds, I know that by trimming the carbs elsewhere, I'm still undereating by about 1500 calories a week just sticking with this, so in a month I know I can lose 2lbs+ without really trying. Fasting means the cheat meal feels earned (especially as I do a big workout on that day too, and being Saturday, I'm up and about fulfilling my housewifely duties rather than sitting in work getting bored-hungry). There's also the psychological benefit - being historically a bit of a meathead, it's good to get used to knowing it's not just the end of the world if you miss a meal. And most importantly, you don't need to eat if you aren't hungry!

Edited June 11, 2021 by CavemanLynn

[westlondonmist]

11 minutes ago, CavemanLynn said:

That's why I make the distinction between going on a diet and having a diet.

I eat normally but healthily, prioritising protein, veg, herbs and spices in my meal and only adding stodge like rice, pasta or potatoes depending on how active I'm going to be/have been that day.

On top of this, and on topic, I've been doing a 24-hour fast every Saturday (so, Friday dinner time to Saturday dinner time) for the past two years or so, and feel great doing it, as I always cap it with a decent 'cheat meal.' Whereas the rest of the week I'll stick to fairly cheap basics, I'll get a proper prime cut of meat or fish, or spend some time putting together something special using ingredients I wouldn't normally use. I'll also pig out on some healthy version of a pudding I've made. I've been making brownies using cans of pumpkin puree, which means you can make (and eat) an entire batch with less than 100g carbs involved! In all, my meal on fasting days probably comes in at around a third to a half of the calories I'd've had on a normal day.

This means, when it comes to summer or holidays that I might want to lose a couple of pounds, I know that by trimming the carbs elsewhere, I'm still undereating by about 1500 calories a week just sticking with this, so in a month I know I can lose 2lbs+ without really trying. Fasting means the cheat meal feels earned (especially as I do a big workout on that day too, and being Saturday, I'm up and about fulfilling my housewifely duties rather than sitting in work getting bored-hungry). There's also the psychological benefit - being historically a bit of a meathead, it's good to get used to knowing it's not just the end of the world if you miss a meal. And most importantly, you don't need to eat if you aren't hungry!

I have changed my diet and to be honest I cheat quite a lot but those cheats are based upon my day or week. I've exercised quite a lot today (if im going to the office I do 100-180 minutes walking) then I can have a 2 finger kit kat. If I've exercised regularly throughout the week (mixing the walking and resistance workouts) then I can have my cheat meal once a week). I think going on a diet is not sustainable if you don't find ways to add things you enjoy. The reality is you can sustain your weight with the odd take away or eating out as long as it's not too often and your not eating pastries and shit for breakfast. 

I'm just going to mention I use walking as an exercise as I used to run but now have gout in both feet, so walking is a great low impact workout for me. If I can walk somewhere I generally do. 

26 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Yeh, that's definitely something I need to keep an eye on, although, thankfully, one thing I don't have to worry about is quality of diet - we don't eat loads of procesed food, and everyone in the house cooks, so we eat fresh-cooked stuff regularly. My main issue is portion sizes, and the difficult part is my sugar addiction.

I've been thinking about giving this a proper go, but I realise I'm going to have to plan this out properly and clearly, so that I have the red lines drawn in my head, and don't end up drifting back to my weaker self and undo all the good work.

Portion sizes is a big thing for everybody, I was serving myself 80g plates of dried pasta or rice. Don't know what I was thinking but I lowered it, lowered it and lowered it until it became a reasonable portion size that made me happy with what I was eating. Now I go with 45-50g pasta and 55g rice. 

Yeah I have a sweet tooth myself. Ways to keep around it I've found is basically don't buy that much or keep some small chocolate bars around. Don't keep those sharer bags or big bars as you have a bit, you eat it all (well I would anyway). I keep 2 finger kit kats or small dairy milks around, so I can have 1 a day or maybe 2 but I don't feel overly guilty. 

However I'm not going to act like an expert, I'm a propper lardo who weighs 100kg, but 2 years ago I weighed 125kg so have lost some and have tried various diets, some failed miserably, some less so. I don't really follow any diet now, just use parts from various diets and think ah that works for me.

[Sonny Mustang]

I started doing 5:2 almost a decade ago and it’s the only thing that ever worked for me, because I love to eat and the idea of tracking everything I eat for the rest of my life fills me with horror! 
I didn’t have any major health problems but I was chunky and as im petite it really showed. Now I’m not. 
typically on my fast days, I’ll eat one small meal at 6pm and that’s it.

Its  sort of bled over into the ‘5’ as I was always told you must eat breakfast but honestly I’m rarely hungry until 11 or so, and at that point just hold out to lunch-most days I end up fasting from 7/8/9pm dinner to lunchtime the next day.  I also rarely snack. 
They say there are health benefits too (like your body repairs itself while you fast), but im no expert on that- only that this method works well for me. 

[CavemanLynn]

1 hour ago, Sonny Mustang said:

Its  sort of bled over into the ‘5’ as I was always told you must eat breakfast but honestly I’m rarely hungry until 11 or so, and at that point just hold out to lunch

This was one of the key benefits for me when I was doing 16 hour fasts every other day back when it was the hot new thing. If you're not hungry, you don't need to eat! There's a lot of standard daily routines we're all in without realising. It was fun when people at work would ask me about it, and you'd get the same responses: "Don't you miss breakfast?" "No, I'm not hungry then." "But you've got to have something." "Are you hungry in the morning?" "No, not really."

Fasting got me to listen to my body, not only for when I was hungry in general, but also for what I was actually hungry for. It's especially useful as I've gotten older, when you actually don't need so much food because your body physically can't process it (due to naturally falling hormone levels and changing musculature).

So yeah, it works for me. It fits into my lifestyle and working week, it's not intrusive or limiting when it comes to socialising, and, most importantly, it makes me feel better.

[David]

On 6/9/2021 at 12:44 PM, Shy Dad said:

Can you keep us updated on how it goes @David.

Now a week in and I think I'll have to sack off the 16 hour fasts and return to the 12 hours instead. It seems to be virtually unworkable for me due to a mixture of work and personal commitments.