Eat Stop Eat / Intermittent fasting

[Emoore]

There seems to be a lot of "buzz" about intermittent fasting for health and weight loss lately. I bought the book Eat Stop Eat and it makes some interesting points. Has anyone else heard of this?

[Trevor M.]

Alternate-day fasting in nonobese subjects: effects on body weight, body composition, and energy metabolism -- Heilbronn et al. 81 (1): 69 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
The only study I'm aware of on the subject.^


I don't believe fasting is needed whatsoever. Why starve yourself on a bi-daily basis when you can simply monitor calorie intake instead? The general person has no need to go to such extremes. I'm Talking about fasting in regards to weight loss alone here.

[RobLL]

I was on a weight plateau and was intrigued by what Brad was saying so also got the book. The research about improving blood glucose caught my attention, as well as the other useful things. And I like my current diet, it keeps my diabetes under control, and I was not gaining weight. So I am losing some fat, I was able to reduce insulin until my tummy told me to quit taking Metformin, and it is easy, no hunger pangs. I also am doing Hypertrophy from NROL and think I am gaining a little muscle, so my weight has gone down a little, but otherwise stable - pants conspiculously fit looser.

The book recommends two days of fasting a week, from one dinnertime to the next, so by one measurement it is not a full day fast, which could be considered to involve skipping three meals in a row. It is a 23 + hour fast.

[RedLefty]

Nobody said IF was needed, but for some people it might be worth a try. I bought the book and have always appreciated Brad's pragmatic style. He's been in the industry for a while but always boils things down to the essential elements. He'd be the first one to say that if you just monitor your calories, you wouldn't need to try other things like fasting.

This is the only plan my dad will try. He did IF a few years ago but on his own made-up ideas. He read Eat Stop Eat at Christmas and lots of things started clicking for him. He's weighed over 300 pounds for almost 15 years, and he'll never count calories. But he doesn't mind fasting two days a week, and if he sticks to it he'll get results.

p.s. -- while it works for my dad, IF is not for me. I tried it and felt really, really awful during the fasting days. Pounding headaches, irritability, etc... I'm glad I tried it, though.

[Emoore]

I'm giving it a shot. To me it would be a relief to not have to be so restrictive every single day. I've done two fasts so far and was surprised at how easy they were. I had some hunger pangs but nothing serious and was even able to do my normal workouts with no problems. I can see how this would be a huge no-no for anyone with eating disorder issues though.

[Trevor M.]

He's weighed over 300 pounds for almost 15 years, and he'll never count calories. But he doesn't mind fasting two days a week, and if he sticks to it he'll get results.

That doesn't sound like a plan for consistent weight loss on a weekly basis. I can only assume he would unconsciously eat more on the days following the fast. This may or may not be enough to offset his two day calorie deficient state. Especially considering the fact he is not going to be monitoring his food intake.

[RedLefty]

The book goes through that specifically. Brad confesses that if people have "compensation" days the other five days of the week, the plan won't work.

It's honestly at the point where I'll support anything he tries. He's in his late 50s, has been a smoker for three decades and is 100 pounds overweight. Small changes, even if done under a less-than-ideal plan, is still exciting to me.

I know how to get him quite fit, based on how I've seen his body respond to different programs in the past. But he hasn't asked me.

Bottom line -- your point is well taken. If someone does that then IF will fail to have an impact.

[LT Hebert]

I think I am going to give this fasting thing a try. I normally am very conscious of what I eat, although I am not willing to "count" calories. No time for that. If I can manage to not try to compensate the day after my fast, I think I can make it work. Would be a much better way for me than to obsess about every calorie I put in my mouth. I'm only about 15 lbs over my goal weight of 120. (I'm 5 ft. 4 in) Wish me luck!!

[Espi]

Intermittent fasting came up quite strongly around Sept 2006 when I read about it in dr. Michael Eades' (Protein Power) blog. Turned out quite a few more people did it.
I've since then stopped eating 6 meals/day and had pretty good luck dieting with 3 meals/day.
But only by the next summer I tried the intermittent fasting by using the 'Fast till 5' method (there's a free e-book). Within 2 days I noticed to almost literally 'freeze' up. My fingers were like ice. Dropped that as a rock and did the 'Ramadan'like approach for another 2 months, viz. eat 10am/10pm every other day on rest days.

After 2 months I evaluated it and saw that while it was easy to eat less than I estimated to need, my maintenance had dropped by the same amount. Somehow one starts to slow down too much in day time. As soon as I added the 3rd meal back in, but at the end of the afternoon (4-6pm) maintenance shot back up again to normal & expected values.
This is a different experience from what I've read of many others.

In the end I've hence discovered my own perfect 'IF' , viz. a night-time fast (12hrs) plus a day time fast of 6 more hrs. No more worrying about food during regular work hours. So liberating. No more being hungry for more food late at night, but finding your allowance is already gone.

There's also a very interesting effect on abdominal fat.. I swear it has worked wonders on seeing visceral fat disappear. Even on this very moderate meal skipping method.
Probably the best effect is just alternating between normal & very low calorie intake, which doesn't stress the body as much as straight dieting. So, perhaps even a 'nibbling' approach would work, as long as you keep cals very low one day and high another day.

Don't remember if there's been research on that method.

[wazzup]

I'm doing my take on Martin Berkham's intermittent fasting.

basically 16 hour fast / 8 hour feeding. Like Espi I find it very liberating not having to obsess about food all day long. Sucking it up (hunger) for a wee bit and then feed properly is also a very nice way to get my daily calories in when dieting.

read more about it here: Leangains - Intermittent Fasting for Strength Training and Fat Loss (with some references here and there)

[Espi]

Funny this IF got brought up again. This morning I woke up really unusually early and I *so* didn't want to eat 4 hrs before my usual breakfast. And then, I just completely forgot to eat until noon.

Obviously I didn't get hungry. Nor feel dizzy from low blood sugar. Actually my morning blood sugar tends to read higher than my post-prandial (breakfast) reading.

Instead, like I wrote about my 2-day Fast-till 5 stint, my hands turned icy cold and I was even shivering so much that I got goose bumps from it almost to the extent of teeth shattering.. it was quite funny actually to see it happen again.
About 45 min after my meal, fingers were toasty & warm again.

This strange post-meal thermogenic effect never used to be happening way back when I was much fatter. I'm sure the real effect must be smaller, but it feels like something huge.
Same when I eat a very large meal close to bed time, esp when it has carbs.. I can be nearly literally floating out of bed from excess sweating. Please don't tell this is menopausal?

[Karen P]

I hadn't heard of it till now. Again, something I make want to look into. I don't plan on fasting, but I'm just interested to hear about this stuff. I'll be checking out Eat Stop Eat. Why does this stuff interest me so much? Who knows.

[Phaedrus49er]

Some befores-and-afters. Like Michael said, good to try if you're at a sticking point, but likely not a regular thing (sure seems like it produces some Jareds, though likely uncoupled with decent exercise protocols). I'll stick to my occasional CKD

[Fulmen]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus49er

Some befores-and-afters. Like Michael said, good to try if you're at a sticking point, but likely not a regular thing (sure seems like it produces some Jareds, though likely uncoupled with decent exercise protocols). I'll stick to my occasional CKD

So it gives the same results that a lower calorie, less carbohydates-focused diet would achieve without starving yourself.

Guess which one I would choose?

[Phaedrus49er]

Originally Posted by Fulmen

So it gives the same results that a lower calorie, less carbohydates-focused diet would achieve without starving yourself.

Guess which one I would choose?

Probably the same one I'd choose, especially now that my fridge is packed with farmers market goodies that are in season.