AIBU to think Intermittent Fasting is a gimmick?

[NeedToChangeName]

I know a few people who swear by Intermittent Fasting and make a big deal of only eating between 12 noon and 8pm

To me, this just sounds like (1) skip breakfast and (2) no snacks after dinner

AIBU?

When you don’t eat for a while, several things happen in your body.
For example, your body changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible and initiates important cellular repair processes.
Here are some of the changes that occur in your body during fasting:

• Insulin levels. Blood levels of insulindrop significantly, which facilitates fat burning (1Trusted Source).
• Human growth hormone (HGH) levels.The blood levels of human growth hormone (HGH) may increase dramatically. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source, 4, 5).
• Cellular repair. The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells (6).
• Gene expression. There are beneficial changes in several genes and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease (7).

I drink black coffee and water in the mornings. I stick to the “no milk” as I’ve read that it can trigger an insulin response even from a small amount, but other people choose to have a bit in their morning coffee/tea. Totally up to you.

I’d be a bit worried that the only way I’d be able to get through the morning without my breakfast would be to drink lots of tea (I have milk, no sugar).

I’ve been doing it for around 4 months now, for the first time (by effectively skipping breakfast and not snacking as you say), and I have found it to be very effective (for me) in conjunction with making sensible choices around food and drink when I do eat. I am down to a good weight and I tend not to feel hungry throughout the day. If there are additional benefits beyond that then even better. But I can understand why it might not work for others.

Exactly and if you are starving because you have a physical job then you need to eat earlier and just stop eating earlier.

I have been having tea with milk in the morning, but nothing else until around 12.30/1. I then stop eating from 6pm.

The thing is, almost none of the studies on humans show that fasting within a time period before we experience sarcopenia has any of these benefits. And this is especially true of women. On the other hand exercise brings about all of these benefits and more.

The only proven benefit of intermittent fasting on humans is that any strict form of eating restriction almost always results in lowered calorie consumption. So if IF works for a person and they enjoy it, then there is no harm in doing it. But if they want the benefits of autophagy, they are unlikely to be getting that through IF. A really good exercise programme, on the other hand, guarantees it.

For all the people who do it and it works for them - do you have milk in your morning tea/coffee? - the windows aren't so much of an issue for me as I often don't eat breakfast or if I do I prefer it later anyway, but it's the milk in my morning coffee that I'm struggling with the thought of giving up. Not a huge calorific latte or cappuccino but just some skimmed milk (but quite a big splash) in a filter coffee. There seems to be two schools of thought - one even that will start raising your blood sugar thus defeating the effectiveness, and another that it won't make much difference.

No, it's not. Having a large gap between eating benefits your body in lots of ways, do some reading.

I drink black coffee and water throughout the day, which is probably part of the reason IF works for me (that is, my fluid intake is effectively calorie-free). I’ve always taken my coffee that way so it was no change.

I have been doing something like 19:5 for a couple of months. I do have my morning tea with milk, but then only drink water throughout the day after. I have lost 14lbs so far and feeling pretty good!

I've used this one n the past and it removed my sugar cravings.

The 5:2 diet, though nothing beats a good balanced diet, for some having rules makes this easier.

@Wanderingowl.

Hey I just wondered what your job is? You seem quite qualified in this area. If someone tells me to “read the research” I think “shit I’m not qualified to interpret the research” or identify whether the scientists are making erroneous links. ( or whether they’re being funded by the Avocado council of something ). After all we were told fat was the enemy and eggs were bad for cholesterol and then sugar and carbs were the enemy. So although I want research backed by good science I don’t know good science when I see it

Yeah I drink black coffee and water (2-3l daily)
Then in my window (13:00-19:00) I’ll have tea with milk also.

I also sleep so much better as I don’t snack in the evening anymore.

If I don't eat breakfast I feel physically sick by 8am, like morning sickness. I have to sit down and let the wave of nausea pass and then eat otherwise I'm actually vomiting. I also get shakey and don't trust myself to drive for example. How do you get behind that?

I love 16:8. It’s been really effective at keeping my weight stable (I’m 51). I absolutely could not be bothered to calorie count.

From a purely practical perspective, I appreciate not having to faff around with food in the mornings. I stick to black coffee and water whilst fasting. I can exercise fasted just fine.

Is there any research into the social / emotional / communication impact etc? By that I mean by skipping meals the impact it has on you connecting with others and what they perceive from you doing that?

Let's say you have an early window and skip dinner every day. That's the main meal they encourage you to sit together as a family, model good eating and develop social communication. Yes you can sit there and not eat and still talk but that's modelling something quite different. Is it ok for young kids to do too?

Also the emotional impact on not eating a particular meal, the quality of life / social side?

I'm not criticising the gastro science, just interest in the wider holistic impact.

@Chocolate23

But it's not just about weight loss, it's about all the other benefits of giving your body a longer stretch of not eating.

@Lemonyfuckit

as far as IF goes, yep 2 schools of thought, personally I don't think a big splash would make a difference.

but as far a BG goes, you're better off with cream or full fat milk. The fat helps with the carbs in the milk.

@Hairbrushhandle work out the latest you can have breakfast so you don't feel like that, then work backwards from that to see what time you need to start fasting.

you might need to compromise on you ratio if the timings simply don't work for you.

I did the 5:2 for ages and lost all my extra weight, albeit quite slowly. What I loved about it was that it got all the dieting over and done with in two days, so anyone who’s really good at starting diets but lapses within a few days should do very well on the 5:2.

I did my two fast days on my busiest days at work because I was too busy to eat. I might spend the evening fantasising about all the buttered crumpets I’d eat the next day, but I’d rarely actually eat those buttered crumpets the next day. I’d go to bed hungry but overnight my appetite would reset itself to zero and I never woke up hungry or needed breakfast after a fast day.

Of course it all went to pot when an M&S Simply Food opened just a few minutes walk away from my office, but since retiring I do (naturally, not deliberately) 16/8 or more usually 18/6 and have lost all that M&S Simply Food weight!

Black coffee, black tea and water - but then I have never had milk or sugar in tea and coffee

@Hairbrushhandle what are you eating the night before? I used to get like this if I had high carb meals or too much late night snacking. If I have more protein at dinner and no sugary or carby snacks, I don't get that feeling.
It's could be a sign of insulin sensitivity.

I guess that’s what I naturally do - I have lunch at 11ish then tea at teatime. Still Diabetic though.

I lost 4 stone doing 5.2. It totally changed how I eat. I now do IF without even thinking about it. First food of the day around 1pm and then main meal around 6ish. Small snack before bed.