Intermittent fasting, anyone want to join me?

[achillea]

Anyone watch Horizon last night want to try fasting for weight loss and general health?

www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc

I might try 6 days on and 24 hours off has anyone tried this and does it work?

www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc

Ooops

bump

I have recorded this programme to watch, looks interesting.
Won't be joining you in a fast just yet. i used to fast for two days every two months ish. I did it because my hippy friend made me do it with her!

But, I have been ill recently and totally lost my appetite. I have lost weight but the odd thing i've noticed is that my eyes are much brighter and whiter. Even dh mentioned that although I've been ill in bed and haven't eaten much my eyes have a sparkle.

Watching with interest...

I like this, it fits in with a lot of other research about cell regeneration etc. It seems that while we are eating proteins our bodies want to make new cells all the time but this means we neglect to repair old cells.

It also ties in with the ketogenic diet which is still used as a way to manage epilepsy in those that don't respond to drugs. The programme last night talked about the link with starvation and brain cells / neurons.

I like the idea of trying this. Am currently pg and will be bf'ing, so won't be able to give it a go for a while, but I was thinking one day a week - not total fast, just massive cut down.

The Horizon man fasted for 4 days initially, then two days cut down to 600cals and lost a stone in 5 weeks. I think the length of the fast would depend on how regularly you are actually hungry - I am rarely properly hungry so I think I will need at least a 2 day full fast to get started, then I will probably do a straight no calorie 24 hour job once a week. You have to get to the point where your body starts using up its own energy stores and that would depend on how much you food that you just have sitting in your system. I eat quite a lot and I think it will take at least a couple of days to get through what's already tucked away in the various recessess of my stomach (I'm convinced I actually have two).

I could so do with losing a stone in 5 weeks!

fruitsalad you can't do it while you are breastfeeding, you are already depleted of nutrients and fluids.

Oh I know. I meant I would have to wait until I was no longer bf'ing. Can't imagine breastfeeding on less than 3000 calories a day anyway!

I like the idea of this... I'll try to watch that programme tonight or tomorrow...

Funny, I have been thinking about this today and didn't even watch the programme.
I'll watch it tonight or tomorrow.
I'd love to do it.

I have been doing this for years, i am convinced that it recharges the body.
I have never had a weight problem , which i believe is due to the fact that i fast five days a month. However, i don't fast to lose weight, i fast for spiritual reasons.

I'm interested, I have a very dear friend who lost about 4stone by only eating every other day. Everyone thought he was bonkers (this was about 10 years ago) but he has kept the weight off and now fasts 1 day in 5.

Once or twice a week I don't manage to grab a bite to eat whilst I'm at work so it seems like a small step from that?

When are you planning to begin.

forehead I do wonder sometimes whether there is also a physiological reason that fasting has become part of so many religions. Do you eat anything at all during your five days fast? How do you feel after 5 days?

Bard I think I will start regularly in September after the dcs go back to school, but might try a 2 or 3 day one while on holiday and have dp for backup to cook as I won't trust myself near food.

Just marked place on another thread. Started today. 3 st to lose

Definitely interested in trying!! Might also try during holidays and see how things go!! :)

We should share meal ideas and tactics.techniques
Today had lentils and smoked mackeral salad drank tea with skimmed milk as couldn't go cold turkey on tea and food. Managed well, ate at 2 and intend to go to bed soon to avoid temptation

I am going to start tomorrow hopefully for 2 days. The programme suggests you can still have black tea :)

But black tea isn't as nice. Fasting is hard enough for a pig like me ( hear dp mock) although much easier today than I anticipated. Mosely was right hunger comes in waves and does pass. I am more than peckish now....

Achillea- Some religions believe that fasting allows you to humble yourself before God. When one is hungry, one cannot turn to food for comfort , and as a result ones senses are heightened and therefore one is more in tune with our spiritual self
I usually just drink water and soup during a fast and i have found this beneficial. I am told that i glow after i have completed a fast.
However, if one is new to fasting, i would recommend that they reduce their intake of food gradually.,starting with eating just one meal a day.

Yes please - I think it sounds really interesting, I have high cholestrol so it would maybe help that.

I watched this earlier. When the presenter went to Chicago the woman he met said that a fasting day meant one meal of 400-500 calories for a woman and the next day you can eat what you want. However she found that the people following the diet didn't really overeat on that day as a result somehow to do with the previous low calorie day. I think this is what the presenter followed when he went home? That seems quite manageable

The presenter followed the 5:2 diet. So just 2 days a week fasting, but with a 500-600 cal diet on the fast days. I like this idea as you can pick the days when you are busy and have something to take your mind off things instead of thinking about food :)

I would follow the presenter's option because it would fit in with weekends, but I'm not convinced it would be that effective as 600 calories is actually a fair portion - I wonder if you have to eat it all in one go - I don't think it would work if you ate fruit all day for instance.

One of the ways this diet works is by restricting food so much that the body starts to use its own resources - I can't imagine that would happen if you are eating apples all day or have a 600 calorie meal. Hmm.

Actually I can't wait to start intermittent fasting. I'm feeling so bloated and overweight at the moment because I've been so inactive during the holidays and almost too sluggish to get up and raid the cupboard for invisible biscuits even.

Does anyone understand this? www.pnas.org/content/100/10/6216.full
I think this is one of the key studies on IF but I'm not sure I can even understand the title let alone the contents.

Can someone give me a example of a meal that contains 500 calories?