Introducing intermittent fasting

[StuntNun]

This thread is for Bootcampers that are interested in introducing intermittent fasting. There are a myriad of health benefits from fasting and it is particularly useful for anyone who is likely to be insulin resistant (diabetes, prediabetes, PCOS). It can also be useful for reducing overall calorie intake if you are hoping to lose weight more quickly, you are in an extended stall, or are close to your goal weight and weight loss has slowed.

If you're like me and you've never skipped a meal in your life then fasting may sound daunting but it really isn't difficult. It only takes a matter of days to get used to the feeling of hunger rising and then passing again. If you already miss meals or find yourself not feeling hungry at breakfast time then it will be even easier to introduce intermittent fasting, you're just formalising something that is already happening.

You should wait until you are at least two weeks into Bootcamp to start fasting and some people may need to wait for longer. Once you are fully adapted to burning fat your hunger levels rise more slowly and you have access to your fat reserves to get you through a longer fasting period without much hunger.

The method that combines best with low carb is intermittent fasting 16:8 where you have a minimum of three 16-hour fasts per week. This is usually by missing breakfast so if you have finish dinner at 7 p.m. then you don't eat again until at least 11 a.m. the next day. You can also miss dinner and fast from lunch to breakfast instead but most people find that less convenient; it depends on your lifestyle.

The easiest way to introduce fasting is to give it a try. Make a note of what time you finish eating and see when you get hungry the next day. If you're naturally getting hungry after 12 hours then aim for 12.5 or 13 hours for your first fast and build up to 16 hours gradually. It's fine to have a cup of tea or coffee (with milk not cream) during your fast period. At your usual breakfast time you will probably feel hungry. Have a hot drink and/or a big glass of water and usually the hunger will subside and then rise again later in the day. You don't need to fast every day to get the health benefits so if you're particularly hungry one day then just have breakfast and aim to fast the next day instead.

I managed to 1pm absolutely comfortably, was just about to make an omelette when a client called, and I was completely relaxed talking with them. Aware I was ready for lunch, but not gnawing my arm (or their head!) off, not trying to tear off a slice of bread and hoping they wouldn't hear me, just to stop myself feeling like jelly. Just ready for lunch but able to wait. Finally got my omelette at 2pm. It's a revaltion not to be controlled by food all the time.

Hi all
Thanks for the thread Stunt. I will mainly lurk on here. My meal times naturally lean to 16:8. We have our dinner/tea at about 4pm. I don't usually nibble after that and have breakfast around 8 or 9am.
I will monitor the exact times and see how I go.

I haven't really done IF today as I had a creamy coffee. But, I only had one rather than my usual two.
Had lunch at 1pm, another creamy coffee at 3pm and dinner at about 8.15pm.
Don't plan on having anything now until about 1pm tomorrow. Let's see how much I miss my creamy coffee.
I cleaned my teeth at about 9pm so I didn't snack this evening as well.

Right I'm going for it tomorrow.

My plan is no food until 12, I need to have dinner about 7:30 after my run. Only mint green tea and water until then.

I've read the blood sugar diet, I'm becoming slightly obsessed with diet / lc books. I've also got the recipe book so am going to use that too. I've also got his gut health one bit not read that yet. It's after breakfast is a dangerous meal on my Kindle list.

Reported

I have read most of the new guts book. Lots of interesting stuff about how gut health can influence food choices, it made me think.

I am now taking apple cider vinegar and drinking kefir every day, hope it helps as I have had loads of antibiotics this year.

Do you make your own kefir Yddraig? I tried the shop-bought one for a while but didn't notice any improvement. I have bought some apple cider vinegar with the mother but I keep forgetting to drink any!

I keep forgetting to actually write anything on this thread. Once of the best things about lcing for me is the fact I am not so hungry (as others will know) so I only have coffee for breakfast. I thought that I was kind of IF but I see I'll need to get rid of the cream if I'm actually going to do IF.

I usually don't go 16 hrs either as I have dinner later after I've been at the horses. Lunchtime at work is 12 so that'd mean it's have to eat dinner before 8. Anyway I might give it a proper go one morning and not have cream.

On days I play badminton I have dinner (the previous night, say 9pm) then creamy coffee (7am) then nothing until 3pm (I play badminton over lunch).

Sorry, I kind of just rambled on there and didn't actually participate!

Shop bought kefir for now but I have ordered some books from amazon with instructions for lots of fermented stuff, DH is really interested so that's Father's Day sorted :)

I have the vinegar with the mother (eek) I add a tablespoon to my litre bottle of fizzy water and a little bit of vanilla extract. Dilute through the day 50/50 tap water in work. It's really nice, a bit like a dry cream soda if that makes sense. I have also used lemon juice in fizzy water, anything to help glug it down.

WTF is "vinegar with the mother"? I thought it was an autocorrect thingy when stunt wrote it, but now Ydd has as well.
Anyway, I am drinking my black coffee, so we will see how the morning goes.

Glad you asked Captain

If you have a vinegar 'mother' you can make your own vinegar from the mother by 'feeding' it. So if you wanted red wine vinegar for example, you feed it red wine. I don't know if that is relevant in this case though or whether there are some gut health benefits from drinking vinegar with the mother in it.

Very I'm glad I'm not the only one flummoxed.

I managed a pint of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (with the mother means it hasn't been filtered so it still has the bacteria in it that turns apple cider into vinegar). It was very sharp though and I'm slightly worried that the acid might affect my teeth so I drank it all in one go rather than sipping it over a long period. I'm starting to feel hungry now but I think I'll manage 16 hours fasting. All I've had is a cup of tea, a cup of bone broth and loads of water.

I was thinking about tooth enamel, stunt and actually asked my dentist about it yesterday. He said it would be damaging over time, and his advice was a fast slug off the spoon and get it over in one, then to rinse the mouth with plain water and not to brush for an hour.

I think I'm pretty much ok for 16 hours today again, given I only woke up 15 mins ago (oops!). I'm just about to have some weak black tea and take the dog out.

Morning, I'm 1 hour away from 16 hours.

Feeling hungry now but have had loads of water and green tea this morning.

Thanks Cherries. Drinking it through a straw would help too, I don't think I'm hardcore enough to drink the vinegar neat.

Have just enjoyed my lunch, uneventful 16 hour fast. I was idly totting it up this morning, and realised that in the past I'd have easily packed in 600-700 calories before lunch. I'm slightly horrified really. And it would all have been on 'healthy' stuff - i.e. Whole grain breads and masses of fruit mainly plus a large latte. And I would still have been ravenous for lunch - which would have been something bread or pasta based, so I'd be sleepy after lunch, and hungry again by 4pm.

Got hungry around 11 00, fifteen and a half hours in but was too busy to stop. Didn't think about it then till 1 00 when I was ready to eat but not desperate. Had a nice mushroom omelette.

I've just remembered my Grandad used to have a tbsp of a concoction called The Elixir Of Life every single morning. It was cider apple vinegar mixed with, I think, honey and maybe lemon juice. He was ahead of his time, bless him .

Heman he was the Michael Moseley of his day.
Fasted for just about 17 hours, I think. Had 1.5 black coffees this morning, otherwise just water.
It was fine. Tbh, I didn't feel any more hungry than when I have my usual creamy coffees. Just about to have my first, and last, creamy coffee of the day. So, if nothing else, it will help to reduce my dairy intake slightly.
I can see this being doable in the week, then I will go back to the creamy coffees at the weekend.

Don't fancy the vinegar drinking, though. Think i'll give that a miss and stick with the .