Cautiously creeping up on it in case my fat hears (I think something is working)

[Lemonthyme]

I am in perimenopause, late 40s. Since I got to about 42, 43, whatever I did to try and lose or maintain weight just stopped working.

Gave up alcohol completely 6 months ago.

I think, cautiously in case my fat decides it wants to hang on for dear bloody life, I might have found AN answer.

I went to my GP to check my thyroid. Fine, no issues. But he also did a HA1bc check which was at 5.8%. Not diabetic but heading that way. His view. "Huh, not diabetic but you could do with losing weight, have you tried eating less and moving more?"

"Yes and yes 30 year old male GP, thank you for being patronising."

It just so happened I was listening to an audiobook called "Gut Reactions" through all this. (Get audiobooks from your library, they're free and great.) And they pointed out as you start to get levels of insulin resistance, it starts to get harder to lose weight.

Huh. Well that feels obvious really doesn't it?

But one of the things that REALLY stood out to me in the book was about fasting. I'd tried 5/2 years ago and that hadn't worked for me. But what this suggested was 1 x 24 hour fast a week (well it suggested 1-2 but 2 is too scary for me.) The reason being the fast helps with insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility between burning sugar and burning fat.

That sounds terrifying till you realise, it's having dinner one day then not eating till dinner the next. It's missing 2 meals. Obviously hydrating a lot, drinking water, black coffee and black tea. Eating sensibly at other times etc.

So I've started. 4 weeks in and for the first time in about 10 years, I'm actually losing weight.

My partner is noticing already. My mind is blown and very much hoping this continues...

Thanks OP, ive ordered that book from the library. I had a lot of success with the 5:2 a few years ago so I'd quite like to give this a try. What day have you found best to do the fast?

That's great. My DH swears my fasting and also Keto too - was listening to a podcast about how the diet can be beneficial for metabolic issues. I have tried fasting but it messes with my cycles...I need to do something though as getting fatter! So annoyed as I got to a really good weight a few years ago and the weight has slowly crept back up.

I work from home as a consultant about 80% of the time so I choose one of the days I'm WFH. I flex it though around exercise and if I'm out with clients (I don't do any exercise while fasting and only exercise in the evening a couple of hours after I've actually eaten that day but I always make it a light day, so pilates rather than running or weights.)

I have thought about Sundays though. My family are all late risers and I share custody of my kid with my ex husband so one weekend in two he's not here. The other, come lunchtime he wouldn't be bothered eating without me and wouldn't even question it. We always have Sunday dinner in the evening which could be my fast breaking meal. So that's always my fallback if the other days don't work for some reason.

I have a mirena so I have no idea what my cycle is doing nowadays as I've stopped bleeding totally. I'm not saying every fast day is easy, some aren't and perhaps that's cycle related? Who knows. But I've always made it through.

One day I decided to do it on the day following holiday. Which actually meant I was starting my fast 2 hours before my flight in the airport. I didn't bother telling my other half and he didn't notice. It was just going to be the best way to fit it in. It was a little harder because when you're tired you sometimes want to comfort eat (it was a late flight) but I still did it.

Weirdly I've now started to look forward to fast days. I can imagine it's tougher though if you work full time in an office. But that said, I still would give it a go as it's worked so well so far.

I love fasting! OP and others may wish to read ‘Fast like a Girl’ by Mindy Pelz - she advocates adjusting how you fast dependent on your cycle, to go harder at fasts early in your cycle and less so in the pre period week. She also talks about foods that are good for hormone health at different points of the cycle.

I find fasting just feels so wholesome and right for my body. I’m currently just doing intermittent with 16-20hr fasts, but in the past I’ve done more like you have done and a bit longer, 1x per week. It just feels good to give your body a rest from digesting, very cleansing.

Isn’t fasting essentially just putting your body into a big calorie deficit one day - or however many you do- and that’s why it works? I’m intrigued by what other health benefits it has compared to normal calorie counting. I’m currently on WLI but am thinking about fasting when I come off, but mainly because I find it easier to eat no food than a little food if that makes sense.

I think the big deficit is part of it, but it’s about your body switching from burning glucose for energy to fat, and that happens after 14ish hrs of fasting I think, probably varies by person. It’s also thought that your body can do all sorts of spring cleaning in a fasted state! That’s my armchair description anyway 😆.

I personally feel sharp mentally on fast days, and sleep well. I also think overall it helps you be cool with a bit of hunger, which is a useful part of an overall healthy diet. when I first started fasting I took things really easy, didn’t exercise etc, and now it’s just a bit of hunger. I don’t feel weak or tired because of it at all.

Im not 100% convinced on the science but I do hear the logic that food has never been so available and our bodies are not evolved to be continuously eating. I can see that there can be advantages to periods of eating/digesting and periods without (fasting).

I have to admit I wasn't either. But on listening to that audiobook it did make some sense. I then looked up some of the research behind it and I found the papers where there was criticism or mixed results were often not fasting for as long as 24 hours. Either they weren't really fasting (e.g. 5/2) or they were time restricted eating every day (e.g. 16/8). So it's really difficult to read much into headlines saying it doesn't work when very different methods are often lumped in together in the papers which were being reviewed. I did find evidence though that HbA1c was improved in patients who did 24 hour fasting but also I found research pointing to people with a level of insulin resistance found it harder to lose weight. My HbA1c only just being under prediabetic levels, I was prepared to give it a go.

And I'm now about to do my 6th fasting day tomorrow. So far I'm losing 1.5lbs per week on average since I started doing the fasting. My OH has already started to notice.

I have to admit that energy does dip (I tend to avoid long runs the day after a fast and stick to shorter runs or exercise sessions.) I'm hoping that improves as my body becomes more metabolically flexible in switching between fat and sugar burning. Fact is it kind of has to if I'm going to lose the wobbly bits.

I think I am becoming diabetic also but if I skipped eating I would 100% have to lie down and would likely pass out

I thought that too. But I've previously skipped breakfast before and that was fine. I was surprised how easy it was to just skip lunch too. But if you're worried about that then perhaps better to talk to a GP (if you can) first.

Were you maintaining or gaining weight despite eating mainly salad and fruit

If you fast, can you have a coffee or tea/sugar free squash, or just water?

What before I started fasting? I had cut out loads of sugar and simple carbs but I am and was still eating some complex carbs (e.g. lentils are a mix of complex carbs and protein). I was starting to lose maybe half a pound a week but no more. Probably maintaining really.

Some people just have water. I have black coffee, water or herbal tea (not fruit teas, ones made from herbs or spices only) without milk, sugar or sweeteners. I don't have sugar free squash. I think some people might. I don't drink or eat sweeteners nowadays anyway. I'm trying to wean my taste buts off sweet flavours.

Do you feel light headed and dizzy

No not really. I feel a bit hungry sometimes but then it passes. I think I thought it would just build and get worse but it doesn't. Especially if I have a hot drink or some fizzy water. It normally just goes.

Im very interested in this, very similar position (age etc) as you. I’ve tried 5/2 a couple of years ago, and more recently 16.8 with no results. 1 day sounds doable. Do you choose the same day every week?

So far I've only chosen Tuesday or Wednesday because it fits in with the days I run but I'm prepared to flex it between Tues and Thurs. I don't think it really matters too much albeit I'm trying to get as many days "recovery" as I can between my fast day and my long running day (Saturday normally).

I just try to do it if I can when I'm not bothering anyone else by not eating.

I was originally only going to do it once a fortnight to start with but it was so doable, I carried on the next week.

Some people do it twice a week apparently but this seems to be working for me with once and I think twice would impact my exercise too much. There was some recent research that said it only worked as well as other diets and only because you get into a calorie deficit but when you actually looked at the paper they lumped all kinds of time restricted eating, 5/2 and intermittent fasting into one lump so it wasn't really fair. Also even if it does only work as well as calorie control, I find it easier.

Sounds like it is working well for you. I may try that. Trying to figure out what works for your body is a challenge as you get older!!

I think as I've said on other threads that there are some behavioural changes I've done too. Which is around structuring support and incentives for me to stay committed. I think that all helps.