Hello Bees
I am owndering if you are fasting, how long, since when you are doing it, maybe why, and how you manage it?
On my side i stopped breakfast 2 months ago, i was almost doing 14/10 but as we are having dinner a bit late, i think it was not enough. So i am only eating lunch actually, since almost a week.
My first goal was to continue losing weight, but i noticed my bloating are less annoying, my digestion is better. It is really hard, and not socially easy to switch dinner, so i am still wondering how to get organized, how long to do it, etc.
The other question is about my health, as it is about at the same period i broke my toe, i am wondering if it could prevent me from healing if i don't it enough nutrient. But as i am careful i think it should be okay.
Thanks for testifying if you are facting, or if you fasted, or not.
I don't really fast, other than at times I find myself skipping breakfast. Helping to remind myself that I don't have to eat, just because it's the societal mandated time to do so. I think you should be fine on nutrients for the broken toe. You'd be wanting to watch your nutrients anyways so that should cover it okay I'd imagine.
I can't fast. I have migraines, so it's important to eat small meals regularly and keep blood sugar constant.
Personally, a good breakfast is very important to me to start the day better. I eat about a third of my daily calories in the morning.
You have to try out what you can handle and what is best for you. Without breakfast and regular meals, I am not productive. I would be tired, lacking energy and in a bad mood.
When you're fasting, it's important to get enough calories and nutrients from your other meals. When losing weight, it is only important to stay in the right calorie deficit. It doesn't matter when you eat these calories.
You should eat in a way that makes you feel comfortable with it.
I do intermittent fasting (23:1, 18:6), and longer fasts (40:2 and 70:2), been at it for 7 years or so.
Why: I feel much better when I do them, and it is very efficient for fat loss.
How: I've tried all sorts of schedules. I feel best when eating the large meal when I wake up. I always feast/replenish before a longer fast. Alternate day fasting works wonders on fat loss.
Feel free to DM me about it! I can share various mini schedules, and how I worked up to a longer fast.
IMO the most important aspect of fasting is to first ensure one has not been under eating when coming into it (i.e. having had a restrictive / calorie counting WOE for a long time).
Hello Bees
I am owndering if you are fasting, how long, since when you are doing it, maybe why, and how you manage it?
On my side i stopped breakfast 2 months ago, i was almost doing 14/10 but as we are having dinner a bit late, i think it was not enough. So i am only eating lunch actually, since almost a week.
My first goal was to continue losing weight, but i noticed my bloating are less annoying, my digestion is better. It is really hard, and not socially easy to switch dinner, so i am still wondering how to get organized, how long to do it, etc.
The other question is about my health, as it is about at the same period i broke my toe, i am wondering if it could prevent me from healing if i don't it enough nutrient. But as i am careful i think it should be okay.
Thanks for testifying if you are facting, or if you fasted, or not.
Hey i would suggest you dont skip breakfast as you need energy for the workout you are doing here. If you are noticing a change in weight loss thats great but i would suggest eat a balanced meal along with doing workouts here. Eat more protein to heal your broken toe and i am so sorry to hear about your broken toe.
give it time to heal do yoga workouts here and dont put pressure on the injury.
Hey i would suggest you dont skip breakfast as you need energy for the workout you are doing here. If you are noticing a change in weight loss thats great but i would suggest eat a balanced meal along with doing workouts here. Eat more protein to heal your broken toe and i am so sorry to hear about your broken toe.
give it time to heal do yoga workouts here and dont put pressure on the injury.
I do intermittent fasting (23:1, 18:6), and longer fasts (40:2 and 70:2), been at it for 7 years or so.
Why: I feel much better when I do them, and it is very efficient for fat loss.
How: I've tried all sorts of schedules. I feel best when eating the large meal when I wake up. I always feast/replenish before a longer fast. Alternate day fasting works wonders on fat loss.
Feel free to DM me about it! I can share various mini schedules, and how I worked up to a longer fast.
IMO the most important aspect of fasting is to first ensure one has not been under eating when coming into it (i.e. having had a restrictive / calorie counting WOE for a long time).
I would love to have more detail about this, by dm if you want, but i think it could be interesting for others to read this, if you don't mind explaining it there
@Damer in case you have some insights on fasting, especially extreme ones. I reading the guide from Darebee already, it helps a lot.
Fanta, i don't know why i cannot tag you, sorry. I was wondering if you are fasting all the time, or if sometimes you are doing a break with a normal eating schedule...
@Damer in case you have some insights on fasting, especially extreme ones. I reading the guide from Darebee already, it helps a lot.
Fanta, i don't know why i cannot tag you, sorry. I was wondering if you are fasting all the time, or if sometimes you are doing a break with a normal eating schedule...
HmmMMMmmm technically we fast every time we do not eat, so I guess, everyone is fasting all the time kidding!
I recently did a 90 day fasting schedule which was very effective. I started off years ago with a bit of a random thing and trying to just go longer by increments until I found things that worked for me. I like to try EVERYthing for myself and take notes. Which means, I tried everything under the sun in terms of water fasts.
The 90 day program was taken from the S&B Gang (they have coaches and weekly zoom calls 3-4 times a week to support, which were super motivating the first time I tried their program, and I was able to do it a second time on my own afterwards).
My key lessons over these years:
1) define clear goal with the fasting (e.g. healing, increase insulin sensitivity, reduce BF%, spiritual)
2) listen to body - do not dissociate from it (i.e. dissociate is to do things to ignore body signals, to force things through because obsessed with the goal)
3) know how to feast FIRST (i.e. properly nourish yourself before launching on a fasting schedule - most, the majority, mostly women trying to lose weight and calorie counting, come in undernourished, which is a set up for failure - I can explain in more details if anyone is interested)
4) hunger is temporary, mostly mechanical, and is not painful
5) work on emotional issues that come up with fasting - journal, take notes, write down mindset when "moments" happen - there are DEEP conditionning with foods in many, I uncovered a lot of mine early on
6) never force / white knuckle a fast, break it when feeling dizzy, etc.
7) fasting without black coffee is a plus (coffee notoriously attenuates hunger)
Build up to a fasting regimen, and rest/nourish/feast between each session. Keep the body guessing. Dont be a regular on 2MAD or OMAD and settle, if you have not attained your health goal.
Find cheat codes: you can fast 36 hours without skipping any day > Eat breakfast, then the next day, eat dinner. Powerful.
Alternate Day Fasting is the ultimate hack for me, I did two variants, the second is much harder and requires a build up to it. I failed the first time I tried it.
This sequence is Day 1: Skip / Day2: 2MAD / Day 3: Skip do this sequence of 3 days once, then replenish for 2-3 days (i.e. 3MAD); then 3 times, replenish, then 5 times. This pattern got me MAJOR results. The variant is eating OMAD between the skip days (and take 2 hours to eat that single meal).
Hope that gives a little info. Feel free to poke for details or questions.
thank you so much @Fanta (the tag is working today ) it is really helpfull. When you say eat breakfast, is it really a breakfast or just a meal in the morning? Just eating 2 eggs and a piece of bread could be enough?
I would love to get more explanation about nourishing, i think i am careful, but i am not completely sure to know everything i should know.
I am not sure to have understood about coffee, if it helps with hunger why is it a plus do it it without?
What does the clear goals change in the fasting procedure ? do we change the way to do it depending of our goals, or is it a help to make it sustainable?
I completely aggree with hunger it is really not a big issue, i am not hungry often, and when i am it goes away fast.
I did a 2 days break this week-end, eating 2MAD, but i found it difficult to get back to OMAD
thank you so much @Fanta (the tag is working today) it is really helpfull. When you say eat breakfast, is it really a breakfast or just a meal in the morning? Just eating 2 eggs and a piece of bread could be enough?
I would love to get more explanation about nourishing, i think i am careful, but i am not completely sure to know everything i should know.
I am not sure to have understood about coffee, if it helps with hunger why is it a plus do it it without?
What does the clear goals change in the fasting procedure ? do we change the way to do it depending of our goals, or is it a help to make it sustainable?
I completely aggree with hunger it is really not a big issue, i am not hungry often, and when i am it goes away fast.
I did a 2 days break this week-end, eating 2MAD, but i found it difficult to get back to OMAD
Answering in order - and to re-iterate, this is my personal experience and lessons that worked for me.
A meal is a normal meal, and one should eat to satiety. Eat slowly and chew everything thoroughly.
Unfortunately, if you eat a carbohydrate heavy meal first thing in the morning (cereals, granola, bread, shake, muffin, croissant, fruit juice) that satiety signal may not come up at the right time or ever, i.e. you may physically feel full because of the space taken in your stomach, but the brain signal of satiety may not be triggered. My recommendation would be to only eat fat and protein for breakfast, to capitalize the night's fast and not trigger an insulin spike (e.g. bacon and eggs). I've also learned the hack of coffee AFTER the meal, if you drink coffee (TY Coach Raymond for that pro-tip).
Nourishing - well this may be a triggering topic, warning -
nourishing is giving your body all the nutrients and energy it needs. Humans never had calorie trackers and apps to count theoretical vitamins and potassium intake and macros... Counting calories to lose weight almost always ensures a focus on theoretical numbers. I'll give an example: a person targets 1400 calories a day for weight loss, and has been doing so religiously for months... Gets stalled. Decides to fast to accelerate the process of weight loss because 1400 calories no longer works. The fast may or may not give results. However, the minute this person starts eating again, the weight gain is likely to be rapid, triggering another caloric restriction and fast obsession our of fear of weight gain.
What happens: the body is starving and already holding on to dear god to all its resources (i.e. no weight loss/stall). The metabolism (the rate at which the body uses energy) is tanked already. Very low. So, the moment food comes in, it makes sure to keep it in at all costs. Ref : look up what happened to all the Biggest Loser participants and why the show suddenly stopped airing without a formal cancelation
What I do to replenish: eat 3MAD or 2MAD, giving myself permission to eat like its my job. This keeps metabolism high. I get the micronutrient I need, and the protein for my muscles. Eating more also ramps up metabolism. Then when the intake is cut off, that metabolism stays high and the body burns internal stores at this high rate, and the fast works like a breeze because Im not missing basic nutrients from constant restrictions.
Coffee will cover up hunger signals, which may mess up early warning signs your body sends you during a fast. My experience is that, if the stomach growls last more than 20 minutes, and that emptiness & low energy feeling do not go away for hours, it is time to end the fast. Drinking a black coffee will attenuate both feelings (and the caffeine will hide the low energy with a fake boost), silencing useful messages your body is sending you.
The clear goal helps you tweak issues you encounter during the fast, and to resist the emotional challenges that inevitably come up during one (e.g. social encounters, restaurants, free snacks at work). It prevents you from arguing with yourself out of your fasting schedule for reasons that you may regret later (i.e. self-defeat). If this happens (it happened to me! many times), it's a good time to reflect and journal about the goal and the emotional story that occured. Was the goal too difficult to reach? Is there an emotional story with food that occured, and look up strategies to work on it so it does not happen again in the future.
Examples of food narratives: if I don't eat my at my parents', I am rejecting their love (i.e. giving/receiving food is giving/receiving love). If I don't eat at the restaurant when going out with friends, I will be rejected or a social outcast (fear of abandonment). If I eat this one small thing, the discomfort will go away and I can deal with this later (food as self-soothing).
Again, my experience with a fasting schedule: to avoid tracking and decision fatigue, I've used Darebee style program calendars - I print a blank calendar page and fill out the entire month's fasting schedule. If I have to break a fast because my body is not ready, I usually backtrack to the last "nourishing" period and start from there. If the same thing happens again, I start over altogether.
The fact that you had 2MAD x 2 days and found it difficult to go back to OMAD can be a couple things, it's for you to figure out:
1) depending how long you have been OMAD or 2MAD (and provided a description of the usual size, schedule, and content of the meals), this can be an early sign you are not eating enough already
2) it could be emotional: stress, boredom, anxiety, apathy, lack of sleep causing any and all of this, can make it harder to skip meals
3) the most difficult meal to skip is the first dinner of a longer fast... Typically dinner is the larger meal, and the social one with family. People eat in your face as you try to get on a longer fast... The good news is that it gets easier the next day. The hardest day is the late part of the first 24hr.
@graoumia thank you for tagging me here and our guide, brief as it is, covers a lot of the benefits. We have more science on this since then. We know, for instance, that exercising in a fasted state helps men lose fat and build muscle but not women, who experience the exact opposite effect (!). We also know that any long-term calorie restriction affects muscle as well as fat and some muscle mass will be lost.
This isn't to say "don't do it" but don't do it blindly. If you're a man and you're fasting you need a strategy in place that will help the body prioritize fat loss over muscle loss, so exercise here is key. If you're a woman you need to factor in that when you exercise you must have come out of the fasted state so that your body can allocate resources to building muscle. I hope this helps.
The WOE will also have a huge impact on the fasting experience. I did not want to get into this hot topic however because I don't know if it's an issue or not on this forum. Still recommending Jason Fung's books, as it's one of the rare who does not advocate directly a WOE with respect to fasting.
The WOE will also have a huge impact on the fasting experience. I did not want to get into this hot topic however because I don't know if it's an issue or not on this forum. Still recommending Jason Fung's books, as it's one of the rare who does not advocate directly a WOE with respect to fasting.
this one - it is light hearted, full of images and great explanations of human biology before going into how to fast. He offers fasting schedules and meals at the end of the book.
We know, for instance, that exercising in a fasted state helps men lose fat and build muscle but not women, who experience the exact opposite effect (!).
@Damer, I would like to know more about this, please.
Does this apply to all exercise or specifically to strength training? I have a 2-4 mile walk first thing every morning before eating. As a 62yo woman with significant amounts of both weight and fat still to lose, am i doing myself a disservice? Should i be eating first? I usually do strength training in the late afternoon/early evening, a couple of hours after a snack and right before dinner; would after dinner be more beneficial?
I appreciate any further insight you can give.
@Mamatigerj generally speaking, because of our different biology; men are "fat burners" and women are "fat hoarders". The best time for a woman to exercise is after eating, while for a man it's before. That includes cardio activity, like walking or running. I hope this helps and feel free to come back with any follow-up questions.
The majority of the differences between men and women revolve around the reproductive role of each. When that is no longer a consideration nature tries to discard both, equally and those differences are not so obvious any more, particularly at a hormonal level.
That’s really interesting — it sounds like you’re experimenting carefully and noticing some real benefits beyond just weight loss, like improved digestion and less bloating. Skipping breakfast or doing a longer fasting window can definitely take some getting used to, especially socially, but it sounds like you’re adjusting well. As for your toe, as long as you’re keeping a balanced intake during your eating window, your body should still get the nutrients it needs to heal, though extra protein and minerals like calcium and zinc can help recovery. How long are you planning to continue this fasting schedule, and have you tried adjusting the timing of your meals to make it a bit easier socially?
Hello Bees
I am owndering if you are fasting, how long, since when you are doing it, maybe why, and how you manage it?
On my side i stopped breakfast 2 months ago, i was almost doing 14/10 but as we are having dinner a bit late, i think it was not enough. So i am only eating lunch actually, since almost a week.
My first goal was to continue losing weight, but i noticed my bloating are less annoying, my digestion is better. It is really hard, and not socially easy to switch dinner, so i am still wondering how to get organized, how long to do it, etc.
The other question is about my health, as it is about at the same period i broke my toe, i am wondering if it could prevent me from healing if i don't it enough nutrient. But as i am careful i think it should be okay.
Thanks for testifying if you are facting, or if you fasted, or not.
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kidding!
) it is really helpfull. When you say eat breakfast, is it really a breakfast or just a meal in the morning? Just eating 2 eggs and a piece of bread could be enough?
A meal is a normal meal, and one should eat to satiety. Eat slowly and chew everything thoroughly.
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