07-15-2015 10:54
07-15-2015 10:54
Hello,
Hey everyone just wanted to start a quick topic to see if anyone else has tired, failed, or is curious about Intermittent Fasting. In the case of intermittent fasting (IF), the "diet" actually refers to periods of fasting, meaning you are restricted to eating very little—or nothing at all—for periods of time lasting anywhere from 16-24 hours. It may sound a little crazy, but intermittent fasting has been suggested as an effective weight loss tool, with research supporting its ability to increase fat oxidation, reduce body weight, and accelerate fat loss.
The central idea behind the implementation of intermittent fasting is to reduce overall calorie consumption, ideally resulting in weight loss. Typically, IF protocols will have the individual undergo a period of intentional severe calorie restriction (ranging from 0-25 percent of the individual's normal daily caloric intake) for a period of 16-24 hours. Following the restrictive phase, the individual returns to relatively normal energy intake for 8-24 hours, depending on which version of IF they are following.
I am doing the 16 hour fast where I consume nothing but water and a cup of black coffee in the mid morning to hold me over. Then I eat my normal range of calories for the day in an 8 hour window. For me this is from Noon to 8pm. I am on my 5th day so can't atest to being an expert but I am loving all the research I have found and was just curious to see if there is anyone else out there.
09-02-2015 09:32
09-02-2015 09:32
I use both a juicer and a blender. For beet juice I use the juicer to juice: beet root and greens, sweet potato,radish, red onion, yellow bell pepper, mango, watermelon (rind included) peach, carrots, celery, ginger and lemon. I do enough to fill up a quart mason jar. When I prepare to drink, I add about 4 oz to blender with 2 oz of kefir and about 1 cup of pomelgranet arials plus a scoop of protein powder, some dragon fruit and an occassional banna. I also make a cruciferous vegetable juice with spinich, sweet potato leaves,califlower, brocoli, bok choi,onion,apple, celery, cucumber, lemon or lime and orange. I do the same in the blender, but instead of pomelgranet, I add blueberries. I do the two juices as the beet based is for raising testosterone and increasing nitric oxide for circulation. The cruciferious juice is to help the body metobolize estrogen. I typically beet with first meal and crucifeous in evening
09-03-2015 09:01
09-03-2015 09:01
Day 2 of intermittent fasting. I ate about 1800 calories yesterday with 106g of protein and 91g of carbs. Just prior to breaking fast, I did 30 minutes of resistance exercise and throughout the day I walked 18333 steps. Today I'm feeling a bit lethargic and hungry. I got over 8 hours of sleep last night and this morning I had to get up and clean up the back porch in anticipation of pressure washers coming this afternoon and this is when I started feeling the lack of energy. My dinner meal last night was a 10oz steak and corn on the cobb with about 8 oz of whole, raw milk.
I will break my fast today with a lunch of liver and onions and fresh beet juice with added protein powder. I'll still shoot for 15k on steps today, but no resistance training. I weigh on Fridays, but as only two days this week in IF, not much credit will go towards tomorrows weigh in, but between this weeks and last weeks, it should give me an indication as to its effectiveness.
09-04-2015 07:08
09-04-2015 07:08
This is probably looking like I'm keeping a log here on fitbit. I just wanted to provide some feedback as to how things were going in getting started with this, but this will most likely be my last post except for weekly updates. I am keeping a daily log, so if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to share. Probably wait until I'm more established in IF.
Day 3 of IF and I feel less lethargic today. I'm having some black coffee this morning which I normally drink with cream and stevia. Going to try and make the conversion permenant and get away from non-calorie sweetner. My calorie profile yesterday was about 1800 calories with 100g of protein, 85g carb and 56g fat
Today is also weigh in day and I'm highly disappointed as my weight remains the same from last week. I increased my activity significantly this week as well with a full weekend of garage and basement cleaning and averaging around 16k steps a day vs previous 11k. In addition I added some resistence training 3 days a week for 30 minutes. Last weeks weigh in only had me losing about 1/2 lbs and this week nothing. Increased acivity and average about 1500 calories a day with no weight loss. I'm really hoping this IF will kick in and I'll have something better to report next week.
09-07-2015 07:38
09-07-2015 07:38
09-07-2015 14:55
09-07-2015 14:55
I'm doing better now. My feeding time has shifted somewhat and is now 6pm to 11pm as Friday night I actually caved in around 1 am and ate some pistachios, so I just made sure I had 16 hours until my next meal. I ate somewhere between 19 and 22k Sat and Sun, but only in those hours. I think I'm shifting to a 20/4 shedule. My energy is back. I'm hungry some of the time, but not weak. I did 30 minute resistence today and have 12k steps in so far.
I don't know if I'm losing yet, but I "Feel" thinner. I'm working up to starting some HIIT, but finding it difficult as I'm so out of shape. I'll keep working towards it though
09-08-2015 06:41
09-08-2015 06:41
09-09-2015 05:45
09-09-2015 05:45
Thanks! I did a little HIIT this morning. I walked for about 15 minutes, then started sprinting for 30 seconds at a time. I did 6 intervals over a 2 mile walk. I had horrible sleep last night. I had to fly down to Sarasota for work. Went out last night and ate some raw oysters, seared tuna and steamed brocolli. I had a couple of drinks, then came back and went to bed around 9:30 and woke up around 3 and wasn't able to get back to sleep, so about 5:30 I went out for a walk/jog. I'll get more steps in walking through the airports this afternoon, but am really looking forward to sleeping tonight.
09-09-2015 06:45
09-09-2015 06:45
09-09-2015 11:54
09-09-2015 11:54
Glad to hear you kept it even and still enjoyed your get away. Did you do a lot of walking in PR? Or at least stay pretty active?
I just hit my 10k walking circles around while waiting on my flight here in Sarasota (getting strange looks from people as I walked up and down the concourse). With 10 in the bag, the walk through the Atlanta airport should seal the deal for today. Scheduled to go into B gate in ATL, but I find myself secretly hoping we get diverted to like E concorse. It's right a a mile hike from E concorse to the front doors of the terminal. Today is supposed to be a weight day, but not sure I'll get that in today. One reason I attempted the HIIT this morning. I can hit the weights first thing tomorrow morning before office. Won't get home until 7. Good thing I left some homemade chicken salad in the fridge! Guess I'll chow down on that for my dinner.
I think the biggest motivator of IF is how good that evening meal is after not eating all day. I am reminded of an incident in my army days when I spent a week in the woods in January where it rained constantly and was about 40 degrees. We ate one cold C-ration per day (about 3k calories each) all week and this one day we had a mission at dusk, so we ate dinner while the sun was up. This allowed us to heat our meals using the famous heat tab. I had a can of spagetti and it was the best **ahem** spagetti had had ever eaten or have ever eaten!!! It's all relative!
09-09-2015 13:35
09-09-2015 13:35
09-11-2015 03:10
09-11-2015 03:10
I tried the 5:2 diet aiming for 600-800 max cals on the fast days and initially lost 2-3 kilos and then another 2 and then stuck. I tried this for 7 months! and when I asked my doctor why I wasn't losing weight any more, she said that all of her patients who had tried it found the same thing. An intial loss and then nothing.
so having stuck for months I have strated with the fitbit and so far in 2 weeks have lost .6 kilos. not a lot but I am very satisfied indeed to start losing weight again. I find the idea that if i do more exercise I get more to eat very comforting... even if I don't necessarily do so! I try to keep under the daily calorie allowance but my daughter says (eating psychologist) not by too much....
I am looking for friends still to help me maintain my motivation as I have yo-yo dieted since I was 14!
09-11-2015 06:14
09-11-2015 06:14
Seems its just you and I keeping this thread alive, but maybe it will help someone else in the long run.
OK, today is weigh in day and I just got off the scales. For the last two weeks, I have been stuck at 214.7 lbs. The second week of that, I had even increased my steps by 50% and still remained the same. It was Last Thursday when I did my first fast and have stuck with it. Todays weight....wait for it... 211.7. IF kicked started my weight loss and I was rewarded with a 3 lb loss.
It has gotten easier too. In fact, last night when I came home from work, I was thinking about eating, but realized I wasn't hungry at all. I did end up eating some chicken, but it was more to force myself to eat. I do get hungry - or at least my stomach growls a lot - during the day, but then I guess it gives up at some point. I do have to confess I got plenty of bad calories as my neighbor stopped by and we drank a couple of scotches as we caught up. I also had a couple of slices of cheese on healthy, whole wheat crackers, but in total, less than 1k calories last night. That's not something I want to continue as it will eventually affect my muscle retention too. I only include it as an illustration to others who might be interested in trying this, that it does get easier as your body become conditioned to it.
I was bragging on this IF at work yesterday and it met with some skepticism. Guess I'll send out an email telling of my success!
09-11-2015 06:16
09-11-2015 06:16
09-11-2015 06:26
09-11-2015 06:26
divedragon,
I feel your pain. With anything that seems out of the ordinary you will get your skeptics! We also on a subconsious level participate in diet sabatage where we internally are jealous of someome taking control of their lives and in turn respond with "That's not healthy", "That doesn't sound like it would work", and my favorite with IF "What do you mean you don't eat breakfast? It's the most important meal of the day." To which I usually respond with yes it is the most important meal of the day I just happen to have breakfast at noon instead of right after I wake up.
Congrats on the 3 pounds! I will attach an image of just 1 pound of fat to give you perspective and just to think you lost 3 of what is pictured. It's crazy and really hits home when you see it. I hope this will work for you as it has for me. Don't beat yourself up about the scotch. Live you life and enjoy it just in moderation. Don't think I didn't have a beer with Dinner every night in Puerto Rico haha. I would watch the intake or lack of intake. It can be time consuming but I log my food into the Fitbit dashboard on their website to get a as close to acurate number of how many calories I am taking in VS how many I am burning. Under 1k sounds a little dangerous especailly if you are exercising. Don't go crazy and blow 2k but in my opinion you're not eating enough.
Glad things are going well though! Hope to hear some more exciting news from you. I starting getting a scratch in my throat when I woke up this morning and about died of exuastion in the gym so I am currently DayQuiling it up in hopes of not having to sit on the bench due to being sick. I will use this oppurtunity to rest tomorrow (aka excuse to sleep in)
Blake
09-11-2015 07:57
09-11-2015 08:54
09-11-2015 08:54
Hi divedragon
thanks for the support and I have 'agreed' to be your friend. I really want to 'talk' to people and gain support as it is lonely on your own, and good to hear other people's stories. I tried Weight Watchers but it was too much fuss and the people there were not really like me...I found the leader talks very basic indeed and once you've been there a while, very repetitive.. and as I plateaued..
I do find that using the fitbit to see how many calories i've burned is an incentive - so far - but it's still a new toy. Let's see what happens when it's an old toy!
I've walked nearly 6000 steps today, burned 1386 calories and climbed five flights of stairs - and did a 30min workout in the gym - it only gave me 73 calories, so I'm sure that's not right...Still I need to find a better equivalent for what i did - rope and squats with my trainer.
09-11-2015 08:57
09-11-2015 08:57
Is that a pound of fat! euegh
09-17-2015 13:43
09-17-2015 13:43
Divedragon,
How is it going? I lost 3 more pounds recently!!!!
09-18-2015 11:33
09-18-2015 11:33
2 weeks in a row I've lost 3 lbs. Now down to 208.7 I was traveling this past week and on client site so I didn't get as much activity as I do at home, but I did manage two days on the road of an hour each in the morning and some light walking in the evening to include some HIIT and weights. I also ate out in restaurants which got my calories as high as 2k, but it still was enough. I was also a bit worried as I got less sleep too.
I do still get hungry during the day, but I've learned to embrace that feeling and see it as a fat burning signal rather than hunger. I imagine the blood coarsing through my veins, breaking down the fat and filling with ketones. I have 28 lbs to go to reach my goal weight so I am half way there. I began January at 240 lbs. so I had 60 bls to loose and to date 32 are gone! I've only been doing IF for 2 weeks now and lost more within a two week period than in any other two week period just trying steps and calorie countrol. I also found it way more convient an eating schedule while on the road. Basically an evening meal and a few snacks/drinks after with colleagues.
I'm pretty much sold on IF now. I intend to make this my lifestyle, albeit with a few more calories when I'm at weight. Love 'pigging out' everyday and food taste so much better now.
09-21-2015 11:05
09-21-2015 11:05