Intermittent fasting

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Still sticking with OMAD. Breakfast is three fish oil tablets, three teaspoons of coconut oil, half a glass of water with a good slug of ACV, a few spoons of Greek yoghurt, some macadamias, a small assortment of berries, and half an avo. I eat breakfast while I'm cooking dinner, steak/sausages/bacon/pork plus mushrooms, spinach, tomato, onions, capsicum, garlic, chili, and a couple of eggs on top.

Interesting factoid: if I have breakfast an hour before going for my walk, times are consistently 9:10-9:20 per km. Cold shower and cook dinner on return.
If I walk before breaking my fast, no matter how much I flog myself mentally, times are consistently 9:55-10:05 per km.

I wonder how much extra fat I'm burning by doing the walk 22 hours into the fast, even though its slower and I don't have as much energy.
 
bennytheroach said:
I wonder how much extra fat I'm burning by doing the walk 22 hours into the fast, even though its slower and I don't have as much energy.
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I think performing fasted cardio helps me burn bodyfat faster but in terms of scientific literature the evidence suggests that if you control for calories exercise timing is irrelevant for fat loss.
 
I’ve downloaded the Zero app and currently 38 hours in for a 63 hour fast.

Really keen to see if I can go for 2-3 days each week. I did a 2day fast Thursday-Saturday and felt great during the fast. Probably ate too much afterward and felt a bit queasy but I’m enjoying the experiment.

IF is obviously getting a fair bit of exposure, but I can see prolonged fasting being the next frontier. It’s cool going into a weekend knowing you can you can essentially eat anything and still be at a massive total deficit for the week.
 

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One thing to be aware of if you suffer or have suffered depression: coming off ketosis from a longer fast and having a greater than normal amount of carbs can provoke a depressive episode lasting a day or two.

That bit me a couple of weeks ago after a 48-hour fast.

"ketosis optimises the astrocyte metabolism, which gives more efficient removal of glutamate, the most important excitory neurotransmitter; and more efficient conversion of glutamine to GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter" - Epilepsia Journal Nov 2008.

Suddenly having a chunk of carbs causes that to bounce 180deg and that can kick off a downer.
 
So I've just completed a five-day fast (120 hours). I have previously done a few 48-72hr fasts and my previous record was ~114 hours.

I had hoped to go the seven days, but I had a shitty sleep last night and was really feeling it today/tonight.

I thoroughly recommend anyone to do 36+hr fasts; if only for the mental challenge. It is very rewarding.
 
beez said:
So I've just completed a five-day fast (120 hours). I have previously done a few 48-72hr fasts and my previous record was ~114 hours.

I had hoped to go the seven days, but I had a shitty sleep last night and was really feeling it today/tonight.

I thoroughly recommend anyone to do 36+hr fasts; if only for the mental challenge. It is very rewarding.
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Was it a strict water only fast, if not what did you consume?

Do you mind running through how you felt over the 5 days?

9 days out of 10 I do 18-20/6-4 fasting but have dropped off the longer fasts lately, I was doing regular 36 hour or so fasts once a fortnight and have done a couple of 60 hour.
 
M Malice said:
Was it a strict water only fast, if not what did you consume?

Do you mind running through how you felt over the 5 days?

9 days out of 10 I do 18-20/6-4 fasting but have dropped off the longer fasts lately, I was doing regular 36 hour or so fasts once a fortnight and have done a couple of 60 hour.
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I haven't eaten breakfast for 20 years so I normally eat in a 16/8 timeframe without it being deliberately IF. I also often do 20/4 just because of my eating patterns and I am generally fine. And as I mentioned, I've done many 24+ hour fasts of varying lengths so I am quite acclimatised to it all.

I'm not always strict with my fasts. Sometimes I do water only, sometimes I only drink black coffee, sometimes I cheat and drink coffee with a dash of milk and sometimes I use psyllium husk (natural fibre) if I feel I need to make my stomach feel full. This fast I drank black coffee. And I drank a lot of water and a lot of coffee to the point where I was going to the toilet way, way, way too often :tearsofjoy:

I started my fast around 9pm Sunday night and I start most of my fasts at this time. When I do longer fasts I really need to mentally prepare myself the week before and I pretty much clean out my cupboard and fridge because my will power isn't great.

Day 1 - Felt fine. Not hungry at all. Slept fine.

Day 2 - Normally I struggle heaps between the 36-44 hour mark with hunger pangs and the mental thoughts of eating. Though hunger pangs were not as strong as normal and I only probably had about 30 minutes in the evening where I wanted to eat but I got through it (normally I would have three or four of these periods in the afternoon/evening on day 2 where I am dying for food). Slept ok (not great) but only got about 6 hours because I would wake up a few times.

Day 3 - Generally at the 55-60 hour mark (Wednesday morning) I have this 30 minute period where I assume my body transitions because I get lightheaded, very lethargic and am nauseous to the point where I have to stand over the sink and disperse saliva. But this time it didn't happen. I had pretty good energy for most of Wednesday. No real desire to eat.

As an aside, I am teaching myself piano and play most nights for 30mins or so. Wednesday night I played for a good 90mins or so and I could clearly tell that I was playing much better with more dexterity and speed. I mention it because it goes to the "euphoric phase" and it was very noticeable to me as I was playing. Slept ok. Tossed and turned a little, but had a much deeper sleep when I finally did fall asleep. Again probably only 6 hours.

Day 4 - Felt great. All day. Energy levels were right up there. Very productive. Thought about food a lot but there was no correlation with a desire to eat. No hunger pangs throughout the day and had no problem in the evening. Although I went to bed earlier than normal because I started feeling tired, then I struggled to get to sleep. Then I tossed and turned all night. Only got 5-6 hours.

Day 5 - Woke up feeling ok. Didn't feel tired. Didn't feel like I was sleep deprived. Energy levels were fine til around midday. But around 2pm I started feeling s**t. I was still feeling s**t at 4pm and I decided if I was still feeling s**t a couple of hours later I would break the fast. Got home, still felt s**t and decided go to the shops.

Broke the fast with a massive bowl of vegetables and lots of feta. Probs around 1500-1700 cals.
 
Is there any reason that you can't commence a 16 hour fast at 4pm and reopen the window at 8am?

I am weird in that I am easily able to skip dinner but usually pretty hard to skip breakfast which seems to go against what is the norm for many other people.
 
Two Coins said:
Is there any reason that you can't commence a 16 hour fast at 4pm and reopen the window at 8am?

I am weird in that I am easily able to skip dinner but usually pretty hard to skip breakfast which seems to go against what is the norm for many other people.
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Nope, it's just purely calorie control. Breakfast is just easier to skip for most when it comes to family life. Just make sure you're eating high protein when you do eat.
 
I recently tried IF (16:8) for a month (morning fast until lunch). I'm reasonably fit and go to F45 4-6 times per week and I work in an office. I found that I actually gained weight (both muscle and fat), maybe went from 82kgs to 85kgs. Sort of just bulked out abit. It wasnt really what I was looking for. Has anyone else had this experience? Maybe the F45 whilst fasting wasnt ideal, and then my meal at lunch wasnt always super healthy (maybe just a roll or subway or asian noodles), and I often snacked abit too much (tried not to but was so hungry especially the days I did F45). I read that the first meal is important but found it hard to get myself organised enough. Maybe just doesnt suit my lifestyle (F45, not able to meal prep etc)
 
TOA. said:
I recently tried IF (16:8) for a month (morning fast until lunch). I'm reasonably fit and go to F45 4-6 times per week and I work in an office. I found that I actually gained weight (both muscle and fat), maybe went from 82kgs to 85kgs. Sort of just bulked out abit. It wasnt really what I was looking for. Has anyone else had this experience? Maybe the F45 whilst fasting wasnt ideal, and then my meal at lunch wasnt always super healthy (maybe just a roll or subway or asian noodles), and I often snacked abit too much (tried not to but was so hungry especially the days I did F45). I read that the first meal is important but found it hard to get myself organised enough. Maybe just doesnt suit my lifestyle (F45, not able to meal prep etc)
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IF shouldn't lead to fat gain if done correctly, but I do IF (OMAD mostly) and have been trying to drop weight and have surprisingly gained 1% of muscle mass according to scales. The snacks might be your downfall. Also read that the first meal after fast is important. Try to have reduced carbs in that meal if you can.
 

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Pugz89 said:
IF shouldn't lead to fat gain if done correctly, but I do IF (OMAD mostly) and have been trying to drop weight and have surprisingly gained 1% of muscle mass according to scales. The snacks might be your downfall. Also read that the first meal after fast is important. Try to have reduced carbs in that meal if you can.
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Cheers. Yeah, I think the snacks were my downfall. I think ideally I would have had a really high protein, low carb lunch but hard to get that sorted in my job (and we always have so many snacks around the office). Just need to get more strict with myself.
 
TOA. said:
Cheers. Yeah, I think the snacks were my downfall. I think ideally I would have had a really high protein, low carb lunch but hard to get that sorted in my job (and we always have so many snacks around the office). Just need to get more strict with myself.
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Yeah, the whole idea of fasting is to deplete glycogen and force your body to use its supply as energy, but if you're constantly snacking, the blood sugar is constantly spiking and your body never really gets a chance to use up the excess glycogen. Anyway, stick at it and good luck!
 
The best way to be successful with it is to plan. If you're hungry and close to your window but you don't have food organised you'll be more tempted to snack and snack early. It's purely a method of calorie control, it's in theory harder to consume the same calories in 8 hours as you would in a regular window but it's completely ineffective if you're not going to make healthy choices in that window.
 
the_interloper said:
I've been dabbling with this, skip the odd meal either breakfast or lunch, or maybe just have some fruit and almonds as a snack. It's not strictly what people seem to be doing but I guess less proper meals would have to help in some way.
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Honestly, while there's clear science behind the logic of fasting, the primary reason that is tends to be beneficial is because people focus on their eating habits. If you focus on your food intake and understand what you put into your body, you can eat 6-10 times a day and get just as good results as eating once or twice.
 
Milpool said:
The best way to be successful with it is to plan. If you're hungry and close to your window but you don't have food organised you'll be more tempted to snack and snack early. It's purely a method of calorie control, it's in theory harder to consume the same calories in 8 hours as you would in a regular window but it's completely ineffective if you're not going to make healthy choices in that window.
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Agree. I'm normally a relatively good eater but my hunger in the afternoon really made it hard to avoid snacks, especially on the days i worked out in the morning. At the least, I think maybe I should look to have a protein shake etc, which I did do but no enough.
 
Starting today I'm attempting my annual 3 day fast to kick off the year. I made it last year, but from memory in 2021 I only made it two days.

Then this year I'm planning on going back to the 'monk fast' protocol of one 36hr fast per week. I was doing 16/8 for most of last year with some OMAD thrown in, but now that I work out in the morning I've started taking a PW beforehand and a protein shake afterwards to try maximise MPS. So I'll do the monk fast instead to give me the opportunity for some of those sweet autophagy benefits.
 
estibador said:
Starting today I'm attempting my annual 3 day fast to kick off the year. I made it last year, but from memory in 2021 I only made it two days.

Then this year I'm planning on going back to the 'monk fast' protocol of one 36hr fast per week. I was doing 16/8 for most of last year with some OMAD thrown in, but now that I work out in the morning I've started taking a PW beforehand and a protein shake afterwards to try maximise MPS. So I'll do the monk fast instead to give me the opportunity for some of those sweet autophagy benefits.
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I've been doing OMAD 95% of the past 4 months and combined with regular gym, I'm down 20kg. Undecided if I'll stick with OMAD once I hit my goal weight or not. Heaps easier for calorie control and my body has easily adapted to it, so depends what protocol I pursue next I guess, maintenance or bulking up.
 
Starting my annual 3 day fast to kick off the year again today. I'm already a bit leaner going into this one than I have been in previous years so it will be interesting to see what difference that makes.

2023 was obviously a very busy year for this thread, you only have to go up two posts to find me making this same post a year ago!
 
estibador said:
Starting my annual 3 day fast to kick off the year again today. I'm already a bit leaner going into this one than I have been in previous years so it will be interesting to see what difference that makes.

2023 was obviously a very busy year for this thread, you only have to go up two posts to find me making this same post a year ago!
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I try and do a 36 hour fast once a week which is when I take a rest day.

At the 17hr mark, I usually start dreaming of food, but after a couple of hours of past, Im good to go.

I only break my 36 hour fast, so that I dont hit the gym in a fasted state. I could easily do another few more hours if I didnt drink a protein shake before my workout.
 
GROTTO said:
I try and do a 36 hour fast once a week which is when I take a rest day.

At the 17hr mark, I usually start dreaming of food, but after a couple of hours of past, Im good to go.

I only break my 36 hour fast, so that I dont hit the gym in a fasted state. I could easily do another few more hours if I didnt drink a protein shake before my workout.
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I had to change my plan last year because I kept caving at the 24hr mark of my 36hr fast and then feeling guilty about it.

Instead I compromised and did 2x24hr fasts a week instead (so pretty much a 5:2 style protocol with OMAD on the low cal days). Then those were the two mornings I did yoga instead of weights.

I do really love the feeling of accomplishment and general 'lightness' of waking up in the morning at the end of a 36hr fast though. Maybe this year at the start of each month I'll extend the 24hrs to 36. Might be easier to stick to if it's only a once a month thing.
 
estibador said:
I had to change my plan last year because I kept caving at the 24hr mark of my 36hr fast and then feeling guilty about it.

Instead I compromised and did 2x24hr fasts a week instead (so pretty much a 5:2 style protocol with OMAD on the low cal days). Then those were the two mornings I did yoga instead of weights.

I do really love the feeling of accomplishment and general 'lightness' of waking up in the morning at the end of a 36hr fast though. Maybe this year at the start of each month I'll extend the 24hrs to 36. Might be easier to stick to if it's only a once a month thing.
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Timing of your fast is also very important.

I try and get two 8hr sleeps in, which means its only about 20 hours where I dont eat. My understanding of fasting is that the hormone Ghrelin rises around the 17hr mark, hence my food cravings. Also watching a good movie/TV show or doing something distracting is a good way to kill the time.

I felt guilty when I caved in around the 24hr mark too previously. That light feeling you get from a 36 hr fast I think is a result of the body not being stressed in metabolizing food. Its a great gut reset.
 
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