Intermittent Fasting

United States
June 16, 2011 11:50am CST
I've been reading a lot about intermittent fasting recently. For those who don't know this is a system where you fast for a certain number of hours and then eat a normal day's calories within a certain window of hours. There are a variety of systems that discuss this--Stop,Eat,Stop: Fasts for 24 hours at a time 2-3 times a week; Fast Five: Eat only within a 5 hour period out of each day; Lean Gains: Eat in a 7 hour period. There are several others also. The idea is that it fools are metabolism enough to keep it moving fast while at the same time not fasting long enough that it goes into starvation mode. I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with this way of eating. For me it's really no problem to skip breakfast and eat my meals between noon and 7pm, but I'm wondering if that will really have any effect.
4 responses
oldchem1
@oldchem1 (8132)
•
16 Jun 11
The only sure fire way of losing weight and keeping it off is to diet sensibly and eat three good well balanced meals a day and try to increase your exercise
trenea7
@trenea7 (86)
• United States
17 Jun 11
The idea of eating all day is what the intermittent fasting books say is wrong. Because your body is constantly being fed, your metabolism levels off. It also makes us feel hungry all day because as we spread our needed caloric intake over 5-6 meals, we basically just get "snacks" all day and never get that really full, satisfied feeling.
Even_monkeys
@Even_monkeys (47)
• United States
16 Jun 11
Its actually better to split 3 meals into 5+ if possible. Eat the same amount for the whole day but split it into smaller portions. This will naturally speed up your metabolism.
urbandekay
@urbandekay (18278)
•
16 Jun 11
I try to fast for 2 days every week but not for health or physical reasons. all the best urban
trenea7
@trenea7 (86)
• United States
17 Jun 11
Is your fast for spiritual reasons then? Any good health benefits you've noticed as a side effect?
chiyochan
@chiyosan (30184)
• Philippines
18 Jun 11
I don't think this would work for me because first i won't be able to monitor my eating time and in by the rule of this particular diet. Haha. Thank you for sharing.
163Mandolingirl
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
•
16 Jun 11
Don't try it! You could end up with an ulcer! Having had a cluster of them, they are not fun!
trenea7
@trenea7 (86)
• United States
17 Jun 11
This is something new I haven't heard of in my research. Can I ask how long and how often you were doing the fasting? And did your doctor tell you the ulcers are attributed to your eating patterns? This is definitely something I don't want to deal with!