Which wouldn't be nearly as bad if we were eating grass or it's equivalent
Which wouldn't be nearly as bad if we were eating grass or it's equivalent
Following up on my Friday attempt, I found it interesting how it actually started getting easier some time between break and lunch. I ended up making it through to dinner without too much trouble...So 23+ hours. While I was certainly ready to eat, I didn't even feel the need for an oversized dinner compared to what I would normally eat. This definitely seems reasonable to try continuing twice a week.
In reply to Driven5 :
I have noticed that I get full a lot sooner now. Even on days that I'm not fasting I don't eat near as much as I used to.
Did it again yesterday....from dinner the previous night to dinner last night. It seemed a bit harder this time- definitely hit a point around 2PM that I was hungry and tired. I kept at the water, though, and felt better by the time I got home from work. Ate a fairly normal dinner, tried to eat slowly but I was pretty hungry. And had a couple of glasses of wine with it, and a salad afterwards.
The belt fit a little looser today, though!
Been doing the 16/8 without realizing it, so had been sticking with it. Weekends are off though, and though I try to do it 5 days during the week, I've found that I need to "break down" at least once a week.
Nice thing about the 16/8 is that it is pretty easy to extend to 20/4 without much of any effort. I've not stepped on a scale, but there is a noticeable difference in my waist.
Two weeks ago I went to only doing one day a week. I seemed to have evened out at about 179 as far as weight goes.
I may go back to the 16/8 deal sir a while just to see how I feel.
So today marks is the completion of 3 weeks. I have kind of built my own plan that has me only fasting during the work week. I am doing 2 non-consecutive days of 24 hour fasting and 3 days of 16/8. Both days on the weekend are 'free' days.
After an initial 1 pound gain, presumably from all the extra water I had to start drinking, I'm now down 3 pounds from where I started. I wanted to wait until I had multiple data points before declaring it to be 'working', but a pound a week for three consecutive weeks is a nice consistent result. As a bonus that is only helping things along, I have found that I am getting full from less food, that my desire to snack has been noticeably reduced, and that my willpower to say 'no' to sugary foods has significantly increased.
It's almost like my brain changed from "OMG, I'm going to starve to death!" to "Meh, nothing to see here" whenever it feels any little bit of hunger. And dare I say it, the 24 hour fasts have gotten to a point of normalcy that almost feels...easy. I'm actually trying to plan out the best days to try for a 36-48 hour stint, possibly as early as this next week.
This past Monday I completed 45 hours. Just two months ago I had no idea this was even possible, let alone by someone like me. And as crazy as it sounds, as long as the water intake was kept high enough, even on day two the hunger really wasn't bad. It definitely does still take a concentrated effort to not 'accidentally' snack though.
I finally started reading this and realized I occasionally do 18+ hour fasts on random days off. My work schedule of 4 or 5 am until noon or 1 can work with this if I simply don’t eat until I get home. Today I tried it and I’m at 19 hours and feeling ok. I will try to continue this on my early days and see what happens.
Earlier this week I did a 27 hour fast mostly by mistake.
Ate breakfast Monday, skipped lunch since I had to run to the airport, flights changed and delayed means I didn't hit my room until 11:45, and as a general rule I try really hard not to eat in airports. So I hadn't eaten lunch or dinner.
I realized this when I woke up and thought about this thread. So I skipped breakfast.
By lunch I was pretty focused on watching the clock to see when I could eat, so I did eat lunch. Didn't have a huge lunch however, and it was very filling.
Nice job guys. It takes some effort some days for sure. I did my weekly 24 hours yesterday and instead of dropping back to my usual 18 hours a day, I'm skipping lunch today to get close to 24 hours again.
I'm thinking about trying a full five day fast.
I've been doing at least one day a week. My wife's been on me saying I'm losing too much weight and looking too thin. I don't see it but I told her I'd back off some. Haven't weighed myself for a while but last time I did I was 178. Wouldn't be too surprised if I've put a couple back on.
I meant to do a fast in November, but it didn't quite happen. Thanksgiving...and then last week I was out of town all week. In the South. Yeah, I ate pretty E36 M3tily. We had an early dinner last night, so I decided today was going to be the day to fast. I already feel better- all that crap from last week is moving its way through. Just water and coffee today. Though the secretary did come up to me this morning and said "oh hey, we're doing pizza at lunch, you want some?" Grrr. Told her I'd eaten out all last week so I'd pass. She gave me a weird look, like I was speaking a foreign language. "It's free..." she said. "No thanks."
We'll see if the willpower holds when the pizza gets here in 3 hours... 
Just got blood work results that were less positive than in the past. Apparently the stress of two young kids and everything that goes with them has taken its toll without me realizing it. I might be a participant in this thread soon..
I have been slacking the ast two weeks but back on it today. I have not really lost much weight but have noticed that I feel much better. My knees usually ache in the morning, lots of years jumping out of trucks and such. Since I have started this they have not been hurting in the morning at all.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Willpower held. Did 24 hours yesterday, despite pizza and goodies in the cafeteria at work. Got home and was making dinner, skinning a pineapple and absent-mindedly tossed a piece into my mouth before remembering....at that point it had been 24 hours anyway.
More power to you. I could not survive a fast. I get the shakes by lunchtime if I don’t eat.
I’ve been able to maintain ~40lb weight loss for about 2 years now. Was up to nearly 240 in college and I’m now around 170 that’s after getting back up to 215 again a couple of years ago.
I guess I’ve learned that being moderate during the week with moderate exercise keeps me thin I rarely compromise on the weekends and reset on Monday.
Again, do what works for you. For me, anything drastic ends up as a massive failure in the end.
In reply to Scottah :
As I said in the OP, I am not doing this to lose weight. I believe that the over all health benefits of intermittent fasting is more important than just the weight loss.
In reply to Nick Comstock :
Understood and I wasn’t trying to knock you or anyone else for trying this. If it works (mental/physical improvement) for you that’s all that matters. I know you’ve stated that you’ve been in a funk recently and I hope you’re doing better.
In reply to Scottah :
I used to get the shakes from not eating, too. Perhaps the mental mindset of "I'm going to do this" helped, or perhaps it was just all the water I tend to drink when I'm not eating. But s far this is 3 fasts for me since reading this thread, and no shakes.
Congrats on the weight loss, BTW. I've never struggled with weight (been 180ish for my entire adult life) but I know many who have.
In reply to Scottah :
Working on being better. I think this helps. All I can do is work on it, sometimes I'm good, sometimes I'm not. I just keep trying to get better.
That's officially 10 pounds in 11 weeks. Pants that were snug, are no longer so.
Since I only fast on work days, I'm calling the next two 4-day weekends a 'stress test' of my current progress.
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