Intermittent fasting, not for me!
 

I know some, perhaps many have success with intermittent fasting but I don't think it has helped me one bit. I love success stories of how people are successful in reducing and maintaining that reduction. Fasting seems to play a fair part in that.

I suppose having a previous history of binge eating should have been a red flag before I tried it. But if you don't try you don't know.

I have just totally lost my ability to control or enjoy eating. Getting too hungry is for me a recipe for disaster.

Just started a few days ago with 3 reasonable size meals and 2 snacks, all foods that would probably make me semi lowcarb. Getting on so much better. Am also trying to eat slower and more mindfully which is helping as well.

I guess it just goes to show, one size doesn't fit all.

Exactly! One size does not fit all. What works for one person does not necessarily apply to others. It may work for the majority - but majority does not mean all.

I like that you have experimented and found what works for you.

The fasting guides and books has always warned people who have /had eating disorders not to fast. No one pregnant, breastfeeding, not an adult, with certain health conditions, on medications and a few other situations are also advised not to fast. I have followed Dr Westman's advice to eat when hungry, but when eating VLC that might be only once a day. The definition of IF is all over the map now, but merely to get away from constant grazing and snacking, the "stoke your metabolism myth" has benefits for reversing insulin resistance.

I was just watching Dr Steve Phinney on U-tube. Toward the end of his lecture, he was asked about IF

His response - he wasn't a fan mostly because there is no research base

and what research there is, is on people who were starved in concentrations camps, re-fed and died from overfeeding.

He does discuss his rationale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk0U006YZ2w

Attaining a level of ketosis is required to use IF. Its easy to skip meals when Im not hungry. But I cant do that if Im not in ketosis.

Bottom line. If u are hungry a lot, ketosis is not at work.

I have followed dr phinney and like that he is a rational thinking person.

I followed that rational for a year, As I carefully looked into fasting. Spent many hours reading the most reluable information.

So.....On the otherhand, dr fung presents enough evidence that I tried one day fasts. Very doable. Its normal to eat a little more the next meal. I found the key is to stick to the keto rules.

Lack of reaseach doesnt mean the process is wrong. Even my dogs get one day a week without food. Such that my Rotties lived very long lives, even with a family history of cancer and early deaths. I realize the dogs dont have unrestricted access to the refridge...... but for me sticking to a keto level diet is what worked.

As for fasting, Perhaps its worth another look, starting with further reseach. ...

Here is a talk by Dr Phinney on the metabolic effects of fasting based upon existing/published research studies.

The take-away is to be very careful with fasting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1r8ffLDFcE

Edited to add:

Since I have had personal experience with starvation and re-feeding, this talk resonated with me.

I jumped over here from another thread because the IF idea caught my attention. I've almost felt "guilty" for not adding intermittent fasting to my keto adherence. Losing weight at my age is slow going, and I keep thinking that IF will "speed things up" in a good way.

But I just don't like fasting, IF or otherwise. It doesn't fit into my life. It makes me grumpy. Or self-righteous. Or some other unpleasant attitude. Comparatively speaking, "non-IF guilt" is probably something I can live with. :lol:

I did take a look at Dr. Phinney's YouTube. He did a good thing describing at least four categories people might subscribe to as "fasting." However, since his talk was focused on multi-day, no-calories-consumed fasting and its effects, I didn't watch the whole thing. That's never going to be me!

Worth repeating.

I would never be able to fast if I weren't in deep ketosis. I haven't been hungry for a very, very long time. IF (The original Fung Protocol, before the first book) helped me break a 6-year plateau. IF for me included as much bone broth as I felt needed.

Since that initial IF (2015) I've used Time Restricted Eating (TRE).

I'm an aged female and success is different for me than for many here on this forum. My aim is optimal health and mobility and maintaining my weight loss.

We are all different in our needs and have to experiment to find the best way forward toward our individual goals.

IF is not working for me. In fact, maintaining low carb coupled woth IF - I have gained 1 1/2 pounds that refuse to come off

Go figure

I'll never try it.

For me, when I fast, my body goes into the starvation mode and slows my metabolism down.

In the past I found that fasting makes me gain weight.

I eat one meal a day and 4 to 5 light snakes. Total calorie intake is around 16k, total cabs usually fewer than five, never more than 20 and at least twice as much fat as protein.

One size definitely does not fit all.

But if it works for you, more power to you.

Bob

A different experience for me.

I took up fasting when I was in the typical English carbs with everything and then cakes, scones etc for snacks, way of eating. Was it hard? Oh yes! Was it harder than going from that to Atkins induction? I don't know as I never did that.

What I found, after a few months of just gritting my teeth and doing it, was that it was far easier to control what I ate during my feeding window. So out went most of the junk, our went a lot of the "good carbs" and up went my consumption of meat, fish, eggs cheese and green veg.

On some days my intake could be identical to that of a very low carber who just happens to have only one meal that day. But I arrived there from the opposite direction.

Where do you get those snakes, Bob-a-rama? I'd go for fasting first. :lol:

Thanks for the grin ;)

You haven't lived until you've snacked on snakes - tastes like chicken (actually chicken tastes like snake).

Typos can be so amusing. I come by the typos honestly -- I even have Type-O blood ;)

BTW, I'm OK with snakes. I have a 6' Coachwhip snake living under my house and a few Black Racers in the yard. I had a Coral Snake come in the front door one day, but we swept it back out with a broom. It was never aggressive, but not the kind of thing you want in the house.

Unfortunately we have something much more dangerous than snakes in our yard. - - - An animal that kills more humans per year than any other animal, including other humans - - - The most deadly animal on earth - - - The one that should strike the most fear in our hearts - - - An animal that seeks you out as prey by the carbon dioxide you exhale - - - the mosquito.

You've got a higher risk of dying from a mosquito bite than a snake or even a terrorist.

That puts things in perspective for me.

Bob

Oh, yeah. Florida. Home of the growing Burmese Python population. Any of those in your backyard? Yes, mosquitoes can be deadly. I wonder what their function is in the planetary ecology? Reducing the human population could be one of them.

I'm also Type O. O neg in fact, which is the universal donor type. I try to do my duty at the Community Blood center.

I'm not especially nervous about snakes, but some family members are. When we go to the wilderness (more or less) in Canada, I try to discourage the killing of the harmless snakes we encounter there. But for some people, being surprised by a snake causes quite a panic.

Carry on!

No invasive pythons that I've seen here, but I've seen too many of them when I go out to the Everglades.

They are actually beautiful beasts.

Coyotes have migrated here, and the rabbit population has suffered. I used to have them in my yard quite often, haven't seen one in years.

On the reefs we have invasive Lionfish from the Pacific with no predators displacing a lot of the native fish.

I think both should be considered a delicacy. We humans have a habit of maning things good to eat extinct.

I'm just a couple of miles north of the Green Iguana invasion, but with climate change I suspect it will be a year or two before they get close. Their diet is mostly plants but includes bird eggs, which is not good for the local population that evolved without iguanas.

The Caribbean immigrants that live here eat the Iguanas, and call then "Chicken of the Trees" but not enough to keep their numbers down. The general population hasn't warmed up to them on their plate.

We have little Philippine and Mediterranean Geckos here that help keep the insect population in control.

I planted a lot of citronella grass and lemon grass near the entries to my house, and I rarely get a mosquito inside. Unfortunately for those 'up north' neither of these plants can be grown much north of me because a frost will kill them.

I live between a 2 mile wide brackish lagoon and a protected wetlands, so I'm lucky enough to get a lot of wildlife on my little half acre in paradise.

I donate some of my O+ blood a couple of times a year. It just feels like the right thing to do.

I have been IF for as long as i can remember. It's what has always felt natural.

I'm jealous :D

I do IF and never get over being hungry. But I lost an additional 10 pounds and now have a normal BMI so I do it anyway.

Bob

Back at the forum after a regrettable absence, I'm surfing threads that look interesting. It's always amusing to happen upon myself in them, giving opinions and advice I should have heeded! :lol:

The newest thing here upon my return, is "higher protein"--discussed in other threads. As an older person (75 this month) it's probably something I'll be looking at.

Meanwhile, two effective measures six weeks in:
--Zero alcohol (always my worst temptation)
--lower fat (as in 0 fat Greek yogurt, no cream, moderate butter and oil)
--more water (I've discovered "essenced" soda water until somebody tells me it's deadly!)

As ever, it's a bit discouraging when the BMI charts put me at "obese" when I look like a perfectly "normal" person in the mirror. I think in most weight management discussions, too little attention is paid to where the fat is located, in addition to how much of it there is. I've always appreciated Gary Taubes's realistic discussion of this.

And whatever happened to Gary Taubes? I'll have to find out the latest.

Best wishes everyone.

Gary Taubes newest book was published last December. Case for Keto.
https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthr...11&page=1&pp=15

He is a frequent guest on podcasts and all the other virtual conferences that took place in the past 18 months.

Thanks, Janet. It didn't take long to find him online. :lol:

I found a conversation with Stephen Guyenet which was a follow-up to an earlier podcast where he engaged in a debate with Taubes about their differing theories of "why we get fat." My essential interest is: How we get thin! :lol:

Taubes (post Atkins) has been a great encourager for me. I may have to get his new book just for an update.

For those that do keto, why do you prefer it over 1972 Atkins (which allows for veggies)?

Where did you get the notion that keto doesn't allow veggies?

Maybe I've been misinformed. When my friends daughter was put on keto for her seizures, she was only allowed fats and proteins. Is that incorrect?

Upon further reading, it seems that keto is basically the same as Atkins induction. Fats and protein liberally, carbs under 20g/day.

Is that correct?

"Internet" keto can be whatever you want it to be. 20g total carbs (3 cups veggie), 20g net carbs (which gives you more veggies), carnivore, whatever. Why it’s popularity is waning, people try it and think they need to add buttered coffee, or purchased fatty shakes.

Therapeutic keto used originally for epilepsy and now some other disorders has an exact formula, the strictest of the five ketogenic definitions here: https://charliefoundation.org/

After listening to Dr. Bret Scher's podcast interview with Gary Taubes at DietDoctor, I could not resist ordering the latest book. Amazon had a special: the hardcover was only a dollar more than the Kindle version.

One of the points Taubes makes: He wanted to title his book something like "In Favor of Fad Diets." His publishers nixed that, for good reason. However, Taubes's thought was: there are thousands of "fad" diets, and many of them actually work. Atkins. Keto. IF. etc.

As many of us at LowCarb have discovered, dialing in on the sustainable WOE (way of eating) that works for YOU is a lifetime endeavor. HERE is one of the places I find sensible advice, intelligent resources, and inspiring stories. I could kick myself in the backside for backsliding!

To get back to the original thread title/question about IF....

This thread was revived in Sept 2021. Starting in August 2020, I have based my fasting schedule on my own Blood Glucose readings. How that is done, how I can eat twice a day about 6-8 hours apart and still lose more weight than I ever have on low carb...

Jump to: https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=484792
And post #295 for my one year summary.

Yes. And I'm healthier for it. 75, no prescriptions, no meds, and according to a heart doctor, a circulatory system of a healthy 50 year old. Plus the only time I get sick is a mild, 2-day cold every 15 years or so.

I lost 60 pounds and have kept it off since I went on Atkins Induction. I never graduated to maintenance, so it was keto before it was called keto.

Fewer than 20 carbs and 1800 calories per day, and twice as much fat as protein. Most of my carbs come from nuts and seeds.

I have no idea if that works for everybody, but it works for me.

Bob