I need advice about intermittent fasting

[meleana]

My big issue is that in the morning I like to have hot tea and I cannot have it without putting something in my stomach. I also like my grapefruit juice- gives me a rush to wake up.

[ER Eddie]

I've reduced my weight and BMI into the healthy zones, and my weight seems to be plateauing, at least for the time being. I'm not going to stress about losing more weight. Watching the numbers go down on the scale was rewarding, but I can get too preoccupied with that sometimes. I know I'm gaining muscle mass, and that's more important than losing weight. As long as I'm the healthy weight range, I'm good. I haven't been there for decades, lol.

I know there are other benefits to fasting (autophagy), but weight loss isn't a strong motive for fasting, at least for me. I'm happy with my plateau weight. I'm tired of buying new pants.

[haha]

I started 2 weeks ago, aiming to spend about 16 hours or more not eating each day. At first it was quite hard, but maybe I wasn't really hungry, just used to eating at certain times. Anyway, with some effort but no real difficulty, I have lost a belt notch (1"). I'll learn more about any health changes when I see my Doc for annual physical.

Members observations have been very helpful.

Ha

[ugeauxgirl]

Awesome! Glad to hear its working for you. For the first week or so I felt like I "Should" be eating in the morning, but then I realized I was just missing routine. And it was weird watching my husband eat, and not eating with him. But after I (and he) got used to that, it was fine. Sometimes I sit and drink coffee with him when he eats and sometimes, I use those extra few minutes getting the kids off to school or whatever. Let us know how your physical goes!

[TrophyWife]

Just started a few weeks ago-so much easier than I expected.

[Safe Harbour]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAE I have read about Nocotinamide Riboside, and have been curious about it. Can you tell me what benefits you have noticed from it, and also whether you experienced any unwanted side effects? It seems to be safe, from everything I've read about it, as it is produced in the body anyway, but maybe not in sufficient quantities as we age. At any rate, I would be interested in your experience with taking it, and how much you take, etc..Thanks.

I did not see any benefit from taking NR for 6 months and developed side effects. Actual side effects (pain in my side). I think my liver could not metabolize all the NR and started to have troubles, this is a reported side effect. When I quit my troubles went away. I tried to restart at 1/2 the previous dose and was immediatly struck by the same stool problems and internal side pain. I have since read about the metabolism of the NAD+ cycle and see humans have a limited ability to convert NR. Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) is supposably closer to NAD+ in the metabolic pathway and after the difficult step. I haven't tried this, but if I was to try again or even for the first time, I would go here instead. By the way I am a retired (35 years) drug developement (largest pharmaceutical firm in the world) biochemist with no ties to any of these products.

[nativenewenglander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha I have read that fasting can really improve one's metabolic health. I cannot remember but I think that there are fasters on our board. My metabolic issue is blood sugar that while not diabetic, is higher than normal, (A1C's from 5.2 to 5.5.) I would like to break below the 5 % level. I have a really strong dose of diabetic tilting genes. My Dad had diabetes but did manage to live almost 50 years with it, into his late 80s. My sister and all brothers have it, yet are doing well, I think mainly with low carb discipline that they started after they had been diagnosed. I watched a Youtube video by an Aussie pathologist named Ken Sikaris M.D. I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in DM. He presented a lot of unexpected and non-intuitive findings that suggest for long term well being, it is really worth the effort to push those A1C readings down, even if they do not seem particularly bad. He thinks A1C is the gold standard diabetes test, as it essentially integrates blood sugar exposure over time by measuring glycosylation of the rbc (s), which measures average blood sugar over a period of 2-3 months. Fasting would help me, but wow, fasting seems almost overwhelming. I am pretty sure I could walk 10 miles/day 6 days/week in the rain carrying a pack more comfortably than I could get by on one meal/day. Yet supposedly that one meal per day will do more for blood sugar than heavy exercise. My BMI is 22.5. Ha

I found this site very helpful with my LCHF diet. The fasting part grew out of the diet as eventually once my weight was down I wasn't hungry. That's when I found out about fasting and it's benefits.
There's lots of great information on this site. https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting
I'm amazed as 50+ year old, 190 lb guy how little I actually need to eat.

[walkinwood]

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/interm...t-doctor-says/


- better to eat at regular times each day. Irregularity in eating schedules are bad. So eat every day at the same times (3 meals) and don't snack in between. If that means you fast for 8-10 hours a day, great.

- total calories matter
- Lots of things make you feel better in the short-term but have bad long-term effects.

[Chuckanut]

I could not fast all do or even limit myself to one big meal a day. But, I can do the 12 hour fast, which some studies have found gets a much of the benefit for a relatively low effort. We each have to do what is sustainable.

[WWDog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Safe Harbour I did not see any benefit from taking NR for 6 months and developed side effects. Actual side effects (pain in my side). I think my liver could not metabolize all the NR and started to have troubles, this is a reported side effect. When I quit my troubles went away. I tried to restart at 1/2 the previous dose and was immediatly struck by the same stool problems and internal side pain. I have since read about the metabolism of the NAD+ cycle and see humans have a limited ability to convert NR. Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) is supposably closer to NAD+ in the metabolic pathway and after the difficult step. I haven't tried this, but if I was to try again or even for the first time, I would go here instead. By the way I am a retired (35 years) drug developement (largest pharmaceutical firm in the world) biochemist with no ties to any of these products.

My experience was a lot of energy starting on day three. I also take CoQ-10 and B complex. I cycle off of NR for a week after 30 days using. I did get some pain in my side but not severe which goes away when I become active. The stuff is not cheap.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I could not fast all do or even limit myself to one big meal a day. But, I can do the 12 hour fast, which some studies have found gets a much of the benefit for a relatively low effort. We each have to do what is sustainable.

One of my issues with a limited eating schedule is that am pretty active, so if I am only eating twice a day with no snacks I really have to pack in some prodigious amount of food at the mealtimes. And I don’t like that stuffed feeling!
Ha

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha One of my issues with a limited eating schedule is that am pretty active, so if I am only eating twice a day with no snacks I really have to pack in some prodigious amount of food at the mealtimes. And I don’t like that stuffed feeling! Ha

You can eat as often as you want within a allotted time window. That's all that intermittent fasting is about. So say you have a window 10AM to 6PM which would then be a 16 hour fast from 6PM to 10AM the next day. Well, you could fit three meals plus even snacks in those 6 hours from 10AM to 6PM, or two main meals and a snack or two, whatever.

[socca]

I encountered the definition of intermittent fasting the other day. One of the variants - time restricted feeding - is what I've been practicing since 2007. My version has a major meal around 11 am and then an optional light snack around 5 pm (I call this the 1 to 1.5 meals-a-day plan).

I giggled when I saw the definition because from my perspective anyone eating more often than 1.5 times a day is engaged in intermittent gluttony. I rarely get hungry, have had a BMI of 19 since 2004 with little fluctuation in weight, and enjoy excellent physical health (am taking zero meds) - YMMV.

[Potstickers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkinwood https://www.cbsnews.com/video/interm...t-doctor-says/ - better to eat at regular times each day. Irregularity in eating schedules are bad. So eat every day at the same times (3 meals) and don't snack in between. If that means you fast for 8-10 hours a day, great. - total calories matter - Lots of things make you feel better in the short-term but have bad long-term effects.

That's kind of amusing. The CBS program feartures Dr. David Agus, a professor at USC who is a cancer specialist. Meanwhile, Professor Valter Longo, director of USC's Longevity Institute, has a whole program built around fasting or fasting-mimicking diets. Maybe they should have lunch and chat?

On the regular meals leading to better outcomes -- I read one of the referenced studies: it compared a "regular" pattern of 6 meals a day at designated times to a pattern of 3-9 meals a day at varying times. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27305952 9 meals a day? 6 meals a day? Ummm...yeah, not quite what I had in mind.

I watched my Hb1AC drop materially when I went to 2 meals/day. N=1, but

[audreyh1]

I simply don’t believe that eating at regular times each day is critical for health. Humans did not evolve that way.

[robnplunder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I simply don’t believe that eating at regular times each day is critical for health. Humans did not evolve that way.

+1. Even my intermittent time interval isn't regular these days. I just try to get at least 12 hours of not eating anything. But I must admit that is just a guideline to me these days. Still, I the intermittent fasting has been working for more than a year now.

[footenote]

+1 more IF fan.

Agree with audreyh1: our ancestors did not enjoy three squares plus snacks. We evolved "fasting."

[meleana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca I encountered the definition of intermittent fasting the other day. One of the variants - time restricted feeding - is what I've been practicing since 2007. My version has a major meal around 11 am and then an optional light snack around 5 pm (I call this the 1 to 1.5 meals-a-day plan). I giggled when I saw the definition because from my perspective anyone eating more often than 1.5 times a day is engaged in intermittent gluttony. I rarely get hungry, have had a BMI of 19 since 2004 with little fluctuation in weight, and enjoy excellent physical health (am taking zero meds) - YMMV.

So when do you cook this big meal? In the morning when you wake up?



May I ask exactly what you eat for that meal and snack later in the day?



Doesn't that kind of interfere with things to do and places to go- eating a dinner at 11am- practically in the middle of the day?



How do you handle social situations? I mean- someone invites you for dinner or you want to go out for dinner with friends- do you not eat then? I mean- most people have dinner in the early evening (or even late evening). What about going out for lunch?


People who are not yet retired- it would be almost impossible to have dinner at 11am or even 12pm, with a half hour allotted for lunch time.


Just doesn't seem practical.


I eat an early breakfast- 1/4 cup oatmeal and blueberries at 7am with grapefruit juice and black tea. Sometimes I change it up with an omlette and toast.


I have Greek low fat yogurt at like 11:30 am and sometimes I might eat a salad for lunch or not and dinner at like 4pm. No snacking or anything at night except plain green tea and water. I exercise 5 days per week and am still fat as ever and gaining rapidly. And I am always hungry no matter what.

[ProspectiveBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meleana I exercise 5 days per week and am still fat as ever and gaining rapidly. And I am always hungry no matter what.

I can empathize, this is a very frustrating situation to be in. For me, the only thing that works for weight loss is following a ketogenic diet. Combined with IF, I can consistently drop weight, and because a keto diet has plenty of fat (from avocados, etc), I’m rarely hungry. It’s almost magical how this diet turns off food cravings. DW and our kids have all kinds of junk food in the house, and it’s very easy for me to abstain. This was not at all the case when I tried simple calorie restriction diets.

It’s worth trying for a month if you’re not having luck with other approaches. IF and keto work very well together, but you could start with keto, and then slowly phase into time-restricted eating as you adapt.

[haha]

I think a lot depends on genetics. I have never been more than 5# above my "ïdeal weight", nevertheless for maybe 40 years I have had to be quite attentive to staying very low carb eating or I think I would have frank diabetes.

I think it is likely if I hadn't eaten lots of sugar as a child things would be easier. I feel fairly certain that as long as I stay very strict low carb- not just no sugar, but very low on all types of carbs- I will not start to run diabetic blood sugars at this point in my life.

I also think that it is highly likely that many of us would be much better off if we had never tasted sugar.

Ha