Intermittent Fasting, Yes it Works

[tmm99]

I think you mean grazer, someone who eats a little, but often. That's what the medical profession told me to be, to control my Type II diabetes. But from what I've experienced, as wee as what I've learned from Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Peter Attia, and others, this is the exact opposite of what you should do. Allowing your body to have a significant period of time (16 or so hours in my case) lets the body processes that are supposed to occur happen. Grazing stops them. I'm not sure how any of this would affect temperature, but my A1c dropped from 5.9-6.2 to 5.2 after just a few months of IF. I highly recommend it. Not so much for weight loss, that's more an effect of LCHF, but as a way to allow your body to complete it's natural cycles, which should overall improve your health.

LOL, yeah, grazing, like a cow (Lice, rice...) Your numbers are very encouraging. How many hours of IF have you done for how often? Did you do LCHF at the same time? (If you've done LCHF at the same time, the lower A1c may be more due to the lower carb intake...Just my opinion...)

 

[harley]

LOL, yeah, grazing, like a cow (Lice, rice...) Your numbers are very encouraging. How many hours of IF have you done for how often? Did you do LCHF at the same time? (If you've done LCHF at the same time, the lower A1c may be more due to the lower carb intake...Just my opinion...)

I'm sure others would disagree with me, but I see IF and LCHF as two parts if the same thing. My A1c was in the high 5s/low 6s when I was taking insulin, now it's 5.2-ish without it. I'm not sure what value IF would have without reducing carbs. I know reducing carbs without IF will help you lose weight and lower blood sugar, but a lot of the health benefits don't come into play without IF. DW had started having Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease. Gone now. Both our triglyceride numbers are much better. I haven't got a good handle on the other lipid numbers yet, but that will come with time.

Oh yeah, I'm a bit over a year doing this. We do a 16/8 or sometimes an 18/6. Never done more than 24 hours, and even that was because I got busy and forgot to eat and didn't get hungry. We also have days we fall off the wagon, usually involving friends and family. Jason Fung says IF isn't a religion, and you should adapt your fasting to the vagaries of life. So when we eat a big Christmas dinner or get a very occasional ice cream cone with our grandkids, we just shrug it off and get back on track the next day. It's remarkably easy after you get the carb craving under control. 3 weeks or so for us.

DW started a few months before me. We've both stabilized weight-wise a few months ago. We both would like to lose another 10 lbs, but we're willing to let it take a year or two since our overall health is good and we're both feeling groovy.

 

[audreyh1]

I reversed any incipient metabolic syndrome I had and dropped triglycerides like a rock through carb restriction alone, and I’m pretty sure fatty liver would cure too. However, IF still has major health benefits.

 

[eroscott]

DW, who always ran hot, is now cold a lot. But we're attributing it to shedding 60 lbs of insulation more than to the IF. I'm doing IF too, and haven't had any temperature changes that are noticeable. I've lost 40 lbs, but don't have the temperature issue.

Has anybody experienced a very low body temp doing IF (due to slowing down of metabolism, I imagine, and I don't mind that as I'm not trying to lose weight.) Being hungry is tolerable, but I get so cold when I eat dinner too early or I don't eat for a long time. I imagine I could always bundle up, but it makes it hard to fall asleep. Time to get my electric blanket out!

Title: Do You Get Cold When Fasting? It Could be Fat Burning Happening!

 

[bmcgonig]

Title: Do You Get Cold When Fasting? It Could be Fat Burning Happening!

Interesting! Drink more coffee.

 

[Rustic23]

I did that once in survival training. I don't recommended it.

Hey, it worked for me, I sure lost weight! Of course stomping around in -18 degree weather for four days helped!

 

[Octogirl]

DH and I started IF in January - usually 16/8 after seeing great results for DD and reading content from Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Peter Attia, and others.

I sleep much better with IF - last food at 4:30 pm - no snaking at night. !!

I don't CR and sometimes have 4 oz of red wine

 

[eroscott]

Test to see if you are in a 'fat burning' or glucose burning state. Diabetics use strips to test this, however, they the first reading is often 5.0 so there are other options below.

Link 1: Amazon $6 Ketone Test Strips, 150 Urinalysis Keto Test Strips

Link 2: Amazon $60 KETO-MOJO Bluetooth Blood Ketone and Glucose Testing Kit

mmol/L is the most common measurement used in the UK with mg/dL predominantly used in the USA and continental Europe.

mmol/L International standard unit for measuring the concentration of glucose in the blood – also known as millimolar (mM). This unit is used in the UK. : Millimoles per litre

mg/dL Unit for measuring concentration of glucose in the blood in the USA – milligrams per decilitre. : Milligrams per 100 millilitres

 

[6miths]

I sleep much better with IF - last food at 4:30 pm - no snaking at night. !!

I had a joke (or a few) but I think that I will just let that one pass.

 

[COcheesehead]

3 week update.

I have lost 9 lbs. Prior to starting no one would have considered me fat, overweight or anything but pretty lean, yet somehow 9lbs are gone from my body. My stomach is flat and I can see more definition overall in my upper body.

Now for the bad parts. If I push it up to or past 18 hours, my first meal can upset my stomach. Still experimenting with what works. Eggs seem to work well. There have been a few days, especially after working out where I am starving by the time the 16 hour point rolls around. I may need to increase calories a bit.

I am going to continue it for a while yet. I don't want to get too skinny, just curious where this will go. Other than noted above I haven't seen any other benefits though my annual physical comes up in June. I will be curious to see what my blood numbers are.

 

[audreyh1]

If you are also very low carbing: at least 2 pounds in glycogen (including lots of water)maybe more. If you were retaining any water for other reasons, that’s gone too.

The rest must be fat, congrats! Probably a lot of it that dangerous visceral (surrounding organs) fat.

Interesting about your first meal experience - haven’t heard of that before.

 

[COcheesehead]

If you are also very low carbing: at least 2 pounds in glycogen (including lots of water)maybe more. If you were retaining any water for other reasons, that’s gone too.

The rest must be fat, congrats! Probably a lot of it that dangerous visceral (surrounding organs) fat.

Interesting about your first meal experience - haven’t heard of that before.

Thanks for the encouragement. The first meal thing I am working through. Soups seem to work as well.

 

[harley]

I am going to continue it for a while yet. I don't want to get too skinny, just curious where this will go.

What DW and I found is that we reached a good weight, and the weight loss stopped. Sadly that good weight is still a little higher than we were hoping for, but unless we do something impactful, this is probably where we'll stay. We just do LCHF/Keto, with a 16-20 hour fast daily, depending on our hunger level. If we did longer fasts, or added in a little calorie restriction we could probably lose a little more. But we're both healthy as we can be, numbers wise, so we're not going to push it right now.

I also haven't heard about the upset stomach issue after a fairly long fast. I suspect, as you said, you'll just need to figure out what works for you.

 

[COcheesehead]

What DW and I found is that we reached a good weight, and the weight loss stopped. Sadly that good weight is still a little higher than we were hoping for, but unless we do something impactful, this is probably where we'll stay. We just do LCHF/Keto, with a 16-20 hour fast daily, depending on our hunger level. If we did longer fasts, or added in a little calorie restriction we could probably lose a little more. But we're both healthy as we can be, numbers wise, so we're not going to push it right now.

I also haven't heard about the upset stomach issue after a fairly long fast. I suspect, as you said, you'll just need to figure out what works for you.

If my weight loss stopped here I'd would be happy with where I am. No sense carrying 9lbs around that I don't need.

 

[audreyh1]

Personally what I focused from my very low carb diet was bringing the triglycerides way down, and getting my fasting blood insulin below 7.5. That pretty much stopped insulin resistance. My A1C already heathy dropped. My HDL rose. I ended up with a triglycerides to HDL ratio of 1.0 which is fantastic. Anything under 2 is good.

Your doctor probably won’t measure fasting blood insulin, but see if you can get it measured. That’s the best blood metric for the insulin lowering effects of intermittent fasting, and shows whether you are free of insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome which underlies so many chronic western diseases.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

Hit 90 lbs lost this morning and had a doctors apt this afternoon - he was shocked and very pleased. Reviewed blood work and took me off my low dose statin so I am now medication free. He is having me do a carotid ultrasound just to make sure no plaque has built up. He has a lot of patients doing keto and fully supports it. Also very positive about my one meal a day intermittent fasting. Great to have a doctor supporting my new way of life.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow - that is terrific! Congratulations!

I’m so glad you are free of all that routine medication! I bet you are glad too!

 

[braumeister]

Hit 90 lbs lost this morning and had a doctors apt this afternoon - he was shocked and very pleased. Reviewed blood work and took me off my low dose statin so I am now medication free. He is having me do a carotid ultrasound just to make sure no plaque has built up. He has a lot of patients doing keto and fully supports it. Also very positive about my one meal a day intermittent fasting. Great to have a doctor supporting my new way of life.

Good for you! Your doc sounds like mine. When I first started seeing him a couple of years ago, he wanted to put me on a statin due to my high total cholesterol. He wasn't really familiar with the LCHF program, so I tried to educate him a little, showing him my low Trig and high HDL with a great ratio.

He was sort of receptive, and said if I let him run some tests to rule out other problems, he'd get off my case. So I did the carotid scan, the AAA scan, some extra blood tests (C-RP, MPO), and an ultrasound stress echocardiogram. Passed them all with flying colors, and he is now on my side. He says he really doesn't understand it, but I should just keep doing what I'm doing.

Eventually I hope to make a complete convert out of him, but I'll take what I've got now.

 

[COcheesehead]

Personally what I focused from my very low carb diet was bringing the triglycerides way down, and getting my fasting blood insulin below 7.5. That pretty much stopped insulin resistance. My A1C already heathy dropped. My HDL rose. I ended up with a triglycerides to HDL ratio of 1.0 which is fantastic. Anything under 2 is good.

Your doctor probably won’t measure fasting blood insulin, but see if you can get it measured. That’s the best blood metric for the insulin lowering effects of intermittent fasting, and shows whether you are free of insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome which underlies so many chronic western diseases.

I get fasting blood glucose tested, is that the same thing?

 

[audreyh1]

I get fasting blood glucose tested, is that the same thing?

No not at all.

Fasting glucose (blood sugar) is a standard test that unfortunately tells you very little unless it’s sky high - and that’s many years too late. Some people use it as a flag to test for other things such as the A1C which is a much better measure of high blood sugar/ diabetes and pre-diabetes.

But you want to know fasting blood insulin levels. That tells you of potential issues years before elevated fasting blood sugar (glucose) appears.

 

[braumeister]

But you want to know blood insulin levels. That tells you of potential issues years before elevated fasting blood sugar (glucose) appears.

I completely agree (no surprise there).
Use walkinlab.com or requestatest.com and just get it done yourself. No doctor need be involved. Should be no more than $30 or so. Ask specifically for a fasting insulin test.

 

[audreyh1]

I completely agree (no surprise there).
Use walkinlab.com or requestatest.com and just get it done yourself. No doctor need be involved. Should be no more than $30 or so. Ask specifically for a fasting insulin test.

And be sure to fast before the test, lol!

 

[street]

I'm at a steady weight now after 8 months of IF. I still eat about 2500 calories a day in a 6 hour period. The 15 pounds I lost are still off and could lose more with less calories and exercise but feel this is where I need to be.
My question is how many calories are you people consuming each day?

 

[harley]

No idea. That's not the point with IF or LCHF/Keto. We pretty much eat whatever we want within the guidelines for low carb foods, and the weight takes care of itself. Now that we've both settled at a good weight for us we're maintaining automatically. I do agree that in order to lose more we'd probably have to do some calorie restriction, but we eat plenty of good food as we are and don't have to watch calories to maintain.

 

[6miths]

Same, no idea. Just eating more like folks did before snacking and the low fat high sugar recommendations from the 70s.