The official diet and nutrition thread

[Lost Student]

This fasting stuff is crazy to me.

What's especially crazy is how easy it is to go three days without eating. I never would have thought it possible, but I don't really notice the hunger at this point.

Dr. Fung makes the point that the hunger signals don't get any stronger after the initial onset. I've found it to be true. I don't feel any hungrier now than I did two days ago. Actually, now that I think about it, I was a lot hungrier 24 hours in than 72.

[BigPiney]

What's especially crazy is how easy it is to go three days without eating. I never would have thought it possible, but I don't really notice the hunger at this point.

Dr. Fung makes the point that the hunger signals don't get any stronger after the initial onset. I've found it to be true. I don't feel any hungrier now than I did two days ago. Actually, now that I think about it, I was a lot hungrier 24 hours in than 72.

It is because you are dying.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I have been doing it for about 11 months now. For a long tome I did two 24-hr fasts per week. Now I do the 16-8 thing 5 days per week. Easy peasy. Keeping my weight off and I feel great.

[Pelado]

When I read this I thought a 96 hour fast is looney but then my wife bought one of Dr. Fung's books and I'm convinced that extended fasting can be beneficial. Fung claims that benefits of an extended fast include (in addition to even lower insulin levels, weight loss, and autophagy) increased adrenalin and HGH levels.

I had been doing intermittent fasting for the last month (18-20 hours between dinners) about four days/ week. I only experienced a little weight loss, probably due to the fact that I would pig out during my feeding periods. I was eating a ton of junk food and justifying it by the fast I completed that day.

So Sunday night, when I normally would have broken my religious fast, I switched from a dry fast to a water fast. That's all I've ingested since, plus a quarter tsp of salt. I'm closing in on 72 hours and I feel surprisingly not hungry. I'm going to go two more days, for a grand total of 120 hours. In theory, I should lose about three pounds of fat. So far, my weight is way down (about 6-8 lbs.) but a lot of that is water.

After I break my fast, I'll return and report.

I wouldn't have thought you had 6 pounds to spare.

[smokymountainrain]

I have been doing it for about 11 months now. For a long tome I did two 24-hr fasts per week. Now I do the 16-8 thing 5 days per week. Easy peasy. Keeping my weight off and I feel great.

I do the same. 4 years now. Technically it's more like a 20-4 thing for me, but it's easy for me to do and it works well provided i'm fairly disciplined (which hasn't always been the case) during the stretch i eat and on the weekends.

Can't imagine fasting for 96 to 120 hours.

[SCcoug]

I do the same. 4 years now. Technically it's more like a 20-4 thing for me, but it's easy for me to do and it works well provided i'm fairly disciplined (which hasn't always been the case) during the stretch i eat and on the weekends.

Can't imagine fasting for 96 to 120 hours.

For me once I get past 24-36 I feel fine. I've found longer fasts help me get off of a plateau if I'm stuck.

[Bo Diddley]

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[Lost Student]

I wouldn't have thought you had 6 pounds to spare.

I've got that and then some!

[smokymountainrain]

For me once I get past 24-36 I feel fine. I've found longer fasts help me get off of a plateau if I'm stuck.

i really should try it sometime - that is consistent with what lost student is saying as well.

[chrisrenrut]

For those doing long fasts, I’m curious what your activity level is during the fasts? Do you have to take it easy?

I’m doing some kind of activity 5-6 times a week, like biking, running, playing basketball, or walking 18 holes. I worry that extended fasts would disrupt my activities. I would be afraid of not having the energy to start, or crashing hard in the middle of a bike ride or other activity.

[Bo Diddley]

For those doing long fasts, I’m curious what your activity level is during the fasts? Do you have to take it easy?

I’m doing some kind of activity 5-6 times a week, like biking, running, playing basketball, or walking 18 holes. I worry that extended fasts would disrupt my activities. I would be afraid of not having the energy to start, or crashing hard in the middle of a bike ride or other activity.

This.

I'm open to the idea that it's a good idea to give your body an extended break, but I'm afraid the body will start to consume my muscles without food. And maybe that's beneficial in some way too.

[SCcoug]

IANAD but it doesn't make sense to me our bodies would evolve this incredible energy storage mechanism called fat and then ignore it when you fast for a few days in favor of muscle.

edit:

The dude's favorite nutritional guru Dr Fung agrees

https://idmprogram.com/fasting-and-m...sting-part-14/

[chrisrenrut]

IANAD but it doesn't make sense to me our bodies would evolve this incredible energy storage mechanism called fat and then ignore it when you fast for a few days in favor of muscle.

edit:

The dude's favorite nutritional guru Dr Fung agrees

https://idmprogram.com/fasting-and-m...sting-part-14/

Fat is an energy store, but it is not the most efficient to convert to energy. I get that fasting is about getting our bodies to burn through glycogen stores so it will start burning fat. I’m asking from those who have experienced it, do your bodies get better at burning fat as an energy source? Can you do a 20 mile bike commute with the same amount of energy on day 3 of the fast as day 1? Having not done it, I fear that i would not. But I’m open to the possibility that I could.

[Pelado]

Fat is an energy store, but it is not the most efficient to convert to energy. I get that fasting is about getting our bodies to burn through glycogen stores so it will start burning fat. I’m asking from those who have experienced it, do your bodies get better at burning fat as an energy source? Can you do a 20 mile bike commute with the same amount of energy on day 3 of the fast as day 1? Having not done it, I fear that i would not. But I’m open to the possibility that I could.

Some seem to think fasting and exercise can mix:

https://idmprogram.com/fasting-and-e...s-combination/

[creekster]

For those doing long fasts, I’m curious what your activity level is during the fasts? Do you have to take it easy?

I’m doing some kind of activity 5-6 times a week, like biking, running, playing basketball, or walking 18 holes. I worry that extended fasts would disrupt my activities. I would be afraid of not having the energy to start, or crashing hard in the middle of a bike ride or other activity.

Some years back I did the no carb thing for a long time. I found that once the glycogen was gone I was ok for very slow repetitive actions (like a low speed long distance bike ride) but I lacked any sort of ability for speed, acceleration or abrupt quickness, meaning no sprints, no getting out of the saddle, etc. I also had no ability to lift much weight. That said, it didn't really bother me on my commute, which was only about 7 miles each way back then, as long as I didn't push the speed to much. I observed this after about two or three weeks of almost zero carbs, so YMMV on a fast.