I've always been a fan of fasting. It always just made sense to me that human beings would be adapted for periods without food. Our ancestors did not have refrigerators, convenience stores, or pizza delivery. When they were hunter-gatherers, there had to be days when the hunt failed, and the body had to be prepared for it. To back up that theory, there are countless health benefits associated with the fasting practices, and I encourage everyone to look up and do their own research on the topic (or check the summary here from @jfitmisc).
BEFORE
Before this experiment, my primary fasting schedule was to do a 24-36 hour fast about once a month. I used it as a way to slow down and reset at the beginning of every month. I typically ate my last meal on Saturday night, and didn't consume any calories until Monday morning. I would drink water and tea during the fast. I've been maintaining this kind of schedule pretty consistently for over six years now. Overall, I always enjoyed the increase in energy and mental clarity that followed on Monday morning. I always felt re-focused and refreshed at the end of the fasting period.
DURING
So, a few weeks ago, I decided to try to adapt to a more consistent fasting schedule. I realized I had skipped a few months of fasting, I was snacking a little more more than usual, was more sedentary than I liked, and I wanted to make a change. In order to enforce that change, I decided to try an intermittent fasting schedule.
Now, there are many types of intermittent fasting out there. There are hourly restrictions like 16/8 - 16 hours fasted, 8 hours of feeding. And there are programs with even more strict feeding windows like 19/5 or 20/4. There are also on-off fasting programs like 5/2 which allow full feeding 5 days of the week, and reduced or no feeding two days of the week. Ultimately, I choose a 16/8 program, although I was quite strict with myself early on to keep the feeding window reduced whenever possible. The longer you are in a fasted state, the more your body needs to draw its energy from internal stores.
Week 1
As you can see, I started rather strong and kept my feeding window much smaller than 8 hours. It was rather easy to not eat during work and during travel periods. No one needs those little airplane peanuts, anyway. However, I did relax my eating window when it was socially beneficial. For example, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when my coworkers wanted lunch, or my friends wanted brunch, I went along for the meal. At those points, I was following a normal 16/8 IF schedule.
Concerns
Now one thing I noticed when starting the program, is that I would tend to drink too much water. I used my initial waves of hunger to drive me to drink. I'm relatively certain that this caused me to generally drink too much, and that caused some issues with a digestive system that was more empty than usual. High fluid intake can cause some unintended consequences. Overall, I learned to adjust for this, but it was a new experience compared to my normal 24-36 hour fasts.
Week 3
I got a more consistent schedule going by Week 3, and one that relaxed on the weekends when necessary. I was definitely feeling the general benefits of running an IF program - more consistent energy and better mood. I was not bogged down by eating, or getting the food-coma after a lunch anymore. Another side effect was that I lost my cravings for overly sweet snacks during the day. It became much easier to walk right past the M&Ms and the cookies and go straight for a piece of fruit or something more nutritionally dense.
Also, there were a few days where I was able to pull off just a single meal for the entire day. That provided a very pleasant side effect of an utterly delicious meal. I was much more aware of the pleasure of the food. I was able to savor the salt, crunch and flavor of the food to a much larger degree. In many ways, it felt like the way food was supposed to be enjoyed, compared to drowning out a meal with lots of little snacks and other intake. (It also likely helped that I had smoked a small brisket for 5 hours, and it was amazing.) Even outside of a single meal, you'll be both more aware and more appreciative of food when you finally break your fast.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I will likely keep up IF during the month of June, and see what differences I can notice over the long run. There are definitely short- and mid-term benefits among them being the more consistent energy profile, more mental clarity, and general increased enjoyment from food. I like the way one IF-proponent put it, "I don't intermittent fast, I intermittent feast." So, maybe I'll give another update on how things are going there, and include more vanity metrics like weight or fat loss, but until then, here's to some good eating.
TRACKING
Oh, you may have noticed that I actually posted my calendar and rough meal schedule. I'm a big proponent that you cannot change what you do not track. So, if you want to run a fun experiment in your life, you need to write it down and iterate on it. Nothing will ever be perfect, but it is much easier to fall away completely from an experiment you don't even write down. So, definitely track your activities and goals, and you'll see them come to fruition much more often.
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Well written. I’ve just begun IF as well am enjoying the benefits of clarity. Thanks for sharing this with the community. Achieving good health is always a plus. When people are healthier with clear minds, we can be happier. With each person a bit happier each day and with more energy, just think of the joyous world we can create around us :)
Glad you enjoyed. Did you have any trouble explaining your new strategy to others? I've found it interesting how people react when I tell them. It just goes against the narrative they've been led to believe.
The common response is ‘why’? But I think the explanation of ‘clarity of mind and body’ seems to ease their questions a tad
Our health is our investment in life. Caring for it is like caring for your future. Thank u for sharing.
I'm glad you enjoyed.
Its too common to follow the modern narrative of eating 3 meals a day, or breakfast being the most important meal of the day. Fascinating how companies push ideas that just get you to eat more and pay them more money. Between those ideas and processed sugar, it is no wonder America has health issues.
Good write up!it's good to fast and it has some benefit in our body,the world are in the period of the holy month(Ramadan),if you are able to fast in this holy month,you will surely get rewarded from the almighty and you are also helping your body as well
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fasting is a wonderful thing. it makes you realize how much you miss about eating normally. i have found it useful to fast once a month or twice a month instead of regulating myself everyday.
the everyday regulation does not sit well with a sedentary lifestyle. if you are on the move for 14 hours a day then it makes great sense and the body adjusts automatically by expecting less.
your statistics prove that the digestive system needs periodic rest like the remaining parts of the body. all the best and hope it improves your life dramatically
Thanks for your comment. Yea, I think lifestyle has a great influence on what kind of diet and eating strategy is best for an individual. Most of my day is spent at a desk, which makes it easy to have a 16/8 eating pattern.