UKC

thought i would give a final result from my IF experiment

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=526177&v=1#x7082560

dropped about 11lb over 10 weeks which i am confident was fat rather than muscle, waist has dropped from 34" to 30 although most other measurements have dropped by only very small amounts. other than the first 2 weeks i found it very easy to stick to eating like this and cravings were non existent except with green. as an off season way of dropping BF i think this is very good and would probably even try it again at the start of my sports season if needed

In reply to lost1977:

Thanks for posting. Good work, and great to hear another success story of IF.

I found it difficult to time it right so I had enough energy to do some fitness in the morning. But I often skip breakfast if I feel I can or bunch meals together to go 16 hrs without eating. I don't think the hard and fast routine works for me.

In reply to Daniel Heath:

cardio i can do fasted really easily but heavy weights i need to do in a non fasted state. as long the feed window is in the right place everything is easy (i actually adjusted my timing switching from a 2pm-10pm window to 12.30pm-8.30pm)

Can you drink anything other than water outside your fasting window? Did you have 2 meals or 3 in your 8 hour window.

In reply to lost1977:

And after all that, today we find out that slightly overweight people live longer...

In reply to Philip:

during the time when i am fasting i would generally only drink water (with BCAA added if training when fasted) although a couple of cups of coffee are ok just watch the milk and sugar.

during the 8hr feed window i was eating 3 proper meals +grazing in between (certainly didnt starve myself)

In reply to marsbar:

even with the weight loss and with a 30" waist i am still very close to being overweight

In reply to lost1977: Good effort. I guess the proof of the pudding will be whether you keep it off. I would also be interested to know that if you were to try and loose say 3 stone, whether you could keep the weight loss momentum up. Certainly one of my colleagues who did Weight Watchers or something this time last year made huge gains initially followed by yo yoing. He is down on last year, but not by a huge amount.

In reply to EeeByGum:

if i was going to try and lose something like 3 stone i would still use intermittent fasting but a slightly different method, i used a 16hr fast to 8hr feed which i think is great for people who are physically active and dont want to risk performance loss, for bigger weight loss then the 5:2 method would be better

In reply to lost1977:

actually the real achievement is if i manage to get my weight to increase now without an increase in body fat

In reply to lost1977:

dang right. only thing harder than losing weight is putting good weight on.

glad to hear of your successes. keep it up.

In reply to lost1977: I'm just starting the 5:2 regime, literally, today is my first day. My tummy is grumbling like mad but I guess you get used to that. I'm not really looking to lose a lot of weight 1kg maximum. I'm doing it more for the other recorded health benefits.

But if anyone is interested I'll post what weight loss I achieve after 10 weeks to give a comparison to lost1977's

In reply to lost1977:
Out of interest, how tall are you and what are your lifts?

In reply to lost1977:

We've started IF this week; wife's on 16:8 hours fasting to feeding per day, I'm trying 5:2 feeding to fasting days per week, tomorrow is my second fast day which will hopefully be easier than the first fast day since I wasnt back at work for then.

Wife's doing well on her's, so far. We're keeping a weekly track of various indicators and hopefully should see improvements over the coming weeks.

I think our aim is to keep this going long term as we're both as interested in the longevity improvements as much as toning up and shedding fat,

In reply to lost1977:


I'm surprised that this is considered fasting, it's just missing breakfast, something I do anyway (and something I'm always told is the wrong thing to do as "you need a good breakfast to kick start your metabolism" or something)

In reply to Tyler:

That's probably what makes it so appealing. It's easy to miss breakfast, especially if you are busy.

In reply to nw:

about 5'9

at the moment by lifts are
dead lift 220kg
squat 190kg
strict over head press 95kg
bench 120kg

In reply to Tyler:

results speak for themselves, actually quite a few things that people have taken as truth for years are really just bull (do you really think your metabolism slows down that much that it needs a kick start in the morning)

In reply to lost1977: tell me more about feed windows ? I did 5 : 2 for about 8 weeks strictly , in sept oct nov last year and lost about 8 kg which was Much needed . I did 2 consecutive days (Monday Tuesday ) 600 / 650 cal and found the end of the second day really difficult even after several weeks . I tried splitting the days to mon thur but lost motivation after a couple of weeks ( lots of other factors involved ) . Any way I want to start again next week so I m intrested In how you and others managed your week . I found that having something good to watch on tv ( wire box set ) on the second evening really helped take my mind off the hunger .

In reply to lost1977:


It never made sense to me and anecdotally it didn't seem to cause a problem. However, I'm equally sceptical that by delaying eating a bit you can lose weight unless it indirectly leads you to reduce the amount you actually eat in a 24 hour period?

In reply to Tyler:

Yes I can see how 5:2 works because you actually eat about 3000 calories fewer per week as well as using the metabolic effects of fasting. The Lean Gains approach seems to be more marginal yet people swear by its effectiveness. Its just so bloody complicated all this losing weight stuff!

In reply to Tyler:

it works in 2 ways, firstly it does make it harder to consume as many calories but also the longer period of not eating gives your body a break from insulin spikes. the benefit from this is it means your body can actually use body fat as fuel but at the same time it doesnt compromise carb usage

In reply to lost1977:

So it seems I've been doing something correct without realising, presumably if I did suddenly take up eating breakfast I'd balloon! Strangely on the odd occassion I do have breakfast I don't feel any less hngry come lunch time.

Are the benefits linear? What's the minimum amount of time for a fast to have any affect and is there a window that's too long?

In reply to lost1977:


Surely this is the sort of weight loss you would expect from a conventional non fad diet routine in any case (e.g weight watchers)?

In reply to GrahamD:

but i haven't counted calories or restricted what i eat at all simply the times, my energy levels have been a lot more stable and i actually feel pretty damn good

In reply to lost1977: have you eliminated any foods in your diet?

In reply to subalpine:

nothing has been eliminated which is one thing which makes it so easy to stick to, one thing i did notice was that things like chocolate which i love i simply didnt crave at all (hardly ate any which is unheard of).

In reply to EeeByGum:

Unfortunate choice of words thats rubbing salt in wounds.