about 9 months ago, i was curious about it and started at a 16:8 with my eating window between 11a and 7p. didn’t notice anything, but basically just didn’t do breakfast and never ate late. acid reflux stopped. about 6 months ago, i was watching some lecture from a cardiologist give a presentation on autophagy and metabolism and fasting as a healthcare maintenance strategy. it was biology heavy, but delivered in a fairly entertaining way. as a biology nerd who took some human nutrition, animal nutrition, and a whole lot of soil metabolic courses, it was right up my alley. metabolic pathways are complex and us multicellular warm bloods have a lot of adaptability to variable environments, compared to single cells who just sort of go dormant like a robot.
anyway, the lecture made me super curious about a 20:4 (eating window 11am - 3pm). i decided to try that for 1 day. i had this impression that fasting for 20 hours a day would make me all fucked up, cranky, jittery, or whatever. the big change really was confining myself to only tea and water outside of that window, which meant no more artificial sweeteners outside the window. so anyway, nothing weird happened. i was “bored” at dinner time, but decided to just focus on something else. since it went off so easily, i extended the plan to last 3 days. actually had improved energy after that.
i did a week, then 3 weeks. i couldn’t see any downsides. it also made me more conscious of my meal time to make sure to eat something balanced, not just some dumb crap to not be hungry. i decided that 2 days a week, i would optionally drop to the 16:8 schedule so i could be sociable at dinner time. i noticed that those extra meal days i was actually sluggish unless the second meal was super small and light. like a few vegetable dumplings or basically an appetizer. even during once a day regular meal, i could no longer pack it away. my capacity for big eating went way down, so i got full very easy and had that “sated” feel.
anyway, im roughly around 6-7 months on it. i have no scale and don’t weigh myself. all of my clothes are now kinda loose/big on me. i went in to the doc for my check-in. i’ve been on 3 different medications for blood pressure, one for cholesterol, and i take stuff with meals for controlling blood sugar / diabetes. that has been going on for literally several years, and generally my numbers have been OK but not great and my meds have only ever gone up. anyway, i dropped 15% of my body weight apparently in the last 6 months. and my lipid panels all came back optimal, my a1c came back as optimal/normal. my cholesterol is ideal. my BP is now too low like a little old lady, so we’re reducing my meds slowly and checking back in 3 months. i also feel like i have a ton of energy for shit and i am literally never hungry outside my window. i do get excited at meal time for the novely of eating and have found enjoyment in foods i used to not be excited by. like very spicy/acidic thai dishes that are like 80% vegetables by volume, pickled things. since i’m only eating once a day, i can be very intentional about it and i can spend a little extra dough on it if i want.
i gotta say it’s working out for me. there are absolutely people it probably won’t work for and some of those people think their situation is universal. they believe those of us having success with it are crazy nutjobs who don’t listen to our bodies, so they wipe their asses on our experiences. my primary care physician knows i am doing it and seems neutral about it in general, but very supportive of my results. wouldn’t it be crazy if the solution for many of those people succumbing to Metabolic Syndome X was to not force ourselves to metabolize something every 4 hours? like maybe we’re some subset of the population that are better adapted to eat less frequently and we shouldn’t let others bully us into conforming to their constant snacky snacky yum yum lifestyle because it’s literally killing us.
I think one of the things you’re striking on here is how IF can be really useful for people who eat excessive quantities and for people who engage in boredom-eating.
By fasting intermittently it sounds like you’ve changed your relationship to responding to hunger cues, to boredom, to the food you eat, and probably to how big a meal you need.
I think this is why IF is polarising - for some people, such as yourself, it’s the right kind of lifestyle intervention and just what they need. For others it doesn’t fit well at all. It’s a bit like when someone gets a dog or moves to New York and suddenly, 6 months later, they are so much healthier in an effortless sort of way that it seems amazing but it turns out that the change in their lifestyle was enough to tip the scales towards healthier behaviours. Sometimes people just need that external motivation to get out and walk every morning or to sprint to the train, to use the steps on the subway multiple times per day, and to carry their groceries home on foot every other day which is all they needed to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
metabolic pathways are complex
Lol, this is such a mood. As a person who took interest in psychopharmacology later in life, I really wish I paid attention in biology class in school.
about 9 months ago, i was curious about it and started at a 16:8 with my eating window between 11a and 7p. didn’t notice anything, but basically just didn’t do breakfast and never ate late. acid reflux stopped. about 6 months ago, i was watching some lecture from a cardiologist give a presentation on autophagy and metabolism and fasting as a healthcare maintenance strategy. it was biology heavy, but delivered in a fairly entertaining way. as a biology nerd who took some human nutrition, animal nutrition, and a whole lot of soil metabolic courses, it was right up my alley. metabolic pathways are complex and us multicellular warm bloods have a lot of adaptability to variable environments, compared to single cells who just sort of go dormant like a robot.
anyway, the lecture made me super curious about a 20:4 (eating window 11am - 3pm). i decided to try that for 1 day. i had this impression that fasting for 20 hours a day would make me all fucked up, cranky, jittery, or whatever. the big change really was confining myself to only tea and water outside of that window, which meant no more artificial sweeteners outside the window. so anyway, nothing weird happened. i was “bored” at dinner time, but decided to just focus on something else. since it went off so easily, i extended the plan to last 3 days. actually had improved energy after that.
i did a week, then 3 weeks. i couldn’t see any downsides. it also made me more conscious of my meal time to make sure to eat something balanced, not just some dumb crap to not be hungry. i decided that 2 days a week, i would optionally drop to the 16:8 schedule so i could be sociable at dinner time. i noticed that those extra meal days i was actually sluggish unless the second meal was super small and light. like a few vegetable dumplings or basically an appetizer. even during once a day regular meal, i could no longer pack it away. my capacity for big eating went way down, so i got full very easy and had that “sated” feel.
anyway, im roughly around 6-7 months on it. i have no scale and don’t weigh myself. all of my clothes are now kinda loose/big on me. i went in to the doc for my check-in. i’ve been on 3 different medications for blood pressure, one for cholesterol, and i take stuff with meals for controlling blood sugar / diabetes. that has been going on for literally several years, and generally my numbers have been OK but not great and my meds have only ever gone up. anyway, i dropped 15% of my body weight apparently in the last 6 months. and my lipid panels all came back optimal, my a1c came back as optimal/normal. my cholesterol is ideal. my BP is now too low like a little old lady, so we’re reducing my meds slowly and checking back in 3 months. i also feel like i have a ton of energy for shit and i am literally never hungry outside my window. i do get excited at meal time for the novely of eating and have found enjoyment in foods i used to not be excited by. like very spicy/acidic thai dishes that are like 80% vegetables by volume, pickled things. since i’m only eating once a day, i can be very intentional about it and i can spend a little extra dough on it if i want.
i gotta say it’s working out for me. there are absolutely people it probably won’t work for and some of those people think their situation is universal. they believe those of us having success with it are crazy nutjobs who don’t listen to our bodies, so they wipe their asses on our experiences. my primary care physician knows i am doing it and seems neutral about it in general, but very supportive of my results. wouldn’t it be crazy if the solution for many of those people succumbing to Metabolic Syndome X was to not force ourselves to metabolize something every 4 hours? like maybe we’re some subset of the population that are better adapted to eat less frequently and we shouldn’t let others bully us into conforming to their constant snacky snacky yum yum lifestyle because it’s literally killing us.
I think one of the things you’re striking on here is how IF can be really useful for people who eat excessive quantities and for people who engage in boredom-eating.
By fasting intermittently it sounds like you’ve changed your relationship to responding to hunger cues, to boredom, to the food you eat, and probably to how big a meal you need.
I think this is why IF is polarising - for some people, such as yourself, it’s the right kind of lifestyle intervention and just what they need. For others it doesn’t fit well at all. It’s a bit like when someone gets a dog or moves to New York and suddenly, 6 months later, they are so much healthier in an effortless sort of way that it seems amazing but it turns out that the change in their lifestyle was enough to tip the scales towards healthier behaviours. Sometimes people just need that external motivation to get out and walk every morning or to sprint to the train, to use the steps on the subway multiple times per day, and to carry their groceries home on foot every other day which is all they needed to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Lol, this is such a mood. As a person who took interest in psychopharmacology later in life, I really wish I paid attention in biology class in school.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: