Has anyone tried fasting

TeePee

TeePee

Member
Location
Kentucky
I have gained a lot of weight since my husband passed (comfort food). The last year and a half or so of his life , he was unable to eat so I never ate in front of him. My weight was under control. I've made up for lost time. I've started a fast where I can eat in an 8 hour window (I chose 10am to 6pm) and the rest of the time, I can only drink water or something that doesn't contain sugar like an unsweetened tea. I'm not restricting what I eat, just how much I eat. I was wondering who on these forums has fasted and how did it go for you.
 

Back when I was in my early 20s I decided that I was getting fat, so I hit on a fasting method that worked for me, but was actually quite brutal.

I could eat and drink as much as possible before 11am, and after that, nothing solid, and only black coffee or water.

I managed to lose around 14lb in a fortnight, but as soon as I gave up I started putting it back on again, so I wouldn't recommend that method to anyone else.

Much later in my life I managed to lose around 28lb, but that was over a 2 year period. Basically I cut right back on sugar and had two raw carrots for breakfast.

Since then I stayed at more or less the same weight till Covid hit, and then I put on not only the 28lbs I'd previously lost, but have now added another 14lb or so as well. Doh!
 
TeePee said:
I have gained a lot of weight since my husband passed (comfort food). The last year and a half or so of his life , he was unable to eat so I never ate in front of him. My weight was under control. I've made up for lost time. I've started a fast where I can eat in an 8 hour window (I chose 10am to 6pm) and the rest of the time, I can only drink water or something that doesn't contain sugar like an unsweetened tea. I'm not restricting what I eat, just how much I eat. I was wondering who on these forums has fasted and how did it go for you.
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I did intermittent fasting for years. It can be very effective. The only drawback is that, if it's too restrictive, there is a tendency to overeat in the window. None-the-less, I have found it very helpful in the past. Good luck to you. Hope it works for you. :)
 

Intermittent fasting is very popular. I researched it extensively some time ago when I wanted to improve general health... wish I could remember where I saw it, but I do remember that some medical advisors are saying that women actually do better with a 15 hour window than 16... so you may want to research that. 15/9 sounds better than 16/8 psychologically. 😁
 
I have been blessed that I have never had a weight problem. I would think that fasting is a separate topic from dieting. There doesn't seem to many sermons preached on fasting. As I understand it, our body is always telling us that we are hungry and that we should eat a certain food or snack. Even the name "comfort food" is part of the trap.

When we decide to fast, we are telling our body to shut up. We are not really hungry. We are regaining control over our eating habits. Fasting is usually accompanied with praying. Also we should use the time not spent on overeating, doing something beneficial for our body. This does not include "cleaning out" the refrigerator! We don't have to wait till Lent comes around, we can start today. Good Luck, @TeePee and may God bless your efforts!
 
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Medusa said:
I did intermittent fasting for years. It can be very effective. The only drawback is that, if it's too restrictive, there is a tendency to overeat in the window. None-the-less, I have found it very helpful in the past. Good luck to you. Hope it works for you. :)
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Thank you. I know if it gets too restrictive that there is a tendency to overeat, that's why I've not restricted what I eat because I've been that route before. I do know from past experience that the less I eat, the less of an appetite I have and recently I've had a voracious appetite, and it's got to stop.
 
Jules said:
I don’t think of it as a fast, just as a lifestyle. I‘m finished dinner by 6 or 6:30. Breakfast is around 9:30A. No snacks, just water after dinner. I’m not hungry and don’t even think about food. I try to be sensible in my meals.
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I've picked up a bad habit of eating after 6pm but hopefully I can break that habit. Sometimes I stay up to 1am or 2am (I used to work night shift for years) and tend to eat late at night. It sounds like you've got it all together. Thanks for your input.
 
debodun said:
Yes...I went almost 40 minutes without eating once.

I heard that fasting is not the best way to lose weight - it only makes you more hungry, then people will over-eat. Sensible eating and some exercise is my advice.
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I guess everyone is different. I've found the less I eat, the less hungry I get or I'm satisfied with smaller proportions. I'm not really dieting because I'm not depriving myself of anything, I'm just trying to get in the habit of eating smaller portions and not indiscriminately eating which I've picked up a bad habit of. Thanks for your input, though.
 
TeePee said:
I have gained a lot of weight since my husband passed (comfort food). The last year and a half or so of his life , he was unable to eat so I never ate in front of him. My weight was under control. I've made up for lost time. I've started a fast where I can eat in an 8 hour window (I chose 10am to 6pm) and the rest of the time, I can only drink water or something that doesn't contain sugar like an unsweetened tea. I'm not restricting what I eat, just how much I eat. I was wondering who on these forums has fasted and how did it go for you.
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Sounds like a good plan, the 10am to 6pm windows is very doable. When I do intermittent fasting I start after dinner(6pm) and then just don't eat anything until 11am or 12 noon. That gets a little Autophagy going plus stimulates HGH production....a pretty cheap & easy health boost.
 
No, it's not for me - I am better off eating small amounts more ofthen.

Of course whether you do intermittent fasting or not, you still need t o take in less calories than you burn off in order to lose weight, IF is only a toll to acheive that which helps some people.
 
I have mentioned this before. I have two medications that need to be taken an hour before eating and not together. I finish dinner at 7 or 8 and don't have brunch or whatever until 11 or 12. I lost more than 25 pounds and now eat whatever. Today at an appointment before eating I was one pound less than last month with no effort.
 
The KETO diet encourages fasting. I followed the diet strictly for about a year.i would eat breakfast around 7 and lunch around 1pm. Then fast for 18 hours. I lost 40 lbs, and felt much better. I fasted for 30 hours once. You loose your appetite by then. :)
 
I fasted for about a year, not anything drastic.
Ate breakfast around 6:30-7AM, lunch at noon and dinner by 5:30-6PM.
I did reduce some of what I ate, no going back for seconds, 2 eggs and 2 slices of toast down from 3.
I added in mild exercise and a lot more walking and dropped 48lbs. Lately I have fallen off the wagon and started nibbling after dinner.
 
QuietByNature said:
I fasted for about a year, not anything drastic.
Ate breakfast around 6:30-7AM, lunch at noon and dinner by 5:30-6PM.
I did reduce some of what I ate, no going back for seconds, 2 eggs and 2 slices of toast down from 3.
I added in mild exercise and a lot more walking and dropped 48lbs. Lately I have fallen off the wagon and started nibbling after dinner.
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At least you know that it works and even though you've " fallen off of the wagon" a little, you can always fall back on the fasting. if you wanted to.
 
TeePee said:
I have gained a lot of weight since my husband passed (comfort food). The last year and a half or so of his life , he was unable to eat so I never ate in front of him. My weight was under control. I've made up for lost time. I've started a fast where I can eat in an 8 hour window (I chose 10am to 6pm) and the rest of the time, I can only drink water or something that doesn't contain sugar like an unsweetened tea. I'm not restricting what I eat, just how much I eat. I was wondering who on these forums has fasted and how did it go for you.
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That's known as intermittent fasting. It works fantastic, been doing it for about 10 years.
 
Intermittent fasting allows your body to burn fat and enter ketosis when glycogen levels drop down. Most Americans eat and snack enough to keep their metabolism from switching to fat burning mode. Your body is made to produce energy both ways, and both have positive benefits.

It is not natural to stay out of ketosis, our hunter gather ancestors evolved to use both fat and glycogen because meal time was not always consistent or guaranteed. This will probably ruffle some feathers and cause a dispute, but a very low carb diet to stay in ketosis continually is not a healthy choice either. It's not natural and a very low carb diet leaves out a whole lot of nutrients found in vegetable and fruits.
 

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