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I just tried intermittent fasting (16hr fast, 8hr feeding window). It was very challenging at first and I had to catch myself multiple times opening the cupboar

I just tried intermittent fasting (16hr fast, 8hr feeding window). It was very challenging at first and I had to catch myself multiple times opening the cupboard at night by habit, but it did help me realize how much snacking I really do. My fat % is way down and muscle mass up, so it's been very positive so far and much easier after week 2 when my body fully adapted to the new eating style.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago
I've been doing this for about a year now and feel better than ever. The reason I started was a simple view that our bodies spent hundreds of thousands of years, millions if you want to go back to very closely related ancestor species, doing things in a very specific way. And then in a time period of some 2000-3000 years, we've turned everything upside down in terms of the foods we eat, how much we eat, when we eat, and so on. And if you look at society today, the results have been catastrophic. I've never been much of a snacker and have always eaten reasonably well. I was not fat to begin with - but shed a good amount of weight, and also saw an increase in muscle mass. I've also experienced an increase in energy which I assumed was placebo, but going on a year now it hasn't changed. And all of this seemingly from no effort of my own. I don't make any particular effort in my eating besides eating within an 8 hour window each day. The only slightly difficult part was going to bed hungry, depending on your schedule. But somehow your body rapidly adjusts to that as well. When I first started I'd toss and turn on an empty stomach. After a month or two I was sleeping like a baby. Highly recommended.
saintfiends 8y ago
How do you calculate fat percentage and muscle mass. Is there a way that does not involve expensive equipment?
- everdev 8y ago
  I bought a WeightGurus scale. It syncs the data to my phone. From what I understand any of the at home measurements like measuring your waist are pretty inaccurate and digital is the only real way to go.
  - Hanswurst133742 8y ago
    It's actually exactly the other way around - All digital scales are inaccurate to the point where it's better not to measure at all. The only reasonably accurate method for measuring body fat at home is using calipers at different parts of your body
  - toyg 8y ago
    Even digital is not accurate - it’s difficult to find two bodyfat scales that actually agree. In most cases any measurement instrument will do, you just want a number to track even if it’s grossly inaccurate.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - close04 8y ago
      > you just want a number to track even if it’s grossly inaccurate I can confirm that even the cheap digital scales will give you the trend with the same approximate shape as high quality measuring systems. If you have enough data points (like measuring 1-2 times per day or over a long period) any outlier will be excluded and the overall trend will be very close to reality. Which is enough for all intents and purposes.
- rdiddly 8y ago
  You can get a pretty good estimate with something like this ($6): https://www.amazon.com/AccuFitness-AM99-Accu-Measure-Body-Caliper/dp/B000QURRUK https://www.amazon.com/AccuFitness-AM99-Accu-Measure-Body-Ca...
bad_user 8y ago
N.B. fasting in general works best if you are eating a high fat diet, instead of eating a lot a carbohydrates. You might also need more salt in your diet, including during your fasting ;-) Carbohydrates leads to raised insulin levels, which inhibits the consumption of fat from your fat store. Our body is pretty smart, so when insulin goes down, it begins to consume your fat for energy, a metabolic state called ketosis. But until that insulin goes down, what you're experiencing is the dreaded keto flu. So you can experience fatigue, dizziness, even head aches ... which if serious are not normal and you should stop your fast ;-) Anyway, for successful fasting what I found is this: 1. eat high fat, low carbs meals; if you can't go full keto, at least do that just before starting your fast 2. you might get an electrolytes imbalance, which is THE reason for dizziness and headaches: the solution is to take salt supplements — e.g. right now I'm in my second day of water fasting, when I woke up I felt a little dizzy, but took 4 grams of salt (about one teaspoon) and now I feel great; there are also "salt tablets" on the market btw, which are easier to swallow NOTE: there's science behind the keto diet, studies and high profile medics backing it up, but there's also a lot of denial about it. One good book describing what the deal is with insulin resistance, why it makes us fat and why the keto diet is healthy would be the "The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss" by Dr. Jason Fung. Here's the podcast dedicated to it, talking of keto and fasting; it's a great podcast: http://obesitycodepodcast.com http://obesitycodepodcast.com
- cageface 8y ago
  It works fine with a carbohydrate diet too, provided by "carbohydrates" we mean healthy, complex carbs and not sugary junk. Professor Valter Longo has been getting a lot of buzz lately for this kind of intermittent fasting diet. His diet is low in protein and fat; he gets furious when he sees doctors advocating the opposite, a trendy practice he believes speeds aging. https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/13/fasting-diet-valter-longo/ https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/13/fasting-diet-valter-long...
  - bad_user 8y ago
    There are only 3 macro-nutrients: fat, proteins and carbohydrates. If you go low fat, you necessarily go low protein too, so you need to replace that with carbohydrates. Even more, you now need "fortified" carbohydrates to get the needed B vitamins and other nutrients usually found in fatty foods, and those will be refined carbohydrates; which is what the American Health Association now recommends. Yes, they actually recommend that people should eat enriched cereals and other bullshit like that. A high carbs diet made of "healthy, complex carbs" is a myth ;-) > he gets furious when he sees doctors advocating the opposite, a trendy practice he believes speeds aging. You cannot claim that without evidence. Nutrition is at this point like alchemy and I won't trust furious alchemists.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

I've been doing this for about a year now and feel better than ever. The reason I started was a simple view that our bodies spent hundreds of thousands of years, millions if you want to go back to very closely related ancestor species, doing things in a very specific way. And then in a time period of some 2000-3000 years, we've turned everything upside down in terms of the foods we eat, how much we eat, when we eat, and so on. And if you look at society today, the results have been catastrophic. I've never been much of a snacker and have always eaten reasonably well. I was not fat to begin with - but shed a good amount of weight, and also saw an increase in muscle mass. I've also experienced an increase in energy which I assumed was placebo, but going on a year now it hasn't changed. And all of this seemingly from no effort of my own. I don't make any particular effort in my eating besides eating within an 8 hour window each day. The only slightly difficult part was going to bed hungry, depending on your schedule. But somehow your body rapidly adjusts to that as well. When I first started I'd toss and turn on an empty stomach. After a month or two I was sleeping like a baby. Highly recommended.

saintfiends 8y ago

How do you calculate fat percentage and muscle mass. Is there a way that does not involve expensive equipment?

everdev 8y ago
I bought a WeightGurus scale. It syncs the data to my phone. From what I understand any of the at home measurements like measuring your waist are pretty inaccurate and digital is the only real way to go.
- Hanswurst133742 8y ago
  It's actually exactly the other way around - All digital scales are inaccurate to the point where it's better not to measure at all. The only reasonably accurate method for measuring body fat at home is using calipers at different parts of your body
- toyg 8y ago
  Even digital is not accurate - it’s difficult to find two bodyfat scales that actually agree. In most cases any measurement instrument will do, you just want a number to track even if it’s grossly inaccurate.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - close04 8y ago
    > you just want a number to track even if it’s grossly inaccurate I can confirm that even the cheap digital scales will give you the trend with the same approximate shape as high quality measuring systems. If you have enough data points (like measuring 1-2 times per day or over a long period) any outlier will be excluded and the overall trend will be very close to reality. Which is enough for all intents and purposes.
rdiddly 8y ago
You can get a pretty good estimate with something like this ($6): https://www.amazon.com/AccuFitness-AM99-Accu-Measure-Body-Caliper/dp/B000QURRUK https://www.amazon.com/AccuFitness-AM99-Accu-Measure-Body-Ca...

bad_user 8y ago

N.B. fasting in general works best if you are eating a high fat diet, instead of eating a lot a carbohydrates. You might also need more salt in your diet, including during your fasting ;-) Carbohydrates leads to raised insulin levels, which inhibits the consumption of fat from your fat store. Our body is pretty smart, so when insulin goes down, it begins to consume your fat for energy, a metabolic state called ketosis. But until that insulin goes down, what you're experiencing is the dreaded keto flu. So you can experience fatigue, dizziness, even head aches ... which if serious are not normal and you should stop your fast ;-) Anyway, for successful fasting what I found is this: 1. eat high fat, low carbs meals; if you can't go full keto, at least do that just before starting your fast 2. you might get an electrolytes imbalance, which is THE reason for dizziness and headaches: the solution is to take salt supplements — e.g. right now I'm in my second day of water fasting, when I woke up I felt a little dizzy, but took 4 grams of salt (about one teaspoon) and now I feel great; there are also "salt tablets" on the market btw, which are easier to swallow NOTE: there's science behind the keto diet, studies and high profile medics backing it up, but there's also a lot of denial about it. One good book describing what the deal is with insulin resistance, why it makes us fat and why the keto diet is healthy would be the "The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss" by Dr. Jason Fung. Here's the podcast dedicated to it, talking of keto and fasting; it's a great podcast: http://obesitycodepodcast.com http://obesitycodepodcast.com

cageface 8y ago
It works fine with a carbohydrate diet too, provided by "carbohydrates" we mean healthy, complex carbs and not sugary junk. Professor Valter Longo has been getting a lot of buzz lately for this kind of intermittent fasting diet. His diet is low in protein and fat; he gets furious when he sees doctors advocating the opposite, a trendy practice he believes speeds aging. https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/13/fasting-diet-valter-longo/ https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/13/fasting-diet-valter-long...
- bad_user 8y ago
  There are only 3 macro-nutrients: fat, proteins and carbohydrates. If you go low fat, you necessarily go low protein too, so you need to replace that with carbohydrates. Even more, you now need "fortified" carbohydrates to get the needed B vitamins and other nutrients usually found in fatty foods, and those will be refined carbohydrates; which is what the American Health Association now recommends. Yes, they actually recommend that people should eat enriched cereals and other bullshit like that. A high carbs diet made of "healthy, complex carbs" is a myth ;-) > he gets furious when he sees doctors advocating the opposite, a trendy practice he believes speeds aging. You cannot claim that without evidence. Nutrition is at this point like alchemy and I won't trust furious alchemists.