I find not eating to be a nice way to implement calorie control and also work on executive control. In my case, I've done it for the greater part of of the past

I find not eating to be a nice way to implement calorie control and also work on executive control. In my case, I've done it for the greater part of of the past three years. A typical fasting cycle would be 2 months of 20/4 intermittent fasting and 1 week of "normal" eating. I have an unfounded theory that re-sensitization helps sustain the benefits. Initially, I did find great benefit in the cognitive benefits [1] of fasting but found it came at a price. This price was mostly strength at the gym later in the day and some added stress during the workday (_not eating is sort of a stress of its own_). It also led to me yo-yo'ing (5-7 lb fluctuations [2] ) a bit with weight because I would be so hungry that I would overeat. I should mention that I paired my fasting with ketosis as type II diabetes runs in my family. I saw a lot of improvement with how I deal with insulin (shakiness, irritability, skin issues, bonking[3]). If anyone is thinking about fasting, here are my beginner recommendations: - Contrary to what this link suggests, I think the key is to start slow. There's no need to even do a 24 hour fast, in the beginning. Your body is not going to change over night. Build up to daily 10 - 12 hour fasts and build confidence that you can accomplish the fast. There are a lot of benefits to prolonged fasts, but I would suggest building up to them and learning how your body reacts instead of getting to a place where you feel faint-ish and don't know what that means for your body. - Fasting on keto feels like cheating, so I think it's a great tool for facilitating more frequent, longer fasts. For me, it seems that ghrelin is highly suppressed by being in a keto induced state. I don't feel well after 72 hours and noticed abnormal heart rhythms, most likely sodium or potassium imbalance. - Practice saying 'no' or at least make note of social obligations where you have to eat or knock yourself out of your fast / ketosis. 1 day here and there doesn't make a big difference, but how your overall diet quarter to quarter and year to year is what really matters. - Don't listen to the popular IF / keto sentiments of, "I don't have to track anything! It's magic," if you're below ~18% body fat. This is what I listened to and it led to overeating and reaching 10-12% body fat and quickly jumping back to 15-18%. No matter what your diet is, you should know your caloric intake and ( in general ) what keeps your body at maintenance. - Not sleeping makes fasting so much harder[4]. If I sleep less than six hours it's definitely an uphill fight. ____ None of this is "fun" per say but it's a process of getting to know yourself and observing how time, age, and environment affect your body. 1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3670843/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3670843/ 2 - I know salt and water retention play a big role here, but these changes were more than just looking / feeling bloated. 3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_the_wall 4 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3763921/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3763921/