Ask HN: Are you still doing intermittent fasting?
Have you been doing this for a long time? Do you change your schedule for the weekends?
For me its easy for me to avoid eating during the week, much more than controlling my eating habits and eating like an adult... but then weekend comes and it becomes 10X harder, especially if others are eating around me. And then a sunny day comes and you "have" go have some barbecue and beer, an hamburguer at night, etc.
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[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 104 ms ] threadHere's Peter Attia talking about some of the potential problems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6wczdlcBtI - his perspective is particularly refreshing because he was a big proponent of intermittent fasting / time-restricted feeding for a long time.
I've actually been kinda confused about my diet for a year or so. I gained a bunch of weight and thought it was because of meds, but a couple of years ago on a similar diet I lost a bunch of weight. I guess I'm just following procedures instead of counting calories these day.
Just eat the whole fruit. It still has sugar but the time it takes for your body to slowly digest it means the sugar is released slowly and you get a steady flow of energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxAHRo4NqM
He used to do four 7-day fasts per year (one per quarter). He's chilled on that though after doing a dexa scan and seeing how much muscle mass he's lost. Exercise seems to be what he's focusing on now. He tweeted this, which I found remarkable: https://twitter.com/PeterAttiaMD/status/1499407558468980736/...
Basically, the hazard ratio of being a smoker is _better_ than that of someone who doesn't exercise. Louder, for those in the back:
Compare smoking in photo 2 against "low vs below-average [exercise]". That hazard ratio is worse than smoking, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Going from virtually no exercise to _any exercise at all_ is better than quitting smoking.HN fasting, low-carb, and keto zealots (there's massive overlap) really hate being told that their fad diet(s) don't work or are outright dangerous. In fairness, it does look like if you're extremely diligent in terms of meeting your protein requirements, even OMAD might not cause muscle loss, but in general, it seems like a bad idea.
I feel way better living like this than when I'm home for the holidays binging on cheezits and having three meals a day. I like the hunger pangs; it feels like my body is doing useful work, and it makes the eventual meal all the more satisfying.
Could you talk a bit about your diet?
Same--I've never set about intentionally doing so, I just developed the habit of not eating breakfast, and as a result my body just doesn't start feeling hungry until 1-2PM anyway. I have a late-ish sizable lunch, and then usually only need something snack-size in the evening.
It was different when I used to work in an office that had an endless supply of catered pastries; the temptation was too great, and it always seemed like a small amount, one at a time.
It's hard to be prescriptive about this, though--other people in my family have a much more intense relationship with food, and feel weak/ravenous if they skip a meal. For whatever reason I'm lucky enough to not feel it in a very physical way.
I have a hypothesis about this. Lots of people have never experienced what it's like to actually starve, so the baseline that triggers their survival instincts is higher than it should be.
So when their body is signaling "not full", they incorrectly interpret it as "hungry". And when their body is signaling "hungry", they interpret it as "starvation".
We are evolved to live on subsistence diets punctuated by occasional feasting. Feeling "full" all the time is not a normal or healthy state for us.
I see this most easily when I tell people about the survival "rule of threes": you can survive three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. So if you're lost in the woods, say, finding food isn't even close to an immediate priority. People often react to this with disbelief.
It’s definitely relevant to this thread though, which is about intermittent fasting. And not which is the most extreme fast.
> weekend comes and it becomes 10X harder, especially if others are eating around me. And then a sunny day comes and you "have" go have some barbecue and beer, an hamburguer at night, etc.
It's okay to take days off! Especially if that makes the diet/lifestyle more sustainable for you overall.
These days, I've noticed that I usually get one major hunger pain about 9-10am, and if I can make it through that without eating, making it to noon is easy. So I just make sure to have an extra cup of coffee right to distract the mouth, and before long, it's lunchtime.
But I really hardly hold to that schedule on the weekends. I'm really not trying to do it intentionally, it's just habit at this point, so if I slip, IDGAF. Plus, now I've got kids, and I'm the designated "eat whatever they don't so nothing is wasted" parent. So that basically results in small snacks basically 7-7.
I hear you re: weekend and beers, and on those nights I would just start eating much later next day.
Also if you miss occasionally one day every couple of months because you were out on a late dinner or date - no harm done. I still find it easy to keep a 13-hour window which I read is the minimum threshold for IF.
Live a little. Turning IF into a religion makes it really hard to follow and a chore.
Also if I feel hungry in the afternoon, but had my last meal later the night before, I would just find myself a task to complete (household chore, or an actual work task) or would go for a walk / go shopping, which provides a 1-3 hour fast extension.
- go for a walk, it will stop/slow your craving pretty fast. i do walk a lot, but just going around the block is usually enough to distract my stomach.
- consume electrolytes like potassium capsules. i take 1-2 99mg capsules per day.
- get some iodized salt, eat a 1/2 teaspoon 1-2 times a day with water. this will boost your energy on an empty stomach.
- coffee/caffeine. i drink 3-5 cups of coffee or tea per day.
- eat a big, healthy dinner, with some berries or an apple for dessert.
But I also do it sometimes to try to lose weight, which hasn't been successful. I'm still a little reluctant to do it every day, and my wife worries a lot when I say I'm considering it. But cutting calories has been really, really hard, so I'm still thinking about it.
I definitely don't have the same energy level by lunch if I skip breakfast, so that's a factor, too.
The weirdest thing I've noticed is whenever I eat pizza, it makes me super hungry about 5h later.
I don't like feeling hungry so I've banned pizzas.
I don't know what the right mixture is for anyone else, but I do know that going from wrong to right can make life worth living.
What I've seen in my fasting and weight logs, is that doing multiple day fasts helps me keep weight off. The problem I've had in the past was not transitioning to a 'maintenance' schedule.
I'm doing 3 days of water+coffee (this is my third week). Last time I tried this in 2021 I lost 25 pounds (195->175) in 2 months. My plan now is to transition to 2 days a week once I've lost the weight.
I've found that there's a sweet spot as to fasting length: too soon (say a day) and I feel really hungry, so calorie count probably doesn't add up as I eat more than I 'saved'. Wait too long and the something similar happens (starving), my ideal spot seems to be ~3 days and breaking the fast with a 'regular'/not-eating-out meal.
I don't supplement for the fasting, from what I've read ~3 days isn't long enough to warrant that. Just lots of water and some salt (iodized) if I'm doing 4 days. Usually headaches may show up at the end of the 3rd day but that just tells me I'm not hydrating properly (also piss color helps get feedback on this).
I've done 5 days fast, 2 days feeding for a month straight and didn't lose any weight that I didn't immediately regain upon the 2 feeding days.
I don't need to lose weight (I'm 110 lbs) so I eat before going to bed, which also helps me sleep like a baby: it's better than taking a melatonin!
"Are you still saying Intermittent Fasting?" No.
Out of respect to people who have the discipline to go 24hours or more without eating I can't bring myself to say I am "fasting" simply because I had a late breakfast and early dinner. "Time restricted eating" (TRE) is the phrase I personally use.
Adopting that phrase might free you from feeling like an imposter if that is partly the reason you are troubled by not adhering to it on weekends. Just do TRE weekdays if that is what your lifestyle will accommodate. It's what I do and I consider it a personal win.