Jun 12, 2018 Just make sure that you already have a healthy relationship with food before you start messing around with it; if you have a tendency to worry about dieting or calories, do not attempt to fast. Jul 29, 2007 If you are in doubt, you could do a water fast under the supervision of a nutritionist or doctor experienced with fasting. I think this is actually recommended, but not all of us can afford that type of treatment and I personally feel that my body is its own doctor.
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AdvertisementSo, with those testimonials in mind, I went for the same 8:16 split, ditched the breakfast and gave fasting a shot.The hours‘Going without food for 14 hours can help as in the longer term it may help the way that cells respond to glucose and insulin, and also help lower blood pressure,’ Nutrition consultant and founder of #nutribollocks, Ian Marber, told Metro.co.uk back in May.‘However, losing weight will do the same thing and so these aren’t properties unique to fasting. I do think that having a framework, i.e. Only eating between midday and 8 pm (16/8) can really help some people who respond well to rules.’I start work at 7am or 8am and I can get home any time between 5pm and 10pm so my eating days can be very long and haphazard. For the IF experiment, I never ate before midday and always delayed lunch the next day if I had to have dinner much later the day before.The gymEvery gym day, I’ve been working out as close to 12pm – meaning that my first meal tends to happen between 1.30pm and 2pm.
Some days the fast is longer than 16 hours, sometimes it falls a little short (but never under 14 hours). (Picture: Ella Byworth)An obvious advantage is that it’s been far easier to get in regular bouts of fasted cardio, which is something many fitness professionals swear by as a fat-busting, metabolism quickening tool. The thing is that unless you’re willing to cycle, powerwalk or run into work every day, it’s very hard to get any cardio in before you eat normally. When I ate breakfast before, I tried to schedule in fasted cardio and it often involved waking up at about 5am to do a 15-minute circuit of star jumps, burpees and mountain climbers in my living room – totally unsustainable (and antisocial). AdvertisementWith intermittent fasting, however, I’ve found myself doing fasted cardio five days a week.You’d think that might affect how powerful I am in the gym but actually, I’ve found the opposite to be the case. I’m lifting slightly heavier weights if anything and I’m finding it far easier to run medium distances (six-eight miles) on an empty stomach than I do a couple of hours after having lunch.
Clearly, there’s ample glycogen being stored.I even ran a half marathon and got my PB during this experiment (although I imagine 13 miles is definitely the maximum you could do on an empty stomach). EnergyEnergy-wise, things are pretty much the same as usual except perhaps that I’m a little more alert for longer because there’s no crash mid-morning – and that means that I’m not tempted to snack before lunch.As for food, not only do you genuinely feel ready to eat after a 16-hour hiatus but you’re also more conscious about what you eat. You actually feel like eating something nourishing and good, rather than quick and unhealthy.Saying that, I’ve eaten whatever I’ve wanted (be that cake or courgette), knowing that I’m not going to snack or go too over my daily calorie allowance because there’s only so much you can actually consume in eight hours.
AdvertisementWhen you’re working, it’s incredibly easy to graze through the day. You’re not genuinely hungry, you’re just bored. IF stops that snacking habit more effectively than anything else.You don’t have to bring in breakfast and lunch so you’re saving quite a bit of money/washing up. Simply wake up, down a pint of water and, when you get to work, keep your coffee/tea pot topped up (no milk or sugar though).If your day-to-day life isn’t identical, however, then you do have to accept that you may have to be a little more flexible with timings. I’ve found that some days I’m able to have dinner at 6pm and others can’t get to it until about 9.30pm – so my window of eating on those days is longer.
But you can make up for that the following day by delaying lunch, so it all does work out in the end.The only issue for me was the weekend/going away; holidays begin with breakfast.I went away for a week, travelling between time zones and found it impossible to fast properly because I had no routine and because I had delicious breakfasts on offer – that’s what holiday is about, right? But unlike the panic I often feel when I come back from holiday and realise I’ve fallen off the wagon, this time, I jumped straight back on the IF with minimal fuss. Is IF worth it?I suffer a lot from digestive issues and I’d say that IF has probably been the most effective tool in managing bloating, stomach cramping and acid reflux. So for that reason alone, it is worth investigating. To be clear, it hasn’t cured those issues but they’re definitely less common or severe and I’m sure that’s to do with giving the gut a chance to actually fully digest a days-worth of food before more stress is added.I haven’t lost weight (that wasn’t the point) and it’s probably too early to tell if I’ve really changed in body shape as a result but simply on a practical basis of not having to bring pots of yoghurt to work or try to schedule in food around morning workouts, it seems to have made life a little more streamlined.So yes, intermittent fasting probably is worth the faff.
As we’ve said, people have intermittently fasted for donkey’s years. Ramadan is essentially an inverted intermittent fast (with believers fasting during the day rather than overnight).
It’s not dangerous when you’re doing it sensibly.Just make sure that you already have a healthy relationship with food before you start messing around with it; if you have a tendency to worry about dieting or calories, do not attempt to fast.Fasting could become a problem if you start to obsess over what you’re going to eat and keep increasing the fasting window. Sure, some yogis can go for three days without eating but if you’re pushing the physical boundaries in a bid to lose weight, then you may need to seek advice or help.Make sure that you really do get your full fill of food during your eating window – and if you’re struggling to eat when you do have the opportunity or you find yourself making that window increasingly smaller, contact somewhere like Beat, who can help.Beat’s helpline: 0808 801 0677 (open 3pm-10pm).MORE:MORE.