I don’t meant for weight loss, I mean health benefits as in autophagy, clearing out toxins, giving your organs a break type stuff
clearing out toxins
you either have a healthy liver or you don’t, stop with the ‘detox’ bs
So you don’t believe that depleting your glycogen stores and going into ketosis is efficient at releasing fat soluble toxins?
if only my alcoholic father fasted enough, maybe he’d still be alive with a healthy liver!
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD015610.pub2/full
Meta-analysis on ca. 2000 people - intermittent fasting no better than weight loss diets.
Personally I just find it much easier to skip a meal completely than to start eating and stop before I’m full. Restricting calories could work just as well, it’s just a lot harder for me to execute with continuity.
I had a year or so of eating only between 11-18 per day, water, tea and coffee permitted outside these hours. It was pretty good.
I’ve used it extensively to lose weight. The main advantage to it is how incredibly simple to execute it is compared to trying to “properly” restrict calories. Big things to watch out for are making sure you get all your micros, and that balance your dietary needs (Fiber, macro ratios) in your eating window.
That it works
autophagy, that’s all you need to know
I was watching a youtube video that mentioned autophagy which made me ask this question. It looks to be scientifically backed but I was wondering if people really benefit from it.
I believe not getting cancer is quite a benefit.
Also scientifically backed.
I intermittent fast the majority of days and have done so for nearly the last decade. I have a chronic illness that affects my GI tract, among other things, and it helps a lot.
Not getting hangry is a huge perk. Once my flight got stuck for hours in a small town airport with no food nearby. I was watching people get so weird about not eating for a few hours, but I was able to just be okay.
When I gotn UC, I started intermittent fast. Since then I havent had any more episodes. About 6 years now.
And yes, I have some coworkers that almost freak out if they don’t get lunch.
I have mast cell issues, so a bit similar. I still get the occasional food flare up, but just giving my guts a break works wonders.
At times I won’t eat until midday, if not until dinner. If I do eat before then, I lose energy, I think it boosts metabolism and energy. I am just not hungry in the morning sometimes I’m not trying to fast per se.
I do this all the time because of my ADHD hyper-focus. It’s how I stay so slim (unhealthy as fuck on the inside, I’m sure)!
I used to do 36 hours a week, as an experiment. Not for weight loss. Maintained my weight.
Results: lower LDL cholesterol. Sharply lower. Blood pressure lower only while fasting.
Side effects: migraines. I tried to arrange it so there was not so much time fasting before sleeping but would usually wake up with a migraine.
Never fasted more than 2 days voluntarily.
What did you allow yourself to consume during the fasts and how did you break the fasts?
Did you LDL go back up when you stopped fasting?
Just coffee. I would eat a late breakfast one day, then stop eating, coffee (no calories) the next morning and then nothing until supper, usually around 8pm.
Yes the LDL went back up. I know it was related to the fasting and not weight loss - I am not fat and maintained calories overall to keep my weight stable. I had been sort of stumped, like you are. Obviously if someone is overweight and loses weight that will have benefits, there wasn’t a lot of research on people of normal weight fasting and not reducing. I got the one measurable benefit, but no improvements I could feel in any way, and the headaches were pretty bad.
No comment from a faster, yet. All comments are people on diet or people fasting intermittent. Intermittent fasting is a contradiction in terms.
Fasting should be done yearly, individualized for your body’s metabolism.
Should be done under medical supervision of a real professional fasting doc.
Fasting is not a diet or a livestyle. Fasting is a regiment, like the worst dictatorship inside you. The regiment must not be broken not even the slightest. Except you want to start the process all over again…
I read so much bullshit about fasting online and never the real thing.
If you do fasting right all the toxicity will leave the body and mind and you will be the clearest and healthiest human being. Everything aligns automagically.
Certainly there will never be enlightenment of any kind unless you do proper fasting.
Pseudoscience bullshit on the level of chiropractic practice. Fuck off with your spiritualized medical advice.
Well, then explain how it works…
I am talking from experience.
What are your claims based upon?
Edit: just checked your history and have no more questions, your honor.
I believe you felt like all toxins leaving your body and mind and like you where the healthiest you could be, but that does not make it true. I am very weary of anybody using the term enlightenment. Also what toxins are in my mind? The OP said that there are toxins solved in fat that will be broken down if you properly fast. Sounds to me like just maintaining a low body fat percentage will do the same then? I get that you might want to do it for the feeling, but the term detoxification sounds my bullshit alarm. I’ve heard of people recommending basically bleach enemas to cure autism, as it’s supposedly caused by pathogens in the gut. On a quick Google search pretty much any website said “you body cleanses itself” and that there a risks to fasting. If you got any sources on why it’s good (on a physical level) I’d much appreciate it.
I don’t have the mental capacity to explain basic medical science to someone as demonstrably lacking as yourself. My reply was for other readers to enjoy.
Ya I was hoping for some people who do 48+ hour fasts but it’s still interesting to see how people’s bodys react to shorter periods
I’m the commenter who eats once a day. Not sure, if that’s the information you’re looking for, but I could easily do 48 hours without negative impact on my well being. I don’t do “real” fasting, but my body is really forgoving in the meantime. I don’t feel hangry or tired. If I can’t get my food in time, I’ll just get it later. Sometimes it feels like a tiny superpower compared to other people who sometimes seem to really suffer in such situations.
I only eat from 5-8 PM. I started it for weight loss a few years ago, which worked alright. I lost 30 pounds, but have since gained a lot of it back. It turns out you can eat a lot in three hours once your stomach gets used to it.
However, before starting the diet I had chronic heartburn, acid reflux, and trouble swallowing sometimes. All three went away after a week on the diet, which is enough for me to keep going.
There are other minor benefits, like saving money/time from not eating so often. At this point I don’t feel hungry at all until 4:00, so I never shop hungry.
That’s awesome that it’s worked for your gastro issues, I would have thought trying to eat all your food at once would aggravate reflux. The body is a wild thing.
How many calories do you think you usually get in during your feasting window?
I have found that some specific foods still give me a little heartburn, which I avoid. But yeah, I still don’t understand it. Especially the swallowing issues, but apparently not eating lets my body reset or something.
When I first started the diet it was 800-1500 calories per day, but now I snack while I’m cooking dinner, have double or triple portions, and have dessert right before the cutoff at 8:00. So probably about 2500.
There are still days where I only get 800-1000 calories, like if we’re at someone else’s house for dinner. After 8:00 my body just seems to accept its fate, so I’m not scrounging for food or hangry anymore.
I try not to eat after 8pm and mostly don’t after 7pm because of heartburn/reflux. I think that is all you really need for just that.
Hunger is probably one of humans, and animals, most natural sensations. Being hungry is normal, genuinely enjoying eating when you do eat probably is as well. Satiating hunger insistently on a moments notice is what’s strange.
Totally agree, now when I’m used to fasting, being hungry daily isn’t a big deal. Even enjoy it a bit because I enjoy eating more. It’s fascinating and a bit scary thinking how many people don’t to hungry in today’s society, and the flip side, how many constantly go hungry.
I do intermittent fasting 18h, 5 days a week. It started as an attempt to curb my ulcerative colitis, which worked so I have just continued that.
I do 72 hour fasts every two or three month between. Total about 5 times now. I drink water and coffee and a bit of salt. I break the fast with some nuts and avocado and then some mild soup usually.
The first day I find most difficult, the hunger is most prevalent, then it subsides. I think about food often but not in a bad way. More as inspiration what I should eat when the fast is over. The second and third day my body is a bit weaker so no intense physical activity. But my mind is clear, almost a bit electric in a way. I enjoy that clarity. After the fast I feel fantastic, energetic and rejuvenated.
I do it mainly for the reported health benefits like autography. Probably will continue doing it till I die
do you take any meds for UC additionally ? or are you able to manage entirely by fasting ?
None. When I get to go to the doctor I was already healed up to normal. I told him what I’ve done to get better. He wasn’t interested and prescribed some meds. Took them för two weeks and then I stopped. Thought it would probably be fine without them, which was correct.
It seems that the clear state of mind and burst of energy is a universal effect of people who fast properly. Do you know if your fasting has had positive effects on paper like with your bloodwork and liver tests?
Edit: I saw in the comments that you were looking for true fasting for minimum of two days, I have only tried for two days twice and my body went into lockdown. I couldn’t move and it felt like I was depressed. I do not think my body can handle it. And I do not want to waste two days of my life again just laying down being not able to do anything. But I will keep my comment here if ppl are interested in my other experiment with some of the same benefits when it comes to how I felt and my well-being.
I did an experiment where I didn’t eat normal food for dinner I only mixed veggies, oatmeal and water and drank it and ate an apple as a side dish.
My lunch and breakfast was not changed much. The only change to my lunch was that I started eating sweet potatoes instead of pasta.
I have problems with low blood sugar and hunger so I wanted to test if I could lessen it with potatoes (and meat) for lunch and oatmeal and veggies for dinner, especially oatmeal, it has a lot of good health benefits like keeping the blood sugar more balanced, lessen inflammations and making you feel fuller for a longer period. The first month was great, I didn’t feel hunger in the same way anymore for the whole day, I had more energy, my blood sugar didn’t drop like a bomb around meal time and I was happy. But then I started experimenting with tastes, I used milk instead of water and then also stoped adding celery (did not go well with milk). Tried using berries and other types of veggies or even less veggies and more fruits. After maybe 2,5 months did I feel really hungry again like extremely hungry, it hurt in my stomach in a way I have never felt before and I got migraines and felt like shit. So I stoped the experiment. I think the whole experiment was around 3 months. Now do I eat like normal, the only thing I still do is eating an apple almost every day after dinner. And I crave crispbread that has an extremely healthy taste to it in the evening… It is very weird.
I would like to try the experiment again to see how long it takes until I feel like shit and also write down what I mix together with notes on how I feel, to get a better understanding of what happens and when.
I appreciate any experience people want to share. Did your blood sugar end up being low again after going back on a regular diet?
Yes unfortunately, so now I walk around with a proteinbar in case it dropps too much, but the best solution is to eat actually food before that happens.






