• Our software update is now concluded. You will need to reset your password to log in. In order to do this, you will have to click "Log in" in the top right corner and then "Forgot your password?".
  • Forum moderator applications are now open! Click here for details.
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.

Intermittent Fasting

7,482
Posts
18
Years
I've been doing intermittent fasting for almost two years now. For me it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.

I schedule my meals to be eaten between 7AM until 3PM and then I fast in between. My meals are tailored with macros in mind plus plenty of hydration (and coffee. coffee is my best friend.)
 

Altairis

take me ☆ take you
5,188
Posts
11
Years
Which could be a problem if you need food in the morning. Exercise and a healthy diet will always trump all these silly fad gimmicks that keep coming up.

not a doctor, but I'm a Bio major, and I'm pretty sure there have been cases of fasting working as long as individuals take supplements.

(next part isn't targeted at you specifically cause idk how much u know) When you fast, your blood sugar decreases. Your body then goes to its storage sites to release glucose. if you don't have much stored, your body next targets sites of triglycerides and proteins and uses those to make energy instead. So technically you lose weight bc your body targets fat and protein for energy if it can't get it from your diet. however, glucose/energy isn't the only thing we get from our diet. For example, sodium and calcium are absolutely essential for every cell in your body, as well as several other compounds such as iodine.

It's easier to just eat to gain these nutrients, but if you're not eating you need to get them elsewhere, like from supplements, or you will die or have way more negative side effects than you intended.

I don't think people should be fasting without seeing a doctor first, that seems pretty dumb.
 
1,824
Posts
5
Years
  • Age 37
  • Seen Nov 4, 2018
I can attest that breakfast is overrated.

I've skipped breakfast almost everyday since middle school and I function best in the morning.
 

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen
4,307
Posts
15
Years
The problem with this one is that when you skip meals that you normally eat, your brain responds by making you want to overeat for other meals. You can suppress that urge and you will lose weight if you do, but there are plenty of other ways to lose weight that won't make you want to rip your hair out.

Look, there are about a million different diets out there and a lot of them will work to some degree if you stick to them with an iron will, but most people who are overweight are at that point because they don't have an iron will. I know that was the case with me, at least.

If you want to lose weight effectively, the first thing you need to do is pass on all the fad diets and learn about basic nutrition so you can understand what you're doing most wrong. With respect to diet, you really need to understand what a healthy diet looks like and how your current diet differs from that. The biggest thing you want to get right is the proportion of macro-nutrients you're taking in; getting those to a reasonable level is usually the most important first step and it's usually the thing most people are doing wrong that's making them obese.

I've lost 30 pounds over the past year and literally all I did was cut out straight sugar and cut back carbs to a more reasonable level (as in, more balanced compared to protein and fat intake). That's it, I didn't do anything else differently. I still eat plenty of garbage and I could still improve my diet in a million different ways, but at the moment I just don't get dessert and try to avoid adding empty carbs to a meal unless my meal is completely deficient in carbs (which is rare). It was hard for about half a week, after that the only difficulty was in turning down free food and making sure I stuck to the game plan. The real problem was that until I bothered to look into what proper diet was, I had no idea that this was the main problem I had and that doing it differently would help at all.

This is a good guide to basic diet and fitness; it was recommended to me a while back by a friend who himself lost a lot of weight over the course of a year or two. It's geared more for bodybuilders, but the information is useful to everyone. It'll help you understand the basics of nutrition and you can start to develop a sense of what you're doing wrong with yours. Proper diet is probably the single biggest factor in both health and in losing weight, and if you're overweight, the reason for that is probably that you're doing it extremely wrong. It's fine to do it a little wrong, but you want to at least get the basics right. Obviously the better you are about diet, the healthier you'll be and the more weight you'll lose, but I know I don't have the time or patience for that and I'm sure a lot of other people don't, either. Getting the big things right doesn't take much time or effort and produces the best results, so start there.

The other info there and the info about fitness is good too. If you're up for it, you should consider coming up with a basic exercise plan that doesn't intrude too heavily into your life. You won't lose as much weight from exercise but it'll make you a lot healthier (especially cardio) and you'll feel better as a result. And one thing it will do is help you keep weight off once you've lost it. Just keep in mind that it's really easy to just stop working out, which is why you should try to make any fitness plan as unobtrusive as possible so that you don't just drop it the first time you find some excuse to stop (in my case it's usually when I get sick; I never start it back up afterward if I stop when I get sick).
 
Last edited:

Taemin

[i][b]MOVE[/i][/b]
11,204
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 36
  • USA
  • Seen Dec 10, 2023
I don't think fasting is the way to go, personally.

I once tried to lose weight by barely eating one day, and was going to just eat a big dinner, but my blood sugar dropped and I almost blacked out. I actually remember that specifically I was on PC that night and started feeling weird. That was.. over ten years ago now, but I wouldn't recommend that type of not eating to anyone ever. lol

My girlfriend sometimes goes all day without eating too, and over eats a lot at dinner, and she's disappointed because she's gained weight that way.

What helps me lose weight and keep off what I've lost is by eating a normal / small breakfast, a normal sized dinner, and in between those I eat things like yogurt, and protein bars, and healthy snacks. If you eat small things when you start to feel hungry, then you're not hungry anymore, plus you haven't eaten anything will cause you to gain much weight. Smoothies help too! Keeping yourself "full" on small things between meals helps a lot. Then you don't over eat once you finally get a meal.
 
Last edited:
43
Posts
5
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Oct 9, 2019
Well, intermittent fasting can be an effective way to lose weight but it is not really for everyone.
 

Swithdas

What's a forum and how do I use it again..
368
Posts
7
Years
Intermittent Fasting is something, from experience, that shouldn't be done on a permanent basis, but on top of that it needs to be done properly and certainly doesn't work for everyone. (I'll be shortening Intermittent Fasting to IF for the remainder of my post)

Almost 100% of the time I would recommend IF for people wanting to put on lean muscle mass. I wouldn't use it to just lose weight, although it will help with keeping you lean. I think where many people go wrong is that they look at IF and go, well then I'll just skip breakfast! This is wrong. breaking your fast (or breakfast) isn't skipped. You still break your fast but you do so later in the day. You shouldn't skip any meals ideally, and as I mentioned before, I believe you should be doing this if you're looking to build muscle, heavy weight training is highly recommended. This isn't saying you need to lift a huge weight, but you need to be doing weight heavy enough in relevance to your level of muscle/strength. Again I will stress if you're looking to just keep weight off, IF isn't going to be good for a LOT of people. It also isn't a sustainable process for many of us.

My typical plan during a cycle of IF would be to push my first meal beyond 1pm, and try not to eat after 10pm. You shouldn't worry about it being perfect, sometimes youll eat a bit before your goal of pushing it back and sometimes you'll eat later than you should. Not a problem, we're humans and not robots. We aren't perfect and as long as you're not missing your times every day and really screwing up there won't be much impact.

When it gets to to my time to break the fast, I'm looking to eat a fairly substantial meal. The idea of IF isn't for you to cut out food, it's to limit the times you eat food (unless you want to be in a calorie deficit, which there is no problem as long as your deficit isn't huge). After my first meal, personally, I eat another 2 meals. A smaller meal in the middle, and my personal favourite, a massive final meal. If I couldn't fit the small meal in between my 1st and 3rd meals, I would eat a small meal before my fast ends.

Now the above method won't work for everyone and is only a small insight into my own personal plan during an IF cycle. I know people who would eat 5-6 meals during their fast periods, people who ate only 2 meals that were both huge. Whatever works for the individual as long as you're still eating enough food. That's the thing here, I see a lot of people go wrong because instead of pushing back their first meal, the SKIP the meal without replacing it with another meal. This doesn't work, you still need to be eating the right amounts of food. IF also isn't a "I can skip (which we should never do) my breakfast and only eat 2 meals and I can eat poorly for some of these meals and be fine because IF is amazing." This also won't work properly and you still need a healthy balance of the right foods for your body.

Lastly, I mentioned before I don't believe it's sustainable for most people. Sure there will be people who can do it for months and months, sometimes over a year, but from my experience and from talking to friends and gym buddies who have used IF, it just isn't sustainable and shouldn't be what you're doing every day for your life.

*DISCLAIMER*
This is my opinion and experience with Intermittent fasting. I'm sure there will be people who agree with parts, and disagree with parts, of what I said which is cool. I respect everyone's own opinion and experiences as well. I thought I would just throw out there what I have to say on the matter since this is one of very few topics I can post about.
 
Last edited:
4,683
Posts
10
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024
I didn't know that's what that meant - I've heard the term intermittent fasting before but the "fasting" part made it seem more severe, like I expected it to be like a day of eating and then a day of not eating or something lol

If it's just not eating until noon or evening, I did that all the time, not to lose weight but I just had no time to eat around certain schedules when I was in college. I'd have morning classes and no breaks until like 3 or 4 pm (sometimes I'd cram some snacks in during the day for some energy but generally, I'd start eating actual meals pretty late), I'd eat then and have no appetite for dinner, maybe some snacks again at night but generally I ate very little.

It was also just a very standard way of life in my family growing up, we skipped breakfast all the time due to time restraints and would only eat lunch at like 1-3pm and dinner at 8-9pm.

And I mean, in terms of losing weight it definitely worked, even though that wasn't what I was trying to do - during the worst semesters I dropped to the lowest weight I was in my life during those periods unwittingly, at about 83 pounds and it took me about a year to notice and gain back roughly 10 pounds.
 

Swithdas

What's a forum and how do I use it again..
368
Posts
7
Years
There are certainly more extreme uses of IF, you can shorten the eating hours if you wish so you fast for longer, and in some cases people even go a whole day without eating but I would argue its even less sustainable than the basic level of IF which is a 16 hour fast followed by an 8 hour eating period. You can also use small hacks in the morning to get you through the hunger, like drinking a cup or two of black coffee with no sugar - the caffeine can help with holding off the hunger
 
Last edited:

Trev

[span="font-size: 8px; color: white;"][font="Monts
1,505
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen Nov 15, 2023
Pretty much all valid nutritionists and researchers have said that the key to weight loss in 95% diet, 5% exercise. If that's your goal, just shape up your diet based on your body's needs and you'll be fine.

Fasting is... generally terrible for weight loss. I personally have to eat a lot of food to maintain the energy that my high metabolism requires. I'm a little chubby right now, but generally I'm at a pretty healthy weight. Not eating or heavy restrictions on eating is just never a good idea. You'll probably feel like shit. Just eat a varied diet and research your dietary requirements and your body will do the rest.
 
597
Posts
12
Years
I considered trying this a few years ago, glad I didn't. The hunger would be have been too much.

I'd much rather just lose a pound a week by eating sensibly.
 

CrimsonMajestic

From Dusk to Dawn
152
Posts
5
Years
Im too hungry to do fasting
Is your primary source of calories derived from Carbs, primarily from fast-acting (additive) sugars? If so, this could explain somethings---especially if you experience a phenomenon known as "hangry", which is basically you get emotional when your brain (and/or hormones) plays tricks on you by making you think you're hungry.

Fasting is still a new method, but studies from health websites have been showing positive results than other gimmicks. Besides, it's only saying to not eat until the afternoon.
You meant intermittent fasting? Fasting has been a thing for ages. Heck, fasting has been referenced & revered in various religious texts. Sure, the term "intermittent fasting" is probably a new term, but idea is most likely ancient.

Which could be a problem if you need food in the morning. Exercise and a healthy diet will always trump all these silly fad gimmicks that keep coming up.
Agreed; however, 'healthy' means different means to different people, including various industries selling said gimmicks in the name of 'healthy'.

The best method to lose weight safely is by having a caloric deficit than what your body normally consumes (It's a certain calorie count based off of how much you weigh.)
I would have to disagree, especially if you're someone who could be classified as having some form of metabolic syndrome. To someone like that, an immediate caloric deficit would most likely serve more as a test of willpower than producing anything nourishing. Furthermore, the opposite would most likely be more true, and that they need to consume more calories from cleaner sources to reacquire nutrients previously lacking, and to allow your body to adjust toxins being leeched into the bloodstream from adipose tissues (body fat cells). Otherwise, you'll most likely be in for one hell of a ride.

You're likely to be hungrier when you're changing your eating habits
Agree, and elaborated in comment above

but it's much, much safer to prepare meals with a specific calorie goal in mind.
I don't completely disagree with this, but you're sure you shouldn't take food quality & micro/macro-nutrients into consideration?

Then again, all these "sciences" seem to contradict each other at some point.
Especially if these "sciences" are backed by State interests. When I say State interests, I am including research funded by large corporations that have connections with government agencies.

That plus having everything in moderation
As a side note, moderation is not always 50/50. Not saying you're interpreting this as such, just as a general statement.

The only thing that ruined me was finally losing the willpower to stop myself from not just grazing on every bit of junk food I saw in sight. I had a few days of bad eating when I was moving some months ago, and I never got myself back into the groove of what I was doing before. I stopped paying attention to calorie counts because I couldn't be bothered right now, and I went back to eating too many of them.
Instances like this are why I would recommend exploring one's behavioral psychology & metabolic state (aka relationship toward food) before placing themselves on restrictive diets/activities such as fasting. One way put, before going on a diet, condition yourself to be more resilient to addictive behaviors such as sugar (and/or gluten) addiction by emphasizing on more cleaner sourced foods (i.e. food quality) as opposed to obsessing over calorie-counting (i.e. obsessing over data). Now, don't treat this as an exercise of willpower. This mindset will most likely cause burnout, just like you cited.

During this phase, as mentioned before, you may be eating more (thus increasing your overall caloric intake), since your body is most likely starving for nutrients. Also, you have to supplement in order to combat certain drawbacks of changing metabolic behavior.

I've been doing intermittent fasting for almost two years now. For me it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.
As long as you feel good, and not experiencing long-term effects, keep it up (assuming you're still doing this)!

My meals are tailored with macros in mind plus plenty of hydration (and coffee. coffee is my best friend.)
Do you take micros into consideration as well?

not a doctor, but I'm a Bio major, and I'm pretty sure there have been cases of fasting working as long as individuals take supplements.
In that case, what's your take on such individuals mega-dosing on vitamin C on the short-term?

When you fast, your blood sugar decreases. Your body then goes to its storage sites to release glucose. if you don't have much stored, your body next targets sites of triglycerides and proteins and uses those to make energy instead.
I believe your body's usage of triglycerides as energy gives way for one to be in ketosis, absence of external glucose? Also, what's your take of protein (amino acids) being used as an energy source, as opposed to essential building blocks for your cells?

So technically you lose weight bc your body targets fat and protein for energy if it can't get it from your diet.
Also no excess glucose being stored?

however, glucose/energy isn't the only thing we get from our diet. For example, sodium and calcium are absolutely essential for every cell in your body, as well as several other compounds such as iodine.
May as well mention potassium while we're at it. Though, if we are to restrict carbs, I would imagine one would have to increase their sodium & potassium intake, due to carbs serving as a mean of water storage?

By the way, avocados are an excellent source of potassium, in case anyone's wondering.

It's easier to just eat to gain these nutrients, but if you're not eating you need to get them elsewhere, like from supplements, or you will die or have way more negative side effects than you intended.
Not to mention obtaining nutrients from food (not so-much industrialized products) provides a more holistic source of nutrition, as opposed to isolated compounds called supplements, which could increase the chances of overdosing on certain nutrients.

I don't think people should be fasting without seeing a doctor first, that seems pretty dumb.
Would a typical western doctor have a nutritional background, though?

The problem with this one is that when you skip meals that you normally eat, your brain responds by making you want to overeat for other meals.
If you primarily derive your calories from carbohydrates (in particular, added sugars) that may be true. However, not all individuals have this issues (at least for short periods of time).

If you want to lose weight effectively, the first thing you need to do is pass on all the fad diets and learn about basic nutrition so you can understand what you're doing most wrong.
And/or learn to start trusting your intuition, and ultimately listening to your body as opposed to solely trusting authority.

Intermittent Fasting is something, from experience, that shouldn't be done on a permanent basis...

...Lastly, I mentioned before I don't believe it's sustainable for most people. Sure there will be people who can do it for months and months, sometimes over a year, but from my experience and from talking to friends and gym buddies who have used IF, it just isn't sustainable and shouldn't be what you're doing every day for your life.
Agreed; one other thing to add, one should consider their lifestyle relative to intensity before considering depriving themselves.

I didn't know that's what that meant - I've heard the term intermittent fasting before but the "fasting" part made it seem more severe, like I expected it to be like a day of eating and then a day of not eating or something lol

If it's just not eating until noon or evening,
That is an acceptable definition of intermittent fasting.

It was also just a very standard way of life in my family growing up, we skipped breakfast all the time due to time restraints and would only eat lunch at like 1-3pm and dinner at 8-9pm.
Not trying to pick on you but skipping breakfast is impossible (hint: it's all in the name). Now if we are referring to how our cultural norms are regarding breakfast are fair enough.

And I mean, in terms of losing weight it definitely worked, even though that wasn't what I was trying to do - during the worst semesters I dropped to the lowest weight I was in my life during those periods unwittingly, at about 83 pounds and it took me about a year to notice and gain back roughly 10 pounds.
Question is, did you lose muscle and/or bone mass as well?

Pretty much all valid nutritionists and researchers have said that the key to weight loss in 95% diet, 5% exercise. If that's your goal, just shape up your diet based on your body's needs and you'll be fine.
Though those ratios seem pretty extreme, the point is valid. Also another factor to consider is quality sleep, since that's when your body does it recovery from the stresses of life. If your sleep is lacking, your body fat loss goals may be stalled a bit.

As for myself, I do this sometimes, mostly due to time constraints. However, ideally, I should probably be consuming more calories.
 
4,683
Posts
10
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024
Not trying to pick on you but skipping breakfast is impossible (hint: it's all in the name). Now if we are referring to how our cultural norms are regarding breakfast are fair enough.
Definitely the latter - that's just what I associate "breakfast" with despite the name. I don't know how to quantify bone mass but I definitely felt like I lose some muscle mass. I wasn't looking after myself well during that time and like I said, it wasn't intentional fasting and I didn't watch what I ate so it was not surprising my health took a dip.
 

CrimsonMajestic

From Dusk to Dawn
152
Posts
5
Years
Assuming you're interested in quantifying bone mass, there is a bone density test that one could get should they desire. Here's a publication from NIH detailing more.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top