Reps for serious answers. I'm doing a daily fast to limit total caloric intake, and possibly whatever side benefits (keto, focus, less cravings, etc) are.

I've been just eating 1 meal a day, and eating 7 - 11pm, and that's just not working. For some reason, even a 24 hour fast is more successful than this, I begin going after sugar, and I'm just so foggy and messed up, I'm useless during these 4 hours, and isn't enjoyable.

I'm trying 5-10 today. I just try to go the longest without side effects for max benefits.


What have you guys had the most success with?

Ty!

I've never fasted intentionally, but there have been times on my own where I could not afford to buy food and had to stretch out my meals or just not eat for a few days. My girl grew up going hungry on the weekends and had to deal with similar chit as a kid. Ended up losing too much weight, but I survived.

These days fortunately there is plenty of food and no worries about running low, been doing a lot of bulking and strength training.

People usually fast for religious reasons or to lose weight. Muslims are fasting right now for Ramadan. Fasting has also emerged recently as a popular diet trend for weight loss, but it is something that is really old.

When I had to fast, I would have one meal at sundown. I would make rice or flatbread and a bit of protein if I had some. Would also drink lots of water throughout the day and tea/coffee if I had any. I definitely experienced a weakened physical and mental capacity while I was fasting, and it was also a serious challenge of constitution. It was necessary to survive though and I made it through alright.

One of the big mistakes I made was to start eating normal meals immediately after it was over. This can make you sick, you want to build back slowly as your body has basically gone into starvation mode. In terms of fitness, the only practical purpose of fasting seems to be weight loss, which definitely has many health benefits to an extent. In the extreme, malnourishment is not healthy and took a while to recover from.

In terms of abstract effects, it really gave me a different appreciation for food and life itself. I've always admired ascetics who lead highly disciplined lives while living on very little, but I never thought I would have to live that way just to get by. I can see why people do it for religious reasons, it puts you in a certain state of mind. I'm not really religious though. That's all my experiences with fasting to share.

Do you see great results?

Just do 2 or 3 36 hour fasts a week. If you really have that hard of a time once you start eating then just not eating for a couple days a week is probably more effective.

Scientifically the no eating after 6pm thing has been debunked but for a behaviour thing combined with fasting you basically end up doing a 12 hour fast.

It sounds like long fasts just arent for you though.

Don't keep sugary bs in your house, it creates a soft barrier, if you want to have some you then have to go out and specifically get that. I find I get to the door and go.... Nah don't do that and it helps 9/10 times.

I have half my kcal at breakfast then a medium lunch, smallish dinner around 6pm and hot that 12 hours.

Since you're kind of on the same page with what I'm trying to do, and that makes a lot of sense...

Are you saying you eat around like 4pm?

What's a typical 1500 cal meal you consume? (how did you come to that number?) Weight / height?

Are you big into lifting as well? (lift heavy >250lb lifts?) Ever notice negative lifting results? Are you on this year round?

At my best, and in my opinion the best form of IF, I was doing the below. Strongest & leanest I’ve ever been.

12:30/1:00-2:00: Lift fasted with BCAAs (or amino whatever now)
2:15/2:30: Break the fast. HUGE meal. I would eat 4 chicken breasts & like an lb of kale/broccoli. Honestly at that point you’re so hungry it doesn’t even matter
3:30-6:00ish: Do whatever, I would basically graze all day until supper
7:00-8:00: Final meal. Finish by 8 or so, I never really count the hour after eating towards the fast. Doesn’t really matter. Ideally, finish the meal with casein or some slow digesting protein.

So roughly 18 hour fast I’d say. Usually try to keep it consistent around those hours. Got real fukn strong and real fukn lean. Want to get back to that once it makes more sense for my work/life balance

I like OMAD when I'm busy and barely spend any time at home - effective & sustainable. I'd usually eat in the evening due to my schedule, but otherwise I'd prefer to do it around 4-5 pm.

when I'm at home quite a bit and snacks are just too tempting, I usually go for IF with a 4-5 hour eating window - usually between 1-6 pm. I found that food in the morning does not help much with satiety later in the day, while big meals late in the evening tend to get excessive and also mess with your sleep.