16/8 Intermittent Fasting Worth It?

[LucyT]

Y'all are a bunch of scientific folks, so maybe you can help me out. I have read a couple of systematic reviews and meta-analysis' on intermittent fasting, and have been doing a lot of research, a lot of YouTube video watching and reading of other people's experiences. And I might want to try it out. However, I don't want to if it is not worth it in the long run.

I have been told by people who eat like crap that it will cause me to destroy my metabolism, I doubt my metabolism would crash due to not eating for 16 hours a day, and eating throughout the other 8, otherwise, the Jews and Muslims would have the worst metabolism due to Ramadan and Yom Kippur.

My questions would be this:

1. Does Intermittent fasting help with weight loss and can you provide evidence for it?

2. Does it have any other benefits to your metabolism?

3. Does it have any known long-term harms?

4. Is it worth it in the long run?

[brimstoneSalad]

1. Does Intermittent fasting help with weight loss and can you provide evidence for it?

For some people, yes. For other people, no. Weight loss is very much habit and psychology driven, so for some people I.F. can really help them, but for others it may be useless or worse than useless and promote eating disorders.

I don't think there have been any good studies on what the distribution in probability between help and harm are. If you want to try it, I'd approach it cautiously.

2. Does it have any other benefits to your metabolism?
3. Does it have any known long-term harms?

Metabolically, I don't think it has any credible benefits or harms.

4. Is it worth it in the long run?

We don't know.

[LucyT]

@brimstoneSalad I have been told that the way it works has to deal with lessening insulin spikes for the hours that you don't eat. Do you think there is any accuracy to this claim?

Also, I am hoping that this helps me lower the number of calories I eat over time and stop grazing all day long. Do you think that it could potentially help with that?

[brimstoneSalad]

@brimstoneSalad I have been told that the way it works has to deal with lessening insulin spikes for the hours that you don't eat. Do you think there is any accuracy to this claim?

I think that's speculative and begs the question: does it work at all?

Also, I am hoping that this helps me lower the number of calories I eat over time and stop grazing all day long. Do you think that it could potentially help with that?

It might help you stop grazing, but that may not lower your calorie consumption depending on how much you usually graze and how much more you'll eat during those hours out of increased hunger.

[cornivore]

Personally, I don't think it's a big deal, in practice. I've pretty much been fasting lately, after eating once per day (at night) for a while, then I increased the interval in between the one meal to 48 hours. So that's how often I eat, and the reason I did it was primarily to give myself a rest from being a digestive machine, so to speak. I'd observed that my intestinal transit time was 24 hours, so I wanted to take 24 hours off from that point, to be free from it half the time. I feel better in general, and am not losing weight. I think this is because the timing of my diet is efficient, and I make the most of my calories while sleeping, like a bear hibernating. It isn't unusual for animals to fast intermittently or even go dormant, and they physically outperform people for the most part (whether sleeping longer, or running faster), while not eating every nutrient known to man either. To me it's just a natural rhythm, which is like a microcosm of the wild kingdom (and that's often a mixture of feast and famine). I'll sip water on the days off from eating, but I'm still so hydrated that drinking a lot will make me "go" too often (unless I were sweating a lot). Exercise is no problem, I have more stamina on a fast because I'm not using extra energy to digest anything. The energy is there, I just have to get warmed up to feel it, then it's steady. So I'd say that if you think your diet is balanced otherwise, go for it, and see how you feel. I consider this activity to balance my digestive process, which I think is the other half of a balanced diet.

"Is it worth it in the long run?" Well it only costs me half as much to eat this way, and I don't like to shop all that much either, so yeah. It seems to be more efficient in general. I suppose eating too often is a known problem (given the number of digestive aids on shelves) and fasting is perhaps a lesser known (or promoted) solution to that, because there's nothing to sell for it (wild guess). The digestive aids, or side effects of those plus eating more than necessary would likely compromise one's health in the long term, compared to intermittent fasting, which should have zero side effects. Or that's just me. I think it seems more natural, like a sleep/wake cycle, having an eat/fast cycle. Sometimes how long those last are personal preferences, sometimes not. What to watch out for are illnesses caused by improper nutrient consumption. Here's a list...

[cornivore]

Fasting for longer periods at a time may cause refeeding syndrome, so that's a different story. According to another article, negligible food intake for more than five days puts one at risk of developing refeeding problems (and more than ten days is high risk).

[cornivore]

Does Intermittent fasting help with weight loss and can you provide evidence for it?

Well you know, according to "hoyle" if you do not eat as many calories on average, and burn so many for existing, then weight loss would be a given (and how you go about it probably isn't the most important thing, besides extreme starvation or other eating disorders). I didn't seem to lose any weight for the first three weeks, although I thought my appearance was changing (looking in the mirror), so apparently I lost some fat and retained water weight. Today I weighed in a few pounds lighter since three days ago, and I haven't been exercising lately, so that could be a trend (we shall see). I could stand to lose 60 pounds or so before I'd know if it levels out at some point (I'm coming off of a vegetarian junk food diet after a few years of not exercising regulary, and being vegan for the past few months, balancing nutrients and such). I will still exercise too, but around an hour a day wasn't changing the scale initially (yet I've lost a lot of weight from distance running in the past, while eating much more frequently, though I'd prefer not to anymore). I'm interested in finding out if intermittent fasting becomes more efficient as I get lighter, because maybe I'd expend less energy to do the same things then. Otherwise I may have to eat more often to maintain a healthy weight (which depends on the individual to some extent—there are bodyweight ranges or ratios defined for guidance though). My guess was that I'd lose a pound per week, at most, the way it was going. Now I don't know, maybe more. It's too soon to tell if this will mostly go in spurts or a steady decline. I'll know in a couple o' few months...

[Take5]

Hi Lucy

The good folk over at Mumsnet have been investigating - and practicing - IF for about 6 years, now, ever since the BBC Horizon programme on the subject was aired.

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_di ... ng-machine

Lots of good info - and a brilliant support group. I used to use it a lot.

I've been IFing for over 6 years now - lost 24 lbs over 8 months, and I've been the same weight ever since. I began with the 5:2 technique (eating normally on 2 days, and eating a quarter of calories on the other two days), but when I decided I was at the right weight, I switched to a 24hr fast once a week. Since I don't eat breakfast, I'll throw in a couple of 16:8s as well. I'm prone to a bit of evening snacking, otherwise every day would be a 16:8.

I'm coming to the end of a 24hr fast (only water and black coffee) ATM - I shall have my lunch at 2pm.

The benefits? Well, they're legion - I have tons of energy, I often skip a couple of steps when I'm walking round town - I'll skip across the lounge to open the curtains in the morning - I'll take a couple of skips down the garden path to the garage; I just feel so good; Lots of time is saved by not preparing/eating/washing up, etc; If I'm out somewhere and there is no vegan food available, I can easily switch to fasting mode; (I reckon every vegan should have a bit of IF in their locker for those occasions); when I'm fasting, I liken it to putting my body in for a service - cells get cleaned out and rejuvenated, telemores are lengthened, and I'm putting off dementia, if nothing else. One other thing - IF has been shown to lower IGF-1, just as eating WFPB does - the two together are a powerful combination. BTW, I also practice HIIT, and do other forms of exercise. I'm fitter now than I've ever been.

So, my advice would be to check out the Mumsnet thread - and give it a go.

ATB.

[cornivore]

That's neat, I hadn't known people categorized fasting at less than 24 hour intervals, aside from maybe pre-op procedures. So far my 48 hour intervals are resulting in fairly steady weight loss, and I feel fine (perhaps because I have some fat reserves, I'm not especially hungry in between, and get full with the same amount when I eat). Well my body might be following suit with my philosophy on the matter, as far as not being hungry; I don't really consider it a fast, just a rest period, and now I think of water as a kind of meal too (after all it is a mega nutrient that people typically can't go without as long as the macro nutrients in food, so I'm still getting the most essential one on a daily basis).

Does Intermittent fasting help with weight loss and can you provide evidence for it?

Here's what the scale said:
June
14th = 208 lbs
16th = 207
18th = 208
20th = 207
23rd = 202
25th = 202
26th = 201
27th = 201
28th = 203
29th = 198
30th = 199
July
3rd = 195 lbs

Weight loss appears to be the trend for me, at this interval anyway...

[cornivore]

Another thing to be aware of when doing something other than absolute fasting is that the potential for water intoxication may be higher, so moderating water consumption would be in order too (I was naturally doing this though, because I'd pee more often than normal if I drank water all the time—I actually looked up how often a normal amount of peeing was too).