Alternate day fasting

[geraldc]

Anyone watch the Horizon program on it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfna7nV7WaM

Impressive enough results for me to give it a go.

[Martin109]

Yes, same here.  Coincided with a routine health check at my GPs, showing raised cholesterol, similar to Dr MM, so I'm definitely giving it a good go, and looking forward to losing weight too.

[Edit for typo]

[numbnuts]

I saw the program too, but if one is fasting and you go out for a ride say 20 miles + would you not bonk as you will be running on empty

[Martin109]

Well, I'm going to do the 5:2 version (2 fasting days at 5-600 cals), and make sure those are not days when I have to cycle any distance, or even at all.

[Aidan]

We've been trying the 5:2 version. so far so good after two fasting days, and we have been scheduling the days in to fit in with work patterns and  bike riding.  Third day today. Had poached egg on toast and black tea for breakfast, tea and water until tea time then haddock and asparagus for tea.   both lost weight already  and feel better for it.   The fasting is hard to do but gets easier each time  you do it.  We've also found that appetite and ability to eat lots of food on the inbetween days is reduced too.

For me its a good way of reducing calorie intake, while also having some support at home( which really makes things easier) as Mrs Aidan has picked up on this, liked the idea as seemingly sensible , compared to other diets which try to sell you something, and wants to lose weight for holidays!

[Ariadne]

I've been doing the 5:2 one as well - principally because of the Alzheimer's impact. I'm really concerned about Alzheimer's and anything that can help has to be good. 

I can't see it leading to huge weight loss because you're only down about 3000 calories a week, and you could easily make them up the rest of the time. I don't really understand how Mosley lost so much - he must have been eating less on other days, too, I suppose.

It's really grabbed people's imagination, though - I saw the Telegraph this morning had recipes for it!

[Arch]

A colleague at work also does deliveries for a healthfood shop, and was telling me that one of the employees there has become obsessed with it, to the extent of working out the calorific value of carrots and that he could eat 2 kilos of carrots on a fasting day if he wanted... Not quite got the point, I think, plus, he'll turn yellow...

I didn't see it, but MFWHTBAB did and was taken with the idea. I can see the theory, but can't imagine coping with fasting at lunchtime in my job, when I'm so often wilting by then. I guess I'd have to get over that and wait for my body to adapt....

[Ewan Houzami]

I've started it, and I don't find it too hard as I can easily go a day without eating if I don't have to do anything energetic, so 500kcal on the 'fasting' days is relative luxury!

Interestingly Michael Mosley* also presented a Horizon recently about how to get fit quickly without doing tons of 'base'. It involved short, fairly painful (VO₂max) intervals which increase HGH - breaking down into Testosterone and IGF-1 iirc - helping to burn fat and increase muscle mass. And slow down the ageing process. This '5:2 diet' does the opposite wrt IGF-1, ie. it decreases it, and in so doing forces the body into 'repair mode' (using energy that would otherwise be given over to 'growth mode' - leading to weight loss among other things) and also slow down ageing in a roundabout way. Problem is, when I go out on my bike I like to do the odd interval session, so it looks like there might be a conflict re hormones, and I should just stick to noodling about at an easy pace while I'm trying to get rid of my recently acquired beergut.

Annoying too that the 5:2 says to avoid protein as much as possible. What with me trying to avoid carbs too unless I have something energetic planned for the day, there doesn't seem to be much left. Except for fat and sugar 

*Fascinating guy. Studied PPE at Oxford and worked for the man in the city for a couple of years. Got bored (quite rightly) of that and decided to train to be a doctor with the aim of becoming a trick cyclist. He got disillusioned with that soon after qualifying after hearing how other psychiatrists wanted to leave the profession, and happened to see an ad for a BBC trainee producer course, prettty much flipped a coin and thought 'why not give that a bash?'

[geraldc]

Isn't avoiding protein only necessary if you want to avoid the cancer risk? (admittedly one of the things that has attracted me to the diet).

[Ewan Houzami]

Reading the Telegraph article the other day Mosley said he allowed himself to eat scrambled eggs on his fasting days - so going against the advice of trying to cut down on protein. But I haven't watched the program yet - I've just garnered a bunch of informations from articles I've read over the last few months. So you might be right.

[twiddler]

I've started it, and I don't find it too hard as I can easily go a day without eating if I don't have to do anything energetic, so 500kcal on the 'fasting' days is relative luxury!

Interestingly Michael Mosley* also presented a Horizon recently about how to get fit quickly without doing tons of 'base'. It involved short, fairly painful (VO₂max) intervals which increase HGH - breaking down into Testosterone and IGF-1 iirc - helping to burn fat and increase muscle mass. And slow down the ageing process. This '5:2 diet' does the opposite wrt IGF-1, ie. it decreases it, and in so doing forces the body into 'repair mode' (using energy that would otherwise be given over to 'growth mode' - leading to weight loss among other things) and also slow down ageing in a roundabout way. Problem is, when I go out on my bike I like to do the odd interval session, so it looks like there might be a conflict re hormones, and I should just stick to noodling about at an easy pace while I'm trying to get rid of my recently acquired beergut.

Annoying too that the 5:2 says to avoid protein as much as possible. What with me trying to avoid carbs too unless I have something energetic planned for the day, there doesn't seem to be much left. Except for fat and sugar 

*Fascinating guy. Studied PPE at Oxford and worked for the man in the city for a couple of years. Got bored (quite rightly) of that and decided to train to be a doctor with the aim of becoming a trick cyclist. He got disillusioned with that soon after qualifying after hearing how other psychiatrists wanted to leave the profession, and happened to see an ad for a BBC trainee producer course, prettty much flipped a coin and thought 'why not give that a bash?'

Just to let you know sugar is also a carb, so you're now down to fat only! 

[Ewan Houzami]

I know.   I was playing at dietary alchemy - fudging the outcome in the forlorn hope that maybe a diet comprised solely of chocolate (or fudge) would be the tasty way to effortless weight-loss. (Well, at least I understand what I'm on about! I think..)

[hellymedic]

I know.   I was playing at dietary alchemy - fudging the outcome in the forlorn hope that maybe a diet comprised solely of chocolate (or fudge) would be the tasty way to effortless weight-loss. (Well, at least I understand what I'm on about! I think..)

When I were a lass, Ayds were bits of fudge marketed to help weight los...

[mcshroom]

Right I'm going to have a go at 5/2

My fast days should be Monday and Thursday, (so fasting tomorrow then )

[hellymedic]

Right I'm going to have a go at 5/2

My fast days should be Monday and Thursday, (so fasting tomorrow then )

Really pious Jews used to fast on Mondays and Thursdays.
Trufax.

[mcshroom]

Interesting. When I thought about it I originally considered Friday as that is still a traditional day of abstinence in Catholicism, but decided I do too many night rides that would screw up the program.

[Ewan Houzami]

There's an idea too among some mystics that month-long (or more) stints of total fasting* can induce profound feelings of acceptance of everything, aka 'enlightenment'. Supposedly one of the reasons why Jesus did his forty days in the desert, (and possibly one of the reasons behind Ramadan?) Makes me wonder if the Hellym's hardcore Jews' 5:2 program was the slightly less ascetic way to experience Jacob's Ladder (between rungs two and five). Not sure how this works with hunger-strikers though!

*Edit. Absolute social isolation and other painful aspects of self-denial may be necessary too.

[mcshroom]

I watched a series of video diaries by a woman who did a whole month's juice fast a few months back. I was a little worried about her by the end to be perfectly honest. Physically she looked fine, but the mental side seemed to be getting creepy.

[numbnuts]

Interesting. When I thought about it I originally considered Friday as that is still a traditional day of abstinence in Catholicism, but decided I do too many night rides that would screw up the program.

It's not we eat fish on Friday

[hellymedic]

Interesting. When I thought about it I originally considered Friday as that is still a traditional day of abstinence in Catholicism, but decided I do too many night rides that would screw up the program.

It's not we eat fish on Friday

Yebbut I thought that was a throwback to abstainimg from meat...

[mrcharly-YHT]

I watched a series of video diaries by a woman who did a whole month's juice fast a few months back. I was a little worried about her by the end to be perfectly honest. Physically she looked fine, but the mental side seemed to be getting creepy.

been there, done that.

Well, not quite a month. Two weeks.

5 days in I felt fine - the headaches and suchlike went - but not reserves at all. Felt full of energy, but it wouldn't last 5 minutes. I think exertion produced crashes in blood sugar and corresponding mood swings. Hyper to comatose in 5 minutes and back again.

[mcshroom]

Interesting. When I thought about it I originally considered Friday as that is still a traditional day of abstinence in Catholicism, but decided I do too many night rides that would screw up the program.

It's not we eat fish on Friday

Yebbut I thought that was a throwback to abstainimg from meat...

It is.

The law of the Church requires Catholics on Fridays to abstain from meat, or some other form of food, or to observe some other form of penance laid down by the Bishops’ Conference. The Bishops have decided to re-establish the practice that this penance should be fulfilled simply by abstaining from meat and by uniting this to prayer. Those who cannot or choose not to eat meat as part of their normal diet should abstain from some other food of which they regularly partake.

This decision will come into effect from Friday 16 September 2011.

I was thinking more of the fact that it is a day of penance (if you decide to follow the rules of the church) so fasting would have been appropriate for a Friday in a way

[Martin109]

This is the first low cal day I'm doing, and I've started a thread on 'Food and Drink', suggesting we collect some meal plan ideas.

[numbnuts]

Right I'm going to have a go at 5/2

My fast days should be Monday and Thursday, (so fasting tomorrow then )

Really pious Jews used to fast on Mondays and Thursdays.
Trufax.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward
Matthew 6:16

Yesterday I only had one banana, one small apple, and a cup of soup 

[Manotea]

I watched a series of video diaries by a woman who did a whole month's juice fast a few months back. I was a little worried about her by the end to be perfectly honest. Physically she looked fine, but the mental side seemed to be getting creepy.

been there, done that.

Well, not quite a month. Two weeks.

5 days in I felt fine - the headaches and suchlike went - but not reserves at all. Felt full of energy, but it wouldn't last 5 minutes. I think exertion produced crashes in blood sugar and corresponding mood swings. Hyper to comatose in 5 minutes and back again.

I tried the dreaded lemonade diet for 15 days or so a few years back, losing about 10lbs in the process. I felt well enough to manage light exercise, swimming and jogging for about 30minutes daily. I found that as I adjusted to the diet I made the mix  thinner and thinner so that towards the end I was on circa 300cal a day, and felt I could go on for at least the same again. What did for me was boredom; I just wanted to eat something - I found myself nibbling stale crumbs from the 'bread board' - and discovering just how anti-social and alienating a sustained fast is. Until you try it you have no idea how central to our lives the act of eating is. We spend vast amounts of time not just eating , but planning menus, shopping, cooking, washing up, resting and most importantly socialising about food and drink, and when the only thing you need to buy is a small bottle of maple syrup and a couple of lemons, supermarkets with theirs aisles of nothingness turn into temples of consumption and vice. So yes, you do feel a certain amount of enlightenment and sanctity. In fact, just about the only thing that comes close is a Brevet 10k Audax season.