Virginia | Sap77 - 3/26/2024 09:07
My mother said the same line about starving kids in africa. I also have a hard time throwing food away and just have to finish that last bite.
Been doing some reading lately about benefits of fasting. Seems the longer the better. Interesting how the religions pushed fasting at certain holidays some even weekly.
I've been intermittent fasting for a year now. I've read, and watched youtube, and researched everything I can so take what I say with a grain of salt.
I eat 1 time a day either around the 6-7 pm window or I'll eat a snack around 3 then supper at 6-7. So that is either OMAD (one mean a day) or a 20/4 diet plan (20 hr fast and 4 hr eating window)
I eat pretty much all the meat, vegetables, fruit I want and limit processed food and carbs from bread, pasta etc. I don't consider the carbs in fruit or vegetables as of the high fiber content that they have.
I've lost around 60 pounds over the past year eating this way. What's interesting I was eating the exact same foods and the same calories (around 3000) per day and having breakfast, lunch and supper and I hit a wall. I couldn't loose any more weight. I had been eating what I consider low carb and had lost 50 pounds over 1.5-2 years.
Once I went to intermittent fasting I changed nothing but eating it all at one time or over a 3-4 hr window and the weight just comes off.
Everything I have researched says that a 48 hr fast is about the longest you should do. The benefits of a 72 hr are not much more then the 48. I started with not eating supper and then having breakfast the next day. This is like a 36 hr fast, then I just kept moving it up to lunch (40-42 hr ) then supper (48-50 hr) fast. I try to do this once a week while intermittent fasting daily. I've found that once I go past the 22-24 hr mark your hunger goes away. I really enjoy the feeling that fasting gives me. I've done 72 hr fasts before but in my mind 3 days is a long time to go without eating, and honestly I wasn't hungry when I ate. You almost have to make yourself eat. So I just do a 48 hr now for fear of creating a eating disorder lol
You should alternate the days so your body doesn't get used to the pattern. I used to like eating Sunday night at a local buffet then breaking my fast on Tuesday night. I now do that for several weeks then I eat Friday night and break my fast Sunday night at the same restaurant. You just don't want your brain to pick up on a pattern. The same applies to your calorie intake. I eat a 3000 or so calorie a day diet. Some days I may eat 4k calories then follow up with 2k etc. I keep track of what I eat and I run a weekly average, averaging around 15000-20000 calories per week.
If weight loss is your goal you should look up your bmr (basil metabolic rate) they have online calculator that will figure it for you. It's based on age, activity level, frame size etc. It's pretty damn accurate. I didn't know of it I figured mine out by trial and error. Mine is 2400 calories. What this means is I burn this, just existing. ( breathing, digesting etc) if you drop under this number for a length of time you can actually slow your metabolism so you always want to eat that amount. That's why most diets fail, they restrict calories so your metabolism slows then you have to eat less and less etc.
They also have calorie calculator on line that tells you what you burn in a day. They are accurate also. I didn't know about them either I found mine by trial and error. For me if I eat 3k to 4k calories a day I will lose a little weight. If I go over 4k I'll slowly gain, if I go around 3k I loose. If I go to 2k I really lose etc.
According to my doctor and everything I've read 1 pound a week is healthy and normal.
A pound of fat is 3500 calories so restrict 500 calories per day and over 7 days you've lost a pound. If interested there is a ton of research online about this and I highly recommend Thomas Delaur on youtube and also Dr Eric Berg on youtube. They know there stuff on fasting
Good luck to you
Also I have went from 397 to now in the 280's eating like I've described. I want to get to 250. I'm 6'6 by the way and large framed. I carry weight well lol I was the healthiest looking 400 pound man around but it brought on high blood pressure and diabetes. Both of those have been cured by diet. I'm telling this to try and give some legitimacy to what I just wrote.
Best of luck and happy fasting |
Breakfast - the most important meal of the day
