Intermittent fasting

Rooter

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13 days into no added sugar. I'm down 2.4kg after an Xmas of excess. Started tracking macro's again also using an excellent app called Nutra Check. (please note, i am smashing out 8 hours ish of had CV training a week too) I am eating well and am coming in at just under 2200 kcal a day.
 

Orikoru

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I've been reading this topic with interest. I've never considered it something I can do, I often used to get light-headed or headaches if I miss one meal - but it might be just because I've never tried and my body is not used to missing meals. Perhaps on a day like a Friday, when I work from home, I could implement something like this.

Just as an example, if I simply skipped lunch every Friday, would that have any effect at all? Say I eat breakfast at 9:30 (three Weetabix + dried blueberries and cranberries), and dinner at 19:30 so would be 10 hours of fasting I guess. Is that useless?

Like a lot of people, me and the wife love our takeaways (twice a week, just on the weekends) and wouldn't want to give that up so it's about working around it. We have joined a gym now. Last week I played football on Monday, went to the gym on Tuesday & Wednesday, football Wednesday night, football Thursday night, and gym on Friday - end result was that I barely lost 1 pound. So I think I need to change something else.
 

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I've been reading this topic with interest. I've never considered it something I can do, I often used to get light-headed or headaches if I miss one meal - but it might be just because I've never tried and my body is not used to missing meals. Perhaps on a day like a Friday, when I work from home, I could implement something like this.

Just as an example, if I simply skipped lunch every Friday, would that have any effect at all? Say I eat breakfast at 9:30 (three Weetabix + dried blueberries and cranberries), and dinner at 19:30 so would be 10 hours of fasting I guess. Is that useless?

Like a lot of people, me and the wife love our takeaways (twice a week, just on the weekends) and wouldn't want to give that up so it's about working around it. We have joined a gym now. Last week I played football on Monday, went to the gym on Tuesday & Wednesday, football Wednesday night, football Thursday night, and gym on Friday - end result was that I barely lost 1 pound. So I think I need to change something else.

To lose 1lb of weight, you generally need to create a calorie deficit of 3500. Aiming for this over a week is achieveable, so would suggest you need to work out how many calories are in the food that you eat. Unfortunately there are likely going to be a lot of calories in your take aways, it does look like you are quite active though so this will help with creating a deficit. To be honest,I would get rid of the take aways for a couple of months to really help with the diet side of things, then can always bring 1 a week back when you are only looking to maintain weight.

At the start of 2020 just before Covid hit, I lost 12 kg's in 8 weeks without doing anything groundbreaking. I went to the gym for an hour 4 days a week (20 minutes on the bike going almost as quick as I could, followed by some weights) and ate sensibly. Eating healthy stuff means you can eat more and you can definitely make some really tasty stuff. For me it was all about getting some exercise in, but more importantly cutting out all of the crap food, I was a real sucker for the food van at work and crisps.
 

Orikoru

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To lose 1lb of weight, you generally need to create a calorie deficit of 3500. Aiming for this over a week is achieveable, so would suggest you need to work out how many calories are in the food that you eat. Unfortunately there are likely going to be a lot of calories in your take aways, it does look like you are quite active though so this will help with creating a deficit. To be honest,I would get rid of the take aways for a couple of months to really help with the diet side of things, then can always bring 1 a week back when you are only looking to maintain weight.

At the start of 2020 just before Covid hit, I lost 12 kg's in 8 weeks without doing anything groundbreaking. I went to the gym for an hour 4 days a week (20 minutes on the bike going almost as quick as I could, followed by some weights) and ate sensibly. Eating healthy stuff means you can eat more and you can definitely make some really tasty stuff. For me it was all about getting some exercise in, but more importantly cutting out all of the crap food, I was a real sucker for the food van at work and crisps.
I just love food though. I almost feel like I'm joining the gym so I can still have the takeaways. If I wanted to cut the takeaways I'd also not bother with the gym. :LOL: I do need to give the gym more time to take effect though of course, still getting into the swing of things with that at the moment. Probably not done enough while I'm there as I'm still feeling it out, kind of thing.
 

SteveW86

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I just love food though. I almost feel like I'm joining the gym so I can still have the takeaways. If I wanted to cut the takeaways I'd also not bother with the gym. :LOL: I do need to give the gym more time to take effect though of course, still getting into the swing of things with that at the moment. Probably not done enough while I'm there as I'm still feeling it out, kind of thing.

When trying to lose weight, food is the key. For the average joe, its pretty much impossible to out train a bad diet, so I'd almost say if you arent going to give the take aways up, then you arent going to lose weight without making the meals you eat for the rest of the week pretty painful.
 

Orikoru

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When trying to lose weight, food is the key. For the average joe, its pretty much impossible to out train a bad diet, so I'd almost say if you arent going to give the take aways up, then you arent going to lose weight without making the meals you eat for the rest of the week pretty painful.
That's fair. I guess I'm not asking for an athlete's body, I'd rather be slightly tubby and happy than thin and miserable. The big takeaway is Saturday night and I tend to play golf at midday so I'm skipping lunch and walking for 3.5 hours at least. :D
 

Mudball

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That's fair. I guess I'm not asking for an athlete's body, I'd rather be slightly tubby and happy than thin and miserable. The big takeaway is Saturday night and I tend to play golf at midday so I'm skipping lunch and walking for 3.5 hours at least. :D


I am sure there are more informed people here who can guide you. Yesterday, I hit the bike and weights for an hour!! . Had also skipped breakfast. But ended up having a big Nandos (because we had other commitments). So i guess the there was no benefit of the gym for me.

The other thing we havent discussed is SLEEP. My Nandos was fairly late, (9:30) and then ended up going to bed around 11 after watching some telly. Ideally, you want to have an early dinner and then atleast 2 hours before bed. So stick to 19:30 if you are doing ur takeaways.
Also dont skimp on your water intake. AND dont drink at the 19th or the halfway hut everytime (a cheeky one may be alright)
 
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I am sure there are more informed people here who can guide you. Yesterday, I hit the bike and weights for an hour!! . Had also skipped breakfast. But ended up having a big Nandos (because we had other commitments). So i guess the there was no benefit of the gym for me.

The other thing we havent discussed is SLEEP. My Nandos was fairly late, (9:30) and then ended up going to bed around 11 after watching some telly. Ideally, you want to have an early dinner and then atleast 2 hours before bed. So stick to 19:30 if you are doing ur takeaways.
Also dont skimp on your water intake. AND dont drink at the 19th or the halfway hut everytime (a cheeky one may be alright)
Re the bit in bold, I genuinely believe you are being a bit harsh on yourself, try looking at a longer period for any real benefits of going the gym/weight loss/food intake etc.

1 Nando’s every now and then isn’t going to hurt, just like going the gym regularly will help.

It is difficult, but try and ignore weighing yourself or measuring the waist etc too regular, set yourself 2 weeks or even longer between getting on the scales etc.

Unless seriously training try and remember results will take time and preventing yourself from getting pee’d off and stopping trying is the way to go.
 

Orikoru

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I am sure there are more informed people here who can guide you. Yesterday, I hit the bike and weights for an hour!! . Had also skipped breakfast. But ended up having a big Nandos (because we had other commitments). So i guess the there was no benefit of the gym for me.

The other thing we havent discussed is SLEEP. My Nandos was fairly late, (9:30) and then ended up going to bed around 11 after watching some telly. Ideally, you want to have an early dinner and then atleast 2 hours before bed. So stick to 19:30 if you are doing ur takeaways.
Also dont skimp on your water intake. AND dont drink at the 19th or the halfway hut everytime (a cheeky one may be alright)
You say that, but I normally look at it the other way. Rather than thinking 'I had a Nando's so that rendered my gym session pointless', I would normally view it as 'I went to the gym earlier so that allowed me to eat a Nando's with a lot of calories already cancelled out.' :)

I am with you on eating earlier, but I constantly have to nag my wife on that front. She's a serial procrastinator, with everything, so she'll quite happily eat at 8, or 8:30, or even 9pm. I am always telling her I want to eat at 7pm ideally, 7:30 at the latest.

I definitely don't drink enough water. But, I don't drink much alcohol either these days (the two weeks around Christmas were a big exception to this!). My post-golf drink is two shandies. Ever since Covid started we've rarely ever gone out to the pub on the weekend like we used to.
 

stefanovic

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Please explain why 'second brain' is enclosed in quotes if it's actually real!
Time you wound your 'body clock' up!
Everything in language is metaphor.
The thinking part of the brain is in the cerebrum.
We know only so much about our head brain and are only starting to understand the gut brain.

The Brain-Gut Connection | Johns Hopkins Medicine

If you don't like the idea of "second brain" or "gut brain" you are free to call it what you like, because like I say everything in language is metaphor.
Whatever you call your brains, you will need to keep both healthy.
By overeating or undereating you may well harm them both.
 
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That's fair. I guess I'm not asking for an athlete's body, I'd rather be slightly tubby and happy than thin and miserable. The big takeaway is Saturday night and I tend to play golf at midday so I'm skipping lunch and walking for 3.5 hours at least. :D
Unfortunately the bit in bold is not quite correct, and that is where people end up fibbing to themselves to try and justify the extra takeaway or extra portion. Yes, a round of golf takes 3.5-4 hours but you aren’t walking for this amount of time. A 4 hour steady walk would be about 12-16 miles, much more than a round of golf. Also, those who say, I spent over an hour at the gym so can have a few pints might also be kidding themselves if they count getting changed, waiting between reps, swapping machines (including wiping them down afterward) etc. They may only be exercising for half the time they think they are.
 

HowlingGale

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After reading this thread I decided to work out how many calories a favourite breakfast of mine is. Toast with peanut butter and jam. Weighed out the peanut butter as 60g and it wasn't even two large tablespoons! That equates to about 360 cals alone. Fainted and stopped there. Didn't bother weighing the toast and jam.

From experience if you want to shift a bit of timber you need to be constantly about 7 on the hunger scale. 1 being full and 10 being starving. Exercise alone doesn't work. You need to cut calories.
 

Rooter

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From experience if you want to shift a bit of timber you need to be constantly about 7 on the hunger scale. 1 being full and 10 being starving. Exercise alone doesn't work. You need to cut calories.

Sorry but that’s bull of the highest order. There is no need to be hungry on a calorie deficit diet. If you are, you are eating the wrong foods.
you are right in exercise alone is not enough, you can’t out train a bad diet.
 

Foxholer

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Everything in language is metaphor...
If you don't like the idea of "second brain" or "gut brain" you are free to call it what you like, because like I say everything in language is metaphor.
Oh dear! Been on those mushrooms again?!
There is no 'gut brain'! Just a bunch of neurons, same as in many other parts of the body - in fact, in the entire central nervous system!
 

AmandaJR

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Personally I do better when I stop thinking about exercise as a calorie burner rather than on a way to be fitter and healthier. That mindset means it's more about quality than quantity and, for me, is a healthier mindset.
 

HowlingGale

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Sorry but that’s bull of the highest order. There is no need to be hungry on a calorie deficit diet. If you are, you are eating the wrong foods.
you are right in exercise alone is not enough, you can’t out train a bad diet.
Not from my experience it's not. Tried a number of things years ago when I was sporting and the only thing that worked was being hungry most of the time. Maybe the understanding of things has changed since a decade ago but I couldn't lose weight unless I was just hungry.
 
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