Re:Ask HN: What is your experience with intermittent fasting?
by QuantumAphid on Monday December 10, 2018 @10:07AM
(#18648376)
I've had pretty good experience with it.
I discount the touted magical benefits and just focus on the practical results, which for me has been increased hardiness/resilience with regard to energy levels.
My approach:
- Follow a cyclical pattern. Your body/metabolism evolved to endure periods of hunger as well as taking advantage of relative plenty. Try to flex your metabolism each week by eating little or no food for 24+ hours, then eating one meal per day (nutrient dense, see below), then eating two per day, increasing until you eat to satiety (just before going back into the extended fast).
- This is a bit like treating each week as an annual seasonal cycle. For my schedule, Sun night through Wed morning is Winter (mostly fasting), Wed/Thu is Spring (one meal per day), Fri/Sat is Summer (two meals), Sunday is Autumn and feasting before Winter comes.
- You'll be eating much less in total volume, so focus on maximum nutrition density when (re)feeding. This means eating things like (grass-fed) liver and heart, wild-caught fish and bivalves, vegetables and leafy greens to replenish nutrients and minerals. From a nutritional standpoint, this is not so much a keto/hflc/carnivore/paleo approach, it's really just: Eat meat and vegetables. During the Summer/Fall cycle of my week I'll deviate a little and add berries or low glycemic veggies.
- I exercise with high intensity twice per week. Once on Wed morning (ideally fasted), and once on Sunday morning. The rest of the week I just do a bit of stretching/mobility. This isn't critical to the fasting program, but I find that the metabolism flexing through fasting is a positive stress that complements the physical activity (also a positive stress).
So, that's it. The cyclical nature of it feels good to me, it feels a bit more natural, the nutritional part feels really good, and I've had really good results from an energy level and body composition standpoint.
My approach:
- Follow a cyclical pattern. Your body/metabolism evolved to endure periods of hunger as well as taking advantage of relative plenty. Try to flex your metabolism each week by eating little or no food for 24+ hours, then eating one meal per day (nutrient dense, see below), then eating two per day, increasing until you eat to satiety (just before going back into the extended fast).
- This is a bit like treating each week as an annual seasonal cycle. For my schedule, Sun night through Wed morning is Winter (mostly fasting), Wed/Thu is Spring (one meal per day), Fri/Sat is Summer (two meals), Sunday is Autumn and feasting before Winter comes.
- You'll be eating much less in total volume, so focus on maximum nutrition density when (re)feeding. This means eating things like (grass-fed) liver and heart, wild-caught fish and bivalves, vegetables and leafy greens to replenish nutrients and minerals. From a nutritional standpoint, this is not so much a keto/hflc/carnivore/paleo approach, it's really just: Eat meat and vegetables. During the Summer/Fall cycle of my week I'll deviate a little and add berries or low glycemic veggies.
- I exercise with high intensity twice per week. Once on Wed morning (ideally fasted), and once on Sunday morning. The rest of the week I just do a bit of stretching/mobility. This isn't critical to the fasting program, but I find that the metabolism flexing through fasting is a positive stress that complements the physical activity (also a positive stress).
So, that's it. The cyclical nature of it feels good to me, it feels a bit more natural, the nutritional part feels really good, and I've had really good results from an energy level and body composition standpoint.