16 hour daily fast?

[SAMbike]

Has anyone else seen this story?
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/01/...o-weight-loss/

I don't know if I can go that long each day without eating (I get cranky when I get hungry) but I might give it a try. I just ate breakfast about 30 min ago so don't think today's the day to try it!

sam

[emily_in_nc]

Interesting. I would think it would matter which eight hours you eat in. If you eat breakfast early, lunch, and an early dinner, I can see this working as you have more time to burn off what you've eaten that day. But if you skip breakfast and just eat lunch and dinner, isn't that the exact pattern that's been said to make people fatter and less healthy, since eating a good breakfast seems to be so important to metabolism and health?

[OakLeaf]

I would think good blood sugar control is a must before starting on something like that. It doesn't sound like you have that?

Lots has been written about how Muslim athletes fuel for training and competition during Ramadan. If I were thinking about doing something like that, I'd look at their and their trainers' discussions.

More generally, it annoys me when evolutionary justifications are advanced, without evidence, for various practices that might or might not be valid. True, the earliest hominids evolved in equatorial regions where night and day were close to equal, year round. But it's also true that human DNA changed quite a bit while we were developing agriculture (emphasizing carbs and relatively empty calories that enabled them to work more hours of the day) and dispersing throughout the world (possibly making localized adaptations to seasonal changes - such as what we've been talking about in the hunger/cold thread). I would think that anyone whose ancestry comes mostly from temperate climates would do better to tailor both activity and nutrition to the available natural light. Not that anyone with a job outside of agriculture can do that in the 21st century - and even a lot of agricultural work is no longer dependent on light any more, with GPS-guided farm equipment.

[Crankin]

This is not based on any empirical evidence, but there is no way I could do this. I can barely go 2 hours without eating! I have never been able to fast, even on Yom Kippur. The most I could do is drink herbal tea/diluted oj until about 6 PM, and even then, it was not worth the wicked headache I got. It doesn't seem like this is a practical way to live, without even thinking about things like fueling for training.

[Catrin]

There are those in the Paleo/Primal community who do intermittent fasting (IF) once their bodies have become accustomed to burning fat for energy. It works for them (some quite long-term), but many appear to be male. I've heard there is research that shows that this doesn't work as well for women but I've not read the studies myself as I am really not interested in going this route. Part of it is knowing our individual bodies and what works for us.

[e3rdpower]

There's been a lot of chatter about IF for women lately. Long story short it appears to mess us up more often then the men folk. I personally did not do well with IF (this was in a period of time when I was not riding, and I imagine it would be worse with riding.)

http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shatter...he-literature/

http://www.stumptuous.com/rant-66-de...e-of-fast-club

http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/train-man-eat-woman

http://www.fitnessbaddies.com/train-...ous-for-women/

[Catrin]

Thanks for the links. I was tempted to try this but I know my body well enough that I didn't think it would work for me. It is hard enough for me to get enough calories/nutrition given my activity level as it is, there is NO way that I could do that in just one meal... That being said I know a couple of women for whom it works well, just goes to show that nutrition isn't "cookie cutter".

[Owlie]

I couldn't do it. At least, not as written. I need to eat within 2 hours of waking up. Otherwise I get headaches. BF can manage it. Heck, he can ride on an empty stomach.

A big breakfast (ie, bacon, egg, sausage, hash browns...basically a fat-delivery system) will usually get me through the day until dinner, with perhaps a light lunch. Skipping it entirely...no way.

[DocZan89]

I agree with you Emily. If I could eat from 7:00 AM to 3:00PM and drink warm drinks, I could probably do it. But my schedule doesn't allow for this. Guess it'll just have to be sensible eating for me.

Rosanna

[OakLeaf]

I imagine it would be worse with riding.

Not necessarily ... I think it depends a lot on intensity, among other things. High intensity activities consume energy faster than the body can convert fat to glucose. Low intensity, not necessarily. It's been a very long time for me, and I know my metabolism is very different from what it was 30-35 years ago, but back in the day, I've done several easy 50-milers in the middle of 5-7 day juice fasts, and felt really good.

I think exercise generally tends to stabilize blood sugar in non-diabetic people (also IIRC in people with Type II diabetes, though I don't know that for sure).

[GLC1968]

I certainly don't plan my meals around the idea that I need to fast, but I often go long periods without eating when I am fat-adapted. It actually makes life a lot easier knowing that I don't need to eat every two hours like I used to when I was primarily burning carbs. I have more even energy, I think clearer, my moods are more stable and I eat so much less often that it's kind of a relief.

Eating only during an 8 hour window just seems really gimmicky. I mean, if you ate nothing but birthday cake and ice cream for 8 hours, you sure as hell wouldn't lose weight, so I think it's a very misleading article. Besides, the headaches I'd have had if I went 16 hours without food when I was a sugar-burner would have knocked me flat in two days for sure!

[SAMbike]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Sometimes I think I'm just looking for the "trick" that will help me lose those final pounds... even though I really deep down know what I need to do. It's clear it's not for me, but there is something to be said for letting the body fast overnight (I don't mean for 16 hrs, but just not eating at 11pm)

OakLeaf you said it's clear I don't have good blood-sugar control. I assume you said that because I said I get cranky when hungry - yes? I would love to find out how to not be that way. There have been times when it has affected the people I'm with and my decisions too (for example I'll not have eaten for about 3-4 hours during the afternoon at a conference, trying not to eat the junk, searching for something more healthy, and the crankiness ensues... which makes me then get desperate (excuse) and eat the cookies; or with my SO sometimes when I haven't eaten in a while and it's clear I'm not in a good mood). Any insights or references as to how I can stop this from happening would be great.

Thanks!

[Crankin]

Well, despite the fact I am not total Paleo, I have changed my eating so much that I can't believe that I am still a "carb burner." I never "eat the cookies," so to speak, but I still need to eat very frequently. I have at least 2 snacks a day, because that staves it off mostly. The times I feel hungry are pretty regular. Between 10-11 AM and around 3 PM. Other times I am hungry within 30 minutes after a meal. That is a healthy meal, with no carbs. I can distract myself, but often I have to eat a handful of nuts. I don't eat tiny portions,but it seems like sometimes, if I don't eat even more, I am just super hungry. Obviously, I am not overweight, but I have a hard time maintaining my weight.
So, if you can tell me how to not be cranky when I'm hungry (which occurs very frequently), that would be swell.

[OakLeaf]

Oh geez, it wasn't a moral judgment!!

Sure there are things that we all probably already do, for the most part, that we have a moderate to high degree of control over, like what and when we eat, and how physically active we are in our free time. But obviously there are a WHOLE lot of factors in blood sugar control that we have a lot less control over. Genetics. How much natural sunlight our work and home environment allows us. Many chemical exposures. What we were fed as children. Our history of physical activity. What we ate and exposed ourselves to when we were old enough to choose but too young to know better. External emotional stressors. How physically active we can be at work. And on and on and on.

I'm the last one right now to be suggesting that anyone's health is voluntary, so PLEASE don't interpret what I said that way! I only meant that restricting eating hours didn't sound like a good idea for everyone. In the exact same way that certain exercises, that are generally very beneficial, shouldn't be done by people with poor shoulder stability. Like me, at the moment.



PS - Conference type things are the WORST for me too. Mental alertness takes a HUGE amount of glucose, and there you are enforced into being sedentary under the fluorescents for hours, nothing whatsoever to stimulate your body to turn fat into glucose, so my blood sugar just gets lower and lower. I don't think evolution prepared us for seminars! My blood sugar control is fairly good and way better than it used to be, but I know if I'm going to be sitting and thinking for hours at a stretch, I HAVE to eat something if I want to be able to drive home safely. I can do things to help - making sure I get a morning workout, even if I have to give up an hour of sleep and there's that natural light thing for ya again - and then a high protein high fat meal afterward - but if it goes on long enough, I'll still get the crash. That's just my body, same as your bodies are yours.

[SAMbike]

Hi OakLeaf,

I totally didn't take it as a moral judgement, I sincerely was intrigued by your observation and wanted to find out more about how to control blood-sugar levels. You've provided a lot of insight in your response for me, and I really appreciate it a lot! Will work getting more natural sunlight for sure, I think that plays a huge role, and making sure to get exercise in the morning when I know I'm going to be chair-bound for hours on end at conferences... thank you for your response!

-sam