<p>Has anyone tried it? Saw a segment about it on GMA, read the book and watched the documentary and did my first fast day yesterday… makes alot of sense and lots of research to support the benefits. Curious to see if I can stick with it for the long term…</p>
<p>From WebMD:</p>
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<p>[Are</a> Fasting Diets Safe and Effective?](<a href=“http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/guide/fasting]Are”>Are Fasting Diets Safe and Effective?)</p>
<p>Here’s the link. Sounds like it’s basically fasting or near-fasting two days per week. Eating “normally” the other days.</p>
<p>[Controversial</a> ‘Fast Diet’ Uses Feast and Famine - Yahoo!](<a href=“http://gma.yahoo.com/controversial-fast-diet-uses-feast-famine-091014934--abc-news-health.html]Controversial”>http://gma.yahoo.com/controversial-fast-diet-uses-feast-famine-091014934--abc-news-health.html)</p>
<p>The problem I have with the idea is that eating “normally” is what made us overweight in the first place. Long-term, the only thing that will be sustainable is a new “normal” approach to eating. For that reason, I’m not really a fan of the whole concept of “dieting”. I look at success as needing to be more of a life-style change than something you do for a while to lose weight. I don’t think I could fast two days a week on an ongoing basis.</p>
<p>I did listen to an interesting interview with one of the more knowledgeable guys on intermittent fasting, John Berardi. He said that, among his clients who had tried it, men tended to do better than women on going extended periods without eating. It had not, generally, been a successful approach with women.</p>
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<p>Waaah!! This does not make me happy to hear.</p>
<p>Some things about the Fast Diet make sense to me. It addresses the fact that most diets cause our bodies to readjust our daily caloric need based on lower intake. By fasting (still can eat 500 calories a day) two out of seven days, it keeps our body guessing as to how many calories we really need. So presumably we wouldn’t hit that plateau when we stop losing weight even though we aren’t eating much.</p>
<p>It also addresses that feeling of the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. No foods are off limits, so no cravings for what we “can’t” eat.</p>
<p>I would also think that the two days of fasting would decrease our appetite for the next five days. So even though we can eat anything, we probably won’t eat as much as we used to.</p>
<p>I just don’t know if I could make it through those two days of fasting.</p>
<p>I hate fasting. It makes me nauseous. Don’t do it. I could barely manage the colonoscopy.</p>
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<p>Didn’t work that way at all for me. All fasting accomplished was to create a tremendous urge to binge.</p>
<p>The idea of fasting fits with research on willpower: don’t eat and your mind learns not to ask your conscious self for food as often. </p>
<p>But it’s not sustainable. </p>
<p>The people who write these diets are those wrapped up in the mechanics and processes of how it works and what it means. That gives them more willpower. You can’t expect to have that kind of willpower commitment if you’re a normal person.</p>
<p>I don’t think willpower is an effective strategy. The trick to making major lifestyle changes (like quitting smoking or diet changes) is to not think in terms of “giving up” something, but rather focus on things that you are “gaining”. So rather than mope about the bag of red twizzlers I don’t buy anymore, I focus on how nice it is to button up a pair of smaller jeans. After all, you wouldn’t mope about having to “give up” a broken arm, so why in the world would you mope about “giving up” cigarettes/lung cancer/wheezing? Or “giving up” not being able to fit in your clothes? Or not being able to go for a walk in a scenic place because you are too heavy? The trick, then, becomes one of finding things that focus your attention on everything that you are gaining with the lifestyle change. A pair of “thermometer jeans” hanging in you closet that you see first thing every morning… Or, exercise can be a powerful way to focus on where you want to go, especially when you turn the corner and start feeling just a little smidgeon of actual fitness.</p>
<p>One of the tricks I used in the very first days of quitting smoking was to respond to a crave (these are real physical craves with nicotine addiction) by stopping, going outside where I smoked, and taking five or six deep slow breaths, feeling the cool air fill (sort of) my lungs and imagining how much deeper/better I would be able to breath after my lungs recovered a bit from getting hammered all day every day.</p>
<p>You’re right, interesteddad, unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet on this stuff. The only way to permanently reduce weight is to permanently change eating and exercise habits. </p>
<p>I also hate the word “diet” because it implies loss; I prefer “eating healthy” because it reminds me of the good I’m doing for myself.</p>
<p>In my experience doing Weight Watchers is that on my weigh in day (morning), that day I pretty much “binge” meaning I eat heavier that day, enjoy indulging a craving or two (and count it) and on those weeks where I have one heavy day, I actually lose more. In some way, I think it actually does my body good.</p>
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<p>But that’s really not the same thing as a binge. Binge eating has a strong element of lack of control, sense of urgency, and eating to excess, not just eating a little more than normal or indulging in a treat or two.</p>
<p>I have never been good about “going on a diet.” I do far better to continue to eat, but just change what I am eating (more fresh whole foods, no processed foods or refined carbohydrates, etc.) and exercise. However, I did try the fast diet (or some version thereof) and by the end of the fast days, I truly did experience the urge to binge, which was a very unpleasant feeling, and counterproductive, of course. </p>
<p>Others can do it with no problem I guess.</p>
<p>^^notice “binge” in parenthesis in my post.</p>
<p>granipc - timely post. I have been reading about it this weekend and planning to try. First “fast” day is tomorrow. Very curious to see how it goes. I need something to kickstart me and thought this might be a good approach.</p>
<p>This makes sense to me:</p>
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<p>Read more: <a href=“http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/well-being/the-fast-diet-we-try-it-out-and-give-you-the-lowdown#ixzz2MQQ1xfyM[/url]”>http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/well-being/the-fast-diet-we-try-it-out-and-give-you-the-lowdown#ixzz2MQQ1xfyM</a>
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<p>Completely agree with Idad’s post. I think that sometimes taking a few days to limit calories and eat cleansing types of foods can feel good and maybe give you a boost into a lifestyle change but using a fast to lose weight is not healthy, IMO.</p>
<p>I really like (and use) the idea of thinking of the things you gain when you live more healthfully. These are your rewards. Don’t deprive…don’t reward with food. Just try to make small changes and better decisions. It won’t happen 100% of the time but it does get habit forming, just like the bad decisions do.</p>
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<p>I think that is a little disingenuous. Maybe Spencer doesn’t mean to be…</p>
<p>You don’t have to fast to wean yourself off of high calorie, low nutritionally dense foods. When I was eating my cleanest (and working out with weights, etc.) I felt so strong, lean and healthy, and I ate a lot, and frequently…I just substituted the junk with healthy, nutritious food.</p>
<p>Just moved to our new house which has a very nice community wellness center. It’s time to get back to the business of being healthy again…</p>
<p>I actually got around to reading a little more about it and it’s not quite as ridiculous as I thought. The fasting days including a small breakfast and dinner 500 to 600 calories total. I can see that someone could do that and perhaps kind of enjoy it for quite a while. That said, I think it’s important for the other five days to be reasonably healthy eating - the implication is that you can eat whatever you want - which seems to be could be a recipe for a disaster.</p>
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<p>That’s the one I tried (500 calories total). I never got through one day maintaining that. By nighttime, I was ravenous and began eating whatever I could find, truly a binge situation rather than “binge” mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>I’m sure some people can manage this. I just couldn’t, and I’m not really the type to overeat. I go through periods of making poor choices, but I’ve never been an overeater with regard to volume. People who can manage this, more power to them.</p>
<p>On my 2nd fast day today… So far so good. I’m finding it not terribly difficult, and on my other days I ate exactly the same as I always eat. I am not a necessarily unhealthy eater, but my 40’s have blessed me with 10 lbs. that I would like to permanently say goodbye to… I exercise regularly and just think I need a good jolt to my metabolism. Going to try it for a few weeks and see how it goes.</p>
<p>Fasting diets are fine. Eat STop Eat by Brad Pilon is probably the best ebook on the subject currently. Lotta bandwagoners like brorardi and the usual suspects are jumping on the intermittent fasting train currently. Calories in vs calories out will be determinant of fat/weight loss though, there’s nothing magical about it.</p>
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<p>Don’t hold your breath. Fasting increases your metabolism slightly by jacking up catecholamines in the short run, but nothing to write home about. Cut your calories.</p>