January 2025 Intermittent/Extended Fasting - all welcome

#15

Coffee is definitely not good for me, I know that since ages, quitting still takes too much time…
It’s not health (though it surely doesn’t help that either, the way I drink coffee… at least I don’t consume too much caffeine as my coffees, while sometimes very numerous, are weak), it’s other things.

Coffee and tea caffeine doesn’t have a noticeable effect on me. I just liked the taste, now I don’t (well sometimes it’s nice when the additions and the ratios and my actual taste combine well). Good for procrastination. I can drink coffee for a loooong time, one after the another. It’s especially bad in the morning when I am in a super low level, low mood state. Never could do much in the morning, my brain needs some time to wake up and it’s not a mere hour or two. But it doesn’t mean I should waste it with coffee drinking. I don’t even have money to waste on coffee…

(Tracy) #16

Saturday to Sunday 22 hour fast broken at 1500 Sunday with Cauliflower cheese soup and Aubergine stuffed with mince. Ate again at 1900.
Planning on two meals today and tomorrow and then maybe a 24 hour fast Wednesday

#17

So, new week, new life… Or something. I really want to change so many things!
So, OMAD day #1 (I really hope but it’s the first day, my determination is really high and I ate a lot on the weekend so I am quite satiated. Satisfied too, I had good stuff, nice meats)!!! I never had a very long OMAD period, I did once some 10 days but I very quickly had to use lots of carbs to keep it up… I categorically refuse that cheat now. Carby OMAD is SO easy to do… Carnivore is the hardest but I used to love challenges - and I love dense food and I am hopeful. I have learned so much about myself even in the last years, I did some successful training too… I expect some need for changing gears somewhere in the beginning as I need a very different attitude for OMAD and other IF styles. If I have more meals, I try to go for my most satiating, lean items to keep myself from overeating… But on OMAD, especially on carnivore, right away or eventually I need to go for the least satiating, fatty items to eat enough at once. Or it was so in the past. I always easily ate an OMAD sized meal in the past (at least before carnivore) but not on OMAD but on 2MAD or 3MAD. In extreme (and quite carby) cases, I managed 2 OMAD sized meals on the same day but it usually was just lunch.
But on OMAD? My mealsize rapidply diminished without much carbs and fell apart right away. I usually can’t get away with undereating for ONE day. A zero calories day doesn’t count, that’s special, my body understand that. Too low-cal day? Can’t happen. Maybe it’s about protein. I need my high protein every day - except if it’s super low. But no, I am sure I couldn’t just eat high protein with almost no fat and call it a day (not like it’s possible for me). The protein triggers my body’s “get enough food” mission so lack of energy just won’t do.

So it won’t be necessarily easy but I am ready to fight :smiley: The worst thing will be my conflicting feelings. I mean, I am trying to eat as little and as lean as possible for me since maybe 15 years. I fear if I stop this, I will just overeat like crazy (250g protein and fat, that feels nice. Had such days before especially in my more distant past. I got better at moderation since) and even if not (not eating until dinnertime should help a lot to avoid overeating), I undo my training and when I am not as determined or get hungry too early, then will I overeat…

I should just do it without worrying. I am bad with worrying anyway as it’s not hedonistic. But I still think too much about it sometimes.

Sorry guys, I may be more around here, I will come and write if it’s lunchtime and I want to avoid eating… It’s only 1pm now so I shouldn’t be on the forum (I try to limit my commenting to the time between 3pm and my dinner, few things can distract me as well as this forum and I may need it at that time, not every day but here and then. I almost always had lunch at 2-3pm, all my life, it was my most important meal and it was just so perfectly timed. I have changed, yes, I skipped lunch several times lately even without a big effort but it’s much harder on some days).

#18

Bonjour, Moi aussi je fais du jeune intermittent 16/8, je mange 2 repas, un tres petit et un plus grand le soir. Je ne prends pas de petit déjeuner,

Shinita moi aussi je prends beaucoup de cafe ,du cafe décaféine en poudre. Courage pour ton OMAD.

Bonne journee

(KM) #19

If I have a problem with caffeine or with coffee … I feel better when I’m caffeinated. That is, smarter, more alert, ready for action. I feel better when I’ve had a bit of alcohol. That is, more resilient, more amused with the world, generally cheerier. And when they wear off, I feel worse, and also convinced that neither artificial state is so great for my physical or mental health. They’re pretty minor stimulants and depressants in the amounts I indulge them, and I’d like to think both are good for me … but sadly, I don’t.

#20

I got hungry at 15:15 but it’s 16:10 now and I am fine now. Yay! No food until sunset is done for today! I haven’t even touch coffee!

I don’t have that (an d chocolate never made me happier either), it’s a bit relaxing though.
Whenever I drink (enough to feel it, it only happened ages ago), I start to think about my life, see it lacking and decide to do much better in the future (I usually only drank a lot on demoscene parties and while I had some activity there, I never did as much as I could)… And then I don’t. And if I happen to do something involved languages (once I had a toothache, drank a ton of brandy as Mom only had that at home and looked at German language exam questions), I suddenly get much better! My SO says the same, whenever he wants to translate his fanfic, he drinks a bit.

[…]
17:34. I had a nice OMAD meal, ~40 minutes eating window, carnivore, vaguely the right amount (I made a plan and obviously didn’t eat like that but not too far away…?). I am satiated now.

(Tracy) #21

Monday ate twice, then Monday 6 to Tues 7 23 hour fast broken with Cauliflower cheese soup and kale tossed in butter topped with fried egg, sausage and pudding at 2pm, Had cheddar and cracottes and butter at about 5pm.

#22

Unless I mess it up at night (but why would I? :smiley: I had a probably decent sized meal at 5pm!), it’s my second OMAD days in a row! It’s not trivial to me! But it goes well now.
Carnivore-ish again. I eat more fat and less protein and it seems to work this far…? It just happened, I simply didn’t have enough meat on either day so I ate this and that and whatever I grab is quite fatty…
Yesterday was surprising, lunch OMAD with only 110g protein and I still didn’t get very hungry until lunchtime! Yay! Well it was 1700 kcal-ish so at least I ate a proper amount…

I even walked more than 2 hours (carrying lots of stuff in the 2nd hour, some elevation too) in the frost today, it should help with my deficit! And many others, of course, I need fresh air and exercise! And the carni food I could buy in the nearby town, our village is useless.

Today’s lunch skipping was inevitable and very easy as we simply didn’t come home until 4:15pm and I still had to make my own food and pack away stuff… I was so tired at 5pm (today was more complicated cooking wise) I didn’t want to eat just sit down but I still ate in the end as I know I couldn’t have relaxed empty. It was about 25 hours after my last meal and I still wasn’t particularly hungry. How cool is that?

So yep I did an over 24 hour fast, it’s no big deal, I still eat every day but still!!! :smiley:

#23

Everything fell apart, I had lunch (and sometimes even a caloric drink in the morning), it easily lead to 3MAD (and the drink) and carbs though this time the lack of enough normal food was the problem. Need to be more careful! But yesterday I ate a lot on 3MAD and today was nicely satiated. It’s after 5pm now and I feel some baby hunger but it can wait… No EF yet, sadly, I do feel I need some food (maybe I could push for a fasting day but I wouldn’t be in a good shape and it’s not worth it) but I will do a nice fat fast day unless I mess something up epically. Whenever I can wait until dinner, fat fast OMAD is pretty easy so I don’t expect any problem. This will be my 3rd OMAD day this week, better than almost always!
Weekends are trickier but I will try to wait until proper hunger.

I really try to keep my lunch skipping, it is very very useful for me even if I mess up in other ways.

(Tracy) #24

I seem to have settled into 4 meals every 3 days. Did an accidental 27 hours fast at the weekend as we went out on Sunday and didn’t get to eat lunch out at 5pm, felt good for it

#25

I’ve decided it’s time to try intermittent fasting but am easing into gently with a 20/4 approach. I’ve been aware now that my grazing habit isn’t doing me any favours if I want to reduce any insulin production.

Just done two night shifts doing it so should be able to manage most things. I am going out on Saturday night but it’s a buffet style restaurant so I’m hoping there will be plenty of unadulterated meat and cheese.

#26

Yesterday was IF 21/3 TMAD but with quite low cal. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised I ate almost 1800 kcal for lunch today…? I try to keep today OMAD (with slightly caloric drinks in the morn, it just happens sometimes but don’t seem to be a real problem, I just have reasons to try to get rid of it. but if it happens, happens)… I hope satiation will kick in, I think I overdid the carbs a tiny bit (there was temptation, an unusual one), it may or may not be keto but it probably is, I had exercise just before lunch!
Lovely meal, just a tiny bit lacking amount wise, I am a bit hungry… How can anyway eat even less than this smallish lunch every day I don’t know. I could eat so much more right away… Yeah, the carbs, most probably (and yesterday’s 1300 kcal). No regrets though, it was sooo nice, I ate well. Enjoyed everything. One of the Austrian cheeses we bought some weeks ago was opened… And it is so, so delicious!

We have a super warm, super sunny day today. Mid to late spring weather and feeling. I saw the first snowdrops in Nature this year! Well, not in their proper natural habitat, it was between a road and a bunch of cottonwood grown for energy. The nearby forests don’t have any yet and that is their proper place, there are zillions of snowdrops there when it’s finally time!
I am cheered up and don’t want to be strict at all. So temptation has an even easier time right now so I just trust my tastes and inertia.

I have 3 very beautiful white hyacinths in a pot, smelling nice.
And satiation starts to kick in, I am lazy, tired, content and satiated, almost ready for a nap… I feel like a cat as far as I can tell but some cats surely feel something like this.

#27

This does not happen to me in keto. Ever. My blood sugar hardly changes at all when I eat. So no ups/downs.

This was a good month, I was mostly OMAD. I had a missing hunger problem, when I got it nearly figured out I found an appetite problem when trying to go full carni…

It was becoming bad, meat especially started to get obnoxious… slight nausea especially after eating anything… but I finally discovered it was the NAC supplements that I´ve been taking for three weeks now.

Onions,eggs,toothpaste,coffee,all meat… I used to like them all, now it will take a while to get them back. Yuck! I will completely leave coffee for now.

I should have suspected NAC earlier but my wife started taking it with me without problems. I took NAC to empty stomach in the morning as instructed. Needless to say,I stopped taking NAC yesterday and feel better already. I could only eat under 1000 kcal yesterday because of of NAC -induced nausea…

“Careful with those supplements,Eugene!”

#28

Maybe because you eat so small meals. It definitely happens to me after a big meal, no matter what kind if I even have a tiny lack of sleep as well… But I still can’t actually nap. I need serious lack of sleep for that nowadays. My energy/awakeness gets a drop after a big meal even if I have slept enough. I am a lion, after all, makes sense :smiley: I always get lazy after a meal and wish to rest.
I have no idea what my blood sugar does, surely whatever it should. Not my purview…
But my digestion gets work, no wonder my brain feels it too. But it varies. I don’t always feel I have less energy after eating just the desire for rest.
It’s one reason it would be so stupid for me to eat in the morning. It wouldn’t only make me hungry and ensure overeating but I would get even more useless. My morning zombieness is already a big problem, I never worked before noon as I couldn’t (except when I was halfway in something and already had a good idea what to do and that wasn’t too hard on my sleepy brain). I wish I had some decent amount of energy, I know it never will be really much but something…

#29

“Small” is relative… Yes my meals are normally around 1400-1900 kcal per OMAD dinner but it is not “small”… or is it? Okay,it is small to carni people who eat three pounds of bacon per sitting.

I refuse to take Keto as an overeating competition. :slight_smile:

#30

No, those are fine. Your 700-1000 kcal meals are the tiny ones.

But I thought too that it’s mostly individual :slight_smile: Still, a small meal has a less chance to make me want a nap even in my case.

I will restart my efforts next week. Tomorrow is getting supplies, we totally run out plenty of things my carnivore(-ish) requires. Weekends are always more relaxed… But new week, new momentum… Or something.

#31

Okay. But only the few NAC -nausea days stayed that low,total. Yes, 1000 kcal on one plate is a lot for me. I may eat a 350 kcal salad half an hour earlier and combine them as “meal”. And then have 250 kcal yogurt two hours later,still thinking “OMAD”.

Is real “OMAD” only one huge meal,stuffed in at once?

(B Creighton) #32

Well, January is over, but I thought I’d report in. This year I have returned to almost my same program as last winter. So, I am doing IF of OMAD on MWF with a workout in the evening. Last year I started at 173 Lb, and gained about 15 pounds of which my scale said only 6 Lb was muscle. That alarmed me a little so the last month or so I switched out the coconut milk in my protein smoothies to hemp milk, and the weight gain stopped… but so too it seemed did any further muscle growth. Anyway, in the spring when I returned to my low carb diet routine and walking, I lost apparently most or all the fat I gained, and went down to 179 Lb. This month I am up from 180 to about 182, so am not gaining all the fat I did last year. I have changed my supplements a little, but really the only other change is this year I decided to bulk up with my protein smoothies using hemp milk as my base rather than coconut milk, and that seems to be working to help build muscle without the fat. I am using enough carbs to be only borderline ketosis as that seems to build muscle better for me. Anyway one or two spikes of insulin per day shouldn’t really hurt my metabolism, and it definitely seems to be needed to help my strength and muscle gains. My goal is to get up to 188 Lb with only 11% body fat… My guess is this year I may make 188 Lb, but will again lose some fat this spring. Still, I would be somewhat happy at 185 Lb with <18% body fat. Which will leave me next year to obtain my goal… I am over 60 now, am not doing TRT, and have not been able to replicate the 10-12 Lb of muscle I gained the first year doing this. However, 2 Lb/mo is still good for me. If I get 6 Lb of muscle again this year, I would still be somewhat satisfied as that will land me near 185 after spring fat loss.

#33

I saw people calling 22/2 OMAD… It’s one meal for me but it can be elongated. Not 2 hours long but one, I have such meals sometimes. If I do the super rare 22/2, I don’t know how to call it as I have a break but figure out my meal wasn’t enough and satiation won’t arrive… But I typically have 23/1 OMAD or 21/3 TMAD on my good days. The latter isn’t fully natural for me (that would be 20/4 or whatever gives me 3 hours between my meals) but if I have lunch, I usually join my SO at dinner as well. He eats at 6am, 3pm and 5:30-6pm on workdays. The lunch moves up a few hours on weekends (it may affect me too especially if there is some interesting fresh food) and sometimes dinner does that too. His record is dinner at 2pm. Dinner means 3rd (and last) meal for him. Dinner meals evening meal to me, its number vary (even the number of dinners but it’s usually the one, sometimes two, very, very rarely 3 or 0).

–

Today was a normal TMAD as on most days. I wasn’t hungry at lunch but I could eat… I really should push this lunch skipping again. If I don’t focus, I go back to eating lunch very quickly. I had this as my most important meal since decades…

@scaperdude: Good luck for your goals!!! Never liked the expression but hopefully you understand even if a big part isn’t luck, per se.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #34

Here is the Feb thread.

Please continue over there.