# Intermittent fasting question



## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

I got sick of my weight at the end of ski season and decided to drop weight. Main goal being to drop weight and body fat. I am 6 feet tall and was 227lb. I am not a nutritionist or fitness expert. 

Without spending a huge amount of time researching/questioning, I adopted an intermittent fasting diet where I only eat between 4PM and 8PM. Mainly because it works with my slack / life-hacking ethos by being low cost and effort. I've lost about 25 lbs so far. 

Now I'm looking into the biology of it a little bit more. The way I understand the theory of intermittent fasting is that a few hours after a meal, your blood sugar will drop to the "fasting" baseline level. This is why you have to fast before you get a blood test. The idea of intermittent fasting is to keep your body in that zone for a portion of the day rather than snacking or eating regularly, and you will burn more body fat at the equivalent amount of calories. So the fat-burning theory of intermittent fasting is essentially driven by blood sugar levels, I think. 

If the point is to keep your blood sugar at the fasting level for a substantial amount of time, what if you ate calorie-containing, but zero-carbohydrate foods during the "fasting" periods. Could be either eating celery which is both low-calorie and low-carbohydrate, but I mean what if I ate some bacon and eggs for breakfast (has calories, almost zero carbs).

So essentially the question is, what would be the difference between the three things:

1) Eating 2000 calories per day, balanced diet, but eating only one meal per day 
2) Eating 2000 calories per day, exact same foods, but restricting all carbohydrates to one meal per day (zero carb for other meals)
3) Eating 2000 calories per day, exact same foods, but restricting all calories to one meal per day--eating only essentially zero-calorie foods during the fasting period (celery, lettuce) 

I guess it depends if the supposed benefits of intermittent fasting come from mainly carbohydrate intake, or if even eating zero-carb foods, or maybe even zero-calorie foods still releases hormones/digestive triggers, so that it's actually important to not eat anything during the fasting periods.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

weight loss is simple. other than some sort of medical condition, burn more calories than you consume. not rocket science...


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## acer66 (Oct 13, 2010)

My girlfriend is doing this so this a good time for this topic.

@.WestCoastHucker. I seem to not fail in not knowing that but rather in applying that.🍻


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## Gumby_rider (Apr 18, 2017)

Intermittent Fasting is just an easy/easier way to reduce your calories intake, thus losing the weight. Fasting helps curbed the hunger by stabilizing the blood sugar level. At least that's how my body feels.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

acer66 said:


> I seem to not fail in not knowing that but rather in applying that.🍻


yeah, as simple as it is in theory, it's certainly a lot easier said than done.


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

I don't roll one meal a day. Too me that is madness. I do late breakfast and early dinner giving me a daily 16 hour fast. 

On a side note. I don't do alcohol, caffiene or refine sugar. 

If you want to kill some weight long term. Kill the refined sugar. That pretty much kills off all shitty useless weight gaining snacks and gets you eating more healthy food! 

Watch the weight fall off you then until you reach a healthy weight. Then you will remain at a healthy weight form that point on.


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## 834905 (Mar 8, 2018)

I have nothing to add, just want to say thank you for saying you EAT between certain hours of the day. It drives me nuts how hardcore IF guys always want to talk about when they "feed". "It's simple bro, I just fast for 18 hours and feed for 6". Ugh.


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## B. Rock (Mar 9, 2011)

What you're doing it putting the body into ketosis - running off of fat instead of glucose (sugar). Hence the 'keto' diet craze. You can stay in ketosis if you really minimize your daily carb in take (say 50g or less a day), and if you really want to check - pee on some pH strips. There's no discernable difference from light ketosis to IF, IF just really helps accelerate getting into ketosis. Whether or not you come back out of it after your meal depends on what you eat. I.e. if you eat no more than 50g of carbs/day, it's not super important when you eat. If you eat more carbs than that, then yeah - keep on IF so you get into ketosis in between meals. Fasting for 24h+ is a different animal but interesting to play around with.

As mentioned above, one of the easiest ways to drop weight and keep it off is cut our refined sugars, and I'd add refined grains. Alcohol isn't your friend either, but hey - we're not all monks.

Being that this is an mtb forum, you may find that your workout performance drops a bit at first as your body is likely used to burning nothing but glucose, and you're used to working super hard. Focus on staying aerobic and easing your efforts. Do this long enough and you become borderline bonk proof. That's the whole reason I went down this path - long rides on minimal fuel. Watching heart rate is key though.


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## l80ous (Aug 13, 2020)

Lost 9 stone fasting, 23 to 14 stone, I'm now in this forum loving biking because of it, changed my life.
Don't see it as a diet anymore would never go back to eating times a day when you don't need to, feel great over taking people on ascents knowing where I've come from. Any tips feel free to PM me, I feel I know a little about fasting at this point


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## spaightlabs (Dec 3, 2011)

l80ous said:


> Lost 9 stone fasting, 23 to 14 stone, I'm now in this forum loving biking because of it, changed my life.
> Don't see it as a diet anymore would never go back to eating times a day when you don't need to, feel great over taking people on ascents knowing where I've come from. Any tips feel free to PM me, I feel I know a little about fasting at this point


If kilos are metric, wtf are stones? Is their a sub-unit to stones or is the 14 round increment a sufficent level of precision?


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## l80ous (Aug 13, 2020)

Sorry very British we measure our fatness in stones still, it's 60kgs in your world, 150kgs down to 90


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

> If you eat no more than 50g of carbs/day, it's not super important when you eat. If you eat more carbs than that, then yeah - keep on IF so you get into ketosis in between meals.


That's what I'm getting at...in theory if I eat zero carbs for breakfast and lunch, I'm basically doing the same thing as skipping breakfast and lunch altogether, assuming I'm eating the same total amount and type of food each day. I've just never heard of anyone doing "intermittent low-carb" before, but it sort of makes sense.


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## Grinder24 (Apr 25, 2021)

I’ve done fasts (16/8 or 24 hr fasts) for the last 6 years, with success. I actually enjoy the process and that evening meal tastes awesome! I leaned up in ways I never could by just exercise. This year, I’m doing more long rides, and base training, and usually pick one day per week where I fast during an endurance ride up to 3 hrs. Found it unproductive to fast when doing hard intervals or hard rides as my performance sucks and I don’t recover quickly. Too much stress for me. Plus, if you plan to do long rides while actually eating, your body needs to train on consuming carbs. Carbs are top fuel for performance IMHO.


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## acer66 (Oct 13, 2010)

I lost 30 + lbs after going on a zero added sugar mission around 2 years ago.
My gf is almost mad at me for keeping slowly but surely loosing weight.
I weigh less than I did over 20 years ago even I am sorta a fast food veggie head, think bread, chips, pizza etc. and drink a few beer on almost daily bases.


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## Bacon Fat (Mar 11, 2016)

plummet said:


> I don't roll one meal a day. Too me that is madness. I do late breakfast and early dinner giving me a daily 16 hour fast.
> 
> On a side note. I don't do alcohol, caffiene or refine sugar.
> 
> ...


I am going to have to cut out the refined sugars. It going to be tough since I have a sweet tooth. But sugar does make me feel like crap when I sugar crash. I'm getting to the point were my metabolism won't support my poor eating habits.


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## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

The beauty of IF is autophagy.


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

Bacon Fat said:


> I am going to have to cut out the refined sugars. It going to be tough since I have a sweet tooth. But sugar does make me feel like crap when I sugar crash. I'm getting to the point were my metabolism won't support my poor eating habits.


I was a sugar junky too. I used to always stock a 5kg block of chocolate.

Once your through and out the other side it becomes easy. But it is hard for the first month or 2 recalibrating what you can eat and what you cant. It can take a awhile to sort non refined sugar alternatives to the normal stuff you are used too. When you first start most **** has some refined sugar. But you find the alternatives and your body re-adjusts as does your pallet.


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

PS Theres no sugar in Bacon Fat!


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## 834905 (Mar 8, 2018)

2017: "I usually skip breakfast. I'm not much of a breakfast person"

2021: "I do intermittent fasting where I fast for 20 hours and feed in a 4 hour window. I get all the benefits of autophagy and cold shock proteins when I finally feed after fasting. Skipping meals is a new thing but science shows the benefits of insulin production long periods of pancreatic inactivity"


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## David R (Dec 21, 2007)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> I've just never heard of anyone doing "intermittent low-carb" before, but it sort of makes sense.


As someone else mentioned, a ketogenic diet is basically a way of eating that tricks your body into staying in ketosis as if you're fasting. If you're looking to burn fat then IMO it's a really good way to do it, though your peak power on the bike will almost certainly suffer (your endurance may be the same or perhaps even better though, and you can consume more carbs during vigorous exercise without getting kicked out of ketosis as they get burnt straight away. My 2c on the subject would be to download the Carb Manager app and do it properly; use the "ketogains calculator" to work out your macros (the volume of fat, protein and carbs you need to eat as well as total calories) and keep track of them with the app to ensure you're not over-eating. People love to mock it because its trendy at the moment, and there's a fair amount of ridiculousness associated with it because of that which makes the mockery understandable, but I lost around 15kg of flab over 3-4 months and improved my cholesterol while eating bacon and eggs for brunch nearly every day (plus steak or chicken and veges for dinner) and maintaining a 16-ish hour fasting period overnight. I wouldn't do it long term, but as a tool for fat burning I found it worked really well. YMMV.


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## BansheeRune (Nov 27, 2011)

DIets are great if you plan on gaining weight again. Do the diet, hit the target and bitness as usual, the lard returns.
Control of quality foods is required. Self control is required. 
Sorting the amount of food on a routine basis should be job one! 

Foods from boxes and such are death by installment plan. Avoid processed foods at all costs.


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## uzurpator (Dec 8, 2005)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> 1) Eating 2000 calories per day, balanced diet, but eating only one meal per day
> 2) Eating 2000 calories per day, exact same foods, but restricting all carbohydrates to one meal per day (zero carb for other meals)
> 3) Eating 2000 calories per day, exact same foods, but restricting all calories to one meal per day--eating only essentially zero-calorie foods during the fasting period (celery, lettuce)


Very little to none-whatsoever. If there is one thing our bodies are good at, its surviving fluctuations of food intake. We can fast for days ( longest was 400 odd days ) and survive on our fat alone. On the flip side even a minor overeating over a prolonged time ( months, years ) will cause weight gain.


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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

spaightlabs said:


> If kilos are metric, wtf are stones? Is their a sub-unit to stones or is the 14 round increment a sufficent level of precision?


About 14 lbs per stone in British/UK measurements.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

.WestCoastHucker. said:


> weight loss is simple. other than some sort of medical condition, burn more calories than you consume. not rocket science...


Unfortunately, it is not that simple.


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## phantoj (Jul 7, 2009)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> what if you ate calorie-containing, but zero-carbohydrate foods during the "fasting" periods. Could be either eating celery which is both low-calorie and low-carbohydrate, but I mean what if I ate some bacon and eggs for breakfast (has calories, almost zero carbs).


I did a diet like that, about 20 years ago: The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet: The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting: Heller, Rachael F. Dr., Heller, Richard F. Dr.: 0071162007503: Amazon.com: Books

Basically, eat a couple of low-carb meals a day, then one meal where you can eat whatever you want, but only within a one hour time window. Lost quite a bit of weight doing it.


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## JulioBTLL (Dec 12, 2008)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> I got sick of my weight at the end of ski season and decided to drop weight. Main goal being to drop weight and body fat. I am 6 feet tall and was 227lb. I am not a nutritionist or fitness expert.
> 
> Without spending a huge amount of time researching/questioning, I adopted an intermittent fasting diet where I only eat between 4PM and 8PM. Mainly because it works with my slack / life-hacking ethos by being low cost and effort. I've lost about 25 lbs so far.
> 
> ...


You are over thinking this.

IF is simple to follow. Don't eat for 16 hrs, then eat for the remainder. During your feed window don't eat crap food. If you eat during the fasting window anything with any calories, you break the fast.

There is no reason to eat low calorie, low carb foods during the fasting window. That's breaking the fast and the IF angel will inflate your spare tire as punishment.

My plan is as follows.

Finish dinner around 7pm. 
Don't eat breakfast
Eat lunch around 12 the next day.

Don't eat crap food.

I've lost 20 lbs the past few months.


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## mtbfoo (Aug 26, 2019)

I have started this "soft fasting" diet restructure for myself after the 2020 Holidays...
I've started at 99kg/218lbs am currently under 190 lbs and through the year did not spike over 89kg/195 lbs, with lowest being 85kg/187lbs. Again, it was during the 2021 Holidays that I've gained some weight which is now mostly gone again.

The "technique" is skipping dinner completely. Why dinner? Because if you are to eat, it is better to do it during the time you are mostly active + I think I am feeling hungrier after being active, and for me this is the day. Differences might be marginal - if at the end of the day my intake/demand caloric balance is the same, but I believe I am min-maxing this way, plus I am kinda socializing during lunch more often than I do during dinner. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, "dinner night outs" were almost completely gone from my repertoire, but if we were to go to close family for dinner, I would just eat lightly or skip lunch. No biggie.

When I was hungry and would not feel i can last through the evening and whatnot, I would have a few boiled eggs or a fruit and whatnot, and try to favor unprocessed, simple foods vs. bagged snacks.

I did not stop eating anything in particular, it is not something you grow tired of. I get small bites of "anything and everything" that is on offer. I never felt i am being deprived of anything. I have "diet" soft drinks, I have beer, i have pasta/carbs/pizzas, I have cake. I get burgers and the usual junk - more often than I would before the pandemic actually...working from home was bad enough, needed a break...

I am not looking after "cheat days" or to "stuff my mouth". What this process taught me and my body more than anything, is restrain: cravings have SERIOUSLY reduced, and after indulging into these "small bites", I am satisfied. Again, this is not a religious approach, it is not a "strict diet" with an expiration date or a weight loss "goal", if I feel I want to eat, I will just eat "something", whenever, and this is why I call it "soft". Been doing it for 17-18 months now and I feel great, my blood exams are as good as they were last year, my endurance is increased, etc.

My only problem is that after neglecting my wardrobe due to working form home 90% of the time, I increasingly find less clothes that fit me well and...I was never a person that loves shopping...clothes that is.


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

> If you eat during the fasting window anything with any calories, you break the fast.


Yeah but if you don't eat any carbs, shouldn't it retain most of the benefits of IF? I understand breaking the "rules" or maybe complicating it, but I am trying to understand the biology of it.


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## BansheeRune (Nov 27, 2011)

stripes said:


> About 14 lbs per stone in British/UK measurements.


Pfft! Stoned again, huh, stripes??


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## Squirrel in the Spokes (Apr 9, 2021)

.WestCoastHucker. said:


> weight loss is simple. other than some sort of medical condition, burn more calories than you consume. not rocket science...


True it's much worse, it's biology


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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

BansheeRune said:


> Pfft! Stoned again, huh, stripes??


Lol no.

I ran into that measurement once being fitted for ski bindings in the EU. They were mad that I couldn't figure out my weight in kilos. So they only knew stones not imperial pounds.


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## BansheeRune (Nov 27, 2011)

stripes said:


> Lol no.
> 
> I ran into that measurement once being fitted for ski bindings in the EU. They were mad that I couldn't figure out my weight in kilos. So they only knew stones not imperial pounds.


That sounds about right! Folks use an increment of measurement and I don't blame them for blowing of the equivalents.
Now, let's binge and purge to stay on topic...


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> Yeah but if you don't eat any carbs, shouldn't it retain most of the benefits of IF? I understand breaking the "rules" or maybe complicating it, but I am trying to understand the biology of it.


You also have to avoid protein since protein also creates an insulin response. Some people argue that pure fat will not break the fasted state since pure fat does not create an insulin response, but I'm unconvinced, and in general you shouldn't be eating butter with a spoon.

The biology here is, of course, exceedingly complex, but can generally be boiled down to the interaction between insulin and something called hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). HSL is _the_ enzyme that mobilizes the stored fats. It is inhibited by insulin. When insulin is high it is physiologically impossible to metabolize stored body fat. Insulin is very low during a fast so HSL is able to do its thing. Other strategies that keep insulin low, like eating whole unprocessed foods, also work quite well. Processed foods screw up your body's entire hormonal response to food: DEFINE_ME

There is good research showing that earlier feed windows are better due to the influence of your circadian rhythm on insulin sensitivity. For example. people lose more weight on identical isocaloric diets when the feed window is 8-4 vs 12-8. But, if evenings are working for you, rock on.


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

> For example. people lose more weight on identical isocaloric diets when the feed window is 8-4 vs 12-8. But, if evenings are working for you, rock on.


Do you have any sources? That's what I heard too but I went to a nutrition forum and they said IF doesn't work and it doesn't matter when you eat calories, only how much. Then they literally closed my thread for spreading pseudoscience.


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## bikeranzin (Oct 2, 2018)

.WestCoastHucker. said:


> weight loss is simple. other than some sort of medical condition, burn more calories than you consume. not rocket science...





Squirrel in the Spokes said:


> True it's much worse, it's biology


It's even worse than Biology, it's Thermodynamics.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> Do you have any sources? That's what I heard too but I went to a nutrition forum and they said IF doesn't work and it doesn't matter when you eat calories, only how much. Then they literally closed my thread for spreading pseudoscience.











Time-Restricted Eating Put to the Test | NutritionFacts.org


Are there benefits to giving yourself a bigger daily break from eating?




nutritionfacts.org













The Benefits of Early Time-Restricted Eating | NutritionFacts.org


Calories eaten in the morning count less and are healthier than calories eaten in the evening.




nutritionfacts.org













Eat More Calories in the Morning to Lose Weight | NutritionFacts.org


A calorie is not a calorie—it not only depends on what you eat, but when you eat.




nutritionfacts.org













Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, Dinner Like a Pauper | NutritionFacts.org


Harness the power of your circadian rhythms for weight loss by making breakfast or lunch your main meal of the day.




nutritionfacts.org













Eat More Calories in the Morning than the Evening | NutritionFacts.org


Why are calories eaten in the morning less fattening than calories eaten in the evening?




nutritionfacts.org





edit, here's some more sources:

Time-restricted eating and the effect of late night eating | Satchin Panda

Late-night eating and melatonin may impair insulin response

Breakfast skipping and late-night eating (after 7PM) linked to poorer metabolic health | Ruth Patterson

Timing meals later at night can cause weight gain and impair fat metabolism: Findings provide first experimental evidence of prolonged delayed eating versus daytime eating, showing that delayed eating can also raise insulin, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

I started intermittent fasting two days ago, 16 hours to 8 hours.

I eat my last meal at 6, and the guest mask if the day at 10.

After that meal, a couple of hours, i went for mountain bike rides.

I noticed that my average pulse rate was about 15 percent higher than normal. Significant difference, as in the last year i never had such a high average pulse rate.

Any idea why? 

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk


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## Squirrel in the Spokes (Apr 9, 2021)

I’m not a doctor but I’d guess because you started intermittent fasting two days ago


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## SapphireWalsh (Sep 29, 2021)

*Intermittent fasting rules! *
I have been practicing it for more than a year, it helped to get rid of flatulence and addiction to sugar. I constantly research the scientific literature and read that during prolonged fasting, the body loses large reserves of zinc, so during the fast you need to provide yourself with additional zinc supplements. I prefer to take a liquid form (a couple of drops of my water, and I can drink during the day), and 2 times a year I take a multi-vitamin complex of 13 ingredients (zinc, biotin, copper, vitamin a, b-complex)


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## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

Nice! I have been an intermittent faster 18-6 (Essentially No Snacking) a few years. Wife as well. Converting to One Meal a Day, 24-0 as they say.

Why? More weight loss, better autophagy window, optimized immune system, and hardly any inflammation of any kind.

Supplements and the way one eats is always an experiment for us. I will hands down say Sugar intake is minimal which I suspect has been so great for…. well everything.


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## DeoreDX (Jul 28, 2007)

I started intermittent fasting organically as I was restricting my caloric intake to lose weight. Never heard of the term I just cut out breakfast as a way to lower my total caloric intake. If I eat breakfast I get hungry for lunch around noon. If I don't eat breakfast just drink some black coffee my hunger goes away after ~30-60 minutes of being awake (6am wakeup) and I get hungry at noon. So now I just skip the breakfast and save the calories. Then at noon I start "grazing" meaning instead of a big 600-800 calorie meal I'll eat in 100-200 calorie bursts. Yogurt with a little granola. Small salad. .lettuce wraps. handfull of nuts. High fiber keto wraps with a little peanut butter. Doing that 2-3 times during the afternoon keeps me satiated until dinner. Then I eat whatever I want for dinner. I lost about 44lbs this way (203-159) For me this isn't a diet it's a lifestyle change and is very easy to maintain.


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## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

DeoreDX said:


> For me this isn't a diet it's a lifestyle change and is very easy to maintain.


Me too. I used to scoff at those that ate judiciously. Wish I started better eating earlier in life.

When I got into better food intake habits, a co-worker reminded me to always keep reading about better better eating techniques. Weight loss and the rest happen as a matter of course.

Since then, I have kept the nuggets of great info from any weight loss/healthy source, and made up my own lifestyle plan. I do like a *healthy* ketogenic plan combined with excercise. Like I mentioned, read up on Ketogenic lifestyles.

My method is not popular, trendy, or even the absolute best thing ever for everyone. Works great for me and the wife. She complains now about clothes being too Big.


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

Update. 

I've been eating nominally only one meal per day (supper) since April. At first I paid no attention whatsoever to what I did eat, or how much either, except I didn't eat enough to make myself feel sick or stuffed, which is easy enough to do. For the last month or so, I watched some Lustig videos on sugar and now I try to avoid sugar (but not carbs) also. I also added back in a nightly beer, and have a snack at 2 or 3 about half the days.

I do NO regular exercise. Granted I ride my bike about every other day, but just short cruises.

I went from 227lb to 195lb within a couple months but I have stabilized there with a much smaller amount of flab, but still more than I would like. So I figure I'm 10lb overweight instead of 40, which is a much better place to be. I think if I want to drop that last 10 I could totally cut out the alcohol and maybe add a habitual walk or something.

I'm now a big fan and do not see myself going back to eating 3 times a day. Now I think that eating 3 times a day is crazy. I think that by itself is a root cause of obesity. No wonder people can't lose weight if they eating that often. I think if you want to lose weight the FIRST thing you should do is eat less often it's SO much easier than trying to eat less or different. On vacation, I went in a normal schedule. After eating breakfast, it was crazy that like 3 hours later people were talking about eating lunch. I felt like I hadn't even digested anything yet. Then 4 hours later they were eating AGAIN. No wonder I used to have a hard time keeping weight off. That's practically eating constantly. But once you get in the habit, you get used to that cycle. I really think eating once per day a plenty. I've even gone on some morning 15mile or so bike rides..no problem, but I'm sure I would have to eat something once my glycogen ran out.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

JackOfDiamonds said:


> I'm now a big fan and do not see myself going back to eating 3 times a day. Now I think that eating 3 times a day is crazy. I think that by itself is a root cause of obesity.



I don't think so, it's the crap people tend to eat that's mostly to blame imo. I eat 3x a day and am skinny as a rail and I'm not the only one. 

I do think intermittent fasting is a good thing and I really should make it more of a habit. Also I'm glad the once a day meals are helpful for you or anyone else. Whatever works!


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

J.B. Weld said:


> I don't think so, it's the crap people tend to eat that's mostly to blame imo. I eat 3x a day and am skinny as a rail and I'm not the only one.


I'm guessing that your regular exercise volume is a lot more than none. For people who don't exercise one meal per day is probably ideal--even eating healthy food it's quite possible to overeat if you do "NO" exercise. I also eat 3x/day (or more) and still struggle to eat enough, but between bike commuting, riding/trail running for fun, lifting, playing tug with my dog, jumping on the trampoline with my 11 y.o., and other stuff I exercise 10-15+ hours per week. The idea of only eating once a day sounds dreamy, like a vacation.


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## Squirrel in the Spokes (Apr 9, 2021)

If I ate once a day I’d have no friends because I am an asshole when I don’t eat regularly


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## D. Inoobinati (Aug 28, 2020)

*Member has removed content due to fundamental disagreement with this site owner's views favoring expanded access for electric mountain bikes (eMtb) on multiuse singletrack in public lands.*


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## frdfandc (Sep 5, 2007)

I intermittent fast as well. Usually coffee for breakfast, an occasional blueberry/wild berry muffin, lunch, usually left overs from previous nights dinner, then I cook dinner, usually around 7:30pm. From Aug 2019 to June 2020, I went from 228 to 189. Biggest thing was cutting out processed sugars, alcohol and cutting back on the carbs. From July 2020 I gained about 15 lbs back due to stresses in life (lost my wife last year). I started drinking alcohol again, maybe 2-3 drinks per night, plus snacks. Really fell off the wagon and ballooned up to almost 210 again. Time to diet again. So no sugar, limited alcohol, back to intermittent fasting. I'm down the 15 lbs i gained with another 7-8 to go.

The biggest thing to loosing weight is the carbs. Sugar, alcohol, bread. Substituting good carbs (like mushrooms) over bad carbs (candy) will help you loose the weight gradually. I have a book that shows that 1 cup of mushrooms has as many carbs as a couple of Skittles. Keep that in mind when you shovel candy into your mouth hole. My weakness is Sour Patch Kids.

I cook a lot for myself and my roommate. My roommate is down almost 35lbs just from eating healthier from the meals I cook. It's mostly lean meats. Even when it comes down to red meats like steak and burger, steaks are an occasional meal, ad i usually buy a meatloaf mix and then combine it with turkey burger. Really leans out the burgers health wise, but still has all the flavors (I add seasonings).


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

frdfandc said:


> Substituting good carbs (like mushrooms) over bad carbs (candy) will help you loose the weight gradually. I have a book that shows that 1 cup of mushrooms has as many carbs as a couple of Skittles.


Another good stat--a entire pound of potato (a lot of food, that's like two pretty large russets) has 350 kcals.


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## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

@frdfandc I am on a parallel track. Slip ups here and there, gains, losses etc. The end goal is to optimize my immune system, health, and to shed some lbs.

Generally speaking, I have never been a teetotaler. I thought I was doing great drinking vodka and sodas exclusively. But, after I read that the body reacts to alcohol as a poison, I have been alcohol free for 21 days. I know that sounds like someone in recovery but truly I have turned the corner on my weight loss plateau without alcohol gumming up the works.

Work in progress.


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## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

For your edification.



RMCDan said:


> Another good stat--a entire pound of potato (a lot of food, that's like two pretty large russets) has 350 kcals.


Yes indeed. The Starch content is high for potatoes. If one was keeping track of numbers for a calorie deficit, that could work if toppings were plan friendly and serving size was considered.
I have read elsewhere that starchy food is on the undesirable list for many. Me too.


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## DeoreDX (Jul 28, 2007)

I use the glycemic index to help judge good carbs and bad. Looking to avoid those big spikes in blood sugar. I don't avoid high GI food just try to practice moderation. Potatoes have a really high GI almost close to sugar.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

Using GI alone to determine good/bad carbs is an inappropriate use of GI. Glycemic load, which also factors in the energy density of a food, is much better. Potatoes, fruit, and lots of other high-GI whole foods have low GL due to their low caloric density. 350 kcals is not a lot of energy, but a pound of potato is a lot of food from a volume standpoint. You'd have to eat 6 lbs of them to get 2k kcals/day. Potatoes also have an incredibly high satiety index: http://ernaehrungsdenkwerkstatt.de/...ffe/Saettigung_Lebensmittel_Satiety_Index.pdf

The bottom line is that all whole foods are healthy, even the starchy ones. You can also reduce the GI of all starches considerably by cooking them ahead of time and re-heating them, which forms resistant starch.


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

The issue is not usually glycemic index, it's sugar vs. starch. It CAN be, if you are literally trying to manipulate blood glucose levels, but that's probably not important for non-diabetics. For most people, it's more important to track sugar. Sugary foods (bad) always have high glycemic index, but so do starchy foods and they are fine. Which is how Japanese people live on rice but are still healthy. What you should probably be doing is tracking how much sugar you are eating. Glycemic index is a crude way to limit sugar, so lowering it might help, and lowering carbs might help, but if you go by glycemic index or carbs, you might still end up eating a fair amount of sugar, plus you might end up eating too many calories or cutting out perfectly healthy starch foods that end up getting replaced with worse calories.

The sugar lobby will do almost anything to avoid people correctly identifying sugar as a poison. As long as people keep talking about "carbohydrates" as if it were a single meaningful nutrient category, they can keep spiking sugar into everything and get away with it.

For some reason, people think it's reasonable to lump sugar in with starches as if they were equivalent, since both are carbohydrates. But nobody thinks it's reasonable to lump alcohol in with starches, even though alcohol is a carbohydrate too. Even though sugar is similarly bad for you as alcohol. Sugar just gets a pass because people think it's food. It's not food, it's basically a contaminant and like alcohol; you can get away with a low level but you should completely eliminate it from your diet if you can. It's a zero-positive chemical.


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## frdfandc (Sep 5, 2007)

EKram said:


> For your edification.
> 
> Yes indeed. The Starch content is high for potatoes. If one was keeping track of numbers for a calorie deficit, that could work if toppings were plan friendly and serving size was considered.
> I have read elsewhere that starchy food is on the undesirable list for many. Me too.


Anything that has a high starch content like potatoes and pasta should be consumed in smaller portions. It's all unwanted carbs. 

Now that being said, I eat pasta and potatoes, maybe once a week for pasta and 2-3 times for a small amount of potatoes
But I like to supplement my pasta and potatoes with lean meats. Toppings for potatoes include cheese, bacon, chives and home made salsa with peppers from my balcony garden.

I don't follow a Keto diet, just sensible eating, substituting better carbs like mushrooms, broccoli, and brussel sprouts for potatoes, low carb bread, minimal sugars (I love Sour Patch Kids) and minimal alcohol. 

In all reality it all comes down to moderation. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Because I'm following this type of diet/lifestyle change, I'm getting close to being in the best shape of my life and this is before an exercise program to be instituted. I don't feel tired, actually energized throughout the day. Now just need to get motivated to actually go out and ride my bike. Small steps.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

frdfandc said:


> Anything that has a high starch content like potatoes and pasta should be consumed in smaller portions. It's all unwanted carbs.




Not unwanted by me, I eat tons of pasta when I'm riding a lot and it seems to treat me well. I'm no expert though.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

J.B. Weld said:


> Not unwanted by me, I eat tons of pasta when I'm riding a lot and it seems to treat me well. I'm no expert though.


This sub-forum is sponsored by Tailwind Nutrition, which is literally a bag of flavored sugar, and it works. I don't buy it, but only because it's super easy to DIY it for pennies on the dollar. For mid-ride fueling and post-ride recovery carbs are the opposite of unwanted. Nutrition for fueling and recovering from intense exercise and nutrition for sedentary overweight people trying to lose weight are entirely separate topics that almost always get conflated in online discussions. However, even for the latter group, whole food carbs are healthy for everyone except maybe uncontrolled diabetics. Even Robert Lustig says things like tubers and fresh whole fruit are good for you.


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## Nick_M (Jan 16, 2015)

Unless you are preparing to the stage, it is irrelevant, main rules should be:

Sustainable for you over long period of time ( time, food type, etc)
Energy equation (consumed vs spent)

all other factors are fluke


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## frdfandc (Sep 5, 2007)

J.B. Weld said:


> Not unwanted by me, I eat tons of pasta when I'm riding a lot and it seems to treat me well. I'm no expert though.



You must have a high metabolism then. If I eat too much pasta or potatoes, I feel bloated. However and nice pasta meal or a meal with potatoes the night before a big ride or race works for me.


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## miles of pain (Sep 11, 2009)

It's definitely not psudo-science, and there's now definitely-not-psudo-science-peer-reviewed-papers to back it.

This recent podcast is a great summary of the current research and protocols for implementing it: https://hubermanlab.com/effects-of-fasting-and-time-restricted-eating-on-fat-loss-and-health/

The one line takeaway is: don't consume calories a few hours before bed, and don't consume calories a couple hours after waking up. Favor heavy breakfast & lunch and a lighter dinner.

Besides weight loss, it has benefits to your hormone levels (better sleep!), digestion, and inflammation levels.


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## JackOfDiamonds (Apr 17, 2020)

I just hit my pre-ski-season goal of 185lb, down from 227lb in April. All by eating once per day and nothing else. I even went back to drinking one beer per night a couple months ago. I should probably start exercising though, not to lose weight but for strength and stamina.


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## Cerberus75 (Oct 20, 2015)

Outside of mtb I do weight lifting and BJJ I can't get my protein requirements with OMAD. So I just eat chicken breast for a lunch. And a bigger meal for dinner it works well for me. I've always had a low metabolism. Even when active.


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## davec113 (May 31, 2006)

I find it difficult to cut back when I'm not training hard.

I also think alcohol f#$ks things up for me in terms of eating too late, I always feel the need to eat as I think it helps me process the alcohol and then it ends up with too much food too late. I definitely sleep better and feel better if I avoid eating later in the day. 

On sugar, IDK why but I only get cravings at night. Morning to afternoon, just doesn't seem nearly as appealing. 10pm and I can't stop myself so I just don't keep much in the house. This means I also can't keep some things for mtb rides in the house like those Honey Stinger cracker bars. They are just way too good!


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

miles of pain said:


> It's definitely not psudo-science, and there's now definitely-not-psudo-science-peer-reviewed-papers to back it.
> 
> This recent podcast is a great summary of the current research and protocols for implementing it: https://hubermanlab.com/effects-of-fasting-and-time-restricted-eating-on-fat-loss-and-health/
> 
> ...


Huberman Lab is an incredible podcast. It's almost insulting to call it a podcast, it's an upper-level college lecture series on physiology, neurobiology and endocrinology.


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## davec113 (May 31, 2006)

RMCDan said:


> Huberman Lab is an incredible podcast. It's almost insulting to call it a podcast, it's an upper-level college lecture series on physiology, neurobiology and endocrinology.


It's hard to believe you can access such good info for free. His recent podcast on fasting/IF in the link above was amazing.


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## mtbfoo (Aug 26, 2019)

Still in "IF" since late 2019. The "quotes" are because I don't do it for religious reasons, nor do I follow it religiously: no ultimatums or "rules"...it is a loose "you don't need three meals a day, most of the days" thing.

I still eat everything: cookies, cakes, pasta, meat, butter, ice cream, etc, including Coke Zero 5 times a week or more. Not a casual alcohol consumer after my 20s, but If the company calls for a couple of drinks or beers, I'll have them, but never was the guy who craved for a drink, especially at home.

If I crave sweat bread with nutella over it after 8pm, I'll have it. Proper slice, proper thickness of nutella. I do it once a month or so, who cares if indeed I skipped like 20+ meals I would casually had with zero regards to calories "before" I get to have the next "lil treat" ? Again, we are not children, it is not "cheat day eat all you want and it won't count", it is indulging in little something now and then.

If I am invited for a late dinner after working late, guess what, I'll go. Yes, I had lunch, so what?
If I know that I will be having dinner with friends later that day, I'll eat a light lunch.
I will order anything on the menu when going out without worrying it is "too many calories". Too much and I cannot finish (because I get satisfied easier now) is more of a concern than calories. Honestly now.
If I have a big for my standards ride and climbed 2,000+ ft / 600m in a couple of hours, I can, or rather should eat a bit more that day.
Again, we are not children following rules not to be slapped. I just do it as an individual who knew I was eating more calories in a day than I should, and decided to hold back on it during the time of the day I would miss that fuel the least, i.e. @ night.

My weight, even if it fluctuates 2kg/6-7lbs through the year, is still pretty stable and steadily more than 10kg/30lbs under when I've started (was like 210-215lbs before).
My mediocre cycling performance did not decline at all through this process, I am actually faster.


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## yung_vadi (8 mo ago)

First of all If you are doing intermittent fasting is crucial to stay hydrated. So, you can and should drink these beverages: Mineral water, water, regular water, coffee and tea. I think coffee and tea will be more pleasant to drink than water. These guys wrote what are you doing incorrect What Can You Drink While Fasting? → Full List with Allowed Drinks | Lasta.app. When I need some weight loss solutions I read their blog.


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