dmccarty
Super Star Member
This discussion started almost a decade ago! 
Interesting to read what I was doing back then and compare it with today.
With the lockdown and working from home, I ended up not eating breakfast first thing in the morning. Due to meetings and just working, breakfast ended up being between 12:00-14:00. This meant I was doing intermittent fasting but did not know it. Somehow, I read about intermittent fasting and realized I was already doing it for the most part. I just needed to pay attention to when I stopped eating at night and when I started eating the next day. So I did.
I lost a bit of weight and figured out I needed to increase my fasting period from 12 hours so I went to 14. My body adjusted so I went to 16-18 hour fasts. Because I did this slowly, and really did not plan to do intermittent fasting, it was easy to do. This worked and I got close to my target weight, but figured I could loose another 5-10 pounds. Maybe. Just have to try and see.
Then I started taking Creatine, and as expected, I gained weight. However, I did not loose the gained weight after a month or two of taking Creatine. I REALLY wish I had taken Creatine decades ago but I figured it was for building muscle, and it is, but where it is really helpful is recovery. I have run the chainsaw cutting up trees, and the next day felt just a twinge, verses in the past, I would really feel soreness for two days after working.
So I am not loosing weight but I am loosing fat. Go figure. The belt does not lie. I can see the fat loss too, and one could say it was my imagination but I had tighten up the belt.
Read up on autophagy, or watch the YouTube videos. Autophagy happens when one fast for long enough, the body starts to heal and rebuild itself. One might get a bit of autophagy with a 16 hour fast but it really needs more time so I started 24 hour fasts a couple of times of month. I think this might have sped up the fat loss. Since I increased fasting time slowly over the last few years, doing a 24 hour fast has been fairly easy. I normally stop eating by 20:00 which means I have a 16 hour fast in at 12:00 the next day. However, I often wont eat until between 12:00 and 14:00. If I stay busy, it is not hard to just not eat until 20:00 on the second day. I do drink coffee with no cream and sugar. That is allowed along with plain tea.
I have been very surprised that I have been able to do manual labor, like running the chainsaw, when fasting without a problem. Now, I was not running the chainsaw all day, only a few hours, but I was surprised I could do it at all when fasting.
I did figure out, and I think this was mentioned up thread, that one has to be careful with fasting longer than 12 hours since it can increase your blood glucose level. I think this is what has happened to me on my last couple of blood tests. I told them that I had been fasting for close to 16 hours when they drew the blood but I don't think THEY knew that was an issue.
My bloodwork needed to be tested nine months ago. <sigh> I tweeked my diet, again, and I wanted to see what the blood work says. Having said that, I have tweeked my diet several times this year and I wish I had blood work for each change but I don't. I had hopped to get the blood work done prior to Thanksgiving but work prevented that from happening, so hopefully I can get it done before Christmas. I really have minimized processed foods, try to eat more veggies, cut back on cheese, and eat even more nuts. We have never ate much meat, at least compared to the amount people used to eat last century.
I still do 10,000-15,000 steps a day. At one point, I was doing 20,000 and that took quite a bit of time. I did loose weight but to get 20,000 steps, I was eating later than I wanted too and figured eating earlier, even at the expense of walking less, was better for me. Then I started the intermittent fasting....
So, that is a long winded way of saying if one is limited in exercise for weight loss, intermittent fasting works, if one can do it.
Interesting to read what I was doing back then and compare it with today.
With the lockdown and working from home, I ended up not eating breakfast first thing in the morning. Due to meetings and just working, breakfast ended up being between 12:00-14:00. This meant I was doing intermittent fasting but did not know it. Somehow, I read about intermittent fasting and realized I was already doing it for the most part. I just needed to pay attention to when I stopped eating at night and when I started eating the next day. So I did.
I lost a bit of weight and figured out I needed to increase my fasting period from 12 hours so I went to 14. My body adjusted so I went to 16-18 hour fasts. Because I did this slowly, and really did not plan to do intermittent fasting, it was easy to do. This worked and I got close to my target weight, but figured I could loose another 5-10 pounds. Maybe. Just have to try and see.
Then I started taking Creatine, and as expected, I gained weight. However, I did not loose the gained weight after a month or two of taking Creatine.
I REALLY wish I had taken Creatine decades ago but I figured it was for building muscle, and it is, but where it is really helpful is recovery. I have run the chainsaw cutting up trees, and the next day felt just a twinge, verses in the past, I would really feel soreness for two days after working. So I am not loosing weight but I am loosing fat. Go figure. The belt does not lie. I can see the fat loss too, and one could say it was my imagination but I had tighten up the belt.
Read up on autophagy, or watch the YouTube videos. Autophagy happens when one fast for long enough, the body starts to heal and rebuild itself. One might get a bit of autophagy with a 16 hour fast but it really needs more time so I started 24 hour fasts a couple of times of month. I think this might have sped up the fat loss. Since I increased fasting time slowly over the last few years, doing a 24 hour fast has been fairly easy. I normally stop eating by 20:00 which means I have a 16 hour fast in at 12:00 the next day. However, I often wont eat until between 12:00 and 14:00. If I stay busy, it is not hard to just not eat until 20:00 on the second day. I do drink coffee with no cream and sugar. That is allowed along with plain tea.
I have been very surprised that I have been able to do manual labor, like running the chainsaw, when fasting without a problem. Now, I was not running the chainsaw all day, only a few hours, but I was surprised I could do it at all when fasting.
I did figure out, and I think this was mentioned up thread, that one has to be careful with fasting longer than 12 hours since it can increase your blood glucose level. I think this is what has happened to me on my last couple of blood tests. I told them that I had been fasting for close to 16 hours when they drew the blood but I don't think THEY knew that was an issue.
My bloodwork needed to be tested nine months ago. <sigh> I tweeked my diet, again, and I wanted to see what the blood work says. Having said that, I have tweeked my diet several times this year and I wish I had blood work for each change but I don't. I had hopped to get the blood work done prior to Thanksgiving but work prevented that from happening, so hopefully I can get it done before Christmas. I really have minimized processed foods, try to eat more veggies, cut back on cheese, and eat even more nuts. We have never ate much meat, at least compared to the amount people used to eat last century.
I still do 10,000-15,000 steps a day. At one point, I was doing 20,000 and that took quite a bit of time. I did loose weight but to get 20,000 steps, I was eating later than I wanted too and figured eating earlier, even at the expense of walking less, was better for me. Then I started the intermittent fasting....
So, that is a long winded way of saying if one is limited in exercise for weight loss, intermittent fasting works, if one can do it.
I think having a bit of both fresh and candied helps the flavor.