So with all the hype on this diet trend I decided to give it a try mainly just to see if I could go without food for 12-36hrs. Well, i’ve been doing the 12 hr fast consistently for 2 weeks now, I eat roughly 1500 calories during this time and eat mostly clean food. I do enjoy fast food a few times a week but thought that was permitted. I also rarely consume sugar in the form of cake, ice cream etc. but have been eating those L&L vegan protein cookies almost every night ( I know they are shit and loaded with sugar but they are tasty).
So far what I have noticed is fat around my mid section (spare tire coming back). Is this normal at the beginning or am I not fasting long enough/ eating right?
Any advice is appreciated, this is new to me and was curious to see if it works. I have no need to lose weight I was just seeing if I could do it and gain the cognitive, cleansing, and energy properties I have heard of.
Well, I thought 12hr is a basic fast although some people do 16hr. I’ll probably try to go 16hr next week. As far as cals I shoot for 2000 but fall short.
No I don’t measure with a scale but I eat pretty much the same thing and just round it off.
Chicken breast 230 cals
1 cup white rice 200 cals
cheeseburger 550 cals
6 whole eggs 400 cals etc etc
It varies from 1500 to 2000
Usually what I do is stop eating at 8:30pm, get up and have water and black coffee. Then I do a 20-30min cardio session just to get things moving in the morning. My first food has been at about 10am and will be a cup of greek yogurt, blueberries, 2 hardboiled eggs and maybe a slice of wheat toast or half a cup oatmeal. I eat again about 2pm then 3rd meal between 7:30 and 8:30.
Also, chicken breasts can range from 150g to close to 400g. White rice are you sure you have cooked/uncooked the right way around? Cheeseburger is going to vary wildly, Ive had a 1000kcal cheese burger, for example.
Even if you get that right, the calorie number are not precise, off by upto 20% one study found.
Basically, your estimates can be up to 50% off… the numbers you source are upto 20% off… start to see the problem?
How is that “pretty much the same thing” when you go on to say you eat greek yogurt, blueberries, and maybe a slice of wheat toast or half a cup oatmeal.
Ok guys, clearly I have no idea what i’m doing so how does it work? If I exercise everyday and eat less than 2000 cals a day I lose weight anyways but i’m not trying to lose weight I thought the whole point was to NOT have such a strict diet because you were eating only in certain windows. I don’t know, can you point me in the right direction to learn more? All the posts I found were pretty old
I would say first you need to decide what you want to do. In the most simple terms: Gain muscle or lose fat. You can do both in certain scenarios but let’s keep it simple and choose one of those. I would worry about your diet before delving into intermittent fasting, unless you already enjoy it. And like someone above said 16 hour fasting is really the current agreed upon sweet spot.
I know it’s titled “aggressive diet” but you can use it to calculate a caloric surplus as well for gaining weight. After you know the macro breakdown I would use a free meal tracker, and start scanning and logging everything you can(the less guessing the better). Depending on how serious you are, they are very helpful for visualizing goals.
Side note: The cleaner you eat the better. For instance carbs in one burger bun is ~30, well half a cup of oatmeal is also ~30 carbs, and it is a much better source. The cleaner you eat while on a caloric surplus the better. I’m no fan of the dirty bulk.
It’s very simple. If you are gaining fat, you are eating at a surplus (above whatever small surplus would be applied to muscle gains, assuming you’re training properly). There’s nothing magical about IF–it is not a ‘Get out of calories free’ card. I don’t care if you fast for 22 hours–if you eat at a surplus in the remaining 2, you will get fatter.
As an aside, it’s not possible for a metabolically intact, active, 160# male to gain fat on 1500 cals/d. So either your scale is way off and you actually weigh <120# (not likely), or you are eating significantly more calories than you think (very likely).
Thanks you guys. I guess i’m a little uneducated on intermittent fasting. It seems at this point that it is not for me as i’m definitely not trying to lose weight. I got my information from all over the web and Youtube and like everything in life, everyones got their own opinion. See, i’m pretty thin as is for my weight, like most older men, I struggle with my mid section and that is what I was going to try use the fasting for mainly, to try and bring out the abs, however some people say it can be used to enhance mental clarity and to detox the body and that interested me as well. And yes, I’m sure I must be eating more than I thought, at least in the sugar dept.