Hi Mary, 

I've been experimenting with IF on and off for the last 6 months or so.  I really like Brad Pilon's attitude to food – that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad"  and that the equation is pretty simple, eat less, weigh less.   

Having spent a fair bit of my life being OCD about food, I had bulimia when I was younger and became quite disorderd in my thinking, adopting extreme diets such a macrobiotics (god this was so long ago!)  vegetarianism, the Gerson diet – mostly raw, lots of juice and coffee enemas!  I was always more concerned about being really healthy than losing weight because I'm fortunate in having always been quite slim.  I think I still have that tendency and have to watch myself.  Brad's attitude feels really sensible to me.   And since the latest on what's actuallly good for you changes rapidly it's a quite a balancing act to eat healthy.  I had actually put on about about a stone (14 lbs)  from a combination of boring sedentary job and overeating a high-protein, low carb diet.

So, I always liked the idea of IF, partly because of the health benefits (see, those old habits die hard!)  but I found it difficult to integrate into my life.  Other people do freak out a bit if you tell them you're fasting – it just sounds so exteme!  And there's so much misinformation out about there about having to eat  constantly and not skip meals.   I think you have to be a bit crafty and choose days and times when you won't be faced wtih other people's curiosity, at least until you feel more confident about the benefits.

It seems the exact length of fasting time is not crucial – I read a whole posting somewhere on the net about what precisely happens in your body when you go without food and anything over 13 hours should get into the real fat-burning phase (if that's what you're after) but you probably know that. I've done quite a lot of reading about it.  Some of the mouse studies have shown benefit even from alternating days  of eating till satisfied with days of restricted eating so just eating less on some days, even if don't manage a full fast will do you some good.

My own experience has been mixed.  I think so much of what happens is mental. Like you, I rarely experience much physical hunger, even on my very first 24 hour fast this past week.   I fasted from lunchtime to lunchtime and felt great, though the last few hours I was aware I was on the home stretch and although I had no real hunger, didn't feel ravenous or anything, I certainly had the desire to eat or at least was looking forward to the moment when I would be "allowed" to do so. 

At first, when I even contemplated the idea of going without food, I would get quite anxious but I've come to enjoy the feeling of emptiness.  I think you're right to have an awareness of how this could become an unhealthy attitude if taken to exteme.  Personally I think doing HIIT wind sprints is far more addictive in the endorphin/euphoria stakes.  But alot of eating disorders are about control and feelings so as long as you're not punishing yourself by not eating – or start to feel bad or unhealty when you do,  then you'll probably be ok.

Do you get headaches?  I got really bad headaches to begin with, but that seems to be less of a problem now.  Also, how do you feel once you have eaten?   I noticed after my 24 hour fast that (which I broke with big green salad and some smoked mackeral with horseradish- yum!) that I felt very sleepy immediately afterwards, which I normally associate with a high-carb meal.  Odd.

It's been interesting to notice how my attitude to eating has changed.  I'm far more likely to simply decide not to eat if I'm not hungry. In the past I think I would probably have eaten anyway, particularly in the evenings when I'm often not hungry after about 6pm, but I'm usually the one cooking dinner!   My partner has benefitted too, although he doesn't IF, he has somehow picked up on that message and has lost his middle-aged middle just by stopping eating when he's full.  Our wormery runneth over. 

Anyway, good luck with it.  I never though I could go 24 hrs and it took me a few months to work up to it, but as I said, the actual number of hours probably doesn't matter all that much. 

xx Lori

Thanks girls, you have inspired me to give this another try. I love everything Brad says and it all makes sense, but I find it so hard to make the right time. I think this is more an anxiety issue.  

I’ve tried fasting three times and only got to 21 hrs. That last bit is hard. Think I made it hard by going from dinner to dinner; it is a really long day. I’m going to give the midday to midday a try, sounds easier to keep busier just for morning.

JL

Hi All, 

Thanks for all the replies–I have a new question about your IF experiences. If you are doing let's say two 18-24 hours fasts a week what would you say your non fasting days are like? Do you find you are still not eating for a certain period of time like 12 or 14 or 16 hours? I'm very curious because I do not want to get carried away with fasting. My long fasts are only 18 hours (I will probably slowly tack on 30 min extra as the 18 hours gets easier), however on non fasting days I'm going 12-16 hours since I'm getting used to cutting my eating by 7pm. Is this chronic fasting? I don't want to negate to good things IF can do for me. 

BTW that last 18 hour fast was a bear! The last 2 hours I really had to keep myself distracted.