Anyone doing fasting?

A mate convinced me to give the 16/8 method a go. I really struggle with blood sugar dips (ask my family...) so I'm not convinced yet but will give it a go.

Day 1 today. 4 minutes to breakfast.

More info: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide

I'm not convinced by the 16/8 thing. That's my normal pattern anyway because I don't eat breakfast and have lunch at 1, and I'm fat.

Do you stop eating after dinner though?

I dunno, I'm gonna give it a go and see what happens. My mate says he has increased energy levels, sleeps better, etc so worth a try

I did it last year. Took a few months (3-4?) of doing it consistently for me to feel a difference. Still doing it now, not planning on stopping. I also do a run just before lunch.

For me I just generally feel less hungly/hangry like I HAVE to eat SOMETHING ASAP.

Think the main part is not so much not eating after dinner, but not eating anything mid morning.

I'd love to get rid of my hangry behaviour. Still not sure how my morning runs / rides will work out, but we'll see tomorrow.

I just kept them up. Was hard going for a long time though, felt like I had no top end, could only plod along and anything more than that spiked my heart rate, did a lot of base miles.

Seems to have stopped now after a year and can do "speed work" etc again, but I'm also doing less in general (no gym, no commute) so it's hard to say for sure.

Interesting. So you’re doing the running just before eating again?

I can see it working ok with a proper dinner the night before, but I’ll certainly struggle if we just have a simple pasta or something.

I fast when I feel the start of a cold coming - it works for me - haven’t had a cold in about 5/6 years.
Also do 24hr fasts for about a week 2/3 times a year for a general refresh. I rate it.

yeah, I dunno. I'm not a nutritionist/sports scientist/ anything so I can't claim to know what's going on, I would just say that in my experience the changes can be quite slow coming so if you want to try and do it I would commit for a good few months, maybe at least 6 and expect fasted performance to not be what you're used to (as you have no glycogen or whatever it is stored)

Also these days if I am planning ie a big ride or whatever, I just eat breakfast, but that's maybe 1ce a fortnight or so.

That's interesting. So how does it work with colds? You just stop eating for a day and let the body do its thing?

I've done very lax fasting for a few short periods. It feels natural to me as I'm not a low-blood-sugar person and I've always found the easiest way to control my weight is to eat 2 meals a day at about 10am and 5pm. The challenge I've found is avoiding alcohol after dinner. Mugs of herbal/fruit tea are a very poor substitute, but at least give you something to drink.

I'm thinking this is a good way to skip alcohol 4 nights a week, the other 3 I'm having a pint though.

As a substitute, I've found sparkling water to work surprisingly well

This video (warning this is vlog format) is long but interesting on the relationship between fasting and performance. Clearly works for him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPWRu_NjJ9E&t=81s

Been watching that series. Its been a good insight - but the format is getting abit tired now.

His performance gains are quite interesting but not seen the cost yet - be good to see some blood work if he will get it done / show it.

I dont go from eating 3 meals a day to nothing. its more gentle like 2 meals then 1 meal then just water. Its powerful shit. But not for everyone - I dont know why some bodies just dont adapt to it well at all.

The theory is that the body stops working on digestion so it focuses on healing. Lay-mans terms >>> Dr Klaper is a good source of info for me. Tons of videos from GP's / physicians and dieticians out there on the subject.

Do some research and do it gradually - my 5p.

Yes, I’ve found it very interesting. I think it’s fair to say that his long-term fasting correlates with his long-term performance gains, so the likelihood of him burning out due to the insane programme he’s challenged himself with this month is not related to the impact of fasting.

for sure. He said he's done little to no training leading up to this. So from little to nothing to 20 hours a week training like a pro, family and day job would surly fuck most people?

It boggles my mind. He has been racing in Pro/Cat1/Cat2 races crits for the past year while living on this diet, which is impressive.

ftp of over 5w/kg and he still thinks he's an average cyclist :D

My experience of fasting has been great BTW. I don’t miss breakfast at all. I have done 90 minute rides in the mornings fasted. Although I may have felt a little ponderous, I’ve still achieved PRs on short steep Epping climbs. So it doesn’t seem to hamper ‘top end’, but it does feel different.

But I do eat before and during long rides, or group rides that I think will be fiery.

I’ve moved away from fasting to ‘periodised fuelling’, or whatever the nutritionists label the simple fact of eating for whatever activity you have coming up. It sounds pretty obvious, but if you’re sat on your arse all day, don’t eat loads of carbs that far exceed your BMR; if you’re going out for a century, fuel up and eat what you want for the rest of the day.

I've done some interment fasting and found that it helps with low blood sugar and hangry periods but I'd suggest starting with something lower than 16 hours (say 12-13) until you get used to it. Also, it sounds silly but if you get really hungry in the morning then eat. Don't try and tough it out and hold on for an arbitrary time window. That'll come after a while!
Also in my experience running is easy fasted but not so much cycling. I think it's because cycling pushes me to a glycolytic/sugar burning state quicker and you generally have less glycogen to burn when fasted.

12-13 hours is default for me as I normally have dinner around 6pm and then nothing until a 7am breakfast. Longish run tomorrow morning so will have a proper meal tonight and bring some sweets with me just in case. Doubt I'll manage to skip eating until 10am but we'll see

Did the 5 2 thing 2 years ago, stuck at it, did lose weight for sure. It gets pretty tedious. I plan to restart that or similar after Christmas and New Year. Possibly combine with Couch to 5K. I'm not a runner at all....

I pretty much always run on an empty stomach in the morning and then eat as soon as I get home. I’ve not done this for any health reasons it just feels nicer to me. I don’t get hangry or notice skipping meals generally.
I’ve done a few 24hr fasts after watching Dr Michael Mosleys 5:2 doc on bbc. Felt good the next day.

Day 2. Normal run this morning that felt strange but fine. Felt like I was just about to run out of fuel through the whole run, but I never did.

Breakfast has never tasted so good.