Intermittent fasting for 2 years This is what I learned
Choosing to experiment with new ideas can help you start a successful business. Choosing to experiment by sharing your work can start your career as a writer or artist. And choosing to experiment with different diets and workouts can help you discover a fitness and health strategy that works for you.
Of course, self-experimentation is the exact opposite of how most of us want to address things. We would prefer someone to give us a one page sheet with the answers to our problems and say, "Do this and you will be ready." Also, if someone shares an idea that seems extravagant or strange, most of us would prefer to discard it instead of experimenting for six months to see if it can really work for us.
To be clear, I have made a good amount of mistakes and discarded ideas without trying them in the past. But in the case of intermittent fasting, which I will explain below, I am glad that I decided to do some self-experimentation and see if it would work for me.
I have been experimenting with intermittent fasting for more than 2 years and this is what I have learned.
Intermittent fasting: what it is and how I do it
Here is a simple definition of intermittent fasting: you eat your normal amount of food in a smaller time frame. It is not a diet, it is just a feeding pattern that reduces your feeding window every day to approximately 8 hours.
For example, I usually eat my first meal around 12 pm or 1 pm and then I can continue eating until the last meal at 8 pm. After that, I fast until the next day at 12pm. That translates into approximately 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating each day. I do this almost every day. (I guess I will do an intermittent fast 350 of the 365 days of the year).
I will not immerse myself in the details of intermittent fasting in this article. I have previously written a 3,000 word beginner's guide to intermittent fasting and a long guide to questions and answers about intermittent fasting. If you have questions about how it works and the science behind it, read those articles.
And if you want more information, I was also interviewed on the Fat Burning Man podcast (here) and on Jimmy Moore's live show about intermittent fasting (download mp3 here).
How I feel after 2 years of intermittent fasting
I used to bother about the lack of healthy food options at airports. This is especially true in my case because I am looking to increase my volume and gain weight, so I need to eat a lot. Finding a considerable amount of healthy food is a difficult task in most airports.
The solution? Treat your travel days as a fast day and then eat twice as much good food the next day.
As an example, last year, when I returned from Thanksgiving with my family, I did not eat that day. It ended up being about 32 hours between meals. That is the longest thing I have done in one fast, but things went well and I avoided the bad nutrition of the airport so i played games at http://jasagol.cc to make my self forget i'm hungry, and thats work a lot for me.
I am not interested in intermittent fasting if I sacrifice my long-term health for short-term improvements. And for that reason, I have kept a close eye on how I feel, how my body responds and if my overall health is improving or decreasing.
Fortunately, I am in better shape than two years ago, as my strength numbers in the gym show.
And more importantly, a recent check-up with my doctor revealed that my blood test, my cholesterol and my hormones are also controlled. And remember, this is after two years of intermittent fasting. (If you are interested, the results of my recent blood tests are here).
Note: I think it is important to clarify that I can only talk about my experience and I cannot promise anything about how your body will respond to intermittent fasting. I know that, in some cases, women believe that intermittent fasting has lost the balance of their hormones. I have no data on this and, therefore, all I can offer is my own experience. As with most things in life, your mileage may vary.