Intermitten Fasting...too much? page

[Emiko]

Hey all! This is my first time to the Forum, and you all seem like educated readers, and therefore a good source of advice.
First off, I LOVE Mark's Daily Apple and the PB lifestyle. It is fantastic; a breath of fresh air really, when you compare it to all of the diet and weight loss toxins on the market. I have a question, however, on intermittent fasting. Mark has covered it (and the various different forms) a little on his site. I have begun to impliment it into my lifestyle and I am in LOVE with it. I used to follow the 4-5 square meals a day, but my mind and life were consumed with constantly preparing these small meals, giving me little free time away from food. This ultimately led to an over-obessesion, and almost into the brink of an eating disorder (binge-eating as I have learned it is called) I knew I needed a new approach, and alas, I found it: Intermittent Fasting
This is how I do it.
Mon and Fri: A whole day fast of usually 36 hours (don't eat anything all day Mon until breakfast Tues for example)
Tues, Wed, Thurs: Condensed eating window (I only eat from 11:00am to 2:00 pm)
Sat. Sun: I eat normally.

Is this too much? I am negating the positive affects of IF if I dive into it with both whole day fasts and condensed eating window fasting? Your blunt opinions are very much appreciated.

Thank you all!

[davem]

Can you be trusted to not develop or succumb to an eating disorder? My thought is, if you've had a *scare* about it in the fast, I would be very, very careful with IFing, as it could relatively easily slide into something else.

Personally, I don't call it an IF if I only eat at 3pm until 9pm, that's just a day. If I decide not to eat that day, sometimes, well, it's intermittent, and a fast... hence. Doink, IFing. I don't have any eating issues (that I am self aware of) so I just roll the dice. If I had a disorder, I wouldn't do it without my psych's ok.

[john_e_turner_ii]

Get ready....

[primalrob]

as long as you are feeling ok and have enough energy, keep doing whatever feels right with you. i, personally, wouldn't do that much fasting simply because i really like food and eating, and i'm not wild about that degree of scheduling.

grok would have gone as much time with or without food, with times of both feast and famine. my only concern for you would be getting the nutrients that you need. if you are exercising and doing all the other primal laws, are you getting enough for your body to function the absolute best that it can? what does your diet look like?

[iniQuity]

If you're liking it that much then keep at it. I fast almost daily. I usually eat around 1-2pm, then again anywhere from 6-9pm. I only deviate on weekends when it's likely that i'll have breakfast, mostly though as a result of social interactions, not necessarily physical hunger. I don't think about this schedule anymore, it just happens. What I don't willingly do is go more than 24 hrs without food. This is a personal preference because, well, I like to eat and I don't see the point in longer fasts.

[befitby40]

sounds like a bit much but really only you can be the judge and who am I to say it's too much. I eat 7 days a week with a condensed eating window of 5 hrs (5pm -10pm). I've thought about possibly having 1 24hr fast a week, but never considered two per week or have read anyone who does as much fasting as you do.

[Diana Renata]

Whatever works best for you.

I've found that fasting daily until 5pm or so, then just eating dinner works great in my schedule right now, so that's what I've been doing. No harm that I can tell.

[DFH]

[Daemonized]

Your eating window sounds a little small to get the nutrition that your body needs to me. Intermittent fasting though needs to tailored to fit your schedule and your lifestyle. I took my quite a bit of experimenting to find the right choice for me. While I do once in a while extend a fast out to 24 to 40 hours or so I try to keep my daily eating at about the same time. The hormone grehlin helps tell the body when it's time to eat and meal times tend to be habit forming quickly.