Intermediate Fasting -- What is up with it?

[goldgirl24]

Hi all.

I looked around this site for a bit and didn't see anything regarding Intermediate Fasting. I know a lot of you do it, but I'm not really sure what it is and how it works.

If someone could explain what exactly it is and/or share their own experience (if they have one) with it that'd be much appreciated!!

Thanks!

[synger]

Everyone fasts intermittently when we sleep. That's why the first meal of the day is called "break fast".

Intermittent fasting as a diet plan takes that idea one step farther.

Some suggest that you do a 24-hour fast once or twice a week. You just don't eat for 24 hours or so.

Other plans give you an "eating window" that you follow every day, like 18-6 (fast for 18 hours, eat whatever you want in the four hours remaining) or "fast five" (fast for 19 hours, eat two meals in five hours).

Other plans do a calorie-cycling sort of fast. Johnson's Up Day Down Day diet (JUDDD) basically takes your basic calorie level, and you eat 25-40% of that calorie level one day, and the full amount the next day, alternating back and forth. You average out to fewer calories overall, and you only "diet" every other day. There's a very active JUDDD subforum on this board.

[synger]

One of the ideas with intermittent fasting is that your body activates a SIRT gene (you can look it up for more details) that helps with fat burning, health, and longevity. You may not be lowering calories overall (or you may; it depends on the plan), but the spacing of your eating makes it easier to control your eating so you don't overeat.

[picklepete]

Similar to carbs vs. fat, it's one option for normalizing the appetite and simplifying menu decisions. The correct schedule for an individual will cause less ongoing stress, not more!

Like synger implied, why eat a ton of food upon waking if we aren't hungry yet? I have an "appetizer" plate around 2-3p then cook a proper feast for 7-8p. Knowing that dinner is waiting makes it really easy to deflect food cues throughout the day, plus I get to enjoy the full belly experience daily whereas with a 3-meal plan I would need more careful balancing.

[JMacB]

I'm not generally hungry in the morning, but I do out hwc in my coffee. I'm trying to reconcile that with IF. I feel like I read a thread about this a while back, but I need to find it again.

[Ntombi]

It's in Other Plans: Intermittent Fasting Plans 2013

[mom23kids]

IF (intermittent fasting) is an umbrella for several plans. The strictest form is probably JUDDD, also known as alternate day fasting. This is the plan I follow and I alternate between Up Day/normal calorie consumption and Down Days/fasting days (under 500 calories). Dr. James Johnson wrote a good book about it, called The Alternate Day Diet. Then you have the 5:2 plan, which is getting gobs of attention right now especially in the U.K., due to a BBC documentary last fall by Dr. Mosley. He has also just come out with a book called The Fast Diet. This plan is a more relaxed version of JUDDD and does 5 norm calorie days and then 2-500 calorie fasting days a week. Then there's IF eating windows, most commonly the 5 hour window and the 8 hour window. For the 5 hour plan you can download a free ebook called The Fast 5 Diet. For the 8 hour plan, a new book has just come out by Davix Zinczenko called The 8 Hour Diet.

Also, on this site there's a large and very active JUDDD forum in the Weight Loss plans section. There's a thread going on there for followers of the 5:2 plan too. And then in the Other plans section there's a general IF thread that covers all the IF plans. And in the Maintenance section there's also a general IF thread going for tbose who follow an IF plan and have made goal and are either transitioning into maintenance or are already there