Over the past few weeks, more than a few people in my “stream” of information mentioned that they were fasting. For some of those, it was part of their observation of Ramadan. For one other, it was just something they were doing in prep of a big feast.
Regardless, it combined with several conversations I’ve been having with someone I work with. See, this co-worker (who is in what nearly everyone would call good shape) regularly goes close to 24 hours without eating while just “not hungry”. It all made me curious about the effects of fasting on the human body.
What I found was really interesting and sparked a short-term experiment carried out last week and a longer-term one starting this week. I read a few articles, a ton of medical journal abstracts and a few things became very clear along the way.
Rather than there being dangerous side effects for short term fasting (1-3 days), the benefits kept stacking up as I kept reading. However, one particular study’s conclusion really struck me. When subjects did a 24 hour fast for one day per month, heart disease in the group went down DRAMATICALLY (think 40%).
That struck me because of the health problems that my mom has and, in all likelihood, I inherited. My grandfather died before I was born of a heart attack before turning 60. My mom has had high blood pressure for as long as I can remember and, a few years ago, had a coronary blockage. My own cholesterol and blood pressure numbers indicate that it’s pretty likely that I am on track for the same problems.
As I continued reading and more and more benefits related to cardiac health were described, I became simultaneously intrigued and apprehensive. Clearly a lot of science was adding up to point to a clear way to improve my health and possibly even lose the weight that’s been stubbornly clinging to my mid-section, but the 24 hour fasts that were in the literature and used for intermittent fasting seemed like an impossibility for me.
I’ve lost, at various times 20-60 pounds, with the help of appetite suppressants (only to regain some of it back). The biggest problem I faced (and continue to face) regarding my weight is that I am so constantly hungry. When I eat “proper” meals, I am nearly never full at the end and am almost always hungry an hour or 2 later.
When on the appetite suppressants, I manage to knock back the hunger enough to make reasonably good decisions. However, once I’m off of them (and they won’t let you stay on them for the 50+ weeks I’d need them to lose the weight I need to), I struggle with the hunger in major ways.
After looking at all of this information, I am convinced that intermittent fasting is something that is likely to help both my health in general and make it easier to lose the weight I need to in order to make *that* part of my health come in line too.
However, all of that would be entirely moot if my intuition about my own hunger was true. I imagined the hunger during a 24 hour fast as horribly difficult. Fortunately, I’ve read enough books like Predictably Irrational to know better than to trusty my intuition.
So, last week, I attempted my first 24 hour fast. From 1pm on Thursday to 1pm on Friday, I consumed no calories. No food, no juice, no milk, no sugar in beverages, nothing. And, it was much easier than I thought. Yes, I was hungry. However, it wasn’t much worse than when I am leading up to a slightly delayed meal. For instance, if I normally eat lunch at 11:30, but have to wait until 1pm because of a meeting. It never got any worse than that.
I had no dizziness, no light-headedness, wasn’t any more tired or weak, etc. In short, a 24 hour fast is very do-able for me.
As this is rambling on longer than I intended, I’ll get to the point. All of my reading and my small experiment set up what I’m planning over the next 12 weeks or so.
The studies indicate that it takes about 18 hours of fasting before the benefits kick in. At about 30 hours, the benefits start slowing down, pointing to an 18-30 hour fast being a good length. Note that the science says that there is NO slow down in base metabolic rate out to 72 hours of fasting and I have no intention of going that long.
While some people have gone to a completely alternating days schedule, the benefits are achievable with far fewer fasting days, so I’m aiming for 2 days a week of between 24 and 30 hours of fasting. To still be able to eat something every day, I’m going to be starting the fast after lunch on a given day, skipping the following dinner, breakfast and lunch and starting back on food the next afternoon or dinner.
I’ve also recently started back at the gym, so will be doing weight training 3 days a week plus some days walking/treadmill.
I need to set an appointment with my doctor and at the gym too to get base numbers for things like cholesterol and triglycerides. I’ll be taking waist, hip, arm, leg and neck measurements and weight. I hope to get a basal metabolic measurements as well. Even though this is just one person, and so anecdotal, I want as much data as I can to know what the actual results are. I’ll also be taking pictures, though I probably won’t share them publicly (I trust you understand).
The reality is that going without food for periods like this was the normal state of things for the entire history of humanity for all but the last 60 years of 1st world history. The science all says there is very little risk here. However, I will be paying very close attention and working with my doctor to mitigate any risk that is present.
This is gonna be interesting.
