Alnona's Journal, 25 Apr 19

YeeHaw! Go get 'em!  

Do what is right and works for you! Hope you have a great day 

great positive attitude...saddle up and away you go! ;) 

Fasting takes time to get used to, but it’s great that you tried! ❤️ If we never leave our comfort zone, we’ll never know what we’re capable of. Next time aim for a shorter fasting time and once you can do that, just add an hour and build from there. 😊 

It only works if it fits your life. Just because it works for others doesn't mean it would work for me and visa versa. Nothing wrong with giving it a shot, and just because it didn't work this time doesn't mean you can't try again later when you have a different mind-set. Never give up, never surrender and enjoy the ride! 

For those that do fasting can you tell me if it has been a benefit? From the medical resources I have read they all say it negatively impacts you because it slows the metabolism and burns muscle rather than fat to fuel the body while fasting.  

@gstillings fasting has changed my life. I’ve been doing OMAD (one meal a day) since last summer. It has allowed me to finally gain control over my hunger, I’ve lost a significant amount of fat while gaining muscle, and even better...I FEEL AMAZING when I’m fasting. I definitely think that you have to work your way up, and there will be pitfalls along the way, but with practice you can really get some great benefits from it. 👍 

GStillings - there's a lot of benefits to fasting aside from weight loss. One of the big things is the suppression of insulin and getting more insulin sensitive. Autophagy (technically autolysis) which is basically your body going on a "spring cleaning' of your body so dead cells get eaten up and things like that. Getting metabolic flexibility so you can survive on ketones just as much as on glucose. In other words, you don't get "hangry" and your body effortlessly switches from glucose to ketones and vice versa. It lets your digestive system rest rather than constantly stressing it out. And numerous studies show that fasting is protein sparing and that after roughly 48 hours, your natural growth hormone skyrockets. As in - start lifting weights stat. BDNF also skyrockets and I liken it to "brain fuel". (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor) I routinely fast and it's not hard. But - I'm mostly keto which makes fasting really easy. Of course, it is possible with other dietary protocols. Once you get used to it, it just becomes a habit. I would recommend that if you want to introduce a fasting protocol, just start slowly. I started out with a simple "I'm not hungry in the morning so I won't eat anything till lunch" - aka the 16:8. Sixteen refers to the time that I'm not eating and the 8 refers to the time where I do eat. Currently, I generally fast at least 36 hours a week - don't eat one day and for the rest of the week, I do a more restrictive 19/20 hour fast and a 5 to 4 hour feeding window. The big difficulty for me is eating enough calories because it's rather difficult to eat so much in such a short time. (It just works better with my work schedule. On the weekends, I go back to the 16:8 schedule. And yes, I even break keto and enjoy some delicious pancakes or pizza on occasion. I subscribe to the "I better enjoy my life" creed.) Jason Fung is one of the big guys on this topic and I would suggest reading his blog to get more information. https://idmprogram.com/blog/ He's got a 20+ blog series that really breaks it down well for the layperson where he addresses things like what does happen to your muscles when you fast.  

Thank you all for the input and advise.🙋 

Well said Jaderh!