Anyone Done The Phil Mickelson Fast? Trying It (1 Viewer)

[Navin Johnson]

Looked over the last page of this thread. My wife and I have started, this past weekend, to attack our high-blood pressure through diet.

Anyway, the question I have for the house is: are concepts like intermittent fasting and "bulletproof coffee" of any use to people who are seeking sustained weight loss through diet? Like not to lose 10 or 20 lbs ... but for people who need to lose, say 1/3 to 1/2 of their bodyweight?

Reddit has a pretty good IF page

 

[bostonfred]

Looked over the last page of this thread. My wife and I have started, this past weekend, to attack our high-blood pressure through diet.

Anyway, the question I have for the house is: are concepts like intermittent fasting and "bulletproof coffee" of any use to people who are seeking sustained weight loss through diet? Like not to lose 10 or 20 lbs ... but for people who need to lose, say 1/3 to 1/2 of their bodyweight?

Intermittent fasting sounds easier than counting calories but I'm not sure it makes sense for you. 

There's two common types of fast - 5:2 fasting where you go with very low calories two days a week if not fasting altogether, and 18:6 fasting where you fast 18 hours and then eat during a 6 hour window.  Some people take that further and go with OMAD (one meal a day) and just go to town.

The theory behind it is basically the same as any diet, reducing calories, except you also get some small gain in metabolism from the fast itself.  It's relatively new as fad diets go but the early data is promising and empirically a lot of people seem to succeed with losing weight that way.

Here are some problems.

It's not really a sustainable change to your diet. You get used to chowing down six hours a day and then what?  You're done with the diet and you keep doing that except now you eat breakfast?  How long do you think that lasts before you start putting weight back on? So you need an exit strategy of some kind, or to just keep fasting for the rest of your life. 

It doesn't count calories... or sodium.  You'd basically be on two diets at once. 

Fasting can be difficult, and cheating on the fast ruins the thing. 18 hours a day, or a couple days a week, your mind and body are under just a little bit more stress.  Oh hey I'd love to meet you guys for breakfast but I'm doing Intermittent fasting. Maybe we could meet between 1 and 630 for lunch or dinner during my 6 hour window.  

It's a diet, but not a lifestyle change. There's no bonus points for exercise, you still need to eat your meals in a six hour window. There's no reason to track macros, so you might not recognize your low protein or fiber intake. 

You can change your macros and exercise separately, of course, but now you're just adding more disparate rules to your life. Have to remember when to eat and what kinds of foods to avoid for sodium and blood pressure but also which foods to add for fiber and protein and omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants and don't forget to exercise daily even if it's just going for a short walk but be careful to time your walk around your fasting window because you don't want to miss your dinner so if you get invited for a hike at 11am or a round of golf at 4 you might not want to go.

5:2 fasting would make that part a little easier but you get different issues. Like if you decide to start lifting weights as part of your fitness plan, you don't want to work out on a fasting day and you really don't want to go low protein on a rest day. I'm sure smart people have figured out how to work around that but it's not going to be optimal. 

My .02

 

[Doug B]

Intermittent fasting sounds easier than counting calories but I'm not sure it makes sense for you. 

There's two common types of fast - 5:2 fasting where you go with very low calories two days a week if not fasting altogether, and 18:6 fasting where you fast 18 hours and then eat during a 6 hour window.  Some people take that further and go with OMAD (one meal a day) and just go to town.

Intermittent fasting sounds like the kind of thing reasonably-fit people do to reel themselves back in after a period of "reckless" eating (e.g. after the holidays, or after a vacation). Trying to lose a quick 5-10 lbs they may have put on.

I do remember in the 1980s, you'd hear/read about celebrities going on a diet/eating plan that forbid eating after 6 p.m. (nothing about skipping breakfast the next day, though).

 

[Navin Johnson]

Intermittent fasting sounds like the kind of thing reasonably-fit people do to reel themselves back in after a period of "reckless" eating (e.g. after the holidays, or after a vacation). Trying to lose a quick 5-10 lbs they may have put on.

I do remember in the 1980s, you'd hear/read about celebrities going on a diet/eating plan that forbid eating after 6 p.m. (nothing about skipping breakfast the next day, though).

If you go to the reddit page, a ton of people post progress pics, many of whom would not be considered reasonably fit by any stretch.

 

[bostonfred]

Intermittent fasting sounds like the kind of thing reasonably-fit people do to reel themselves back in after a period of "reckless" eating (e.g. after the holidays, or after a vacation). Trying to lose a quick 5-10 lbs they may have put on.

I do remember in the 1980s, you'd hear/read about celebrities going on a diet/eating plan that forbid eating after 6 p.m. (nothing about skipping breakfast the next day, though).

People use it successfully to lose huge amounts of weight. It's a good approach for that. And some people adapt back to healthy habits after. It definitely seems to work for some people, I'm just not sure it's good for what you're trying to do

 

[belljr]

big fan of "IF"  - I try to not eat after 6-7  (yes I cheat on occasion)  but 99% of the time I dont eat until 11am or later.   Ill definitely have a coffee or 2 with some cream but thats about 40 calories

 

[Navin Johnson]

big fan of "IF"  - I try to not eat after 6-7  (yes I cheat on occasion)  but 99% of the time I dont eat until 11am or later.   Ill definitely have a coffee or 2 with some cream but thats about 40 calories

I don't eat after 8-9 but then generally break my fast between 2-4.  I had already weened myself off the sugar in my coffee and was only using wheat milk.  When I'm fasting now I just drink it black, water it down a little with tap.  On weekends I'll dial back to 16-8 and a splash of the wheat milk in my Joe.