Started reading The Slight Edge (It was recommended here) and the first thing I thought was, I should really start fasting

VladvonK · 2017-08-03T23:05:21+00:00

I partake in a keto diet and incorporate intermittent and long term water fasting for weight loss. This shit works, I've lost over 130 lbs since January 17' with little difficulty.

If I was at a healthy weight I'd incorporate shorter fasts with more carbs as I enjoy lifting and putting on muscle. It is very difficult to put on mass when water fasting. I would do one meal a day with no simple carbs, I would also do weekend long fasts from time to time to maintain my weight.

Look into Dr. Jason Fung for more info on the benefits to fasting such as: weight loss, diabetes management, mitigating cancer, and mental benefits.

SamuraiPizzaCatz · 2017-08-04T03:42:02+00:00

Tea is fine with no sugar and no milk. Juice is not fine. Coffee served black is also fine.

Juice is nothing but fibreless glucose and fructose, both of which gets digested and counts as calories. You should never consume sugar without fibre, as the fibre is what helps slowly burn the sugar and doesn't spike your insulin.

Watch the film "That Sugar Film". Not to use your post as a soapbox, but sugar is the absolute worst thing for you and you're better off avoiding it altogether unless eaten in whole fruits, veg, and milk.

DentyneWhite · 2017-08-04T09:57:44+00:00

Jump in and try it. Its the only way to experience what works best with your body and your goals. Personally, this month, Ive been doing Alternate Day Fasts and consuming about 600 calories on fast days. Im getting leaner and having the high productivity days without the crankiness.

Is that Pure Fasting? I dont know or care, its working really well

CoupDeGrace22 · 2017-08-04T09:13:01+00:00

Martin Berkhan is one of the people who pioneered intermittent fasting and shared studies, conclusions,methods and his own approach that he used with his clients mainstream on his blog.

Shame he never followed up with a book, cause soon after he started gaining traction a fuckton of "IF gurus" emerged and bastardized his approach without even understanding the method and studies behind them.

Great reads and info by him, check him out if you are interested in fasting.

Peter_B_Long · 2017-08-04T23:03:08+00:00

I follow Jim Stoppani and he says that the only thing we are allowed to consume while fasting is tea or black coffee. No added sugars or sweeteners.

I'm on my 2nd week of IF. My weight has stayed the same, but I am leaning out on my belly, my chin, and overall my whole body. I can tell just by looking in the mirror. I haven't checked body fat %'s.

If you are planning on really losing weight and fat, then you can have your 2 'feasts' or meals or whatever. I personally follow macros and still hit them with IF. I was eating like 8 meals / snacks a day, and just cramped those in to 8 hours. I stuff myself pretty good during my eating window so I don't feel any hunger during my fasting window. I work out at 6:15-7:30am then I'll break my fast with a protein shake. This begins my eating window. I stop eating at 3:30, and don't eat anything until after the gym the next day. It's really no problem. My stomach growls a little towards the end of my workout but it's no big deal.

The first 2 days were the most toughest, although it wasn't that bad. I felt some hunger during my fasting windows and really stuffed and full during my feeding windows when I would eat all my macros. Now my body is used to it and don't feel 'too hungry' nor 'too full'.

I'm dropping carbs little by little every week so I can lean out the most that I can before the summer ends.

I haven't felt any real mental changes honestly. I think meditation and the amount of sleep I get is much more important than the fasting in influencing the power of my mind.

My strength has stayed the same, but like I said, I look leaner, and my weight is the same. My muscles are harder. When I touch my biceps, it feels more solid and less of that fluff (fat) that we have. I also have a more defined bicep peak and still good size.

My chest is popping out more. Not sure if it's getting bigger, or if I'm losing fat in the right areas, but my chest pops more, and it's almost a miracle because I've been flat chested all my life.

One of the best things about IF for me is that I used to need to go home right after work to eat my dinner and hit my meal times. I had a short window between 6-7pm to eat my dinner or else my schedule would be messed up. Now I don't deal with that. I get off work, and don't have to go home or worry about eating.

tb87670 · 2017-08-06T10:33:31+00:00

I wonder how much intermittent fasting helped me lose weight when I was younger. The first time I got in shape I was a teen just out of school I went from 270lbs to 190lbs over a few years, occasionally dipping to 185. Funny thing, because of my schedule I would have a huge meal at 12 noon and a huge meal at 6pm. That is 18 hours a day I wasn't eating, 8-10 of those I was sleeping so I wasn't awake thinking about food. After getting used to it I woke up hungry on days I pushed myself hard in the gym or while working but I mentally wouldn't want to eat until noon.

Greekzack · 2017-08-03T23:05:53+00:00

IF is def something that works.

smyger · 2017-08-06T07:06:03+00:00

The first 16-24 hours of fasting is the hardest part, so the 16 hour rule is really hard to do free of pain. After you have done 24 hour it's easier it's like then you can do 72 hours without problem. You get the point. I am not well researched either, this just come from experience. But what does the book say about longer fasting periods? Thats the easy part. 16 hour per day I can't do.

SkorchZang · 2017-08-04T01:54:59+00:00

Avoid drinking juice when fasting, unless you're the one who just juiced it fresh from fruits and veg. Juice from packets and all that other shit is juice in name only, and it's better for a fasting person to have nothing but water, than to have those "juices". The body becomes extremely sensitive/stingy in response to hunger and everything you put in will be spread around & utilized to the max, regardless of its possibly toxic qualities.

Avoid any caffeine-containing drinks when fasting. Only include them if you're so addicted that you can't take the withdrawal, basically to help you stay functional. Try to cut back on the amount your allow yourself anyways if you do that. Herbal teas you make yourself from things like mint leaves etc. are beneficial.

If you're drinking juice or tea (anything aside from water) it's not really considered fasting, nor is IF really fasting. The smallest, wimpiest, and safest fast to try out is 3 days long, with nothing but water. Preferably distilled, otherwise spring water will do. The less the mineral ppm, the better it is for fasting. Everyone except the sickest of the sickly of people can do this fine with no problems, except that it terrifies them psychologically at first. It can be safely repeated monthly, if desired.

Such "longer" fasting (3+ days) is a serious tool in your toolbox, not something to be trifled with. It's very beneficial to include an "entry" and an "exit" period of time, equal to the amount of time you plan to eat nothing. For example if doing the 3 days fast, your plan might look like this:

The Entry:

Day1 (still eating). Remove all animal products like meat, fish, poultry. Eat salads, nuts, porridge made with water, fruits and veggies with no limitations, berries. Drink fresh self-pressed juice and herbal teas. Reduce salt and exclude all processed sugar.

Day2 (still eating). Same, but exclude the porridge and nuts, exclude salt entirely. Lower the amounts of food you eat by about 30%.

Day3 (still eating). Only berries, fresh fruit, and fresh pressed juice.

Day4 (fasting). Distilled water (as much as you feel like having, no gorging though)

Day5 (fasting). Distilled water.

Day6 (fasting). Distilled water

The Exit

The same as the entry, but in reverse order.

Day7 (first time you take something besides water, great celebration). Fresh pressed juice again. Tiny amounts of berries, fresh fruit. Herbal teas.

Day8. Adding your green sald back in. Holy shit a salad never tasted so good.

Day9. Porridge, nuts, dried fruits, all veggies. Berries and juice with no limit as before.

The Exit segment is the most important part of the whole fast. It's more important than the actual time you're going hungry, with only water. You want to really nail it. Do it right, be stocked on the best quality products you can get to get increasing benefits from it each time.

While you're fasting, it's traditional to keep it a secret from family/friends and recommended to stay physically active and cheery. Don't skip gym, though don't expect personal bests during this period either, take it fairly easy.

You may see some nasty side effects while hungry: dizziness if you stand up too fast, general weakness, breath that smells like shit and/or acetone, being irritable and mean to everybody, jumps or dips in blood pressure, body temp, etc. All of this is acceptable. If you feel real bad/dizzy, it's fine to lay down and rest for a couple hours, doing absolutely nothing not even reading. This is good for you. It's all part of the cleansing that goes on when you're in this unusual starvation mode for a tiny bit of time (3 days is nothing). The bad breath is reduced by gently scrubbing the tongue free of the gunk that gathers on there with a spoon, maybe once or twice a day. Do not use Listerine, tictacs, or any kind of toothpaste while fasting, no matter how organic and everything-free it claims to be, skip that shit. It's only a few days, brush as normal with no toothpaste during this time. Meanwhile the body will burn away anything sick and superfluous on a microscopic level, it basically tries to eat itself and during the "Exit" it will blossom back out eagerly and attempt to renew itself with the new stuff you're again supplying to it.

Usually what people are most scared of are the "excruciating pangs of hunger", they think they'll be like dying sailors or some shit, with their teeth falling out. Nothing could be actually further from the truth, with a correct gradual Entry as we discussed, by the second day on only water, most of the feeling of hunger evaporates to regions unknown. You don't feel it. You're starving but not actually hungry, that is a thing. And there is no horrible suffering to overcome or anything like that.

The result when you do the exit stage correctly will amaze you. Almost everyone notices that they need much less sleep. Food portions you need become much smaller than before, and you have no cravings for sugar or processed crap whatsoever. You crave your beloved salad, with chicken strips or shrimp or what-have-you. Food tastes completely different and amazing. Your girl is confused what the hell happened and who this new you is, because you've never fucked her so hard before. Mental clarity and some say even spiritual renewal are the more subtle benefits of real fasting. It's a little like pushing the "reset" button on your body and getting Windows(tm) chugging along all nice and fresh again.

The ideal time to start a 3-day water-only fast is on a Wednesday, thru to Friday inclusive. On Saturday your gradual 3 day "Exit" begins. The gradual "Entry" stage begins the Sunday prior (also 3 days). A small water-only fast like this is great whenever you want to "turn a new page" in life, to change over to a new/better diet, or when you moved to a different continent/area and the food you are going to have to eat has changed a lot. Lets you close the older chapter, start the new one fresh - both physiologically and mentally also. Some of you recovering blue pill addicts might be able to fast your oneitis away in record time.

suchusernameverydoge · 2017-08-03T23:55:14+00:00

i fast since little more than a year and this has incremented my abbility to stay lean even when not following a very strict diet, i used leangains website to learn how to fast.

Roaring40sUK · 2017-08-04T08:44:06+00:00

I have just started intermittent fasting, at the weekends (night to next day PM) and it has helped me bust through a plateau I had reached on my BF %.

I have already cut out most carbs.

The main benefit I have found so far (apart from fat loss), is I also feel less hungry come late morning, pre lunch in the week, so now dont do any snacks not even fruit pre lunch.

TheGillos · 2017-08-04T15:46:41+00:00

Fasting is fantastic. I started with keto, added intermittent fasting, and now I regularly do 32-48 hour water fasts.

Great results; weight, willpower, even random shit like whiter teeth. Check out the fasting sub. It's weight loss with a Game Genie.

AvengerSentinel · 2017-08-04T16:12:24+00:00

I've made several comments here about the value of IF. I've been doing it for 6 months now (2-4 times a month, unexpected circumstances cause me to break from the strict 16-8 rule). It clears up my mind and encourages me to drink more water. I think, oftentimes, people overeat because they are bored, so once you take eating off the table, your body forces you to either:
A) Do something constructive with your free-time
B) Find an optimal way to relax/unwind so you can get back to being productive at a later time in the day

DubbleFUPAwitCheez · 2017-08-04T20:10:41+00:00

I do a lot of IF but I did my first 5 day water fast a few weeks ago. Not nearly as hard as one would think though I never got the "energy" some people say you get. I felt lethargic mostly but it did help me to understand that our bodies don't need as much food as we are lead to believe. It's worth trying at least once.

If you haven't been doing IF for awhile it'd be best advised to only do a 3 day water fast.

HappyScribe · 2017-08-04T21:32:52+00:00

If you want to lose weight, keto and then, after you become adapted and in ketosis, intermittent fasting is the way to go.

Make sure you eat some vegetables - I find I can maintain ketosis with as much as 200g of stir fried vegetables a day. I find I need some carbs or I get dizzy. Go easy on the cheese or you will not lose weight. You can literally go for months in this state.

Longer fasts are also excellent for building willpower.

Christomancer · 2017-08-05T05:49:05+00:00

I'm no expert, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but I stared doing Intermediate Fasting, or something similar to IF since April. Basically I eat a large "Dinner" at the start of my day and have a piece of fruit or two around the end of the 8 hours as a small 2nd "meal". I'm usually still pretty full and only eat one of my pieces of fruit. Once and a while I'll do a 24 hr fast, mainly if I forget or don't have time to eat the fruit. I don't IF on the weekends and eat as normal (Although my stomach has shrunk so I don't eat as much as I used to) and if there is a special event or holiday I don't stress about it and brake the fast. I average a loss of about 3 pounds a week so far and have lost about 30 pounds total. Started at ~318 lbs and just weighted in today at 287lbs. I don't work out much either.

If you do work out on a fast be careful. I almost passed out due to low blood sugar. I would advised eating something beforehand.

eveningrevolution · 2017-08-05T14:57:07+00:00

I'm on my third day. I drank a little bit yesterday and I woke up with a slight hangover. I'm wondering if fasting exacerbates the effects of alcohol

TheRecycledMale · 2017-08-06T16:12:33+00:00

By all means, I'm not an expert ... and I'm working back at the "getting healthy & fit" mantra myself after getting completely lazy for a year.
That being said ... check out the blog Rogue Health and Fitness by PD Mangan. He has several articles about fasting along with some of that within his books. One you get in the habit of eating one meal per day, it's not really that hard. And my mind is much clearer during the day. Are there hunger pains? Yes. Can you live with them? Yes. Do they go away? Yes. And you can always just use that pang to remember to drink water, instead of grazing on some food.

TheOriginalWasBetter · 2017-08-04T02:10:36+00:00

The benefits of IF are limited mostly to appetite control, which is certainly beneficial, but all the really nice stuff like HGH increase, blood sugar stability, lower blood pressure, and increases lifespan are all associated with longer fasts of several days or weeks. A 12-16 hour period of not eating, half of which you are asleep anyway, does not have the same benefits of long term fasting. I usually just eat one big meal before bed, and some days I fast completely.

bossplayaintraining · 2017-08-03T22:39:44+00:00

Bruh I eat 3 meals a day fuck u mean mans eat 6 meals a day.

Anyway drink lots of water when u fast. You'll get hunger pangs & shit but you'll adjust in about a week

Title	Started reading The Slight Edge (It was recommended here) and the first thing I thought was, I should really start fasting
Author	eveningrevolution
Upvotes	24
Comments	45
Date	August 3, 2017 10:29 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/6rg365/started_reading_the_slight_edge_it_was/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/started-reading-the-slight-edge-it-was-recommended.45104 https://theredarchive.com/post/45104

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