Alright, so tomorrow I'll be starting what is a 18/6 Intermittent Fasting diet. I recently spoke via an online forum to Martin Berkhan, who is currently writing a book with Lyle McDonald [one of the top nutritionist in the U.S.], about the idea of fasting. The idea behind it is, you go 16 hours without eating, and then for the next six hours you intake all of your daily calories, before going back into the 18 hour fast again. The 18 hours is the minimum you should be in a fasted state. You can be in a fasted state for as long as you like, however he recommends somewhere between 16 and 20. For convenience, I'll stick go with an 18 hour fast. Also, zero calorie drinks such as water, tea, coffee, diet sodas, ect. are permitted during the fast, as they only have indirect effects on the metabolism.
There are many advantages that were seen with fasting test on animals. Some are:
- Reduced oxidative stress
- Made the animals more resistant to acute stress in general
- Reduced blood pressure
- Reduced blood sugar
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Reduced the incidence of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease
- Improved cognitive ability
Also, this has not been recorded with other animals, but the life expectancy of religions that fast regularly compared to others in the same area that don't is 20-30% higher.
Some things may stick out to you.. Reduced chance of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are the main ones. Improved cognitive ability is very important to HS'ers, especially since almost all of us sit in a classroom for 6-7 hours a day. Poor insulin sensitivity has been linked to heart disease. For me, this seemed like a great way to improve one area I'm concerned about; my risk for diabetes. My family has a history of it, so I'm trying to reduce the amount of insulin released in my body at given times.
Now that we know the structure of the diet and some advantages, I'll explain what I'm going to do. For the next final two weeks of school I'll be attempting this "lifestyle." I'm going to have only one controlled variable, which is protein intake. I'll be consuming my target body-weight by mid-June [150 pounds] in protein each day. That's about 600 calories from protein each day. On days I do not work out, I'll be consuming 1500 hundred calories [10 x target body weight]. On days I do one of cardio or weight lifting, I'll be eating 1650 calories [11 x target body weight]. On days I do both cardio and lifting, I'll be consuming 1800 calories [12 x target body weight]. Carbs and fat will fill in the other portion of my calories. However, I will not care how much of each I take in, as long as I do not exceed my calories each day. I will not be weight lifting the second week, since I will be taking a week off for recovery and finals. However, I'll do some cardio. For the first week, since I lift/cardio from 3-4:30, I'll break my fast at around 2:30. I'll eat a high carb/high protein meal before I workout. And my workout, I'll consume the rest of my calories. Usually my last meal on a normal day is around 8:30, so I'll probably have a six hour eating window.
Here's the plan to get me started in the diet:
- Wake-up and have a normal breakfast
- I will not eat lunch
- From 2:30-8:30 I'll consume all my 1800 calories, minus the ones eaten during breakfast
- At 8:30, I'll begin the fast until 2:30 the next day
What I'm looking for out of this:
- How will my body react to the shock of not eating six small meals a day?
- Will my awareness stay up to par during the fasting period?
- Is six meals a day really necessary to keep your metabolism at an elevated state?
- Is the convenience of basically stuffing my face for six hours better than that of eating small meals?
And finally, I'll post each day how I feel, what I ate during my fast and how it affects my workouts.