Continued benefits?

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  • Do the health benefits of fasting – lower blood sugar, bp, cholesterol etc. Continue once you stop 5:2 and go on to maintenance -assuming a generally healthy diet and moderate exercise?

    Interesting question. I’m assuming the benefits will continue if your weight is controlled, your diet is healthy and you continue to exercise. My personal experience of maintaining though, requires following a fasting regime, either 6:1 or 5:2. I’ve been maintaining for over 2 years and am waiting for my latest blood tests. If I don’t fast I gain weight no matter how careful or well I eat.

    I plan to stay on the 5:2 or 6:1 eating plan when I reach my goal in order to maintain my goal weight. If I don’t, I’ll probably gain it all back. I’ve lost weight in the past on a variety (low calorie, low carb) diets and I always gained it all back. It was only a matter of time, and usually not very much. I don’t see this as being any different if I just quit when my target is achieved. Why would it be? At the risk of sounding like a cliche, If I go back to doing what I always did, I’ll get the same results that I always got.

    This fasting diet fits my lifestyle. I only have to worry about calorie counting 2 days per week. The rest of the week I just eat mindfully. The only time I’ve counted calories on a NFD is when I’ve hit a long plateau, to make sure I wasn’t eating more than I imagined. (I was.) One important thing that I’ve found is that I’m not as hungry as I used to be. I don’t start looking for food every time I feel a twinge of hunger. I know I’ll live if I don’t have time to stop and eat for a few hours. 😄 This way of living and eating is easy. It interferes very little with my day to day life. I like the way I feel. I don’t want to be overweight again. So sticking with it permanently is a no brainer for me.

    @goslo. You will get a lot of residual benefits if you go off 5:2 but in my opinion it is not as good as regular complete (water only) fasting. Watch youtube clips by Valter Longo. Increased autophagy (controlled killing of poorly function cells). Increased ability to utilise ketone bodies for energy rather than just glucose. Increase white cell count (big boost post fasting, actually drops during fasting). Increased sensitivity of endocrine system. Lower insulin levels. Better pancreas, liver kidney function to name a few. The list goes on.

    The weight control issue I guess is very personal. It does make sense that eating fewer calories than the ‘old days’ is a must for maintenance.

    Re keeping with a 5:2 or 6:1 long term for maintenance, I’m reminded of eastern practices where regular fasting is linked to religious practices so it becomes a natural rhythmic part of life.

    The water only fasting, @bigbooty , is that no food for 24 hours? Thanks for the residual benefits info.

    At the moment, I’m only eating the evening meal on fast days. It’s ok, tho was exhausted after a 4 mile walk in the rain today : )

    @goslo. Its a 36 hour fast. Last meal Sunday dinner, next meal Tuesday breakfast. I only fast once per week same day every week. Been in maintenance since March 2016. Do not expect fasting to be “easy” from the get go. I noticed a big change after about 6 months. After that it became fairly easy. I put this down to the fact that it took my liver a long time to become good at processing stored fats into energy. The liver’s job is to store excess energy as fat and to retrieve fat and turn it into glucose (and ketones) for energy use when food intake is low. In our modern eating too much lifestyle we hardly use our liver for this second function. Hence it becomes very lazy and inefficient.

    That’s a damn good walk, Id be tired as well.

    Aha , @bigbooty

    I’d taken it to be a 24 hr fadt, hence the meal at end of FD.

    Still lost 1 kg. So let’s see how week 2 goes.

    Aha , @bigbooty

    I’d taken it to be a 24 hr fadt, hence the meal at end of FD.

    Still lost 1 kg. So let’s see how week 2 goes.

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