Fasting diet – 3 years on

This topic contains 9 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Tobias Karlsson 9 years ago.

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Tobias Karlsson

10:24 am
23 Oct 15
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Hi all,

just wanted to share the results from my recent health check. My background: I started with 5:2 in November 2012, did that for a year and went to 6:1 in November 2013 since when I have stuck to it. Beyond the diet I guess the “variables” are: 3 sessions of intense running per week and regular intake (every morning) of half a table spoon of different vegetable oils (pumpkin seed, walnut oil, grape seed oil, len seed oil). I have also had to cut back on grains and pasta due to gluten intolerande that was found, but I do eat e.g. rice – all in all, I probably eat less carbs but have more fat instead due to this.

IGF 1: 144 (this is the same as the last checkup in October 2014, which is good news as though it is not extremely low, it remains on that level also with 6:1 and appears to be at a very healthy level with the normal range being roughly 100-220 for my age and gender)

Cholesterol: 4.6 (LDL 3.1, HDL 1.5 and triglycerides 0.8 – I thought that would give me a value of 4.8, but it is still below 5.0 and my LDL/HDL ratio is great!)

Glucose: 3.5 (normal range 3.5-6.1 – i.e. it is almost too low; this was not a day after a fasting day but a “regular” day). It can be that my lowered intake of carbs come into play, but last year it was 3.7 and I definitely had more carbs then)

BMI: 20.9
Body fat: 9%

All in all, very pleasing results and my experience is that 6:1 is effective over time. Clearly, my IGF1 skipped back a bit when I went from 5:2 to 6:1 but it has then remained at that level. Weight maintenance definitely work on 6:1 as well; of course, things like amount of exercise comes into play but that is the same level as before I went on this diet.

I keep it very simple – on my fasting diet I just do not eat for around 20h and then have a light meal in the evening. I know you can do it much more sophisticated, but I find it easier to do it this way.

On the negative side, I still struggle to sleep after my fasting days… and my hands and feet are cold. That does not go away!

Anyway, just wanted to share my story as I have managed to stay on this diet for 3 years now and have no plans to stop. I feel great on it!

Good luck with your fasting!

Tobias

Amazon

12:27 pm
23 Oct 15
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Hi Tobias,

Thanks for sharing with us as it is always encouraging to hear from those who have lost weight and improved their health and are also successful maintainers.

I don’t have issues with sleeping on FDs in comparison to any other day, but I did get cold easily when fasting so now take measures to ensure that I don’t allow myself to get cold in the first place as it is easier than trying to get warm on an empty stomach.
I don’t eat all day if I’m fasting as once I start eating, I find it more difficult, something that many on this website struggle with.

Good luck with your continued maintenance.

Bronx

12:59 pm
23 Oct 15
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Those are great results, congratulations!

I know what you mean about being cold, but with me it’s my whole body. After I lost a lot of weight in the Summer of 2014 I was always cold. One day I was freezing and had to put on a jacket. I looked at the thermometer in the den and it was 80° in the house. It has since seemed to be better; maybe I’m just getting used to it. At least I’ve saved some money on the electric bill from not running the air conditioning much.

Bronx

Tobias Karlsson

3:10 pm
23 Oct 15
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Thanks Bronx and Amazon for sharing! At least you know that you are not alone with those issues 😉

edieheknier

6:13 am
28 Oct 15
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Have read with Interest every bodies letters and just want to tell You our (my husbands and my)
experience with the 5/2 diet. We are 78 and 68 and are on the diet (we call it lifestyle) for 2 years.
All the time on 5/2, hardly ever skipped a fasting day.
In the beginning we both each lost 5 and 7 kg and have our weight (64 kg each) since then.
but we don’t do heavy exercise (just 3 to 5 hours of walking, about 5 to 15 km) every day except
it’s heavy raining 🙁
Apart from loosing our weight our whole condition is very good, the best thing is, that our mind
became much sharper than before. And what we really love is, that after each fasting day our
taste is much sharper and we are much more appreciative for every bit of food we eat. When we skip fasting for a day we are really looking forward to fasting!
We love it!!!!!!! Even at Christmas time or birthdays we did not skip for longer a day.

Edieheknier

Tobias Karlsson

8:25 pm
30 Oct 15
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Hi,

that is a very inspiring story and I am glad you shared it! I think you managed to tick all the “tick boxes” for why we follow this lifestyle (you are right; that is the word and not “diet”!) – clarity of mind, appreciation of food the day after etc. I am impressed that you exercise that much and every day – well done! You seem to enjoy a rich and healthy life at your age which is very inspiring for all of us. Keep it up 🙂 – we want to hear your story another 20 years on from now ;). I stopped 5-2 because alongside my relatively serious running, I just felt drained after 12 months. 6-1 is altogether different in this sense; it is really maintenance mode and it works very well too. If I had seen a significant reduction of the health benefits as compared to 5-2, I may have gone back to it but in this situation, I am happy with fasting once per week.

Thanks again for sharing your story – this inspires all of us!

Tobias

GoldenSun

9:40 pm
30 Oct 15
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Thank you TOBIAS for taking the time to share your experiences of 3 years of doing the 6:1 maintenance way of eating – inspiring.

I’m near to reaching my goal weight and your story has inspired me to continue for a lifetime on mainly 6:1 but 5:2 if needed occasionally.

Thank you also to EDIEHEKNIER for sharing your inspirational experiences.

glacierchick

1:05 pm
20 Nov 15
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Hi Tobias,
thanks for sharing your story, I am only 4 weeks in but already feeling so much better. I was just wondering where you got your IGF 1, glucose, cholesterol etc tested? Did you get your own GP to do it or was it something you had to pay a private provider for?

Thanks
GC

Tobias Karlsson

1:35 pm
20 Nov 15
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Hi GoldenSun,

sorry for responding only now. We all have our own story obviously but I really think that the amazing thing with this regime is that you WANT to do it. OK, I am hungry during the night until I break the fast the next morning but as there is a week in between the fasting days, once it is Monday again (as that is my fasting day), I always end up looking forward to it again. Amazing! I do cheat during vacations and Christmas if it feels just too “anti-social” but otherwise, it is really easy to stick to. Keep up the good work! 🙂

Tobias Karlsson

1:49 pm
20 Nov 15
Permalink

Hello,

normally glucose and cholesterol is just standard protocol and you could get it anywhere. You probably already know what you should look for, but just in case: I want to stress that I am not a guru in any way but you should look for the split in cholesterol values – i.e. a blood test showing total cholesterol is not that meaningful but you would want there to be a value for triglycerides, LDL cholesterol (which is the bad guy) and HDL cholesterol (the good guy). I think in most instances you do get this these days. Now, it is worth doing some research in this area as there is lots of criticism and no one single “truth” out there. From what I last heard – but again, I suggest you look around to get your own opinion – a total cholesterol below 5.0 and a ratio between LDL/HDL < 4 is good. I think if your blood test shows these three values (triglycerides, LDL, HDL) it should be enough.

For the IGF1 I had to pay a little bit as that is not normally part of the package, which I can understand 🙂

Good luck with the fasting! The thing that amazes me is that it really took so little to make that little change… I was never overweight but had a couple of kilos I could not get rid of. This diet changed that, but first and foremost it brought that cholesterol level down to very healthy levels. Before that “nothing” had worked which was probably more psychology than anything else. I have most of my life run quite a lot and lived healthily but it did not impact my cholesterol. This did. I also have the feeling that my memory has improved quite a bit. I find it much easier to memorize things in greater detail. It is not that sensational “presence” that I felt three years ago when I started this diet and that many others have talked about, but I still sense that it makes me sharper during my fasting days. And my physiology completely changed and I became a better runner as well as there are less kilos to carry around 🙂