
Time-Restricted Eating in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: Study - vo2maxer
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413119306114
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basq
I'm of the notion that there is no better weight loss method than counting
calories, that all other methods are either deleterious or gimmicks which
merely shroud eating less calories. The problem is that people want an easy
(and fast) way of losing weight. well, counting calories is easy, but it's not
fast. I believe (although I have nothing nothing but personal anecdotes and
reasoning to back this up) that it's more sustainable too. I believe it's more
sustainable because you're building a habit of eating healthier foods. It
encourages you to eat more filling, nutrient dense foods and opens your eyes
to foods that aren't. Whereas with IF 'eat whatever you want is such and such
window' doesn't teach you what foods to eat, it doesn't show you what you're
putting into your body, and it definitely doesn't teach you portion control.
And as another commenter pointed out, it risks putting your body's metabolism
into shock because you are literally starving yourself. Of course you will
lose weight when you starve yourself! But you can't starve yourself forever,
and once you stop, the weight will most likely come back.

Calorie counting on the other hand, is a knob to turn, it's a parameter that
you can adjust. The more data you track, the better. You can weigh exactly
what you want to, you just need to be persistent. View it like washing your
hands after using the restroom: log every thing you eat, right after you eat
it. The rest will follow.

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vertigolimbo
This. Tried many diets, patterns, IF, etc... Only calorie counting worked and
managed to lose 18kg (40 lbs). Calorie counting builds habits, makes you aware
of what you eat and is a long term solution (rather than quick fix).

Someone once told me that if you want to lose weight but you tried and failed
that means you haven't reached the right mindset yet.

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moosey
The meta coming out of scientific experimentation has been showing that
intermittent fasting is an effective tool for a number of dirt related
disorders, including obesity. To see experimentation in this space is really
exciting, along with further experimentation in actual dietary intake (such as
vegetarian/vegan diets), it appears that a major source of energy expenditure,
the Ford we eat, can be massively scaled back while improving our health and
quality of life.

I've anecdotally watched the practice of intermittent fasting in the way
described (but using a 8 hour window) improve the love of those around me and
for preparation for athletic events otherwise. I hope that more analysis in
this space allows people to live healthier and more meaningful lives.

~~~
orev
I somehow have the feeling this comment was written by an AI.

~~~
moosey
It wasn't, but I get it.

Too many mistakes in it now that I read it again. I shouldn't use my phone for
text entry.

~~~
vo2maxer
I am a physician and you may have hit on something with those “dirt related
disorders.” I’m thinking of doing a meta-analysis.

Just kidding. Good comment overall and the phone thingy happens to me all the
time: “Phone thingy disorders.” ;-)

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throwaway010718
Years ago I just accepted being "hangry", and "that 3PM feeling" as a
consequence of being thin. With low body fat, of course I can't skip a meal
and I need to drink a bottle of Gatorade while I sit at my desk and code. And
I certainly need that late night snack to ensure I don't wake in the middle of
the night in hunger.

But in reality, thin with ~10% body fat equates to enough calories for 20+
days for most people. What I lacked was metabolic flexibility and that's what
I gained after praticing TRE (10:30AM - 5:30PM M-F) for the past months. A few
times a month I go 24hours with just 100 calories from a Keto coffee drink and
feel fantastic. And I am actually gaining weight / muscle mass for the first
time in a decade.

I wish I had started doing this sooner. Being able to skip meals and being
free from the leash of food feels like a super power.

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jdashg
This is more promising than many "intermittent fasting" findings, since this
paper's 10hr feed window is simpler to adjust to than every-other-day-eating
that some papers call "intermittent fasting".

Since I eat only brunch and dinner, I already qualify under this paper's
definition.

~~~
TheChaplain
So when you got into that habit, did you feel any noticeable change?

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outlace
I did intermittent fasting for 2 months, did >36hr fasts at a time about 3
times a week. I felt amazing and saved a bunch of time and money on food. But
then I tried doing a 48 hr fast and broke my fast with a big burrito and got
refeeding syndrome and was hospitalized for a day.

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voisin
This is likely not what happened. Metabolic syndrome is not a thing that
occurs after such a short fast unless you were absurdly thin to begin with
and/or drank copious amounts of water and flushed electrolytes away. But even
a basic level of research would have alerted you to the trivial ways of
avoiding electrolyte depletion.

~~~
outlace
Well it happened. I had critically low phosphate which is the hallmark of
refeeding syndrome.

And it’s not necessarily an absolute deficiency in electrolytes, it’s that
when you break a fast with a carb rich meal, it drives the electrolytes into
the cells so there is deficiency of electrolytes in the blood even if total
body amount is normal.

~~~
voisin
I have fasted first significant periods for 5+ years and many times I’ve
broken fasts with extremely carb heavy meals. I also participate in a number
of fasting social networks (both on and offline). I am just saying you might
want to investigate this further as a (relatively) short 48 hour fast, broken
with a carb heavy meal, should not have led to what you are describing.
Something seems very unique about this and shouldn’t act as a deterrent to
others. For you personally, if it is related to the fast, you might want to
try Snake Juice [0] which you can make at home and keeps your electrolytes up
without the sugar of Gatorade and others.

For anyone interested, Dr Jason Fung’s book [1] is an excellent primer on how
to fast safely. On reddit /r/fasting and /r/intermittentfasting and
/r/fastingscience are great resources for more info.

[0] For 2L water: 1tsp potassium chloride (NoSalt / SaltFree) 1/2tsp Himalayan
pink salt 1tsp sodium bicarbonate (Red Mill. Not processed Arm & Hammer)
1/2tsp magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salt. West Point. Must be Food Grade)

[1]
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670)

~~~
outlace
I think I was fasting too often. I was literally fasting every other day, zero
calories only water and black coffee. I probably was slowly losing total body
electrolytes.

But I didnt mention this to deter people from fasting, just to be careful. If
that fiasco didnt happen to me I'd still be fasting as I felt amazing while
fasting. My dad is still doing it for more than a year after I recommended it
to him

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firethief
I don't have access, but it sounds like they're comparing against ad libitum,
not food-matched (or even just calorie matched)? The interesting question to
me is whether it has benefits beyond making calorie restriction / avoiding
junk snacks easier to adhere to.

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miles
[https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/](https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/)
is a great place for IF information and inspiration.

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paulcole
Conveniently left this off of the title of the article:

> in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

19 whole people, too! Another big scientific win for the IF crowd. Can’t argue
with that.

