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It's been a year since I started fasting. A thread on my experience, benefits I have seen and how fasting has brought a discipline to my life. Do take professional medical advice before starting on this journey. This thread should not be seen as medical advice.
I was introduced to fasting by @anavrta,then found great support & advice from @senpai_jagatjit, @thekunwarkhan & @roshancariappa in the last year. It has been great to share experiences and insights with each other. Grateful to this group of gentlemen for their constant support.
When I started, I was 15 kg overweight and was in no position to exercise regularly. Hence I started with the easiest variant 16:8 and lunch was my first meal. And of course, I stopped snacking
Benefits were almost immediate, I was sleeping better and felt more energetic during the day. An unexpected side benefit was that because I had brought in so much order into my eating habits, that started reflecting in other areas as well.
I gave myself a cheat day every 15 days, where I would literally eat as much and whatever I wanted. With time, the number of cheat days needed has dropped to around once in a month or 6 weeks.
Here, the advice of @senpai_jagatjit was most helpful, he had warned me that there will be a plateau soon. That plateau came about 6 weeks later, and I suddenly found that I was not losing weight every week as I had done till then.
I changed my fasting pattern and had my last meal for the day before 4 PM every day and shortened the eating window to 6 hours. This was hard at first, but I got used to it over a couple of weeks
It was important that I didn't rush to 3-4 day fasts without giving my body adequate time to prepare. Consistency is key, it helps you build sustainable habits.
After around 2 months, I did my first 36 hour fast. Still remember it was an impulse decision after a cheat day, I decided at dinner that I was going to fast the next day and eat the day after.
My slow induction into longer fasts helped, I was able to do this easily and felt very good as I probably functioned better than ever as I was fasting. So, there was a new addition to my fasting routine, a 36 hour fast every now and then.
Moving to the 18:6 routine, coupled with longer fasts helped my body tremendously. At this stage, I was still not exercising regularly, so there was something more I could do.
Then came the lockdown, activity reduced and the 10-12k steps I walked a day came down to 3-4k. Was a good time to combine exercise with fasting. Here again @senpai_jagatjit came to the rescue with his twitter threads. It was at this time, he nudged me towards longer fasts.
So, in April, I did my first 48 hour fast (which ended up becoming 52 hours) thanks to JJ. At the end of it, I felt a bit exhausted but could see how it had helped me in terms of improving my health.
From April, a longer fast once in 2-3 weeks has become the norm. Combined with a regular 18:6 routine, this has helped me fall ill far less frequently, improved recovery, increased stamina and general fitness levels.
Most importantly taught me the value of making something a habit to see benefits from it. Also, general improvements to diet such as reducing milk intake, switching from coffee to tea and cutting down sugar have become easier. Fin!
