It might sound like a Dwayne Johnson movie, but “Fast and faster” is the working title of a project of a different kind. Not a Hollywood blockbuster, but my latest challenge. Fasting.
No, I haven’t become Muslim and joined in Ramadan – Ramadan Mubarak to those who are and do! – but there are similarities. Ramadan means you don’t eat from dawn until dusk, so it’s a kind of cyclical fasting, which is exactly what I’m doing, but to a different beat.
Cyclical or intermittent fasting (IF) is supposedly very good for your organism, amongst other things because it induces ketosis – a state in which your body starts to burn reserves of body fat rather than constantly working through the latest batch of fast carbs you’ve been feeding it. I’ve tried this last year, when I lived on a paleo diet for the better part of a month, and the results were good, but it seems fasting might be an even better way to do it.
The rationale is much the same: caveman eating patterns were dictated by availability, and so we have evolved to go without food for periods of time. Modern food is anything but scarce so we tend not to, but proponents argue that our bodies actually do better with less, so I figured it was worth a try. And if I lose a couple of pounds and/or become a faster runner in the process, so much the better…
There are different ways of doing IF: some suggest going without food entirely for two days out of seven, others follow the Warrior Diet (which – cool name aside – means you eat during a window of four hours every day). I have chosen to fast 16 hours every day, giving me an eight hour window (between noon and eight in the evening) during which I eat what I want.
Why this particular pattern? Frankly, I wasn’t sure I would be able to stop myself from eating even for that long, so it seemed sensible to start easy.
I was nervous about the effects on my training regime, but I needn’t have been. The first day I biked to work and back on an empty stomach (38k) without feeling the worse for wear. True, I did ensure that the trip back was timed so I could eat right after I got home, but working half a day on an empty stomach after an hour of biking wasn’t a problem.
I was also concerned about my general well-being. Fasting is about depriving yourself of essential fuel, after all. Again, I bredbent have been. If anything I feel better for it. I’m on day five of this challenge, and I feel less bloated, fitter and more focused. I haven’t checked my weight (this not being the prime reason for my trying this), but I look leaner already, my energy levels are great and I haven’t experienced any “hanger” – irritability as a result of low blood sugar – so things are looking good.
As per usual I’ll try it for a month and report what happens. Next weekend I have a 20k race planned in the morning – that’s a two hour workout without anything to eat – it will be interesting to see how that works.