Fasting boosts weight loss
I lost another pound and a half this week. Did keeping Yom Kippur help?
I don’t always keep Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement in which we fast for 25 hours, no food, no fluids. But I thought I’d give it a go this year. Yes it can aid a diet but I didn’t do it for that reason. Yom Kippur is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar. A day many non-religious Jews like me keep because it’s one day a year we remember we’re Jewish. It gives us a sense of connection with other Jews all around the world. That’s a very powerful feeling.
So bearing in mind I fasted for cultural rather than dietary reasons, keeping Yom Kippur did make me wonder if intermittent fasting is a good way to boost weight loss.
I assumed having dieted for over a year I would struggle to keep Yom Kippur. I didn’t. I found it a breeze compared to previous years when I was very overweight but found it tough going. Which strikes me as counter intuitive but there you go. I did allow myself a little water as I wanted to continue my daily steps. It was a hot day and I didn’t want to get dehydrated. With the Jewish faith health always comes first. You should not fast if it makes you ill.
Fasting can be a surprisingly pleasant experience. I felt quite high by the end of the day, buzzy and full of energy. I’ve never been a fan of the 5:2 regime where you semi fast for two days a week. The allowance used to be 500 calories for women and 600 for men on the ‘2’ days. It’s now a much kinder 800 calories on low-calorie days but that’s still semi starvation. My daily calorie allowance is at least 1300 and often more.
The 5:2 regime is easy to follow which may account for its popularity. I’ve long wanted to give it a go. On Yom Kippur the fast runs from sunset to sunset. My break-the-fast meal (curry and rice) was around 5/600 calories and a bit more on top for coffee. Could I do this two days a week?
I lost a pound a half this week fasting on just one day so maybe I could do 6:1 rather than 5:2? It’d be much easier to cut back one day a week instead of two. I might give it a go.
Another way to make intermittent fasting work is the much gentler 16:8 regime where you only eat for eight hours a day. It basically means skipping breakfast or having a very early evening meal. Most of the 16 hours you’re asleep. If you can push it to 17:7 or 18:6 so much the better. But if you can’t manage 16 hours without food 15 or 14 hours is fine. With eating confined to far fewer hours and provided you don’t binge when you are allowed to eat you can probably do away with counting calories as you’ll automatically be eating less. By not constantly counting calories this might just be the route to eating the way people who aren’t obsessed with food eat. That for me is nirvana.
I have huge admiration for people who follow the 5:2. I’ve never managed it. But 6:1 combined with 16:8 may prove to be a winner.
Coincidentally, I returned to doing 5:2 this week after over a year’s break. I remembered why I liked it. I started doing it 8 years ago to lose weight. That worked well - for me and my partner. So we stuck with it and it became our bedrock routine. We don’t count calories. My version is to have eggs (only eggs) for early breakfast then eat nothing until dinner, when we always have grilled fish, steamed vegetables and salad. The type of fish and vegetables always changes so there’s constant variety. This had become so routine for me that I barely noticed doing it. Every Monday and Thursday. As you tend to eat more on weekends (pre Covid, anyway), Monday often felt like a relief. Then last year we decided to do the low sugar diet that’s three small high protein meals a day. We liked that too but it’s much more demanding in terms of planning and less flexible - therefore less sustainable and open to yo-yo eating. The great thing about 5:2 is that on the 5 days you can eat anything (but usually don’t). It’s mentally freeing. So this week I started again and it was a bit mentally challenging but then mentally (and physically) rewarding.
Nice post. Yom Kippur definitely helps me. Though one must take it easy when it ends.