Every time I tell anybody who isn’t familiar with fasting that I fast I get the same response. “Your body will go into starvation mode and you’ll actually retain body fat and gain weight!!”
Then when I politely explain that that’s not true and the human body does not absolutely NEED to eat every few hours, they get angry because they were “just trying to help” or claim that I have an eating disorder.
Like sorry, you’re not a doctor and you don’t know anything about my body or fasting so why should I listen to you when I’ve done enough research to know that “starvation mode” isn’t a thing? Or at the very least it isn’t a thing that will slow my metabolism and make me gain weight.
I know that fasting isn’t for everyone…these people may have tried it and it didn’t work for them, but I’ve lost ten pounds and a significant amount of body fat in one month by doing intermittent/alternate day fasting. This is more success than I’ve ever had with any other weight loss method. Doesn’t sound like a slower metabolism/weight gain to me.
I know you guys all know this stuff already, just felt like ranting because I’m so tired of hearing everyone say this to me. I guess this is just a result of the western world’s “three meals a day” standard.
I have stopped telling people now that I can’t commit to something because I’m fasting. The looks and the uneducated comments drain me so now I just say something else. If I had £1 for every time I heard “That can’t be good for you”….. 🙈
Just ask when the last time they looked up any information regarding fasting, starvation mode and where is the source of their information coming from and how long ago did they get that information?
Or you can use their insecurity against them and say..“Wow, I guess you haven’t heard the news then recently?” Then it will make them starts asking questions because no body wants to feel stupid
Which is why I don’t really tell people about it except for my husband who also has been fasting without really knowing (OMAD) since forever.
He likes to tell his coworkers about how I fast, though. And recently, one of his coworkers, who just so happen to be one of the most unhealthy alcoholic + smoker I’ve ever met tried to give me her 2 cents about how I’m putting myself in danger. Like ok, STFU and drink your drink and leave me in peace.
Apparently, drinking alcohol to the point of puking and falling on the ground is OK. But fasting isn’t. The irony.
Yeah, I try not to tell people about it just because I already know what the reaction is going to be. Unfortunately, my husband likes to tell people. I try my best to either just brush it off and get away from the person.
Three meals a day standard is a bygone thing when a majority of our grandparents did physical jobs. When I used to work out 3 to 4 hours a day and was already lean, then yes I’d notice skipping a meal.
Now I work sitting on my butt all day and I definitely don’t need 3 meals a day. Our cultural eating habits haven’t caught up to our new daily lack of movement.
It’s just easier to day nothing imo. Listening to peoples rants about not eating is frustrating, especially from people who’s diet is horrible and they don’t watch their health at all. Some people get offended because they think its inherently an eating disorder to willingly fast. Just say you had a big breakfast or something
I’ve officially adjusted my lifestyle. Eating habits and cravings now are that of a different person. Everyone used to react negatively but now it gets blown over like a silly joke “hey you want some? Oh that’s right you never eat” “you’ve got to try this! Oh yeah you don’t eat sugar haha you don’t know what your missing”
Now that I’ve typed that out I guess people are still mean, I’ve just learned to brush it off.
I’m literally sitting at the imaging center right now waiting to have a liver ultrasound because my doctor thinks I might have a fatty liver, FFS. If someone wants to talk about what’s bad for me, there you go. Back to my rolling 44s. I had a very nice keto dinner last night and I’ll have a nice keto dinner tomorrow.
I’ve been fasting on and off but got back into it by accident and honestly it hasn’t been bad, matter of fact it’s helped me kickstart my weight loss again! I was hanging around 340 for the longest but decided to fast and now I’m down to 334! Maybe they say that because they’re not comfortable with being hungry?
Same. I was trying to explain this on twitter. Theres my first mistake 🙃 . But ppl are told to have 3+ meals a day by a system that feeds us posionous food (U.S. food industry) so i kinda get it. It wasnt until i actually started fasting that i realized my body doesnt need that and most of my food intake was boredom and conditioning.
I’ve come to believe the opposite is true.
When you fast (I do daily omad), you get full when you eat. Ancient man, he was lucky to get full every day. But occasionally you know he’d go longer. But when he ate he ate to fullness. M This is very normal during times of plenty!
But during times of scarcity, he’d be scrounging for food, eating a little here, a little there. Never getting full. The body observed this as a time of scarcity.
So when you fast and get full regularly, you don’t realize it, but you are mimicking a “times of plenty” behavior. When you’re trying to eat small meals spread throughout the day, never getting full, instead stopping when your brain says you’ve eaten enough calories, that mimics “scrounging for food” behavior. In times of scarcity your body stores more fat. Makes you extra hungry. Drives you to eat more than you need so it can save fat for when food is really scarce.
So it’s actually the calorie counting dieters that are sending the message to starvation to their bodies! That’s why they can’t lose weight. They are fighting millions of years of evolution!
At this point I would say that fasting has saved my life from some pretty crippling depression. It’s really too bad that a lot of us (including me) can’t get support from family/friends in the fasting process.
With fasting becoming more ‘trendy,’ I’m hoping it will be mainstream enough to be accepted, not shamed.
I get the same reaction and same annoying conversation to prove about fasting…it’s a waste of energy so I just don’t tell anyone I’m fasting anymore, it can be tricky when with family gatherings but just stay firm and eventually they will shut up about it..I was told once that my digestive track will collapse if I continue fasting haha it’s pretty funny what people think
Adaptive thermogenesis is the scientific term, and it’s definitely a thing. Fasting gets a bad rap because people don’t see immediate results and/or they overeat in their window, then read one article on “starvation mode” (a ridiculous term - actual starvation is a serious medical emergency often preceded by several weeks without food) and decide that fasting either doesn’t work or is bad for you.
But at the end of the day CICO wins out. The science behind fasting is well documented at this point.
I think you need to understand the “starvation mode” myth has been disproven for fasting quite recently. But it still holds true for reducing calories significantly and still eating. So this adds even more confusion to the general population.
The cholesterol causes heart disease myth was disproven decades ago and it’s still pushed by most doctors. It’s cheaper to feed a population of 8 billion with refined grains than it is with high quality meats.
It’ll probably be the end of your lifetime before the starvation myth for fasting goes away, so you do you. Just do what’s best for you and smile. 👍
So exhausting trying to explain them. 😮💨My overweight friend, who has always been overweight, tries to tell me that eating three meals a day doesn’t make you fat, it keeps you healthy. Just cut down on snacks and sugar, you don’t have to starve yourself for 16 hrs each day. She also advised me to replace snacks. Like, eat a bowl of nuts instead of a bag of chips. 🤦🏻♀️I was like, yeah, you’re so right. And proceeded to ignore her advice and continued IF.
Starvation mode comes from BigFood who convinced ignorant people that constantly eating all day is healthy, and that sugar & carbohydrates are essential to keeping our brains from blacking out due to glucose running out.