Hey, I’ve done 180 days (actually, 188) of intermittent fasting, unbroken! The first day was 27th of May 2023 and now it’s the 30th of November. AMA? You can catch me on Twitter.

There is not much I want to say other than to track a milestone.

Why?

My main goals for trying out intermittent fasting have been:

  1. to lose more weight and reach a lower fat percentage than I usually did with only training (achieved);
  2. to maintain weight during the inevitable periods when I stopped training (achieved);
  3. to watch less how much I was eating (achieved—I eat as much as I want, no restrictions);
  4. to get less systemic inflammation because I have a skin condition (achieved).

Great success!

Some studies (which I’m too lazy to link right now, sorry) have shown that fasting and caloric restriction in general are good for you: it decreases inflammation and (in mice) directly extends lifetime.

Unless you have a medical condition or intolerable side effects (some people get persistent headaches) there are really no downsides to trying. Unlike with regular multi-day fasting you don’t need to on- or off-ramp. Simply have dinner and then skip breakfast and you’re almost there!

Progress

I wish I could show a cool graph, but there is really nothing numeric to show (and I’m not dropping my semi-naked photos—maybe later). I don’t even own a scale. There was a time a few years ago when I took my weight every morning but I’m out of it now. For the record, I’m somewhere between 61 and 65 kilos at a height of 170 cm.

Usually I simply look in the mirror and see my progress in the amount of fat and definition. If you look closely at yourself often, you’ll start noticing when something changes: there is a hollow bit where there has been none, or you start to see parts of muscle under the skin where it has been a single lump before.

Nominally I’ve been following the 16:8 schedule (16 hours fasting, 8 hours eating), but I found that I can consistently do 15:9 so I settled on that. Usually I have dinner around 11pm to midnight and then have lunch after 3pm the next day. In between I only drink black coffee, tea and water.

Cravings seem to be the main stumbling block for people trying intermittent fasting. My advice:

  1. when you’re hungry, drink half a liter of liquid, it fills the stomach;
  2. hunger is a feeling, it goes away after a while;
  3. make sure you eat enough in the “on” time—if you’re consistently hungry, eat more (especially more protein)!

Perceptually, I have reached a plateau around the 4-month mark (end of September or so?) which is—incidentally—when my training volume has gone down. And my training volume has gone down partly because I practically reached where I wanted to be.

Previously when I stopped or almost stopped training for a while (almost every year), my weight would immediately go up because I was eating the same amount. However, with intermittent fasting I have been able to maintain my weight over the past two months almost without training. For me it’s a win and exactly why I keep doing it—it lets me effortlessly maintain my “gains” (quoted because I’m not talking about muscle, but rather the decreased fat percentage and overall physique).

What’s next?

I don’t see any downsides so will continue just as before. Will report in another 6 months :)