[unknown] correct. It takes a few weeks for your body to get used to using the stored fat instead of blood sugar as primary energy source while exercising, but once through that you’ll find higher energy levels during exercise and it has scientifically proven increases to cognition too. It’s hard to get going though, takes discipline and you have to tell yourself it’s perfectly natural for your stomach to rumble and to feel hungry. And breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. That was a Kelloggs slogan back in the 50s. I wonder why?
Mental and Physical health hacks, resources and advice
Two meals a day and run 4 times a week.
That’s the OLB way.
You’re welcome!
Fasting sorted me out this year. I’m a convert.
Between 2022 and 2024 I added 12kg for seemingly no reason (same diet etc) and I was already a little overweight.
I saw found a video Diary of a CEO’s Most Replayed Moments of 2023 Roundup and the fasting discoveries piece came on by Dr. Mindy Pelz.
I didn’t know about the other systems in our bodies that fasting activates / reinvigorates - I just thought it was about weight loss. I also didn’t realise there were ways to make it easy (what you eat going into a fast / taking electrolytes, adding MCT oil to coffee in the morning all makes it easy)
The list of fasting benefits vary on the length of the fast but always start with at least 3 × 16 hour fasts if you haven’t done it before.
i.e.
- Eat by 8pm
- Miss breakfast
- Drink lots of water or black coffee or green tea, eat after 12pm next day)
- Anything flavoured with artificial sweeteners etc accidentally kills your fast (your pancreas gets tricked into releasing insulin which is what we stop to get the benefit) - stick to boring unflavoured drinks and elecrolytes.
Once you have done a few 16h fasts you can move onto the longer fasts depending on which benefits you want to explore.
Some people just do 16 hour fasts for months and get good results - but eventually you will need to vary the lengths as your body gets used to them (the benefit reduces).
Many people fast Monday to Friday and eat what they want on weekends. Don’t fall into the trap of ‘making up the food you missed’ as that negates the benefits - when you eat again to break your fast, have a drink with it and just eat a “normal sized meal”.
Here are the fasting benefits depending on the length you do.
The videos helped me get an understanding - and I would watch one or two of these before trying it so you don’t go in blind.
I thought I would hate it but having started on a Friday/Saturday/Sunday to avoid doing it during work, I now comfortably do it at work (as do a bunch of us) and I genuinely love fasting!
If you don’t like the style of Dr. Mindy Pelz, you can try Dr. Jason Fung his approach is preferred by a doctor we know (but they ultimately say the same thing).
Hope thats useful 
IndustryStandard .but how do you keep energy levels up if you are fasting and exercising? Your body just taps into your fat stores and your body just gets used to doing that rather than relying on instant carbs?
When you have a few fasts behind you, you can easily exercise with as much / more energy as you are burning from Fat Stores instead of sugar which is actually very potent!
Good summary that mate! I agree on mixing it up too as our bodies are great at adapting and then going fat storage mode, especially north of 40 years old. Fasted exercise really helps to keep the wolf from the door with that too.
So you can have a black americano and water/electrolytes/green tea whilst on a fast? Nice.
Suppose the initial step for me is to quit breakfast and crack on until lunchtime during the week …..whilst cutting down on shitty food/exercising etc
Lads, have any of you tried living a little?
You should try it!
Dubman I bet. I found the first of everything tough. First Christmas, birthday etc etc. I promise it gets better, but I don’t think there’s really anything you can do to accelerate grief.
I also don’t really buy into the idea that there’s 5 distinct stages to grief. I found I was feeling all sorts of shit all the time…
I realise that’s not a great pep talk. 
I can’t believe I’m about to say this but a lol for Hugo.
IndustryStandard If you’ve never tried a low carb or keto (<30 grams of carbs/day), it’ll take 90 days to get fat adapted (the point where your body has really adjusted to burning fat over carbs) and 6 months to really start to optimize fat burning.
The key is to start slow, it’ll feel like you’re dying for a couple of weeks if you cut carbs cold turkey (which I did), and ease into exercise. Keep everything in zone ½ (top of zone 2 is equal to your fat max state), which means you can hold a conversation while running/biking. It should feel easy. The benefits start at 30-40 minutes of continuous exercise and personally, I found it goes into overdrive at 90 minutes.
Initially it can be a difficult transition, but I’ve never felt better physically (reduced inflammation) and mentally (clarity of thought, better memory, improved motivation) than when I was strict keto.
Millsy Yeah a year ago eating what I would call moderate amounts of carbs (probably between 50-100 grams/day, not sure as I wasn’t measuring), I got down to a weight I have’s seen since I was 17. As my training volume increased last year, I had to quit intermittent fasting, started fueling all of my runs, and upped my carbs a lot. At 100 km or more a week, I was drinking chocolate milk just to get calories in.
- Edited
vinnyt77 I also don’t really buy into the idea that there’s 5 distinct stages to grief. I found I was feeling all sorts of shit all the time…
More accurately the 5 appear in no order whatsoever and some fuck off / some linger.
It does eventually get lighter over 3-6 months and onwards, unless you are suffering from “Complicated Grief” (i.e. during the first few months of grief the symptoms can be the same as normal grief, but it Complicated Grief is prolonged and more personally intrusive - seems to intensify / look like depression/anxiety or even PTSD sometimes - it can stop you functioning properly and never go away)
See full list of symptoms here - if you think you have this (or did years ago and were never the same) defo see a Grief Counsellor it has worked wonders for someone close to me and brought them back to life.
I had no idea this was a thing until I saw how it affects someone first hand - its very unkind and even more unforgiving than it needs to be.
When you guys are fasting how often do you do it? 16 hours for 3 days a week? Every day?
2-3 times a week for me has me sorted.
At the beginning I did 3 × 16 hour fasts (easy) before learning how to do a 36 hours - did that a few times and tossed a couple of 72 hour fasts on the end and I went from 96kg to 86kg in about 6 or 7 weeks.
A close relative aged over 70 with health and mobility issues was told she was tipping into pre-diabetic (but cant exercise) - she did it purely on 16h fasts for a few months and went from 22 stone down to 18.6 (and still dropping) and she has her doctor asking how she came out of pre-diabetic state.