Staple Your Mouth Shut

What I learned by intermittent fasting for 100 Days

Allan Mishra, MD

Stop bingeing at the buffet of excuses. It’s killing your vitality.

That’s what I told myself when I weighed 199.4 pounds. It was my highest weight ever and represented a Body-Mass Index (BMI) of 24.9. Technically, I was not overweight, just very close. My bulging stomach, however, told the truth. I had become fat. It was time to lose some weight.

Here are three things I learned while intermittent fasting for 100 days:

1. Intermittent fasting helped me lose 6.8 pounds and keep it off.

2. Intermittent fasting saves time and money.

3. I felt physically and mentally much better after fasting.

How did I become fat? The answer is simple. I believed the fundamental energy laws of thermodynamics did not apply to me. Thermodynamics in the context of weight focuses on how many calories you consume compared to how many you burn. I had also become an arrogant eater. I believed exercising vigorously four to five times per week would mean I could devour anything I wanted.

Not surprisingly, my calorie intake had been exceeding my burn rate resulting in a moderate weight gain. I had one major problem—I hate any kind of diet. I love pizza, Doritos, banana bread, and a variety of other tasty foods. So, I had to find another option. First, however, I needed to figure out why I would lose weight. My chances of success would be limited without a specific personal motivation.

There are many reasons to work toward your ideal weight. You may want to look good for your college reunion or work party. Don’t discount vanity as a powerful motivator. Looking good wasn’t enough for me as a primary motivator. I ignore the fact I have a serious family history of heart disease more often than I should as a possible intrinsic motivator to be lean. Increasing your potential longevity may be enough for some people. The threat of death didn’t faze me. I needed something that would be more immediate in terms of a reward for me to lose weight. Fortunately, I discovered fasting.

The fasting literature is fascinating and helped me figure out the why of my weight. Fasting has been a religious ritual for centuries. Hippocrates recognized its helped reduce seizure activity more than 2000 years ago. Upton Sinclair, the famous author of The Jungle, also wrote a book called The Fasting Cure in 1911 outlining its many health benefits. A recent review article in the New England Journal of Medicine found intermittent fasting can improve functional outcomes for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurologic disorders and even cancer. Intermittent fasting also “increases stress resistance and suppresses inflammation”. (Cabo and Mattson NEJM 2019)

The potential to decrease inflammation sparked my interest in fasting. I had finally found the why of my weight. I would fast to decrease my body’s inflammation and use fasting as my tool. My hope was less inflammation would be result in me being able to be more active with less pain. I also wanted to drop the pounds I had gained.

DISCLAIMER: Check with your doctor before beginning any fasting program.

I have been intermittent fasting now for more than a year. It has been an exercise in discipline. Initially, I stopped eating after 8 p.m. and did not eat anything until 8 a.m. the next day. That represented a 12 hour fast. I progressed to 16 hours, then 20-hour fasts. For the year, I averaged about 18 hours for my more than 100 fasts.

Here’s what I learned about the mechanics of intermittent fasting. A 16-hour fast is reasonable. Simply stop eating at 8 pm and don’t eat anything until 12 noon the next day. I allow myself tea or coffee with a small amount of unsweetened almond milk as part of the fast. I also drink hot water with a slice of lemon as much as I can. When I extend the fast to 20 hours it becomes much more challenging. I feel seriously hungry and need to stay away from any food sources. It is important also to continue to exercise even when fasting. This helps the time pass time, suppresses your appetite and helps burn off fat.

Unfortunately, I ran into a problem with fasting. I would binge after each fast and didn’t lose any weight. I would eat proper foods but too much. Over the course of six months, my weight was steady. I had a goal of losing at least five pounds. That’s when returned to why I wanted to lose a few pounds. I set an intention and then made a commitment to getting back to my ideal weight. I have never been overweight but I was at least five pounds above my optimal weight. Once I stopped my post fast bingeing, my weight began to drop.

What happens when you decrease your caloric intake or stop eating for a period of time? As I type this sentence, I am in hour 19 of a planned 20-hour fast. Since I have had very few calories during the fast, my pancreas has started to secret a hormone called glucagon. This hormone has the opposite function of insulin whose function is to decrease blood levels of glucose. Glucagon’s primary function is to raise blood levels of glucose. One of the ways, glucagon helps raise glucose is to break down a substance called glycogen that is stored the liver. In about 12 hours, you will have depleted much of the glycogen in your liver. This is when you start to utilize your fat as a source of energy. If you never fasted more than 12 hours, you will not likely get to the point of burning fat unless you are exercising at maximal effort for a prolonged period of time.

I was nervous to step on the scale at the end of December. I was elated when I saw I weighed 192.6. That represented a 6.8-pound weight loss from my peak or about 3.4% lower in percentage terms. About five times your weight goes through your knees and hips when you go up and down stairs. That means my knees and hips felt like I lost 34 pounds. Think about that for a moment. For every five pounds you lose, your leg joints feel like you lost 25 pounds.

Interestingly, fasting also saved me time and money. I spent less time shopping for food, eating food and cleaning up after I ate. Feeling better physically and mentally was my best reward for fasting for 100 days. Maybe in 2020, I aim for 200 days.

What’s the why of your ideal weight? Pause for a few minutes and write down three reasons that may work for you. After figuring out your best reason, focus on it. Foster it. Fertilize it. Keep it at the forefront of your mind. Use it to help you make wise food and drink choices. Remember, however, sometimes the best choice is to simply staple your mouth shut and fast.