Wow! Congratulations!
My mind plays tricks on me – I’m walking through the kitchen and discover an apple in my hand. How did that get there?
That’s not a problem – it’s just amusing. What is a problem is that I get tired if I don’t eat. That make it difficult to think (which in my job makes it difficult to work), and can be a safety issue.
My experience and opinions;
About a year ago my a1c had inched up into the “pre diabetic” range. I happened across the videos of Dr Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist (I suggest you look at those). My goal was not to lose weight but to reverse the rise of my a1c and avoid possible type 2 diabetes. I did two things;
[ul]
[li]I eliminated pastry, candy and ice cream from my diet and limited bread and pasta (I don’t know if this qualifies as a “low carb” diet because I haven’t really tracked carbs). [/li][li]I went on a 16/8 intermittent fast (which translates roughly to “skipping breakfast”).[/li][/ul]
I found both of these measures surprisingly easy to maintain and I did indeed bring my a1c down (not dramatically, but significantly). I also managed to drop a few pounds over the course of the year.
The upshot is this; I seem to be meeting my goals without any of the hardship that I typically associate with diets. Note that I was not that far along on my journey to diabetes and for that reason I may have required only a relatively minor course correction. Had that not worked (or, indeed, if it stops working), I might be convinced to try harsher methods (One Meal a Day, clamping down harder on carbs), but I really don’t know if I could sustain those methods.
This is what I’ve been wondering. I have no problem skipping breakfast since I am usually not hungry in the morning, but I hear contradictory stuff about skipping breakfast, with some claiming it helps blood sugar and some claiming it worsens it.
Thanks everyone for your views and success stories!
The Mrs and I did it yesterday and we think it was a success for us. We didn’t eat until about 11:00 am, had a snack around 3, and dinner around 6:30, no snack after that even though one of our daughters made snickerdoodles. Brat.
We weighed ourselves a couple days ago and today I’m down four pounds and my wife is down three. That, my friends, is what I call a result. it doesn’t hurt that we’re walking everyday, either.
Jason Fung is The Bomb! I’ve read (listened to) all his books, which are very clear and backed by tons of research. His website is a bit disorganized. If you want to understand how weight gain/loss really works, read his books.
The only way to find out what anything does to your blood sugar is test, test, test, and test again. If you’re not testing, you’re completely in the dark.
To the OP, this has been a great discussion! Thanks for generating it. 
Well, thanks for participating!
This thread gave my wife and I a new perspective on our eating habits. I think we’ll be making some permanent changes.
That being said, today we ARE having breakfast for Mother’s Day. It’s my wife’s favorite meal of the day, especially when it’s eggs, bacon, waffles and fruit. Gotta do it once in a while. I’m even dragging my YA daughters out of bed at the* ridiculous* hour of 9:00 am to help make it.
Good for you guys. I’ve given up breakfast 20 years ago but a couple of times I year, mostly in the winter, I still crave a full on luxurious breakfast that includes french toast, sausage, and all the bells and whistles.
No sense in being a fanatic about IF 365.
I’ve been doing 5:2 for the better part of two years. If its not convenient (ex. travelling and around friends/family who make eating a big part of the events involved) I just stop for a day or a week or whatever.
I see it as forced portion control big time. I eat pretty much whatever I want to the five days that I’m eating.
One thing that I learned not too long ago is that the “experts” say its ok to actually take in 500 calories on the two days your fasting. That doesn’t seem to make sense to me.