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The Warrior Diet (or 20/4 Fasting)

Doriand

Well-Known Member
Messages
277
Location
Central Victoria, Australia
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Political Correctness
Hi Everyone,

I'm week 2 into an intermittent fasting schedule and all I can say is IT'S FANTASTIC! Together with LCHF I have experienced:
*More energy
*Clearer mind
*NO HUNGER!
*BSL in the 7's
*Reduced medications (stopped insulin injections)
*Weight loss (4kg and counting)

There will come a time in the near future when I will no longer require any form of medication but control my T2D with an active lifestyle and good nutrition.

I have not discussed this change with a doctor, dietician or diabetic nurse because I anticipate (from previous experience) negative reactions from those 'health professionals'. All I can say is, if I followed the advice from those people, my T2D will get progressively worse which will require more and more medication.
 
Its great isn't.. I've just finished a 7 day fast and will try zero carb 23-1 eating for February to see if I can maintain the weight loss...and maybe even keep it coming off. Still got a bit more to go before achieving target.
 
I've been doing 23:1 on a LCHF diet for over a month now (diagnosed T2 in January) and I'm about to start a 5 day fast next Monday. I've noticed that I don't feel hungry at all during the day because I'm not eating any carbs. Sometimes when it gets to the time I usually have my evening meal I decide not to bother and leave it until the next evening, so I'm thinking the 5 day fast shouldn't be too hard.

I tried one last year before I was diagnosed and when I was eating a very high carb diet, but I gave up after 48 hours of absolute agony by having a a couple of takeaway pizzas followed by a lot of chocolate and beer, thus wasting the previous two days. At least that won't happen this time.

I did lose about two and a half stones at the beginning of last year doing a type of intermittent fasting (4:3 - 6pm to 6pm Monday, Wednesday & Friday) over ten weeks, but then I got fed up with it and over the next six months put it all back on again, especially when the supermarkets started selling cut price tubs of chocolates. I've got over eight stones to lose now and since being diagnosed I've lost over one stone on the LCHF diet, so hopefully by the end of February I'll have lost another and I can keep going until I get to about twelve stones (the nurse says I should be fourteen stones nut I'm going to aim for twelve).
 
At least you have proven that intermittent fasting works for you. If you fall off the wagon, just simply get back on and move on. I am making my weight loss and controlling my T2D personal. I'll give it a few more months and have an HbA1C test and am confident with what the results will show. Then I'll shove the results in the faces of all the health professionals who told me that what I'm doing is dangerous and doomed to fail. Sorry Mr Pharmaceutical, sorry to all the health 'professionals', I will no longer contribute to your wealth.
 
Hi Doriand. I'm T2 (on Metformin) following a LCHF diet (with a few ups and downs). Have lost 31 lbs but the weight loss has stopped since before Xmas. I know why... too much food and a few too many slip ups (in the form of nibbling/grazing/snacking biscuits and the like).

This week I wanted to try and break this cycle and tried the 20/4 method or actually OMAD. No weight loss (annoying) but feel good albeit very hungry come tea time.

I'm interested to know what you eat when you break your fast. And do you withhold all food in the 20 hours or do you allow yourself anything small? Also, do you calorie count your meal at night?

Thanks! Well done and following with interest.

M x
 
Hi MM,
I find that being on LCHF (meats, eggs, leafy salad vegies and steamed broccoli and cauliflower drowned in butter) helps when you're fasting. During the fasting period, I have black coffee or black tea and PLENTY OF WATER. I have read that being active eg. running, walking or even just gardening while your body is in a fasting state (over 4 hours after eating) the body will use stored fat for energy which will guarantee weight loss due to reduced body fat. Look up the Diet Doctor and Dr Jason Fung on the 'net (I dont know how to put references in yet) And if you have a sweet tooth (and who hasn't) try some sugar free jelly ( in Australia we have "Aeroplane Jelly" don't know what's available in the UK) with cream
To answer your last question, I don't calorie count but I'm very careful with my carb intake. I try to consume 80 grams or less of carbohydrates in my one meal a day.
Best wishes in your journey to better health!
 

Thanks so much for this! Yes I have read lots of DD and love Jason Fung too.
Really going to give it my best shot. I teach, so being busy won't be an issue. I may also add some broth to the mix of drinks.
Yes we have some sugar free jelly and will use that for afters. Yum.
I just hope I can do the day as I have the breaking strain of a KitKat! Ha!

Thanks again

M x
 
I recently tried this and managed five days, losing two and a half pounds and putting a pound back on. The experience was nowhere near as bad as I expected and I was pleasantly surprised that a good slug of water, tea or coffee would stop the hunger pangs. I ate only marginally more during my eating window each evening than I would have done normally. I showed signs of ketone production around day three. My BG levels were superb and continued to stay near non-diabetic levels for more than a week afterwards.

On the sixth day, however, I remembered what it was like to be REALLY hungry and I stopped the fast.

As of Saturday I'm going to try for a full week, applying what I learned from my first attempt. Any tips gratefully received!
 
Before I thoroughly researched intermittent fasting, my thoughts were:" T2D's should not fast - it's dangerous!" It shows how brainwashed we have been with conventional dogma which includes the low fat low cal way of eating. Like what so many others have experienced, it's not as hard as we first imagined and think of the time we save not having to prepare, eat and clean up after two meals and just have a swig of water or a cuppa instead. At work, I go for a pleasant walk during lunch time while others are tucking into their lunches. Mid afternoon, some are struggling to stay awake while I'm feeling so energetic. It has been rumoured that I might be on 'speed'
 
This was the beginning of the wholegrain "evidence based" disaster...
 
We have indeed been brainwashed. For years I believed in the whole breakfast thing, but in recent months I've been doing 16:8 most days and I'm still very much here. Bulletproof coffee on the way to work? Yes please!

And yes, while most of my colleagues are dozing after lunch in front of their PCs, I'm very much awake. I'm taking eight days off work for my latest attempt at the Warrior diet and not having to prepare food for much of the day means I have more time to do what I **** well like. Looking forward to it!
 
Has anybody done a Lipid profile before and after doing a spell of any sort of one meal a day? I was surprised that there was no mention of lipids in all the comments.
I think people would be surprised by the results. Sugar is the precursor of triglycerides(TG). Triglycerides are used by the body for energy, and the excess is deposited inside the arteries. So keeping triglycerides low (below 100mg/dl) slowly and steadily reduces the deposits inside your arteries.

Any sort of calorie restricted diet reduces TG, and low density lipoproteins (LDL, bad cholesterol), while increasing high density lipoproteins (HDL, good choleserol) . I have had the tests and the results are amazing. In fact, my local path lab says my HDL is too high (above 70mg/dl) to measure with the reagents they use)!!
 
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