I didn't really believe the hype until I tried it myself this year. My primary focus had been just lifting heavy and doing regular cardio, but with diet as a secondary factor (lift big, eat big mindset).

Fasting really opened my eyes to the complexity of human metabolism. Even a humble OMAD/IF (one meal a day/intermittent fasting) approach is apparently worthwhile, as it produced benefits I have never experienced during or after exercising.

The effects to me are mind-blowing, even without really modifying any other variables (I probably consume similar/more calories when doing OMAD/IF). My favorite change by far is the improvement to cognition. I feel like regular fasting is akin to what the drug from the movie "Limitless" would do if it were a real thing. The focus levels alone... Basically the hardest coffee buzz you can imagine, but with a tremendous sense of calm. BDNF is a hell of a thing.

It just makes me sleepy and unable to think straight at ~14-16hrs without food. Maybe it gets better after that but I don't really have a lot of days I can afford to be useless for the whole afternoon—I've gone 30+ hrs and it doesn't improve. I've been informed this is what happens when you aren't on a keto diet and try fasting, but I'd have a way easier/happier time going vegetarian than keto (I like almost none of the keto staples—meat, beans/lentils, eggs—except in combination with not keto things) so that's not happening.

I actually find not-eating fairly easy, so it'd be sweet if fasting didn't make me want to nap all the time and slow my brain down to 1/2 speed.

You need to deplete your glyogen stores first, which is harder if you aren't eating low-carb. Makes for a more difficult transition for your body to switch over into fat-burning mode when it isn't used to it. More sugar cravings, brain fog, etc. Usually the 3-day mark is the standard for when it gets easier if you aren't used to fasting.

I find carbs make me feel this way. Do you do carbs? I find the combo of low carb + IF gives me more energy and focus on days I don't eat.

Btw, my IF regime is 3 24-hour fasts a week. I usually do dinner to dinner (so skip breakfast/lunch).

"Wait until they discover fasting.."

Rediscover. Fasting is preserved as a commandment in all the major world religions.

So is murdering adulterers. We should probably do science instead of relying on traditions from illiterate desert dwellers from thousands of years ago.

>So is murdering adulterers.

Yes, and if someone spoke of "discovering" the concept of murdering adulterers, it would be appropriate to point out that this is not new.

> Fasting is preserved as a commandment in all the major world religions.

Fasting is not a “commandment” in Christianity, nor is it even an obligatory discipline in many major subgroups of Protestant Christianity.

At least in the Catholic Church it is obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is still recommended on Ember Days (four sets of three days around the time the seasons change), and on all days of Lent except Sundays.