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Comment by djyaz1200 | Hacker News Reader

Anecdotally, I've been skipping breakfast and lunch M-F with first food at 4pm and I've been losing a little bit of weight (.5%/month) and have a lot more energy. I probably eat about the same caloric volume of food, maybe slightly less. Been at it for about 6mo. Not saying this is right for others but I've been encouraged by the results thus far. I started after reading (some of) the book "The Energy Paradox" by SR Gundry. It's too long but the point is eating requires energy and can make you feel tired. I imagine I'll stick with this program.

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Again anecdotally. I'm mid 50's, always been fit with a healthy diet and BMI range, but the weight had started to build up of late. I tried informally exercising more and eating/drinking less, with no visible results. Six weeks back I switched to a weekday 18 hour fast, 6 hour eating window (lunch ~2pm, finish dinner before 8), no alcohol on weekdays. It was hitting 170 that triggered me to try the change. This morning I was 158 with 2% lower body fat.

For me I think the fasting window just gives me an easy to follow schedule without having to make all those tiny little decisions. Once you get used to it, having your body tell you it's hungry gets easy to ignore (plus a 2pm lunch reduces the temptation for a mid afternoon snack). I don't feel any different TBH! YMMV.

I know exactly what you mean on "eating requires energy and can make you feel tired". I get this too, and what avoids it is to eat as cleanly and naturally as possible - whole plants, no processed carbs, no salt and oil and sugar.

I believe the "eating makes you tired" is a hibernation reflex. Mammalian bodies are designed to pack on calories when food is plentiful in order to survive an upcoming winter. The tiredness is for the body to process the calories into stored fat. Of course, with modern technology, there is no such thing as that food winter, and we never deplete what we had the instinct to store.

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