Hacker News Reader

Comment by superuser2 | Hacker News Reader

Fasting signals your body to aggressively conserve resources, making less available to you and optimizing for maximum fat content. Which is why it's not an effective dieting technique. When you "get used to it" your body has reduced its energy consumption but also the energy available to you and your brain.

The mice are doing better at getting themselves fed but I wonder what the impact of hunger is on higher order functions like programming, relationships, management, etc...

View on HN

It takes a very long time for your body to go into "starvation mode." Intermittent fasting is actually a reasonably effective dieting technique assuming you don't binge eat afterward to "make up the difference."

Good source: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun...

> Looking at the numerous studies I've read, the earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours[0] (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed (George Cahill has contributed a lot on this topic).

> Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% - 10% after 36-48 hours[1,2].

[0]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3661473

[1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2405717

[2]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837292

Parent seems to be talking about long-term permanent strategy, not sub-72-hour increments. I apologize if that was incorrect.

I said I don't eat until 12. A 16 hour fast, typically.

Do you have any support for your speculation?

I can spin an equally convincing story, that fasting tells your body to mobilize resources, in order to better catch an animal.

And the whole energy-conserving thing is easily testable in a lab, just by looking at metabolic rates. (With a bit more ingenuity you can probably find out how to test it at home, too.)

See Nav_Panel's comment. Metabolic rate lowers after 60-72 hours.

He specifically mentioned intermittent fasting, which is generally 16 hour fasted, 8 hour eating window, repeat.

One-day-on, one-day-off is another common protocol.

I wonder the same thing. For me, I become far more productive and focused when I'm slightly hungry. Great for late night work by myself, reading, emailing.

But being hungry also makes me a bit less social... I try not to be hungry when I'm working with people.

What I wonder is if I'm more creative when I'm slightly hungry. And I think I am. Hard to quantify.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com