Welp, I Gained All of the Alternate Day Fasting Weight Back :(

 Between April and November I gained back all the weight I had lost alternate day fasting.

The Antidote to Sandra Aamodt's "The Brain Won't Let You Lose Weight"

 

I have been struggling to reconcile Sandra Aamodts exhortation to end all dieting, with Jason Fung's that metabolic syndrome is curable through intensive dietary management.

Sandra Aamodt's hypothesis centers around the concept of executive function. It holds that if you "intermittently starve" as she calls it, you chew up willpower to the point that you can't do other important (e.g. exercise, or work related) tasks, and that eventually you run out alltogether and fall off of the wagon.

Mark Mattson above relies more on evidence around brain neurochemistry than psychology.  He asserts that just as we are better able to focuse in the morning before eating, with extended fasting we get the same or even greater cognitive benefit.

-Edit from Sam in the Future:   I've lost over 10% of my body weight in the past half year or so.  If Sandra Aamodt was to be right, I should be experiencing food obsession, and intolerable cravings.  The reality is that this is just not the case.

Fasting / Workout Balance...

 I want to make a comment about what ended two months of fasting earlier in the year:

All throughout March, I was writing extensively in my journal, attending fasting support groups, and was generally immersed in the science of fasting.  However, I wasn't working out all that regularly, or even at all.

In April, I got interested in "Zone 2" training after a vlog by Peter Attia, and started cycling pretty regularly.  I wasn't conscious of it at the time, but I think ramping up exercise that fast and that strenuosuly was too much alongside the fasting.

It is widely accepted that the diet makes the body composition in terms of weight loss.  Were I to attempt regular fasting again, I think I would focus on very lightweight, mindful movement, but I wouldn't go for heart rate zone training across 45 minute or 60 minute bike workouts.  I would try to cut some of the weight, and then mindfully make a transition to maintenance later -- maintenance being the phase where exercise seems really critical.

Standing here at my makeshift standing desk, with my back screaming and my distended belly in front of me, losing some weight through fasting seems like it should be a high priority.  My thought on that front is go buy some pickles (for the juice), and just go for it.

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edit:

The other thing that changed dramatically in May when I stopped fasting was that I got some roomates who had a propensity for not all that healthy, but ubiquitous food, food out on counters, a freezer full of ice cream.  I am back in my own space, so...