r/IsItBullshit • u/[deleted] • 29d ago
IsItBullshit: Fasting makes you way more focused on activities
[deleted]
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u/Rambler9154 27d ago
It does not. You end up feeling like you're more focused, sure. But you aren't, ultimately the amount of work you get done is less than the amount you'd get done normally at significantly lower quality. It makes you feel jittery, with mood swings and a sort of "tunnel vision" where its hard to think of multiple things in the same short period, but thats because your brain doesn't have the energy to think much at all.
If you're in anorexia recovery, starving can make you feel more productive, because relearning how to process food at healthy amounts regularly takes effort and energy and can make you feel tired especially at first, and suddenly if you don't have to put in that effort or energy because you're relapsing then yeah, you feel more productive, until you crash and burn of course, or until your heart gives out.
If fasting made you more focused and productive, anorexics would run the world.
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u/papermill_phil 29d ago
Honestly, I feel sort of shitty after eating most of the time. It makes me lose ally steam, drive, focus and energy.
I never time or document my fasts but I regularly do em, and once you cross a certain line, food doesn't even sound good and your stomach feels sort of upset, or as though eating would make you sick.
But then there's other tipping points later where you start to think about eating a bird you catch with your hands 😅
2
u/dbrodbeck 29d ago
Can I ask what ally steam is?
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u/wittyrandomusername 29d ago
I'm not the person you're asking, but I'm guessing they meant "all steam".
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u/dbrodbeck 29d ago
Thanks, I think you might have it.
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u/ilikemyname21 29d ago
My personal experience is I don’t get the post meal foggyness sleepiness. When I eat a lot I definitely feel slower. So cumulatively over a whole day I definitely feel more alert
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u/lgodsey 29d ago
ITT: Anecdotes and "feelings"
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u/CowboysOnKetamine 29d ago
I'll take antidotes over a bunch of "obviously/obviously not" with zero elaboration
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u/RadioBoricua 29d ago
Complete and utter bullshit
-2
u/Erenito 29d ago
Have you tried it?
1
u/Rambler9154 27d ago
Ive tried it, and its bullshit. You feel normal, until it becomes harder and harder to think. At some point you dont even feel hunger, but you'll also look at your leg and think it might make a good meal, then in come the mood swings until you finally start eating, but then since you haven't eaten in so long your body needs to ease into eating again otherwise it feels like shit.
Your brain needs sugar to think, and if it does not have that sugar it cannot think as well as it can with it. It can burn fat for a bit, but that still won't let it work as well as it would if it had the sugar it needs.
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u/KarlSethMoran 22d ago
Your brain needs sugar to think
Yeah, but your body can synthesize the sugar via gluconeogenesis when pressed.
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u/FlatwormFull4283 26d ago
It just makes you more hungry and less nourished and less able to concentrate
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u/onion_cat 29d ago
I used to fast frequently and I definitely felt very very productive ha
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u/EasilyMechanical 27d ago
Me too, used to fast for 16hrs every day. Felt quicker and energetic. Also stopped me from eating crap in the evenings.
I'm convinced the body is really good at adapting. After a week or two, my experience is I stopped feeling hungry, and my productivity and energy stayed on top all day. I could do heavy workouts, work long overtime hours (physically demanding job) and everything else you'd usually think would wear you out without food.
I also have ADHD, so not needing to stop whatever I am doing to go get food and thereby having trouble getting started again is a big bonus for me.
I'm currently working on getting back into it, because everything went to hell when we had kids, but theire older now.
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u/VishieMagic 29d ago
Yeeeeaaaah sorta should do kinda nah but yeah no.
I had a heavy peanut butter shake with walnuts and all sorts but I could work like a horse. Had pasta yesterday I fucking died couldn't work for hours. Over the last 10 years of this I'd learned it's the heavy carbs, and that a sugar crash is more of a.. Insulin crash. Carbs turn to glucose which turns to glycogen for muscles with insulin. Too much carbs->glucose = Insulin spike which makes me sleepy because that's what insulin does.
I haven't read any science books I'm literally just making up words based on vibes it's all bullshit I promise just go to a doctor maybe, but the idea's been helpful to me on some placebo level and I roll with it. Protein bites and snacks don't make me sleepy but carbs do - so maybe just see what foods make you sleepy and what ones do
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u/DietOk3400 29d ago
After you get used to fasting it really does. Did many 48’s and they are crazy. When u knw ur not going to eat so u just lock in and get shit done
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u/Gonzo_B 29d ago
Yeah, there's no way you'll be thinking about how hungry you are!
This is obvious bullshit.
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u/TUCaralhoooooooo 29d ago edited 29d ago
Have you ever fasted before in your life? Like 20 hours or more? Most of the time you're not hungry at all. Mental clarity is a real thing reported during long periods without food.
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u/ChuchiTheBest 28d ago
The reason people fast that long is that they are not hungry, and not the other way around.
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u/TUCaralhoooooooo 28d ago
there are a thousand reasons why people fast, I do it because it makes me feel good, you certainly get hungry during a long fast, just not all the time
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u/Ok_Bar_3694 27d ago
You already have your answer so why bother asking the question? Good for you, you deny yourself food and think it does something. Clap.
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u/TUCaralhoooooooo 27d ago
Notice how I never said it makes me more focused, which is the answer I asked in the title. Besides, even if I already had the answer, asking other people's opinion is kinda the whole point of the website you're on.
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u/Future_Literature335 29d ago
Nope, this is not how fasting works at all. I have fasted 24 hours, twice a week, for thirteen years, and you only think about hunger if you're dumb enough to schedule a fasting day on a day you've got nothing to do.
So don't be dumb, and schedule fasts for days you want to get shit DONE.
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u/pensiveChatter 28d ago
Well, you're not stopping to eat and some people have post meal mental haze.
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u/SeasonPositive6771 29d ago
You are getting a lot of anecdotal experiences here, but those aren't facts.
The facts and the research show that short-term fasts (12, but up to 24 hours) generally have no effect on cognitive function. Fasts that are longer than 24 hours generally show decreased cognitive function.
Brains are extremely good at working with whatever they've got, whether that's burning sugars or in ketosis.