Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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As an adult with T1D, have you ever followed an intermittent fasting routine? What is your primary reason for starting, stopping, or never starting? Share your experiences in the comments! Cancel reply
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I started intermittent fasting maybe 3 months ago, eating between noon-8pm. I do sometimes need fast acting carbs outside those hours but I just use glucose tablets and don’t use it as an excuse for junk food.
My TIR has increased, my insulin use has decreased and I’ve lost 20 pounds in this time. I don’t miss having breakfast, and the crazy effects it can have on my BG, at all.
Have you considered adjusting your basal rate during fasting?
My answer is “no,” but not for any of the reasons listed above. I just don’t want to. I’m not crazy about diets in general.
Wish I could say the same but I unfortunately fell prey to the diet trend… not anymore!
Don’t deliberately fast. Sometimes go a day or more without eating cause I don’t feel like it. Or for a lab test. Just watch blood glucose and adjust basal rates.
I’ve been doing a 500 calorie day one day per week. It’s dropped my A1C from 6.8-7.0 to 6.0-6.2. TIR is 90%+
I have not eaten breakfast since I got on the pump in the 1990s so I was doing intermittent fasting before the name became popular. I didn’t do this for my diabetes but just because I was finally free to eat when I wanted.
After reading the comments, I guess I have done it. I don’t eat if I’m not hungry, so most days that means I skip breakfast. If I have a big lunch, I might skip dinner. It’s not any kind of a plan though, it’s just based on whether I am hungry or not.
No, but I’ve seriously considered it!
I sometimes miss a meal. Skipping breakfast has resulted in a significant increase in bg. My goal is to exercise everyday and eat sensibly with an emphasis on plants and avoiding highly processed food products- wild thinking?
Haven’t formally tried it, but would certainly be willing to if there were a recommended approach. Skip a particular meal per day? Do one 500 calorie day per week? Any suggestions?
Once you have adopted to a LCHF/keto diet (i.e bg is stable, insulin doses are set and diet feels fine), it’s easy to skip breakfast. Or have the breakfast and skip lunch.
I did IF for a few months years ago, for weight loss.
I don’t believe the science behind it; I think that if it “works” for weight loss it’s simply due to caloric restriction. Which for the vast majority of folks is not sustainable (like all diets, most people won’t keep the weight off long-term)
I did under doctors supervision to lose weight. It worked. But I would never do it without being closely followed.
As a hard to control Type 1 for 65 years I do question whether or not fasting routine would mess up the bg control which I do have. My bgs are largely in bg target range & wouldn’t want to mess with that %.
Low carb and fasting have proven to cut my insulin intake and half and allow me a lot tighter control. However I miss all those comfort foods and always fall back into my old habits. It’s honestly all about will power for me.
I did it as a part of a Keto diet. No eating between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. I adjusted my insulin as needed. After I lost 5 pounds I gave it all up due to lack of self-discipline. LOL My A1c stayed in the 6 range.
Judy I’d say it’s less about self-discipline than simply the nature of diets being unrealistic to maintain for long periods of time! Everyone I know who’s done keto has eventually stopped! 🙂
I have not done it for long periods of time, but periodically to check my basal rates. I felt tired throughout, and I feel that eating less but more often is probably more beneficial than skipping meals for 24 hours.
Intermittent fasting has never interested me since giving up my boxing ‘career’.
T1D since 1981, eating LCHF/keto (< 20 grams of carb/day) since 2010 and also eating a 16:8 intermittent fasting routine every day since about 5 years back. Skipping breakfast and eating my meals between 12 PM and 8 PM.
Eating about 2200 calories (75-80 E% fat, 15-20 E% protein, 5 E% carbs) per day.
This month I had a colonoscopy scheduled and the prep day before was a day of only clear liquids. I felt terrible for 24 hours until the procedure was over and I could eat solid food again with short acting insulin to cover. I don’t want to fast ever and I don’t want to have another colonoscopy again either!
T1D, 36 yrs. I was skipping breakfast for a while but on dialysis, I need to eat protein with every meal and have been advised not to skip meals. It’s been a challenge to lose weight and I’m frustrated that I don’t seem to be getting help from medical staff. I keep getting conflicting recommendations.
I did notice that with fewer meals, I didn’t need as much insulin. My bg was still (sort-of) under control.
I put other. The only “fasting” that was ever recommend to me was for the use of checking my background basal rates. If you skip a meal and your glucose levels stay constant, you’re good. If they drop, then the basal rates were too high… and so on. However, my endos have never suggested that I try fasting to maintain my health in some way. Interesting.
As a T1D for 43 years, I went through my teens with T1D. There is so much emphasis on what we put in our mouths, it is no wonder T1Ds have such a high rate of suffering from eating disorders – myself included. Because of that, I now won’t eliminate any food group or go on any “diet” now. I eat. I exercise. That works for me.
same!
I eat a hardy breakfast and a light dinner. Coffee and a handful of almonds if I’m hungry in between. I started this three years ago. I lost 25 lbs and eliminated lunch insulin and lowered my Tresciba. I started this because my copay for the two insulins had risen to over $700 and that’s with Medicare and good bridge insurance. I’m 75 and feel strong and energetic.
No, because of possibility of serious health risks. I have multiple diseases/conditions, most of which are under control. Wouldn’t want to “rock the boat” and cause an imbalance issue.
Time-restricted feedings is easier to manage with my current regimen. But I have experienced real benefits from intermittent fasting. Just need to reduce basal insulin levels slightly during the fast.
I tried intermittent fasting, and while I thought it helped glucose levels in the beginning, once my body got used to it, my levels actually wanted to get higher. Then when I did eat, I had trouble getting in all the calories I needed. It also made me feel foggy and anxious. Definitely NOT for me, although I have a friend who does intermittent fasting, has been for about a year now, and it works great for him! Granted – he is a tall, big-build guy, and I am a 5’6 small-framed girl – so maybe that makes a difference!
Intermittent fasting = diet culture, fatphobia, & disordered eating. NO THANKS!
Yes, in the past to try to help lose weight. Don’t remember why I stopped as it worked for me. I followed the eating in an 8 hour window recommended by the endocrinologist from Vancouver, BC.
I’ve had long term-eating disorder so I try not to get back into a fasting regimen.
I have not purposely followed intermittent fasting, but I have been asked if I do because I was avoiding snacks between meals.
I slipped into doing this before I knew it was a “thing”, and lost weight, though at the time had some other issues going on that might have helped account for that. (After retirement I ended up going to bed late and sleeping in, and when I got up I puttered around the house and didn’t feel like eating right away. This resulted in 12 hour fasting periods.) I can still slip into this habit if I don’t watch it and it is definitely not good for me to try to push all of my day’s eating into a shorter period. I don’t know if the fasting itself is harmful. but it no longer achieves weight loss anyway, perhaps it needs to be consistent to do so.
I have never thought about doing an intermittent fasting routine. It sounds a bit challenging but I guess with the right education and knowledge it could be useful.
I do intermittent fasting during the week. I eat breakfast around 5:30 a.m. and then do not eat again until I get home from work at 6:00 p.m. Then I do not eat again until 5:30 the next morning.
I only do this because there is no time to eat at my job. Thank goodness for my pump! I used to have to eat while driving or quickly before client meetings. What I do now is much less stressful.
Occasionally I do modified fasting for inner discipline and spiritual awareness reasons.
Not a fan of eating fad diets.
Just, no. I don’t see how fasting would help me.
Since focusing on protein nutrition instead of carbs, I’m not nearly as hungry and came to a 16:8 time restricted feeding schedule naturally. Now I often don’t eat until 2 PM, making it closer to 18 hours. My blood sugar levels are incredible (steady and between 80-100 mg/dl) and I feel incredible. I could have never done this while eating high carb, though. I was always hungry!
Out of curiosity, are you following Bernstein or just tending toward protein? I recently cut down carbs trying to get closer to Bernstein’s diet, but things are already so much better I’m not sure I would need to go all the way down that rabbit hole. 😉
I put “Other” because I didn’t intentionally set out to intermittently fast. It started by skipping breakfast, mostly because I didn’t have time between getting my kids and myself ready for school/work in the morning and then getting busy at work. This habit persisted during quarantine. Unless I wake up on the low side, I generally just have coffee in the morning, get busy working, and eat a first meal around 2-4pm. I’m on a pump, so that helps control my basals. My BGs are generally good while fasting, but dinginess sometimes spike after I eat. This is often user error though. By the time I realize I’m hungry, I’m HUNGRY, and sometimes get excited and forget to bolus. Or I start off with something sensible and then decide to have something sweet and overdue it. I guess that would be a drawback. However, because so much of the challenge of trying to maintain good BG control revolves around the guesswork of meals (how many carbs am I eating, how quick will they absorb, how insulin responsive am I i that particular day /hour, how much and how soon should I bolus, etc???), I can see how reducing the time spent actively eating (or at least actively eating carbs) could help increase time in range -simply by reducing the # of post meal peaks and valleys. Part of what I most enjoy about this forum, is being able to read the many diverse and creative ways others are living well with (and despite of) T1D.
I don’t conscientiously follow a fasting schedule, but there are definitely days when I eat an early dinner (4pm) and then don’t eat until 7:30 at breakfast the next morning.
I do it now that I am retired and don’t have to be up so early, which makes it easy. But obviously will eat for lows! I have lost about 10 lbs, which feels great.
Also it wasn’t a focused thing, it just sort of happened as another person mentioned, where I’m sleeping later and don’t eat until later morning.
I began low carb/intermittent fasting to lose weight on March 1 but now just to maintain my weight. I feel great, it keeps the weight off, has cut my insulin usage in half and lowered my A1c. It lowered it by .6 pts in 6 weeks. Go back in September and hope I will see an additional reduction. I typically eat 2 meals a day. Breakfast is the meal I skip only water and coffee until around 1:00 then like to eat again around 6:00. Best part I’m not nearly as hungry since I’m not eating as much.
I tend to skip breakfast and have “brunch” or lunch as my first meal. I believe this is considered a form of intermittent fasting. For me, it is simply because I am not hungry in the morning, but it does also help me cut my total caloric intake and carb intake which I believe helps me to lose some excess weight.
No, absolutely not. Intermittent fasting sounds like the newest “healthy” fad. Just like fad dieting, fasting can throw off your body’s normal metabolism. Your body thinks it is starving, so it will then conserve and store more fat when you do begin to eat. T1Ds don’t need more fat to be stored. Just my opinion….. eat balanced meals and exercise regularly. Stay away from the latest ‘fad’.