Ramadan

[MikePollard]

I was in contact with my nephew the other day and he mentioned he'd been on a 16 hour dry fast. I was puzzled, especially the 'dry' bit until the penny dropped. He's a practising Muslim.

The rules are, nothing to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset - for 30 days. You can eat a little just before the door shuts at 5.40am.

Anyway, it got me thinking.

Could be a good way to get on top of the weight loss I need to make flying my new aircraft an, Aeriane Swift (currently still in Switzerland grr!) easier. That and knocking the booze back. So I decided to become a temporary, associate Muslim and join him.

Tailoring it a bit as bike riding and no water is a non-starter. Currently riding about 20 miles a day.

Started yesterday and had a low carb high fat meal at 8.20 pm. Nothing but water and a cup of black coffee since. It'll be hardcore keto for a month.

Current weight 177.1lb - goal weight 161lb.

Will update weekly.

[bigleg]

That looks like an amazing machine Mike. Hopefully by the time you take delivery the lock down will be over!! I am amazed that even water us not permitted during the day. When we were living in South Africa some Muslim friends had a Fish n Chip shop - they said they they had to drink water during the day. In their summer temperatures and that work enviroment - could not have been safe for them. Good luck with the fast and hope you achieve your target and then can maintain it!!

[Cooper27]

Good luck with your month of fasting.

I'll warn you that the Muslim's I know who practice Ramadan say the frustrating bit is they tend to gain weight throughout the month, so it'll be interesting to see how you get on.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to Cooper27]

Apparently a lot of people tend to really pig out at sundown during Ramadan. If you're eating carb-heavy food generally, I imagine fasting during the day would cause weight gain (because your BMR would slow down, and your metabolism would tilt towards fat storage in response to the carb glut every evening).

I eat virtually nothing during the day as a matter of routine and then have a vast meal in the evening after a workout. But then, my meals are mostly vegetables, meat, and fat.

Wonder how many Muslims are fat-adapted?

OTOH, Ramadan has always struck me as an admirable ritual. It's a reminder that food is not to be taken for granted, and if you're eating a healthy diet generally (ie., not the standard British stodge) it should in theory help you shed some excess flab.

MikePollard : Hope your new toy arrives soon! Is it the powered version?

[Cooper27 in reply to TheAwfulToad]

To an extent I think people report that it's also the disruption to sleep patterns. Here you would pray at 9pm, eat after prayers, give your food time to digest before bed, then have to be up again in time to prepare and eat food before sunrise at 5.30am.

It's very interesting when you read into it

[Subtle_badger in reply to Cooper27]

Ramadan was designed to be practiced in the Middle East; these short nights are not experienced there eg Sunset is at 18:44 in Mecca tonight, and the sunrises at 5:50. Plenty of time for all the practices. It's harder at higher latitudes.

4 years ago it spanned the solstice, so Muslims living above the Arctic circle had to come up with a workaround when the sun doesn't set for weeks.

[ChubbieChops in reply to Subtle_badger]

Muslims live in the Arctic?

[Subtle_badger in reply to ChubbieChops]

Mostly former refugees

theatlantic.com/internation...

[ChubbieChops in reply to Subtle_badger]

I wonder what they make of that

[MikePollard in reply to Cooper27]

The thing to bear in mind here is that the fast finishes in the evening and doesn't start again for many hours, so it's entirely conceeivable that many over indulge over those hours they are allowed to eat. In my case, one meal a day and vigorous excercising means I will be in energy deficit every day and it's impossible for me to gain weight.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[Hidden]

Great looking plane. Hope you're a better pilot than Harrison Ford 😀

[MikePollard in reply to Hidden]

I stareted flying hang gliders in 1974 and managed to survive. This is my ultimate dream machine. Harrison Ford is a good pilot, but aviation is a cruel mistress and will bite at every opportunity.

[Hidden in reply to MikePollard]

Never done it, would like to have. I sailed for many years and had quite a few mishaps. Piloting I guess is similar in many ways, navigating on a moving object, but even more unpredictable and with another dimension, elevation, added.

[ChubbieChops]

Well that will be an interesting experiment! Good luck with it 👍

[Hippa]

All my Muslim friends are fasting and report that weight gain can be a thing during Ramadan. They usually eat a little before sunrise and don’t eat or drink again before sunset. In the evenings, families tend to add special (ie diet-unfriendly treats!) to the table - so I have been to meals where there have been fried treats and irresistible desserts - so often lots of sugar and fat, alongside the main meal. Tbh it is understandable how this comes about - it is one month where they prove that you can stay off the food for long periods of time and focus on other things. There is a nice feel to preparing food that you would not otherwise eat and sharing it - a month of self- denial with nice food to look forward to at the end of each day. The issue is moderation. When we lived abroad in the Middle East, I did observe a lot of over-indulgence and a lot of wastage of food and I heard of people overeating after sunset. But, if done correctly, it looks like Ramadan is a great way to give the digestive system a rest. A lot of dieticians recognise the benefits if fasting and intermittent fasting. As for not drinking water, that is part of it and, again, people regulate what they drink in the hours that they are allowed to. We are too ready to comment on things we have absolutely no experience of sometimes - and also to judge selectively, focusing on “pigging out” (the tone says it all) rather than the correct and moderate way of doing it. Try it (I have done a few with my friends)!