I started in 2008-ish by cutting refined carbs. Intermittent fasting — 16:8 — came later. I’m still over-weight. I’m not selling anything. The pieces below are the ones I keep pointing to when someone asks me what I think.

This thread is sequenced for someone wondering whether to be more intentional about when they eat. None of it answers that question for you. It just tells you what an honest version of the n=1 looks like over a long timeline, and suggests things you might want to try.

Ten-years and About that “diet”…
constantine.name — January 2019

Start here. The foundational personal account — what I did, in what order, and what changed. Lower-carb first, then intermittent fasting, then settling into what I now just call normal eating. The closing line is the part I most want to land: “I’M INSANELY HAPPY I DID ALL THE ABOVE.”

§11 — Intermittent Fasting (IF)
constantine.name — June 2019

What IF is, what it isn’t, what to be careful about. The line that does the most work for me: “I’ve come to realize that the style of fasting I do is not actually me doing something, but rather me living in tune with my body.” That distinction is what makes it sustainable.

Fasting
constantine.name — May 2020

The deeper why beyond weight: I’m increasingly convinced inflammation is a causal factor in my depression. When my weight is up and I eat the wrong food, the next day is a shit-show. Naming that out loud is part of why I keep at it.

Ya don’t say!
constantine.name — April 2022

The honest part. My BMI is over 33. The lean-only studies people cite don’t apply to me. Here’s what I actually know about alternate-day fasting — n=1, fat-bodied, and it works. If you ever wondered whether the people writing about fasting online have skin in the game, I do and this is what skin in the game sounds like.

A mythology around food
constantine.name — October 2022

What years of fasting taught me about other people’s eating. I didn’t simply learn to stop having an opinion. I stopped thinking I knew better. The change in me wasn’t just metabolic — it was social.

Marks were made
constantine.name — July 2025

Recent: a 48-hour fast finished with a quadrupedal-movement workout and a trail run. Left a sweat-puddle. There’s no real takeaway. Just a note to myself: sometimes I push things. Sometimes I push too far. Where’s the edge?

Temperature matters
constantine.name — June 2022

Closing this one with a quieter note: the surprising thing fasting taught me wasn’t about food. It was about reading my body’s signals — am I actually hungry, or just craving? That shift in attention is the practice that continues.

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