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The power of intermittent fasting

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#21

Post by stevenkovar »

Check out Martin Berkhan's http://leangains.com for more about making muscle gains while fasting. There's a subtle difference between using fasting as a tool for weight loss and one for body fat loss, but it's a difference nonetheless—it largely boils down to better management of your macro-nutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) versus "eating like normal" after a fasting period.

The most basic explanation is that you can fast whichever periods you would like (most do 16 hour fasts + 8 hour "feeding windows"), but you must:

  A) Lift weights no more than 3 days a week
  B) Lift heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth
  C) Eat more carbs / less fats on workout days (more calories)
  D) Eat more fats / less carbs on "rest" days (less calories)
Compared to most lifestyles (this isn't a diet) this takes a lot of mental preparation and calculation, so it is more daunting initially and less mentally draining as you go on and see results (as compared to a fad diet which is simple to implement but impossible to maintain). It's not easy but, once a routine is established and the learning curve is overcome, many people make the decision to keep the 'LeanGains' lifestyle for the remainder of their lives.

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#22

Post by reasonattlm »

The interesting thing about intermittent fasting is that it seems to work through a different but overlapping set of molecular mechanisms to calorie restriction. The gene expression profiles in rodents say that the way in which intermittent fasting (such as alternate day fasting, the most commonly studied mode) works to alter metabolism into a better running state is not quite the same as the mechanisms of straight calorie restriction.

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2010/05/intermittent-fast...

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2009/11/a-little-intermit...

So evidently you still have upregulated autophagy (i.e. better housekeeping in cells), the levels of methionine in the diet are going to be lower thus triggering that important switch in the metabolism of calorie restriction, more ghrelin floating around to stimulate the immune system, and so on. But it's not running the same way as for a steady low diet, and that appears to make some differences. Intermittent fasting is not as well studied as calorie restriction, but it is shown to extend life in mammals, and it is certainly easier to manage for most humans:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2009/02/practicing-interm...

Which means to say that you'll probably obtain health benefits by doing it, but the studies that show massive health gains and enormously lowered risk of age-related disease for calorie restricted humans may or may not apply to you.

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#23

Post by kellishaver »

jacques_chester wrote: post #9

Intermittent fasting works for me: http://chester.id.au/2012/04/17/my-diet/ I love food. I love everything about it. I love the smell of it, the sight of it, the way steam rises of freshly cooked food. I love mixing it up. I love the act of chewing, the taste, the way it feels in my mouth. The act of swallowing is great and the sensation of fullness is sensational. So it should come as no surprise that for me , at le…

Same here. I tried low-carb for a while and while it was effective for weight loss, I found it very difficult to stick to. I know for a fact, though, that my body responds poorly to too many carbohydrates, so regulating sugars is important if I want to lose any weight (and probably also to stop myself from winding up diabetic).

I switched to intermittent fasting and I am losing weight and have more energy while having no problems at all sticking to the routine.

I skip breakfast, have a low-carb/high protein snack around 2pm and a normal dinner sometime between 6-8pm. So it ends up being about a 16-18hr fast. On Friday and Saturday, I'll relax the rules and have a larger lunch or maybe a midnight snack, since I tend to stay up later those nights.

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#24

Post by pizza »

maeon3 wrote: post #14

Fast too much and your body goes into famine mode, where your fat storage management system is convinced that this month's food catch is low, and it is likely this will be a lean year. Therefore store everything you can to fat and keep energy outputs low. Causing obesity. When I was 26 ish, i fasted for 3 days. I'm 30 now. Dumbest thing i ever did. I gained weight from that DAY I started eating again forward, and it'…

Source?

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#26

Post by jere »

maeon3 wrote: post #14

Fast too much and your body goes into famine mode, where your fat storage management system is convinced that this month's food catch is low, and it is likely this will be a lean year. Therefore store everything you can to fat and keep energy outputs low. Causing obesity. When I was 26 ish, i fasted for 3 days. I'm 30 now. Dumbest thing i ever did. I gained weight from that DAY I started eating again forward, and it'…

Maybe, just maybe, one day when you were 26 you entered your late 20s and received the corresponding metabolic slowdown.

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#28

Post by ams6110 »

DanI-S wrote: post #25

Am I the only person who becomes extremely irritable once their blood sugar gets low? I can't imagine fasting for a day - I'd have no friends left by the end of it.

If you feel this way there's a good (IMHO) chance it will pass. The normal high-carb diet many of us eat results in spiky glucose levels. If you switch to a low carb diet you really feel it for a day or two. But then your glucose levels start to stabilize, and you don't feel the peaks and crashes anymore. You also don't tend to have sudden, intense hunger nearly as often, so it's easier to not eat between meals and to feel satisfied sooner when you do eat.

I've never tried fasting, but I've been on a paleo-esque diet for a couple of years now, and I rarely get hunger pangs or feel that "low blood sugar" feeling.

The fasting idea is interesting, I'll probably experiment with it.

Re: The power of intermittent fasting

#29

Post by ams6110 »

pgrote wrote: post #10

ADF is the unknown secret to solving many modern ills ... or so I think. :) I've had many conversations with three doctors about it and my thought is our bodies haven't caught up evolutionary wise to eating each and every day. I have no proof outside of personal results, which I understand doesn't make it a reality. I could be a freak. lol They key is not eating at all for a full 24 hours including your sleep cycle a…

I think this is actually very likely to be true. Think about living as a hunter-gatherer. Some days you just won't find/catch anything. Maybe you snack on a few insects. Other days you bag an antelope or find a big patch of berries and you have more than you can eat. Alternating between fast and feast every few days seems like it would be quite common. Eating a regular 3 meals a day is probably not the norm.
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