Question on 16:8 Fasting

JoshRutledge

I am beginning my life transformation journey and have decided to use 16:8 fasting as one of my tools. I am eating between 12pm and 8pm. However, every morning I consume about 48 calories in the form of vitamins (mostly vitamins) and coffee. Will this 48 calorie consumption negate any benefits of the fasting? Should I switch to taking my vitamins within the 8 hour feast window?

tcunbeliever

I have the same eating window! I get very nauseous if I take vitamins on an empty stomach, so I take mine at lunch.

toxikon

If you're talking about the elevated autophagy benefit of fasting, I believe the latest science says that you need to water-fast for at least a couple days for it to kick in.

The health benefits of 16:8 aren't really strongly studied, it mainly seems like one strategy to spread your calories through the day. I do IF just so I can have a nice big dinner.

P90XBowler99

I take my vitamins sans my coffee while fasted in the morning.

tinkerbellang83

There are not hard and fast rules on IF. IF is just a way that helps some people to manage their calorie deficit. People use IF to lose, gain and maintain.

So in short no it won't make any difference unless you need to take them with a meal.

kommodevaran

16:8 is not fasting, it's "intermittent fasting" which is a cute term for "not eating all the goddamn time", and as you can eat any time you want, and the benefits of fasting isn't what you have been lead to believe, 48 calories will not have any impact on anything, except maybe your adherence over time.

Thr33N1N3

Unless you are also doing keto... I take vitamins with my meal and it hasn't spiked my blood sugar. I do that because some vitamins are fat soluble.

JoshRutledge

Thanks everyone for the responses.

motivatedmartha

This morning I heard of very recent research - unfortunately I don't have any links to it - which suggests that it is actually beneficial to adopt intermittent fasting (over and above the usual 'it just helps you reduce your calorie intake' argument). I have never been an advocate of 'diets' and have usually managed to control my weight by using calorie deficit. My recent 20lb gain is purely because I stopped thinking about what I was eating for a year at a time when my mobility and hence exercise patterns were compromised! You can't continue eating the same if you are not using much energy! Now fit again, more active and I have started losing again using mfp tracking and calorie defecit. However, I always eat a healthy breakfast because it's breakfast time - very rarely am I actually hungry at that time. So, from now on I shall skip breakfast - go straight to lunch, which I guess means I am in effect following 16:8. Will see how it goes.

gogetemrogue

Here's an article: Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males. They took male athletes who do resistance training, had them match calorie for calorie, the difference being that one group did 16:8 IF and the other ate at 8am, 1pm and then 8pm ("normal" pattern).

The conclusion: "Our results suggest that an intermittent fasting program in which all calories are consumed in an 8-h window each day, in conjunction with resistance training, could improve some health-related biomarkers, decrease fat mass, and maintain muscle mass in resistance-trained males."

Note, however, that both groups maintained muscle mass, but they do say that fat loss and the other "biomarkers" were improved: "...a significant decrease in fat mass was observed in the TRF group."

Would like to see studies like this one performed with other groups of people, such as female athletes and obese or overweight men and women.

Edited to add: I forgot to say, if we want to take stock in studies like this one and others that say that there is indeed an extra benefit to being calorie-restricted while doing IF, I would recommend against taking any supplements, especially ones that contain calories, during the fasting window. Absorption is supposedly improved when you take them with food, anyway.

sijomial

Better to take fat soluble vitamins with food.