Why is intermittent fasting beneficial?
dlatorre80s
Posts: 11 Member
So I started intermittent fasting (18/6) yesterday but some trainers are saying that is the same thing as eating throughout the day. That everything is about calorie deficiency. Should I keep doing it or not? I just think is easier for me to count macros while intermittent fasting.
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Replies
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Intermittent fasting makes it easier for some people to stay within their calories.
If your goal is weight loss, gain, or maintenance it is all about calories. Strategies like IF, low carb, etc can help if they make it easier for you to hit your calorie goal.9 -
Watch show
Fasting
On amazon prime2 -
djohnson6796 wrote: »Watch show
Fasting
On amazon prime
In general, getting health and diet information from "documentaries" is a bad idea. They have no responsibility to give you both sides of the story or even to tell the truth. They are entertainment crafted to influence your opinion.
There are lots of theories out there about several diverse benefits of intermittent fasting and full day fasting, but the science is super new and there are plenty of studies that find no benefit, along with a few mouse studies suggesting possible benefits.19 -
When trying to lose weight ...
Reasons to do IF:
• You enjoy eating that way
• It won't impact your health
• It makes it easier to stay within your calorie deficit
• It fits your schedule/lifestyle
• You feel it will make shifting to maintenance easier
Reasons to not do IF:
• You are unhappy eating that way
• It will impact your health (for example, someone with diabetes)
• It makes it harder to stay within your calorie deficit
• It doesn't fit your schedule/lifestyle
• You feel it will make shifting to maintenance more difficult
One could replace "IF" in the above list with any style of eating (keto, vegan, etc).18 -
dlatorre80s wrote: »So I started intermittent fasting (18/6) yesterday but some trainers are saying that is the same thing as eating throughout the day. That everything is about calorie deficiency. Should I keep doing it or not? I just think is easier for me to count macros while intermittent fasting.
IF is just a strategy that may or may not help an individual with whatever their goals are. It's not some magical weight loss thing. I'm in maintenance and I did IF all throughout the summer until about last week...I maintained my weight doing IF because I was still eating maintenance calories.9 -
My doctor recommended IF to me because not only do I need to loose weight but I need to “reset” my insulin levels. My A1c is normal but I still had high insulin levels in my bloodwork. I’ve been doing IF for about 6 weeks. Follow up lab work next month will tell me if it has helped. Otherwise, it’s just a bit of help in restricting your calorie intake which is, after all, the MOST, important part.1
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djohnson6796 wrote: »Watch show
Fasting
On amazon prime
This is like a haiku that's on a fast.15 -
If eating within a restricted window of time works for you, then do it. If it doesnt, don't.2
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It’s beneficial for you if it helps you stay in a calorie deficit, it matches how you prefer to eat, and/or it’s required to treat a medical condition you have.
Weight loss is 100% about consistently being in a calorie deficit, not about how often or what times you eat.7 -
IMHO it averages out to be a calorie deficit. So it is no different than eating small amounts throughout the day at a deficit. In the end it all works out to be a deficit.1
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Yeah that is true cuz you can consistently eat waaaayyy over your calories when you do eat.0 -
So I have read 2 books recently that touch on IF, and various forms of fasting, including the Mimicing Fasting Diet. Both are written by PHDs who study longevity and aging at the cellular level. Heavy biochemistry based science. I find it all fascinating but my takeaway is that it’s less about losing weight and more about what it does to your body, blood chemistry, glucose, etc. I’m not an expert just enjoy learning about the science behind it. The books are:
Life Span by Dr. David Sinclair
The Longevity Diet by Dr. Valter Longo
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If a person cuts out one meal per day is that considered IF?1
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Love all the people just clicking disagree since they don't practice IF and have no knowledge of it. Please people just go back to clicking on threads about "would you date the person above you".
Ok now you can all click disagree on my comment please.6 -
Chris_2013 wrote: »Love all the people just clicking disagree since they don't practice IF and have no knowledge of it. Please people just go back to clicking on threads about "would you date the person above you".
Ok now you can all click disagree on my comment please.
How would you know who has what knowledge and does or doesn't practice IF?8 -
Chris_2013 wrote: »Love all the people just clicking disagree since they don't practice IF and have no knowledge of it. Please people just go back to clicking on threads about "would you date the person above you".
Ok now you can all click disagree on my comment please.
Which posts are you talking about? There are disagrees on most of the posts in this thread.
The two posts with the most disagrees don't really make an argument, they just point to questionable sources.
And as someone who has done IF and never goes into the ChitChat forum, I disagreed with both those posts.10 -
I do IF without even doing IF, every day from 7 pm to 7 am. That being said, if it helps you stay within calorie deficit, do it. Personally, I am miserable if I don't eat something after this 12 hour window.1
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So I have read 2 books recently that touch on IF, and various forms of fasting, including the Mimicing Fasting Diet. Both are written by PHDs who study longevity and aging at the cellular level. Heavy biochemistry based science. I find it all fascinating but my takeaway is that it’s less about losing weight and more about what it does to your body, blood chemistry, glucose, etc. I’m not an expert just enjoy learning about the science behind it. The books are:
Life Span by Dr. David Sinclair
The Longevity Diet by Dr. Valter Longo
I haven't read either of those books, but yes the science is fascinating. Having said that, it's in its infancy and I am highly skeptical of well-educated people who jump on nascent science and proclaim it as confirmed. Dr. Longo in particular sells an expensive diet based on his theories.
So many of these theories are based on mouse studies, and it will be years before enough human studies have been completed to get anything close to consensus. So it's fascinating, but no one should be putting themselves out to try to eat this way. If it comes easily to you, and you are cautiously optimistic that there will be health benefits though, go for it
7 -
So I have read 2 books recently that touch on IF, and various forms of fasting, including the Mimicing Fasting Diet. Both are written by PHDs who study longevity and aging at the cellular level. Heavy biochemistry based science. I find it all fascinating but my takeaway is that it’s less about losing weight and more about what it does to your body, blood chemistry, glucose, etc. I’m not an expert just enjoy learning about the science behind it. The books are:
Life Span by Dr. David Sinclair
The Longevity Diet by Dr. Valter Longo
I haven't read either of those books, but yes the science is fascinating. Having said that, it's in its infancy and I am highly skeptical of well-educated people who jump on nascent science and proclaim it as confirmed. Dr. Longo in particular sells an expensive diet based on his theories.
So many of these theories are based on mouse studies, and it will be years before enough human studies have been completed to get anything close to consensus. So it's fascinating, but no one should be putting themselves out to try to eat this way. If it comes easily to you, and you are cautiously optimistic that there will be health benefits though, go for it
Hey cool.....we agree. Just mentioned these books as they talk about fasting in its various forms. Both of these guys have studied cell gerontology for 20 plus years at USC and Harvard Medical School. They are worth a read as they cover lots of other things besides fasting if your into science. I do IF (16:8) simply because it fits with my schedule. I still just track my calories and exercise with MFP but don't eat from 8pm-noon, when it works for me.
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Chris_2013 wrote: »Love all the people just clicking disagree since they don't practice IF and have no knowledge of it. Please people just go back to clicking on threads about "would you date the person above you".
Ok now you can all click disagree on my comment please.
@Chris_2013, the problem that I have with IF are the assertions that it should be used to achieve weight loss and "numerous other health benefits" independent of validating that it's causing a caloric deficit and that there's any degree of correctness to doing IF or not; a fundamental lack of nuance in most conversations it starts. I have tried IF, a few times. It works fine as a tool for caloric adherence but I found I lost weight as expected given the caloric deficit I achieved over that time span.
Additionally, when the sources cited and documentaries and books instead of actual scientific studies I immediately question the validity of the material. The studies that do exist on IF (at least the one's of which I'm aware) are fairly limited at this point. Though there is some promise in the correlations to longevity and health risk indicators, those aren't necessarily primary goals for everyone. The primary reason I've eschewed IF in favor of standard caloric restriction/tracking is due to muscle growth. Optimal MPS isn't achieved by time-restricting protein intake as IF requires so for me IF doesn't mesh with that particular goal and I find I'm perfectly competent to manage my weight without it.
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Look up Dr. Fung, Obesity Code. He has worked with hundreds of patients and reversed diabetes and reset insulin using IF.1
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Doesn't fasting put your body into starvation response? I am diabetic so fasting is not an option and frankly don't feel that I am missing anything. However I do find that needing to eat regularly gets tedious without lots of variety.1
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CalgaryMac wrote: »Doesn't fasting put your body into starvation response? I am diabetic so fasting is not an option and frankly don't feel that I am missing anything. However I do find that needing to eat regularly gets tedious without lots of variety.
Starvation mode is a myth. It's not a thing.4 -
I do what people call "intermittent fasting". There is absolutely no benefit to this other than saving my calories for a nice big meal. I used to be a binge eater and I would always binge later in the evening. Now I save most of my calories for dinner and dessert. It's helped me a lot but it's definitely not for everyone. Eat when you want, it doesn't make a difference. Just stay within your calories if you're trying to lose weight.6
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