What Are The Proposed Health Benefits Of Fasting Diets
As mentioned, the research on intermittent fasting is limited, but mice studies and small studies in humans suggest the approach may in fact be effective.
For example, in one of Varadys studies, published in June 2018 in Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 23 human participants completed 12 weeks of eight-hour time-restricted eating, and researchers compared their weight loss results to a control group from a separate trial.
Varady and her team observed that the time-restricted group lowered their body weight by 3 percent more on average compared with the control group, and they significantly lowered their systolic blood pressure. But the sample size was small, and the dropout rate among the fasting group was high, at 26 percent, for even a short-term trial, though no one in this group reported dropping out due to issues with the diet, researchers wrote.
But what about alternate-day fasting? While Varady hasnt conducted studies directly comparing alternate-day fasting to time-restricted eating, another one of her studies, published in July 2017 in JAMA Internal Medicine, showed that alternate-day fasting was difficult to stick with and didnt result in better weight loss or heart benefits than a calorie-restricted diet. For the study, she and her team randomized 100 participants to follow one of the two diets or a control group, where their diets remained the same, for one year.
So How Do I Follow The Alternate Day Fasting Diet
On the first day of the diet, you have just one fifth of you normal calorie intake that keeps your weight steady. As a guideline, women need around 2,000 calories a day, and men 2,500 calories a day for weight maintenance. This means on a fasting day when you are allowed just one fifth of this women should have 400 calories and men, 500 calories. However, the heavier you are, the more calories you need just to keep your weight steady.
You can get a more accurate picture of how many calories you need for weight maintenance by entering your weight, height and sex into the personal information on Weight Loss Resources database. Then divide this figure by five to calculate the amount of calories you should have on a fasting day.
To make it easier to stick to such a low calorie intake on fasting days, the Alternate-Day Diet recommends sipping ready-made meal replacement shakes that add up to your fasting daily calorie allowance. These have the advantage of being fortified with nutrients and help to remove the temptation to overeat. On the second day of the diet, you simply eat what you would normally eat. Then on day three, you do the same as on day one and so on.
Choose Your Best Protocol
Krystal began her intermittent fasting journey about a year ago, and she experimented with various protocols until she found the right protocol.
I alternate what kind of fasting I do. Sometimes I stick with a traditional 16:8 fasting period, other times I will do a longer time frame, she says. My longest fast was five days.
Though five days might seem a bit overwhelming to a beginner, Krystal urges readers to find whats best for them. For her journey, Krystal admits, I read a lot about the health benefits of fasting, plus with following a ketogenic diet fasting came naturally as my hunger levels decreased.
You May Like: Why I Stopped Intermittent Fasting
Figure Out A Meal Plan
A person interested in losing or gaining weight may find it helpful to plan what they are going to eat during the day or week.
Meal planning does not need to be overly restrictive. It considers calorie intake and incorporating proper nutrients into the diet. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the MyPlatePlan, which focuses on showing a person food group targets for each day.
Meal planning offers many benefits, such as helping a person stick to their calorie count and ensuring they have the necessary ingredients on hand for recipes, quick meals, and snacks. As a potential bonus, meal planning could save money if it helps people waste less food.
Not all calories are the same. Although these fasting methods do not limit the number of calories a person consumes during eating periods, it is essential to consider the nutritional value of the food.
In general, a person should aim to consume nutrient-dense foods, or foods with a
- 2018 review of studies , calorie restriction and intermittent fasting can help the body activate a healing process called autophagy, which essentially means that the body digests or recycles old or damaged cell components.
Fasting dates back to ancient humans, who often went hours or days between meals because obtaining food was difficult. The human body adapted to this style of eating, allowing extended periods to pass between food intake times.
Research also suggests that fasting has a variety of other benefits.
The Quality Of Sleep You’re Getting
Sleep is almost equally as important as the food you’re eating when it comes to weight loss. In fact, studies show that poor quality sleep significantly increases your risk of weight gain and obesity.
The body is not a simple mathematical equation, and in all truth of the matter, there’s no real way to determine exactly how much weight you will lose in a month of Intermittent Fasting. There are many factors outside of exercise and the food you eat that have a major impact on how quickly you will reduce your body fat percentage.
You May Like: What Can Be Eaten During Intermittent Fasting
Hour Fast/ : 8 Hour Fast/ : 6 Hour Fast
This is the widely used method in weight loss programs. You can fast either for 14hours, 16hours, or 18hours. So you can continue eating the rest of the hours to complete the daily nutritional demand. The beginners can start the program with overnight 12-hour fasting.
When your body gets adapted to fasting, you can change it to 14-hour then to 16 or 18hour fasting. So your body will have enough time to switch metabolism.
While continuing the intermittent fasting, make sure to calculate the daily energy requirement. The calorie intake for the day must not exceed the daily energy expenditure. If not, there is no use in fasting.
Read Also: What To Eat On Intermittent Fasting Diet
Get Eight Hours Of Sleep
“When you get seven-and-a-half to eight hours of sleep, your body is more equipped to get rid of stress hormones, and your metabolism improves,” says Morrison. And taking a vitamin D3 supplement daily may help you sleep better and therefore improve weight loss too. One theory is that when D3 is low, hunger hormones increase, and when you’re not deficient in D, melatoninthe body’s natural sleep aidworks more effectively. Slayton suggests taking 2,000 IUs of D3 daily.
Try Fasting Overnight
Cut off eating at least two hours before bedtime to give your body time to digest, leading to better sleep, says Brooke Alpert, a dietitian in New York and the author of The Diet Detox. Most people need seven to nine hours of sleep, and too little sleep can wreak havoc on your appetite. After just one night of sleep deprivation, your metabolism may change so that you crave more processed carbs, resulting in overeating, says endocrinologist David Ludwig, M.D., the author of Always Hungry? and a professor at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Also Check: What Can I Eat For Fasting
Can I Lose 50 Lbs In 3 Months
The National Institute of Health recommends setting realistic weight goals and that is to say that losing 50pounds in 3 months is neither a realistic nor an achievable weight goal. The National Institute of Health recommends trying to lose about 5% to 10% of your total body weight in a period of six months .
May Help Lower Blood Pressure
Clinically supervised water fasts lasting up to 2 weeks have been linked to lower blood pressure . This has been further associated with the fact that you are drinking more water and not consuming salt. However, please note that fasting for 3 days is not likely to help lower blood pressure. This is only possible on longer medically supervised fasts.
You May Like: Is Fasting Good For Health
Getting A Good Nights Sleep
Numerous studies have shown that getting less than 56 hours of sleep per night is associated with increased incidence of
Research suggests that insufficient or poor-quality sleep slows down the process in which the body converts calories to energy, called metabolism. When metabolism is less effective, the body may store unused energy as fat. In addition, poor sleep can increase the production of insulin and cortisol , which also prompt fat storage.
How long someone sleeps also affects the regulation of the appetite-controlling hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin sends signals of fullness to the brain.
Stay Healthy With Intermittent Fasting
What about the misconception that intermittent fasting isnt great for your health? I had my annual checkup a couple of months ago and did blood work, explains Krystal. Im in perfect health!
Krystal shares her progress with her Instagram followers, who leave encouraging comments such as Amazing!!! Youre so inspiring! and #GOALS! And shes sure to take them on every aspect of her journey, including sharing breaking her fasts, easy ketogenic recipes, and workout fasts which are workouts she completes while fasting.
Don’t Miss: Is Fasting In The Morning Good For Weight Loss
What Intermittent Fasting Results Can You Expect
Quick Navigation
There are so many articles on Intermittent Fasting benefits, different types of Fasting and tips on how to practice this lifestyle.
Yet, what about the actual Intermittent Fasting results?
How much weight can you lose with Intermittent Fasting and how long does it take to see results from Intermittent Fasting? What other benefits can you expect when embarking on your new fasting journey?
To answer these questions and get a real-life perspective, we reached out to our , as well as Intermittent Fasters on Instagram and Reddit. With over 800 people who successfully completed our 21-Day Intermittent Fasting Challenge, we got some great examples to share!
We interviewed over 30 people to understand what Intermittent Fasting results they experienced and summarized the findings below in this blog post.
Spoiler Alert: the Intermittent Fasting results are so inspiring youll want to start straight away!
Read Also: What Time Does Fasting Start
What Else Can You Tell Me About This Skinny Gene
The way SIRT1 works is complicated. The theory goes that when cells are restricted of energy as is the case when we have a very low calorie intake they become stressed and start to die. This is thought to trigger a chain of events that activates SIRT1, which in turn sets off a process that stops cells from dying.
This skinny gene is thought to help make our metabolism more efficient so that we burn fat more effectively and also helps to inhibit fat storage. Plus, SIRT1 has been shown to inhibit substances in our bodies that can cause inflammation. This is important because inflammation is thought to be at the root of many health problems including:
- Alzheimers disease
Its thought this may be the reason why animal research shows that restricting calories improves health.
You May Like: What Is 16 Hour Intermittent Fasting
Other Intermittent Fasting Results
While weight loss is by no doubt the most desirable Intermittent Fasting result among most of the people who have started our Intermittent Fasting Challenge, its not the only benefit you can expect from fasting.
When we asked people to name other positive changes they have noticed after starting with Intermittent Fasting, we saw several other great benefits.
The most common benefit of intermittent fasting turns out to be increased energy levels.
How come less food leads to increased energy? This could be contributed to your body not using the energy to digest food and/or having to think what you should eat next.
People have also experienced multiple other benefits like improved metabolism and immune system, more mental clarity and better sleep.
You Are Eating The Wrong Type Of Food
Many other diets come with a list of foods that you can and cannot eat. However, that is not how intermittent fasting works.
Intermittent fasting lets you eat anything you would like within a specific eating window.
Because intermittent fasting does not restrict your diet, it is easy to slip right into unhealthy feeding habits. Binging on unhealthy processed foods even if it is only in your eating window could be responsible for your slow results.
Stuffing too many calories during your eating periods is also counterproductive.
During your intermittent fast, consider changing your meal plan. Toss out the unhealthy processed food and switch to healthier options. Think of foods like whole grains that are rich in dietary fiber.
Furthermore, sugary foods could send your blood sugar levels through the roof and contribute to reduced insulin sensitivity.
Staying away from sugary foods protects you from sugar highs and the sugar crash that results after. It also helps keep your blood sugar within the normal range.
Read Also: What Time Does Fasting End
How Much Weight Can You Lose With Intermittent Fasting
The amount of weight you can lose through intermittent fasting depends on your starting weight, medical conditions, type of food you eat on your non-fasting days, and other factors like your lifestyle, age, and activity level.
For example, if you choose to eat sugary desserts, drinks, and refined, ultra-processed carbs during your non-fasting days, a fast may not help you lose body fat.
However, if you pair intermittent fasting with healthy eating, you can experience healthy weight loss. A systematic review of 40 studies published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology found intermittent fasting was effective for weight loss, with a typical loss of seven to eleven pounds over ten weeks. If you weigh roughly 200 pounds, that equals a five percent loss of your total body weight in just ten weeks.
You might want a quick weight loss fix, but experts recommend you dont try to speed up the process. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UKs National Health Service recommend you shoot for a safe rate of one to two pounds per week.
According to the CDC, if you lose weight gradually and safely, youll be more successful at keeping it off. So, the average weight loss per week with intermittent fasting is safe, effective, and long-term.
How To Speed Up Your Weight Loss
That said, some of us have a whole lot of pounds to lose and we may be looking for more than 10 pounds a month. I go through phases where I try to lose a lot quickly. Coming back from Christmas vacation I told the family: Im going in for another 20! I just mean that I am stepping things up and drastically cutting my calories for a short period of time. I do this in two ways:
1) I go on a multi-day water fast.2) I eat a calorie-restricted meal in my one meal a day .
Both cut calories. The first is just an extreme version.
Obviously I lose more weight on a complete water fast but it doesnt always work in my life. In one case, I planned to fast for 10 days and made it to Day 3 and just felt very tired. My hair started falling out just a bit. I took a small step back and realized that I needed to supplement my diet with vitamins and minerals, so I stopped the complete fast, moved to a calorie-restricted model, and began a normal regimen of vitamin and mineral supplementation until I felt built up enough to try the water fast again.
Some numbers:
In my case, if I ate one meal every other day, I lose 15-20 pounds a month. This strategy is very effective and I find it to be do-able. You can hit the vitamins and minerals on your eating day and keep your eating in the low-carb goal range and lose quite a bit of weight pretty quickly.
Recommended Reading: What Type Of Intermittent Fasting Is Best For Me
Reduce Stress And Improve Mental Health
The 16:8 diet help reduce cortisol levels and help reduce inflammation. Plus, since you wont be dealing with hunger for two days a week, its better for your mental health.
Those whove tried the 16:8 diet say how much more productive they are during fasting hours, spending less time stressing over food and more time channelling their energy into other beneficial tasks throughout the day.
You May Like: Does Fasting Help Burn Fat
What Can I Eat While Intermittent Fasting
During the times when youre not eating, water and zero-calorie beverages such as black coffee and tea are permitted.
And during your eating periods, eating normally does not mean going crazy. Youre not likely to lose weight or get healthier if you pack your feeding times with high-calorie junk food, super-sized fried items and treats.
But what Williams likes about intermittent fasting is that it allows for a range of different foods to be eaten and enjoyed. We want people to be mindful and take pleasure in eating good, nutritious food, she says. She adds that eating with others and sharing the mealtime experience adds satisfaction and supports good health.
Williams, like most nutrition experts, regards the Mediterranean diet as a good blueprint of what to eat, whether youre trying intermittent fasting or not. You can hardly go wrong when you pick complex, unrefined carbohydrates such as whole grains, leafy greens, healthy fats and lean protein.
Read Also: How To Get Fasting Glucose Down
