At any given point in time, it’s estimated that more than 1/3 of the U.S. population is on a diet.
It’s highly likely you’ve previously tried Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Carnivore, Warrior, Mediterranean or some other diet. Dieting seems to be about as American as Fast Food and Apple Pie…which might not be a coincidence.
You may have heard of Intermittent Fasting, which isn’t exactly a diet. This is more of a pattern of time-restricted eating.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent Fasting is consciously alternating between pre-determined periods of eating and periods of abstaining from the consumption of calories (food and drink).
Diets attempt to reduce caloric intake through restrained consumption, calorie counting, macro counting, lists of forbidden foods and lists of preferred foods.
Intermittent Fasting reduces caloric intake by way of time restriction with periods of Fasting and periods of Feeding.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
While most people look into IF for weight loss, there are many other health benefits of fasting including:
- Decreased Body Fat
- Preservation of Lean Muscle (with resistance training)
- Decreased Blood Glucose Levels
- Decreased Insulin Levels
- Increased Insulin Sensitivity
- Increased Growth Hormone Levels
- Increased Cell Autophagy
- Increased Mental Focus
- Decreased Food Related Stress
Most Common Intermittent Fasting Protocols
There are several different intermittent fasting protocols and each of these have alternating periods of Feeding and Fasting. Intermittent Fasting protocols expressed as numbers will express the Fasting window first followed by the Feeding window.
The 16:8 protocol has a 16 hour Fasting window followed by an 8 hour Feeding window. This is the most common form of fasting and in many cases this can be achieved by simply skipping breakfast.
This method is the least restrictive and the 8-hour window (11am to 7pm or 12pm to 8pm) allows you to participate in most social eating times such as lunch and dinner. Other numbered protocols are 18:6 (my personal favorite) and 20:4.
Alternate Day Fasting has you fasting every other day but eating however you want on the non-fasting days. The most-common application of this approach employs “modified” fasting which allows for the consumption of around 500 calories on fasting days. However, the “modified” fasting can be a slippery slope.
Another popular fasting protocol is the 5:2 method which involves eating normally for 5 days and limiting your caloric intake to 500 calories on 2 non-consecutive days. Similar to the Alternate Day Fasting, the days of restricting your eating to only 500 calories can pose difficulties with long term adherence.
What Breaks A Fast
Technically speaking, consuming any calories will break your fast. To avoid breaking your fast, you’ll want to consume water, black coffee, tea, green tea or a salt water mixture to provide electrolytes.
While adding a little creamer to your coffee may not ruin your weight loss efforts, this will limit many of the additional benefits of Intermittent Fasting. We highly recommend LMNT for active people to maintain their electrolyte levels and this becomes increasingly important if you’re fasting.
Concerns About Intermittent Fasting
Like any other subject, there are some major advocates and detractors of Intermittent Fasting. My research into the subject has been limited to studies with human participants since people don’t always have the same responses in randomized controlled trials as mice.
Given the fact that our ancestors didn’t have refrigerators or 24 hour access to food, I believe that an appeal to reason will show that Intermittent Fasting is safe. However, I’ll address the most common concerns with IF.
Will Fasting Will Affect My Energy Levels?
Research from 2007 found that performing 90 minutes of exercise after an 18 hour fast did not result in any decrease in performance. There are additional studies that have shown no decreases in performance during times of normal activity with fasts lasting less than 72 hours.
It should also be noted that doing an extended fast before running a half marathon or any significant change in activity level is not an ideal approach…but I’m hoping that should be obvious.
Will Fasting Cause Me To Lose Muscle Mass?
One of the many benefits of intermittent fasting is the boost of human growth hormone. This hormone is important for the preservation of muscle mass. When combined with resistance training 3 times per week, the boost in growth hormone from intermittent fasting has been shown to help preserve lean muscle tissue.
Recent research has shown that consuming 30 grams of high-quality protein at a meal is the threshold for triggering the process of Muscle Protein Synthesis. At No Limits Fitness, we have helped dozens of people lose weight with intermittent fasting without the loss of lean muscle tissue.
Will Fasting Make My Metabolism Slow Down?
This is one of the more common myths in the health and fitness industry…and one I personally believed for many years.
You may have heard that long term caloric restriction will cause your metabolism to slow down. The truth is that your caloric intake has very little to do with your metabolism.
Your metabolism is much more closely tied to your bodyweight…specifically your lean body mass (all the parts of your body that are NOT body fat). The more lean body mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be.
How To Get Started
There are hundreds of books on Intermittent Fasting and several of them offer a unique approach. However, like many other things, there are ways to do Intermittent Fasting incorrectly which will ultimately prevent you from seeing the results you want.
Having personally learned the hard way, I have found incredible benefits from Intermittent Fasting after working with a coach for added accountability. Many of us look to food as a form of stress relief and this can make Intermittent Fasting difficult.
If you would like to work with a coach to improve your nutrition, click here to get started.
