One Big Change That Could Jump Start Your Weight Loss

Published on 02/08/2010 - 43 comments!

Screen shot 2010-02-08 at 2.40.34 AM

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you probably ate a ****load of food last night while watching the Super Bowl (Google definitely had the best ad, by the way).

You’re thinking to yourself, “I put on five pounds last night, how the hell do I get back on track?” I’m going to introduce a seemingly ridiculous concept to you, one that I hadn’t ever considered until doing the research:

Intermittent Fasting.

Sounds like the worst thing ever, right? Starving yourself on purpose? “TOTALLY LAME,” as Awesome-O would say.

Well, if you’ve been unsuccessful at losing weight, if you’ve lost weight but you’ve hit a plateau, or if you just want to try something new, this might be the jump start you need.

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion based on my research and reading. This is less of a recommendation article rather than an eye-opener and call for discussion. I do present my opinion at the end though, and I’d love to hear yours.

Diets – Six Meals For the Win?

For years, the concept of lots of small meals throughout the day really clicked with me.

If you space out your meals evenly, keep your calorie count low, you’ll lose weight, right? I’ve even talked about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Lots of people follow the “eat multiple meals a day” ideology and lose weight, so it works. Less calories, more meals, evenly spread out. It makes sense.

However, I’ve recently done some research and reading on IF…which also makes a lot of sense to me. By not eating every once a while, your body has to burn the fat in your system for energy, which would lead to weight loss. Also, by not eating for twenty four hours, you’re pushing your body into a calorie deficit, which also leads to weight loss. It makes sense.

So, how can these two seemingly conflicting ideologies both make sense? Simple – they both allow your body to burn more calories than you consume. And, if other research on the body’s physiology while fasting is to be believed, there are multiple other benefits as well.

Let’s get down to business.

What the Hell is Intermittent Fasting?

IF is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: you purposely avoid eating for a twenty-four hour period (or two) during the week. Why? Because recent studies have shown that your metabolism operates more on a marathon basis (how many calories consumed over a long period of time) than on a sprint basis (what you ate yesterday). Prior to this research, I was giving way too much credit to my stomach – it’s not nearly as intelligent as I thought. Think long term when it comes to calories consumed and burned, not short term.

Mark over at Mark’s Daily Apple has a great write-up on the evolutionary science behind fasting. Mark runs one of the most thorough and successful paleo diet blogs out there, and I highly value his opinion. I love looking into the evolutionary aspects of diet and fitness, and I’m often very weary of any new “breakthrough” that requires a pill or drink or anything. We’ve survived as a species for tens of thousands of years with diet, exercise, and intelligence.

Fasting is one of those evolutionary aspects that makes complete sense to me.

How Does it Work?

Our bodies are genetically engineered to deal with feast or famine. 10,00 years ago, surprisingly there was no free All-Star Slam Breakfast from Denny’s! Our bodies need fuel to operate, and if there isn’t any food in the stomach to pull from, it uses the fat stored within the body for energy. The fat gets burned for energy, the body keeps moving, and thus becomes leaner.

Secondly, because of these skipped meals, you are putting your body into a calorie deficit (averaged out for the week). Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so start thinking of your calories more in terms of weekly units rather than daily amounts, iif that helps. More calories burned compared to calories consumed = weight loss!

Here’s a video from Brad over at Eat Stop Eat (which reads like an infomercial, ugh…but it’s legit) explaining the similarities between fasting and exercise. He also wrote a guest post over on Fitness Black Book. I considered setting up an affiliate link for Brad’s e-book in case you’re interested in purchasing it, but I didn’t want you to think I wrote this article to get affiliate money. Instead, you can form your own opinion, and then buy Brad’s book if you’re interested.

Brad Pilon – Eat Stop Eat

How Do You Do It?

Simple: pick a day (or two) per week and purposely skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat a normal dinner. Brad over at Eat Stop Eat recommends doing this type of fasting once or twice a week – for example, a fast on Monday, and then another one on Thursday. Liquids are okay on fasting days, just not ones with calories. Heyoooo H2O!

If you’re used to eating a LOT of food, and you normally eat a big breakfast, this is going to be a pretty big drastic change. Start by skipping breakfast and see how your body reacts to it. If you can handle that, work your way up to skipping breakfast and lunch. Notice that I’m not saying you should skip breakfast and lunch every day. Eat normally five days a week, try a fast one of the other days for a few weeks and see how your body reacts.

Eat, don’t eat, and then eat. Got it?

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

A recent article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gives a great overview of these benefits which include decreases in blood pressure, reduction in oxidative damage to lipids, protein and DNA, improvement in insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, as well as decreases in fat mass.” This study discusses studies done with humans (not mice) specifically.

From the LA times: Mark P. Mattson, chief of the laboratory of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging: “In normal health subjects, moderate fasting — maybe one day a week or cutting back on calories a couple of days a week — will have health benefits for most anybody.”

I’d like to see more studies, with better controls done for more solid proof of these benefits, but I expect that to happen soon.

Risks of Intermittent Fasting

So, all we see so far are GOOD things about not eating for a full day. What the hell is BAD about it? First off, I can see myself getting extremely hungry to the point of annoyance when starting out this process. This is echoed by Ruth Frechman, a registered dietitian in Burbank and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn: “You’re hungry, fatigued, irritable. Fasting is not very comfortable. People try to cut back one day and the next day they’re starving and they overeat.”

I imagine there is quite the learning curve for your body when it has to switch from using readily accessible carbs for energy to using your body’s fat stores, so I can see the first few fasting days being extremely difficult. NF Reader Matt makes a great point in the comments that I’m reposting here for all to see:

“One thing I think people who are considering this should ask themselves – how are you at controling your hunger at the moment? Losing weight is all about consuming less calories than you burn. The biggest obstacle to this is hunger. That is, uncontrollable hunger. If you are starving yourself on 800 calories a day, then you will be much more likely to binge and go way over your calorie goal. So it becomes important to eat when you are hungry, not when you are starving.”

Moral of the story? Don’t overdo it – if you feel light headed and you can’t function, EAT SOMETHING. Listen to your body, and find a way to make it work for you. We only get one chance on this planet, so make it count.

Have I tried It Yet?

Honestly, I haven’t. Well, not on purpose anyway. The idea of skipping a meal or two goes against everything I’ve done for the past seven years. If you’re a person who is used to eating a lot of food all day long, this probably scares the crap out of you too. However, considering the fitness gurus and researchers that I read all highly recommend this type of “diet,” I’d be stupid if I didn’t give it a shot. After all, if I can’t practice what I preach then I’m being dishonest to myself and to you all.

My biggest concern was losing more weight and muscle mass. Then I saw that Craig Ballantyne, another fitness dude whose opinion I really respect, gained 13 pounds, most of which was muscle, while doing IF. If he can do it, so can I.

Lastly, I was worried I wouldn’t have enough energy to get through a workout if I didn’t eat beforehand. However, after doing my research on IF, I did a test-workout this past Saturday in a fasted state and had zero problem getting through the routine. That was a big boost for me to move forward with writing this article and planning to try it out myself.

I’m going to try this one day this week, I’ll let everybody know how it goes. I still expect to build muscle and put on some pounds, even when skipping the first two meals of the day occasionally.

Do I Recommend It?

This is tough for me. Because I haven’t done it yet, I’m cautious about throwing my whole support behind the concept. However, I do believe that this is another system that will definitely work for many people (but not all). It’s just like every other successful diet: eat good foods, and don’t eat too much.

This is my recommendation:

Is your current plan working? Good! Don’t change it!
Is your current plan NOT working? Give this a shot.

If you only get ONE thing from this whole article, it’s this: there is more than one way to lose weight, so don’t worry about your method being the best. The best diet is the one that makes you lose weight and keeps you healthy. If you’re already losing weight, keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re not, maybe do a little bit more reading on IF and give it a shot.

My advice? Do it the day after you’ve stuffed yourself, and balance things out. In terms of losing the most weight the quickest, I’d probably recommend the Paleo Diet and intermittent fasting with weight training in the gym.

So what are your thoughts? Have you tried fasting before? Successful or miserable failure? Will you give a shot? If so, please post your stories, thoughts, successes, concerns in the comments and we’ll see if this is something we can all wrap our heads around.

-Steve

PS- Message Board Update – The message boards are still in ‘beta testing,’ but I would love to add some more readers to the mix to help me test it out. We have about 20 readers contributing already , keeping track of their workouts, encouraging each other, etc, and I want some more! If you’re interested in helping kick start the NF message boards, email me at steve@nerdfitness.com and I’ll get you an invite.

###

picture – Undronotto

3 missions to Awesome

If you enjoyed this article, sign up below for the free "3 Missions to Awesome" email series along with free weekly articles:

http://www.RonBarker.ca/ Ron

Being somewhat poor, I do intermittent fasting all the time!

I think because I've become accustomed to the idea of not eating for an entire day I find this to be a lot less challenging than most. One thing I did notice when I was going to the gym regularly was that if I tried to fast before working out, it just meant that I was less focused and more apt to giving up and going home.

I remember a workout in particular where I skipped breakfast and went straight to the gym. I wasn't feeling up to doing any weight training so I jumped on the elliptical. Within about 15 minutes, I was very dizzy and felt nauseous. I learned that skipping breakfast was probably not the best idea in the world. Heh.

As it related to working out later, as long as I had something in me beforehand (say, breakfast and then workout in the late afternoon/evening) I would be able to do a great job and find myself hungry for something after. To stave that off I just ate something super small just to get rid of the pangs.

All in all, I like the idea of intermittent fasting! Just don't go crazy with it.

–Ron
Brody

I did Brad's Eat Stop Eat for about three months. It's not really that bad. I saw pretty steady weight loss results. .5-1.5 lbs./week. Though, I stopped during the holidays and haven't started again. Thanks for the reminder. I'll give it another go.
Matt

One thing I think people who are considering this should ask themselves – how are you at controling your hunger at the moment? Losing weight is all about consuming less calories than you burn. The biggest obstacle to this is hunger. That is, uncontrollable hunger. If you are starving yourself on 800 calories a day, then you will be much more likely to binge and go way over your calorie goal. So it becomes important to eat when you are hungry, not when you are starving.

For many people, this is achieved by eating the 5-6 meals a day. I would say that if you found that you need 5-6 meals a day to keep from exceeding a calorie goal, Intermittent Fasting will be a tough road.

@Ron: That's your blood sugar crashing.
NerdFitness

Great call Matt.

I added your response to the article as I think it's important people read
it.

-Steve
JFreedom

I can see where this might work for people who live more sedentary lifestyles, but for an active and person who exercises regularly, I'm not sure it's the best idea. I know I've had days (hello college) where I haven't had anything to eat until 5pm or so, and attempting any type of workout or sport that day or the next has resulted in massive failure. Just had absolutely no energy whatsoever, not to mention a headache as well I'm not sure our bodies are capable of burning just fat fast enough to maintain regular energy levels (and stave off hypoglycemia) without a boost from some other food source.

And for the people who aren't exercising much and trying this, what's to stop your bodies from burning off unused muscle mass instead of fat…
http://www.andrewisgettingfit.com/ AndrewENZ

I've always been tempted to give it a go but what I'm doing at the moment is working so I'll hang on a bit.
Brody

Matt's question is valid and should be seriously considered by anyone who wants to try IF for weight loss. You will need some self control to practice IF. It's not about controlling hunger, it's about learning to listen to your body and not mindlessly reacting to your hunger by eating. It also helps you understand what triggers your hunger. It's easy to notice how often we are inundated with images of food and sugary drinks in this society when you can't eat for 24 hours.

It's not a magic bullet for weight loss, it takes some dedication and it happens slowly, but the more you practice the easier it becomes.
Den

I don't do the IF thing full-bore, but I have started eliminating breakfast and it's made a big difference. Where I would have wolfed down 400-500 calories before, I now have a built-in 400-500 calorie deficit (as long as I keep my consumption down and my activity up). I don't know if it would meet a dietician's approval, but it seems to be working.
curvygirly

This is a great article. I haven't full head tried this in the past, but similar. I'm not proud of this, but I tried to lose weight by not eating when I was younger. I would have 2-3 bites of every meal only. A few bites of toast and some juice, a few bites of a sandwich, and usually if I was hungry at dinner, I would just have 2-3 crackers. The only reason it was so easy was because I was obsessed with becoming a size zero and I had crazy social anxiety. I felt so huge that, if i was in company I wanted to appear 'healthy” and not stuff my face infront of them. So i ensured at lunch in the cafeteria I was sitting with goodlooking people so I would be less tempted to eat infront of them. I did this for an entire year , eating about 400 calories at most a day. Most of that year I was exhausted, lazy, poor concentration and grades went out the window, along with my weight, i went from a size 8 to a size zero. ,My parents never noticed bc they were always at work. The rest of highschool years I tried to maintain my weight by eating half of my meals, and my weight stayed at a steady 90 lbs. I didn't look bad (in my opinion) because i'm only 5'2 so it wasn't noticeable what I was doing.. Getting into a great relationship and living on my own in college, caused me to start loving food again and gain confidence. I would eat, one meal at 3 pm full of garbage fast food, and the weight completely climbed on, and I am still trying to lose it til this day:S
I never learned how to eat properly and I really regret it. Today I just try to eat three big meals and 1-2 snacks that are also healthy.

Sorry for the long post, but, it relates and anyone who is considering just going the anorexic route can learn from my attempts. I like this article, but the whole hunger and control worries me. I lost control and stopped eating altogether. The first few days is tough, and eventually it becomes easy. I don't think I will attempt this process, for fear I might get back into my old habits (either barely eating at all , or not eating for most of the day and then stuffing my face when i do). I'm trying to eat 3 big healthy meals, and a few healthy snacks throughout the day to keep my metabolism up.

I suggest for those who want to try it however, def do it on a day after you have had a big meal the night before. Also do it when you are going to naturally be waking up late. It is a lot easier to avoid hunger when you are waking up at 1 pm that day, rather than your usual 7am. Also, really watch your calorie intake when you do eat later. In college, i would starve the whole day and then my dinner calories consumed would make up for the whole day, probably going a lot over.

I think , whether or not you decide to attempt this, there is one thing we can all take from this article. Trick your metabolism. Try to change up the routine here and there to keep it guessing.
http://www.265andfalling.com Steve

I've done plenty of “accidental” intermittent fasting (skipping a meal due to work or otherwise busy), but as a regular practice it's something I've been reading alot more about and becoming a lot more interested in trying. Thanks for giving us your take.
NerdFitness

Great call Ron – once again we can see that moderation and common sense reigns supreme.

-Steve
NerdFitness

Thanks for the comment Brody! Sounds like you saw some good losses, let me know how it goes when you start it back up again.

-Steve
NerdFitness

Hey Joe,

I had the same concerns. I've looked into muscle loss while fasting, and as long as it's a small fast, and you're still lifting weights, it's quite difficult to lose that muscle. Check out the Ballantyne article that I referenced.

I hear you on fasting and exercise, but I didn't have a problem with it first thing in the morning. Maybe by the end of a fasting day, I can certainly see it as an issue. Other people have reported heightened awareness and energy while fasting and exercising. I'll let you know how things go!

-NF Steve
NerdFitness

Yeah man, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

-Steve
NerdFitness

Well said Brody.

-NF Steve
NerdFitness

Hey Den,

If what you're doing is working, and you're not risking your health to get your results, keep rolling with it!

-NF Steve
NerdFitness

Thank you for sharing this story. I think you make a great point that full on starvation for your body is extremely unhealthy…it quickly adapts and starts storing everything you eat, even after you start eating normally again.

I'm glad to see that you're taking on this whole health issue with a much safer approach. We're here for ya!

-Steve
NerdFitness

I've done the accidental fast many times, but never actually focused on fasting on purpose. We'll see how it goes later on this week.

-NF Steve
JFreedom

Yea good point, if you're only doing one day it probably would be highly unlikely that you'd lose muscle mass. And yeah, I may try it sometime and do the workout early, so as to still have a bit of fuel left from the day before. We'll see how it goes
http://www.fithacks.com/ Brandon

personally, I find fasting to be quite unpleasant. I've fasted before for spiritual reasons but not for fitness. As you say, “if it's not broke, don't try starving yourself because people said that it sometimes works…” [paraphrased]
http://twitter.com/brendaisbored brendaisbored

Ok, so after reading this post, the articles you linked and doing a little research myself, I decided to give it a go. It really gave my weight loss a jump start. So much so, that I'm a little worried it may be working too well. I started on Feb 12 and as of today (just over two weeks) I've lost 9 pounds. My goal is to lose 2 or so a week, so this was a little startling. My concern is that losing too much too quickly will come back to bite me in the butt.

I fasted 4 days in those two weeks (2/13, 2/17, 2/20, 2/27). I did work out on the morning of the 13th, but other than that, I didn't coordinate workouts with fasting.

The amount I fasted on those days varied. I really tried to listen to my body and figure out when it needed food vs just being hungry. The day before fasting I always ate a little more than normal (200-400 more calories). How much I ate also depended on how I was feeling. On 2/13 I barely ate anything (a total of under 300 calories in the evening) but on 2/27 I ate a full dinner + a little extra (around 700 calories) .

I think I'm going to continue doing this, although keeping it to one day a week. I don't want to put my metabolism completely out of whack but even doing it a little (like this weekend) seems to have worked.
NerdFitness

Hey Brenda!

Glad you did the research on your own as well – i think that's super
important before making a big change.

I think you have a good head on your shoulders, and you're going about this
the right way…too much weight loss too quickly could come back to bite you
in the ass, so you're doing it right.

I think trying once a week and seeing how it works for you is a great plan.
Now that i'm not cruising for a while, I”ll see if I can work in one of
these days coming up soon.

Thanks for the progress report, and please keep me posted

-Steve
Sarah

Hi Steve, I'm new here and I love this site!

I have something to say about this article in particular, though.

I'm Muslim, you see, and it''s one of my main duties as a Muslim to fast from dawn to dusk for a 28-day period known as Ramadan. Traditionally, Muslims would have a small meal before sunrise called sahoor, and it would usually consist of dates and bread and laban (it's kind of like yoghurt in liquid form, I don't know how to describe it). For the meal at dusk, fatoor, they would also have dates and laban and bread, then would go to pray, and then would come back about an hour later to have some more food.
However, today Muslims don't eat like this during Ramadan anymore. Thanks to the abundance of fast food places, burgers, fries, and milkshakes have become the fatoor of choice for thousands of Muslims in my country. Obviously, this has lead to obesity and health problems for the vast majority of people who eat like this during Ramadan.
Last year I decided to have a traditional fatoor and sahoor for most of Ramadan, and I lost a lot of weight. Not only did I shed the pounds, I kept them off!
It's been 7 or 8 months since Ramadan, and I still fast on Mondays and Thursdays (not for religious reasons, but because I want to).
I can attest to the fact that fasting WILL make you lose weight. However, it must be noted that you have to eat healthy food whenever you're not fasting, and it would also be a good idea to take multivitamins, just in case you're not getting enough of a certain nutrient.
Just my 2 cents!
Keep up the excellent work!
- Sarah Ali
Sarah

Hi Steve, I'm new here and I love this site!

I have something to say about this article in particular, though.

I'm Muslim, you see, and it''s one of my main duties as a Muslim to fast from dawn to dusk for a 28-day period known as Ramadan. Traditionally, Muslims would have a small meal before sunrise called sahoor, and it would usually consist of dates and bread and laban (it's kind of like yoghurt in liquid form, I don't know how to describe it). For the meal at dusk, fatoor, they would also have dates and laban and bread, then would go to pray, and then would come back about an hour later to have some more food.
However, today Muslims don't eat like this during Ramadan anymore. Thanks to the abundance of fast food places, burgers, fries, and milkshakes have become the fatoor of choice for thousands of Muslims in my country. Obviously, this has lead to obesity and health problems for the vast majority of people who eat like this during Ramadan.
Last year I decided to have a traditional fatoor and sahoor for most of Ramadan, and I lost a lot of weight. Not only did I shed the pounds, I kept them off!
It's been 7 or 8 months since Ramadan, and I still fast on Mondays and Thursdays (not for religious reasons, but because I want to).
I can attest to the fact that fasting WILL make you lose weight. However, it must be noted that you have to eat healthy food whenever you're not fasting, and it would also be a good idea to take multivitamins, just in case you're not getting enough of a certain nutrient.
Just my 2 cents!
Keep up the excellent work!
- Sarah Ali
Bob Dietrich

HCG diet is the best
http://www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com Dave

Steve, just found your site. I'm a huge advocate of IF, especially Eat Stop Eat. It really helped me get leaner than I've been. Sure, it wasn't rapid weight loss (average 1-2lbs per week), but I also didn't have to sacrifice my favorite foods or lifestyle. In the beginning, it was a little challenging to skip lunch, but that's it. I've never been big on breakfast anyway. Don't forget that you spend a good portion of the fasting period asleep. I haven't lost any muscle mass either since I keep resistance training.
Pingback: The Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet | Nerd Fitness
http://ericbolton.myopenid.com/ Eric

When it comes to consuming fewer calories, my biggest point of failure is giving myself a taste of food and then only letting myself have a small amount. It just doesn’t work. Once I’ve tried it, I need to have a decent quantity or I will just experience hunger hell for the next hour. In most cases, I can’t even get that far and I give in and have a proper meal’s worth. I can’t do that 6 times a day.

This is where IF comes in handy.

If I haven’t eaten for 10 hours, I can’t remember just how nice food is. I don’t have a craving for something I’ve just had, because I haven’t had anything, and I can continue longer. I may feel a little hungry in general, but then I just drink liquids, and I feel satisfied.

Then, when it comes to my main meal, I can properly fill myself up with food.

I can’t manage eating smaller meals – it just doesn’t work for me, at all.
http://ericbolton.myopenid.com/ Eric

When it comes to consuming fewer calories, my biggest point of failure is giving myself a taste of food and then only letting myself have a small amount. It just doesn’t work. Once I’ve tried it, I need to have a decent quantity or I will just experience hunger hell for the next hour. In most cases, I can’t even get that far and I give in and have a proper meal’s worth. I can’t do that 6 times a day.

This is where IF comes in handy.

If I haven’t eaten for 10 hours, I can’t remember just how nice food is. I don’t have a craving for something I’ve just had, because I haven’t had anything, and I can continue longer. I may feel a little hungry in general, but then I just drink liquids, and I feel satisfied.

Then, when it comes to my main meal, I can properly fill myself up with food.

I can’t manage eating smaller meals – it just doesn’t work for me, at all.
Barrett

I’ve only just discovered NF thanks to some link love on Primer Magazine. Great site, Steve. It’s been really inspirational to me in the last couple days.

I’ve done IF a little, and I found the trick that worked for me was skipping dinner first, then not eating breakfast or lunch until dinner the next day. That way you sleep through the hungriest part of the fast. By the time dinner rolls around you feel like you can eat or not and it wouldn’t much matter.
Pingback: Paleo Nerd | LAX CrossFit
The Queen Athlete

i smiled when i read this post because i know that in the orthodox religion there is also this type of fasting: 2 days a week, on Wednesday and Friday, we eat like vegetarians, no milk, no eggs, no meat. some of us do the things you describe here, not eating until sunset and then having dinner. another type of feast is called ”black feast”, when we eat nothing for a whole day, not even water. this is especially the day before Easter and Christmas.
it is nice to see that recent studies now back up what our ancestors have been passing on to us for ages.

as for proof at was you said, my mother was so busy at work this last couple of months, that she didn”t have always time to eat, so in some days she ate only dinner when she got home. she lost 15 pounds
Amazongirl

I’ll admit I haven’t read ALL of the comments, but I think you ought to delve into another type of IF – Lean Gains (www.leangains.com) in which you shorten your eating window every day (or most days) rather than going 24 hours 2x a week. For example, every day except Sunday, I don’t eat until about noon and then I stop eating at 8. So I am essentially fasting for 16 hours a day. It’s WAY easier for me than Eat Stop Eat and gives me a lot of the same benefits. Check it out!
Hiimrif

I have also been doing the leangains diet, well really a combonation of the leangains and the fast-5.com same concept different window. When I eat at night I was unconciously eating paleo(single guy with a grill, yeah meat and veggies) and have seen some pretty impressive losses so far. I’m a pretty heavy guy but in 3 weeks I’m down 14 pounds, added a little lean weight as well. This style of eating works for me and my schedule as I can eat something after work then after school. I also do fasted workouts in the morning, at first I kind of had that I wanna quit feeling but now I feel great. One thing Martin suggest(leangains) is if you are working out in the morning to take some BCAA’s before then trickle them till you break your fast. I recently started that and now I feel even better and have made some good lifting gains, could just be begginers awesomeness.

Bob

P.s. Another good site is gettingstronger.org and freetheanimal.com
Anonymous

I don’t understand what the difference between this and anorexia is..? I mean, the fact is human beings, like any animal, can survive without food in emergency situations due to poverty or scarcity…But it’s not how we are designed to perform optimally. I mean, a car can move on a few cups of gas, but if you’re always driving it till you get down to E it’s not good for the engine. I just really don’t buy this attempt to rationalize starving your body.
http://www.stevekamb.com Steve Kamb

I think you missed the point here…

Before passing judgment or declaring this is anorexia (which is most certainly isn’t) I’d encourage you to explore the research and data behind the topic and then make an educated decision.

Thanks for reading! Cheers,

-Steve
David Puffer

I actually just did my first 24hr fast but not by choice. I just wasn’t hungry and yet I had energy the whole day. I kept drinking water and coffee through out the day but that’s it. I thought I’d be irritable but oddly enough, no. And I dropped 2lbs in the time frame. This worked out quite well for me as I’ve hit a nasty plateau and this may have just kicked my body back into fat burning mode. This is not something I’d do on a schedule but I think everyone should try it. Just eat when you’re hungry not because a specific time rolls around.
Pingback: An Open Letter to Conventional Wisdom: Suck It. | Nerd Fitness
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Slager/6838701 Christopher Slager

Did the research myself. I didn’t need to explore. Intermittent fasting can have the same impact on your body as short term anorexia. Most (not all) of the research on IF is anecdotal at best. The few empirical studies have shown weight distribution changes and noted weight loss and fat loss as NF mentions. However none of them determined longterm impact on the thyroid, insulin resistance (regular fasting can increase insulin resistance), adrenal changes, or Leptin level changes. These are all important factors in weight and fat control, as well as immunology and disease resistance. Most studies done on African children faced with intermittent fasting (as opposed to longterm fasting) as a necessity of life showed long term issues that can’t be controlled in short weight loss studies. I’m more interested in the science of weight loss and not the newest or latest fad.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Slager/6838701 Christopher Slager

An addendum: Alternate Day Calorie Restriction is not intermittent fasting and wouldn’t work with most people. you really should have a warning on this website “This is not Medical advice”. The people eating ad libitum in the case study did lose 8% body weight but their diets matched the long week (the marathon not sprint) suggestions for caloric intake of a person wishing to lose weight. ADCR can be very dangerous unless under constant medical supervision. It frequently causes heart issues. It is a useful tool for treating certain conditions. People on less crazy diets lose more if they remove 400 calories a day but still eat more calories in a week then these dieters. the purpose of this study was not to improve weight but improve asthma. So incidental weight loss was not a value being determined even if it was reported.
Jane Knapp

Christopher,

If you are referencing controlled studies involving a drastic weekly caloric deficit lasting 10-14 days or longer, then you are absolutely correct on all of the drawbacks. However, the recommended sites do not condone this. If a caloric deficit is planned into your individual diet (depending on your goal), it will rarely be over 7000 calories per week, and will most often include a refeed/cheat/spike day to regulate leptin and ghrelin to normal healthy levels.

Also, research that is ‘anecdotal’ is not research. There are plenty of scientifically sound studies that show several benefits to IF in most individuals (diabetics are an example of who might not want to do this without md supervision).

I do appreciate your pointing out the dangers of extreme calorie restriction. People need to know that IF is not that, and I’m glad you brought that up. Thank you.
http://www.artanddesignstudios.net/ HeatherUpChurch

Hi Steve! I just wanted to say that I love your site and IF has totally changed my life! I don’t do any specific plan, I just kind of read through everything I could find, then started trying different things to find what worked best for me. Please forgive my lengthy post, but I really want to help anyone else who might be going through what I had to go through!

First, I suppose I should say that I have always been fairly fit and healthy. I’ve never been what most people would call skinny, but I have always been content with my size. I have counted calories and alternated between aerobics, jogging, yoga, weights, etc., regularly since I was in high school… and rather enjoyed it to be quite honest. In 2003, I started to very slowly and steadily gain weight. On average, around 2-5 pounds a month. At first I just chalked it up to getting a little older, so I ramped up my workouts and started keeping a closer eye on things. No matter what I did, I was still slowly gaining weight. I could slow it down, but I couldn’t stop it. I saw my doctor, who tested me for this or that several times over the years and pretty much insinuated I must be lying about my diet and exercise habits. By 2005, I was doing my regular ramped up exercise as well as calorie/fat/carb counting, plus adding in some pretty strenuous hikes, and I STILL continued to gain weight. After a year of that, I was literally going to have a breakdown if someone didn’t figure out what was wrong with me. My regular doctor (still not believing me) finally agreed to send me to a specialist… after that breakdown almost took place in his office lol.

After the very first visit she told me I had PCOS and insulin resistance. I promptly started taking the glucophage she prescribed and doing everything the dietitian she sent me to instructed me to do. She told me then that if a normal person has to workout an hour a day to lose 2 lbs a week, someone with insulin resistance would have to work out 3 hours a day to lose the same 2 lbs, in addition to the low GI diet. I always loved exercising, but that was a little excessive lol! I obviously couldn’t work out 3 hours a day working full-time and freelancing part-time, but I did as much as I could and at that point I at least stopped GAINING weight. I didn’t lose any, but I was just happy to not be gaining for the first time in 3 years. In that time I had gained over 100 pounds and I was completely miserable. For the next few years, I went through periods where I would try so hard for several months, see no results, and subsequently quit. Then I’d get fed up with the weight and start all over again. The crazy thing was that if I did everything *right* I didn’t lose any weight, but if I ate what I wanted I didn’t gain any weight, so I spent most of time wondering what in the world the point was. Besides the obvious overall health factor, why would anyone eat all of the stuff they’re not exactly fond of and kill themselves with exercise, when they could not worry about any of it, eat what they want, hardly exercise at all, and still weigh the exact same amount? That’s just insane.

Then I lost my job and insurance and I certainly didn’t have a way to see a specialist anymore. She renewed my prescriptions for 2 years without seeing me, in hopes that I would be able to return soon. Since I was supposed to go every 6 months, I knew the time would come that she couldn’t continue to do so, and it did. I was terrified of gaining weight again so I started scouring the internet trying to learn exactly how insulin worked and how to get mine to stop being crazy without the meds (besides the diet and exercise I was already doing which clearly wasn’t enough, even with the meds). I tried to learn everything I could about how insulin works along with how every hormone that affects insulin works, and I devoured control studies and everything I could find on PCOS and IR. Somewhere in that sea of information, I happened to find one little mention of intermittent fasting. I was already sold on trying it, but I read a little blurb about grazing (the plan the dietitian had me on) keeping your insulin constantly elevated, which made total sense to me and completely sold me on it. I was a bit skeptical about certain aspects of it, but I had already tried everything else and I had to do something… so I read every word on every site that mentioned IF, then just started experimenting. Before I knew it, I had lost 30 pounds in around 3 months. That was toward the end of last summer. The holidays and winter came and went, and while I didn’t lose any more weight, I didn’t gain the 10+ pounds that I usually gain then have to work off in the new year, so I was ecstatic.

Then in January, I decided to quit smoking. I knew that I wouldn’t make it through that without some extra pounds, but my hubby had quit a few months before and I had read that smoking actually makes insulin resistance worse, so I went for it! My husband (who is extremely fit, dedicated and has unprecedented willpower) gained about 20 pounds over the next several months. I only gained 5, and my nicotine cravings were nil comparatively. I read that it takes your metabolism a few months to adjust after quitting and that proved to be true for both of us. Now that I’ve leveled out from that, I’m losing weight again!!!!!!! The 5 I gained is now gone (even without regular exercise due to an injury) and I can’t wait to get the rest of it off!

The craziest thing about it is that I am eating the same exact amount of calories that I did when I grazed, took glucophage, exercised and didn’t lose a pound. The ONLY difference is the IF (and the added downside of no meds). Here is a list of some of the biggest benefits I’ve experienced with IF:

• I can skip a workout or two AND I can cheat a little and I still lose weight.

• I now love the feeling of hunger. It’s empowering and energizing because for the first time in my life I’m in control instead of the food. Before, if I went 3 hours without food I was ravenous, lightheaded and irritable. No more!

• I have NO trouble getting through my workouts… I actually have more energy during a fasted workout than I ever had before.

• It has helped tremendously with cravings. I found it much harder to resist carbs on the 5 small meals and snacks plan. With IF I hardly crave carbs at all and I’m rarely even hungry unless I do a 24+ hour fast.

• I’m no longer wasting half of my life eating, preparing or planning meals and snacks!

• I feel healthier, and my hair and skin look healthier than they did in my 20′s.

• I’m not lethargic and depressed all the time now. And though I still have a long way to go, I even have a little bit of my confidence back!

I could go on and on about the benefits I’ve experienced… and I haven’t had anything except positive side effects. For anyone who is interested I have experimented with switching back and forth from grazing to IF and every single time I go back to grazing I start gaining weight immediately. I guess I’ll wrap up with a gist of the plan I ended up with.

I’ve always been a night owl and I’ve never been a breakfast person, so I eat dinner between 7pm and 8pm every night and I don’t eat or drink anything except water until at least 2pm the next day. I generally eat at 2pm and 8pm everyday. If I do any snacking, I usually do it during that 2-8 time frame. I do this every day and I’m rarely hungry and never fatigued. If I wake up and I’m hungry, I eat. At any time if I have more than the “feel good” hunger, I eat, then start again the next day. Every Saturday, I have an anything goes day (though I do still account for everything I eat and keep it within reason). During the week I enter my calories into myfitnesspal on my android phone and/or online. I have it set to lose 2 lbs per week. and to accommodate my cheat day I normally eat 200-400 calories or so below my daily allowance to make up for any overages on my cheat day or during the week. It’s just so easy! If I’m going to eat out somewhere socially, I do the 24 hour fast because a couple of margaritas and meal out anywhere is easily going to go over most people’s daily allowance. I also like to do a 24 hour fast from time to time if my weight needs a jump start or if I go over my calories the day before.

Again, I’m so very sorry for the length of this post! I just wanted to make sure I anticipated any and all questions and gave a very thorough account so it might help someone else. Thank you so very much! :) Heather
Jesika Doss

I’m going to try this to lose some weight… I weigh 155 and I want to get down to 130 so bad it kills me inside. I’ll do any thing I havent ate since 5 this evening so I got 20 more hours gosh but wish me luck. Also I run about 40 mins at a fast pace every day I just wanna lose the fat cause summers coming and I’ve been chubby for so long. tell you if it works
TheSgt.

At thepeople CLAIMING that this anrexia need to stop and read the facts. There have been numorous testimonials, scientific studies and my personal testimonial that it works! I use to be the avid bodybuilder and tried the 6 meals a day for years but it took over my life, itwas stressful, expensive and time consuming. One day i happened to stumble across Marks daily apple/ the Paleo Diet and/ and Eat Stop Eat and let me tell you it will put you in the Best shape of your life. I guaruntee it. It is hard at first because we are surrounded by so much marketing to eat unhealthy foods that we trigger the brain to respond with our addiction to sugar/carbs/and gluten. I challenge anyone here to try this for 30 days along with the paleo diet. Just like Steve says “If you don’t see any differance in 30 days, go back to your donuts.” I bet you will see a differance if you set you mind. You mind, willpower and dedication is the strongest thing you have to stay focused and succeed! All you have to do is try it. and if doesnt work for you then at least you can then write about how it didnt work for you and why and not prejudge it like so many do. It works. There is a lot of evidence out there. And Im one person who gives two big thumbs up to leangains and Eat Stop Eat!
OLIVE

Who actually eats 3 or more meals a day? I guess when you are kids growing up your parents want to have the family all to the table to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and in my family we always did and we worked hard on the farm I grew up on in Wisconsin. But I haven’t eaten 3 meals a day since I left home and neither does my boyfriend. Now if we are on vacation and relaxing we will eat when we wake up which might be lunch or breakfast or it might just be dinner. This way of eating has nothing to do with dieting or weight loss – this way of eating (the Intermittent Fasting) it is HEALTHY for you! There are literally thousands of science articles and studies on this but you have to know what words to search for in all the journal articles – you won’t find them under “eating one meal per day” If you eat only dinner every day (which I have recently done consistently for 3 weeks now) –
1. You will not lose weight.
2. You will lose fat
3. Your clothes fit differently
4. You see more muscle definition
5. Your body composition changes ( meaning your body looks different cause you lost fat under skin)
6. I’ll say this again, you will not lose weight but you will lose fat and don’t ask me WHY this would not show up on your scale but muscle weighs more than fat..Although if you eat just a carrot for dinner – YES you would lose weight, but I”m talking about simply eating a normal square healthy dinner where you are full afterwards.
7. You will have WAY more energy. I have soooo much energy and I am so Happy mood wise when I don’t eat and the Energy is bonkers. Try not eating for 24 hours and you will feel like running around in circles which is what the mice do in the scientific studies and your brain will be wired and you may appear smarter and just sharper and you are!!!
Pingback: 26 Days Until Warrior Dash « randomininity
http://www.facebook.com/leonisthelover Leon Rosenberg

So, all these comments are different… It IS okay to exercise on intermittent fasting days? I don’t mean like a crossfit WOD, I mean muscle training, (tri’s and chest, or bi’s and back), then maybe for dinner I eat a meal and a protein shake? If i eat good food the next day I won’t lose muscle? Or should I only try cardio on these days and then do muscles on other days.