I can hand-on-heart tell you that from all of the methods of structuring nutrition I have come across, Intermittent Fasting is the best. However, as with any diet that has been used as a tool of financial gain, there is an astounding amount of propaganda surrounding it.
Therefore, In this post, I will tell you which benefits of Intermittent Fasting are true and false, as well as give you the one reason that I believe Intermittent Fasting could be an absolute game-changer for you.
Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
When I first stumbled across Intermittent Fasting many years ago, I couldn’t help but laugh. To me, the idea that someone would deliberately stave off the innate need to eat for anything less than strict adherence a faith, or something of similar spiritual significance, was absolutely baffling. With this, I began researching Intermittent Fasting benefits and was shocked at what the various blogs and nutrition sites proposed.
For those of you that are completely unfamiliar with Intermittent Fasting, the concept is this: You undergo short and frequent bouts of fasting in which you consume no calories whatsoever; whilst there are many suggested schedules for organizing your fast, most commonly fasting bouts will occur daily and last between 16-20 hours a day.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Now, we all know people like to get a little carried away when discussing the benefits of diets in general, and, as fun as It would be to discuss how practical Intermittent Fasting could be as a means of allowing us to walk on water, let’s save both myself and you a considerable amount of time and go over the top 3 stated benefits I found on google.
Increased Weight Loss
Best that we start off with what is arguably the most common reason for starting a diet of any kind. The results from a quick google search gave me a list of proposed Intermittent Fasting benefits from a website called Diet Doctor, and at the very top of their list was weight loss, along with a citation to prove the validity of the claim.
The study cited is a meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of whether or not participants consumed breakfast on weight loss, and it does show a small increase in a weight loss of 0.44kg in those who skipped breakfast.
HOWEVER, what was not mentioned in the article was that the studies did not control for differences in total consumption of calories across the day, ultimately telling us the simple truth that any dietician worth his weight in gold will tell you ‘if you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight; if you consume more calories than you burn you will put on weight‘.
It is not a matter of when you eat, it is a matter of how much.
Therefore, whilst I do not believe that Intermittent Fasting directly causes weight loss, I still believe it is the greatest tool you could possibly implement in your day to day life if you are anything like me, but more on that later.
Increased Fat Burning Through Ketogenesis
What would diet marketing be without this phrase? Now, I know the evaporation of fat at the click of our fingers is the holy grail we are all looking for at 3am when we are scouring the internet for nutrition hacks to get ripped fast. But sadly, sometimes we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, ‘is it too good to be true?‘.
I can completely see where this one came from, ketosis is the utilization as fat as a primary fuel source due to an absence of carbohydrates, and how else could you be absolutely certain you hadn’t eaten any carbs than eating nothing at all!
But there is one giant flaw in this statement, and that is the amount of time it takes to get into Ketosis. Typically, abstinence from carbohydrates will have a person enter ketosis at or over 72 hours later [1].
This means that only after 3 days of fasting would you begin using fat as your primary fuel source, and the second you began eating your normal diet again, you would fall straight out. As a result, if you wanted to receive any benefit at all you would instead have to engage in periodic fasting, and even then you would only yield the benefits for maybe 1 day a week at most.
I guess if you wanted to engage in some kind of Intermittent Fasting / Keto Diet hybrid, then you would maybe have something to write home about, but that is a whole other argument…
Accelerated Autophagy
Ah good old Autophagy… no? well, me neither… I had to look this one up because I didn’t have a bloody clue what it was and why it was related to Intermittent Fasting. Turns out, Autophagy is basically just our bodies’ way of recycling old and dysfunctional cells and turning them into new healthy ones, this has been linked to the treatment and prevention of multiple diseases. Supposedly, one of the benefits of intermittent fasting is the upregulation of this process.
Well, I read into this and it certainly does not seem like a black and white subject, human studies into the subject are currently very scarce. However, from what I gathered, fasting has been shown as a safe and effective method of accelerating autophagy when carried out for a period of 72 hours, so definitely a plus for any periodic fasters out there [2].
Where this becomes interesting is the potential crossover with calorie restriction diets, which have also been shown to be greatly effective, and researched more substantially. This begs the question of whether it is, in fact, the act of fasting that causes the benefits or just caloric restriction.
With this in mind….
The Reason Intermittent Fasting Is the Best Diet
There are at least 10,000 different diets out there and every single day somebody comes up with a new one. Out of everything that I have read into the subject of nutrition for weight loss and improved markers of health, only one has stood the test of time and has been irrefutable in the face of scepticism.
That is, ‘if you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight; if you consume more calories than you burn you will put on weight’, It is astounding how simple this is and yet people still feel the need to over-complicate nutrition in as many ways as they possibly can.
So how does this relate to Intermittent Fasting? Well, for for a lot of us lucky enough to live in more economically developed countries, our blessing and curse to have an excess of food and drink readily available to us has soured our relationship with nutrition, and as a result, we find ourselves eating just because we can.
With all of the fast food, cakes, sweets and beer out there, I don’t think it would be wildly inaccurate to assume the average glutton, unburdened by restraint could consume in excess of 6,000 calories across 24 hours (maybe just me… Pumba is my spirit animal after all). However, for the sake of an example, If you now introduce a window to this person of 5 hours in which they are allowed to eat, I would be extremely surprised If they managed to eat all 6,000 calories without needing their stomach pumped.
And this is the hidden beauty of Intermittent Fasting, it reshapes your relationship with food and drink. Your bad habits are abolished and you stop seeing consumption as a means of leisure. Suddenly, you find that consuming fewer calories than you burn because now it’s a much more achievable task, as you aren’t spending every 40 minutes of your life thinking about eating.
Bear in mind, the tricky part of this comes from those first few days of not eating during the morning when you are so used to it. But once your body acclimates and you have subsided that unrelenting hunger, your relationship with food and drink will improve and as a result so will your health.
Intermittent Fasting is the best and most effective way I have ever managed to control my calorie intake, and it has completely altered the way I view food.
Conclusion
Far too often with the nutrition, there is a dichotomy of opinions in which people are either completely in favour of a ‘diet’ and willing to shout down anyone who would dare oppose it, or people are the complete opposite and refuse to believe there is any benefit to a diet whatsoever.
As always, when it comes to nutrition – you have to do whatever is sustainable and enjoyable for you. I would never shun someone’s way of getting proper nutrition if it worked for them.
However, it is important not to propagate the spreading of misinformation because in doing so you instantly create a negative image for diets and nutritional plans that deturs people that might have found amazing results if they tried the diet!
Perhaps the Intermittent Fasting Diet will reveal itself to be a miracle diet in the future, but until then I will primarily see it as an excellent tool for managing calorie intake, satiation and establishing a healthy relationship with nutrition.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your experiences with the diet!
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I have done intermittent fasting off and on for the past year or so. Whenever I stop, I always seem to come back to it within a month or so. I always feel my best when I am fasting. I tend to follow the 16:8 fasting period. I can definitely vouch for your comment about being able to control your calories better with intermittent fasting! Thank you for sharing!
My experience is very similar, but once I learnt the truth about the ‘benefits’ most app makers and authors propose looking to make some quick money. I felt much freer to use intermittent fasting as and when it suited me, instead of feeling like I need to go and confess my sins because I was going out for a weekend or I couldn’t adhere to the fasting window for whatever reason.
It’s an amazing diet because it gives to the tools to control your calories easily and helps retrain your attitude to food in general, but doesn’t hold you at gunpoint if you have periods when you cannot adhere to the fasting window for whatever reason. Thanks for sharing your experience with the diet!
This cleared up a lot of the benefits of intermittent fasting for me! Great post š
Intermittent fasting has really intrigued me and seems totally doable. I usually don’t bother eating breakfast until later in the morning, so I feel like I can just skip it altogether for a longer fasting time. Thanks for sharing this interesting information about intermittent fasting. It makes so much sense and has motivated me even more to give it a go!
I hope you find success with it, as with anything it’s a little awkward when you start just from a habitual standpoint. But, as you’ve already become accustomed to missing breakfast, hopefully, it’s a little easier to acclimate to. Best of luck!
I tried intermittent fasting a few months ago and I think I was doing really good but out of nowhere I got really sick of it and lacked the motivation to keep going. I’m trying to get back to it but now I just don’t know how to start again š But I totally agree with you regarding the benefits of it. I really need to start again!
Sadly, as with any diet, It may just not be the right way to structure nutrition for you personally. Ultimately, everybody is different and that is absolutely fine – I tried the ketogenic diet and had a similar experience, eventually, I just burnt out.
Without a doubt, the only two things that matter about your ‘diet’ is that it keeps you healthy, and it is sustainable for you.
Hopefully, you get the opportunity to give it a go again at some point, but if not best of luck finding something that works for you! I will discuss more topics of nutrition in the future so stay posted!
For years I have forced myself to eat breakfast in the morning even though I don’t feel like eating, because I’ve always been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Thanks to your post, I may be able to finally give myself permission to skip breakfast!
It is the only thing I ever heard growing up, my mum used to have a proper go if didn’t have breakfast. We are all guilty of being a little too trusting in what we are told by mainstream media when it comes to nutrition, always best to remain a little sceptic until you get the time to do a little research for yourself. Best of luck with the diet, I hope it helps you hit all your goals!
Thank you for sharing this! I love that the Intermittent Fasting Diet can really support the body and mind. I practice Ramadan so I have done fasting for almost all of my life. But it’s only a month in a year. Now, I have a 6-hour window and it really helps because I used to just eat when I was bored. Sometimes, I just do it for 48 hours. This way, I can easily just drop the lust for food and consume what the body really needs.
It is an amazing way to restructure your relationship with food, I never thought I would be able to do it with the sheer lust I have for food, the lockdown has certainly taught me that my relationship with food could definitely be a lot better, sometimes I wonder if the only reason I spent 5/6 hours working out a day was just so I could eat more! XD
Thanks for the comment, I’m glad you are having such a positive experience with the diet, good luck moving forward!
I have been intermittent fasting since Jan 30/20. It is definitely not a diet. It is a way of life. I have lost 42 lbs , a feat I never dreamed was possible, and Iām not done losing. I started at 204lbs and am now 162 lbs. I eat what I want in moderation, I fast 18 hours average , and occasionally do āOMADā , and have fasted 40 hours( Meal-less Monday) a few times. It is absolutely sustainable and I donāt plan to ever stop.
That is incredible! Amazing work, I completely agree, ‘diet’ is a word that we use far too often and I particularly am too guilty of using. Nutrition is a far better term I’m trying to implement in its place as it refers to something more permanent and, as you say, is a lifestyle choice! I’m so glad to hear you are finding such success with it, I look forward to hearing more! Best of luck in the future!
I know IF is something that people become very strict with, however I practice intermittent fasting a few times a year. As a woman it is so much more difficult to get into ketosis because of our hormones and how much more sensitive we are to the hunger hormone. Sustained ketosis simply isn’t sustainable for me long term. However, I do enjoy the benefits when I do it!
Nathalia | NathaliaFit – Fitness & Wellness Blog
http://www.nathaliafit.com
The ketosis thing is a very tricky subject if you are like me and are only willing to commit to the 18/6 fast (without any reduction in your carb intake) – it seems extremely unlikely you would be able to get into it at all given how long it takes to enter ketosis.
It’s great to hear from someone who uses it sporadically at their own will to fit their lifestyle, this is exactly how I think nutrition should be structured – to suit the individual. Thanks for the comment!
I never gave intermittent fasting much thought, but this article is so well written and researched, I might consider it now. Il will be a bit of a job for a glutton such as myself, though:)
I’m really glad you enjoyed it, one thing that I learned since losing the facilities to work out as much as I did pre lockdown is that I am a massive pig haha XD But finding the momentum to at least get back on Intermittent Fasting managed to tame my habits very well, I’m already losing weight from calorie reduction alone in the absence of hard exercise, and now my gym has just reopened I am so motivated to get back in there and smash it! I hope you find similar success to me and if not I’m sure you will find something that suits you, best of luck!
I have been doing intermittent fasting for a while now. It is the best “lifestyle” – I don’t like calling it a diet – that I’ve tried. It’s all been about re-building my relationship with food and listening to my body instead of eating just because. It was hard at the beginning but now it’s so easy and gives me so much energy. I was a bit confused about the ketosis process and this post made it crystal clear, thanks for that. Great article, keep up with the good work!
It’s great to hear another success story. Every time I hear someone has found a nutritional structure that has shifted from ‘diet’ to lifestyle it makes me smile. Glad I could shed some light on the ketosis thing, regarding it, I think there may be something to be said if you wanted to combine the two ‘diets’, but if you are finding success as you are I think that is perfect – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Thanks for sharing!
I have read and written about the many benefits of intermittent fasting. As you said, there are pros and cons and a ton of misinformation out there. One issue that many struggle with, including myself, is that it is hard to sustain. I dislike diets for this reason…they are only temporary. Deprivation is very difficult to do as a permanent lifestyle change. However, that said, I have explored time-restricted intermittent fasting and it seems to be a method that could work well as a long term plan. Thank you for your in depth exploration on this subject. It is one that truly fascinates me. And it holds promise for health.
I agree – the deprivation ‘diets’ in particular can cause adherence problems and yield a serious yo-yo effect for some. For a lot of people, it just isn’t practical in the long run and I can completely understand why. For me I think nutrition is the hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle, I could spend the whole day working out if I had to, but choosing to cook chicken breast over lasagne takes a real presence of mind =D. It makes the constant search for a ‘diet’ that you can make part of your lifestyle is a necessary evil and I even think it can be fun to try out all the crazy nutritional plans dieticians come up with! I look forward to exploring many different nutritional lifestyles on the blog and hopefully, we can find something for everyone! Thanks for the comment!
I always thought intermittent fasting is not good. I have friends who did it, now that you wrote its benefits I understand better. Thanks for sharing.
Wow I had no idea this type of diet existed. Thanks for enlightening me on this topic. There are so many diets out there, it is so hard to keep up but this one does seem doable especially with monitoring the calorie intake and being disciplined about it. As a beginner with this, I might have to try the periodic fasting till I can get a good habit down of this xxx
I have done this off and on for several years now and find that the 16/8 works the best for me. I truly feel more energized and focused when I am doing this. Very informative post!
Doing intermittent fasting while keeping to my family’s eating schedule is the hardest part for me. Still, your article helped me feel encouraged to keep trying.