Intermittent fasting

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Jordan

thoughts on intermittent fasting? Good, bad, indifferent? Why

Just curious on your take.

Thanks

Andrew

2

Hey Andrew,

Thanks for the question. I have discussed this in other locations a bunch of different times, but in brief- here’s my take:

  1. Does intermittent fasting confer any additional benefit with respect to outcomes like weight loss, muscle gain, or “health” compared to a calorie matched diet without the fasting? No.
  2. Does intermittent fasting significantly improve compliance to a diet? Not usually- quite the opposite, in fact, though individuals are unique, of course.
  3. Does intermittent fasting alter the hormonal milieu in a way that produces better training or dietary-related outcomes? No.

So, if it helps improve compliance then I am all for it, but I don’t think it does anything uniquely useful.

3

Thanks for the reply. I have read articles about it etc and wasn’t very convinced with what they were saying so I thought I’d ask.

Thanks again!

4

I will say that, for me, it is much easier to maintain a caloric deficit when I chose to with IF. I also don’t like eating in the middle of the work day. I seem to stay more focused in a fasted state…just my opinion. I do a 16:8. Also meal planning\prep is greatly simplified. Wouldn’t it make sense that “something” is going on with insulin levels if you are in a fasted state compared to feeding every 3-4 hours? Martin Berkhan finally has a book coming out on IF this year. I’m curious to take a closer look at this.

5

No. Insulin levels will go up a little bit with fasting secondary to cortisol induced gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis, but this doesn’t really matter overall. IF is great if it increases compliance, but it’s not beneficial outside of that.

6

I’m glad I found this thread because I was going to ask the same question. I’ve been doing IF for about 10 weeks and it’s working out well for me but as said above I believe it is more about compliance than anything else.