Can Intermittent Fasting help you lose weight?
Intermittent Fasting has become a very popular way of dieting. It involves fasting for a short period. The most popular way of fasting is the 16/8 method where a person has an eating window of 8 hours and a fasting window of 16 hours. It helps you to reduce your total calorie intake and optimise hormones that are related to weight control.
Intermittent fasting and hormones: The fasting brings about several changes in your metabolism like it lowers the levels of insulin in your body that facilitates fat burning. The levels of human growth hormone also increase, which further aids in muscle gain and fat loss. During the fast, the nervous system sends norepinephrine to the fat cells that break down body fat into free fatty acids which are used for energy. Therefore short term fasting may help to increase the fat-burning process. But long fasting periods can suppress your metabolism.
Intermittent fasting and weight loss: Because you have a small eating window it helps to reduce your calorie intake. But it will be pointless if you try to compensate for the lost calories by eating more. According to a 2004 review study, people lost 0.25 kgs per week with intermittent fasting and 0.75 kgs per week with fasting on alternate days. Apart from being a great weight loss tool, it also helps to improve metabolic health, expand lifespan and also helps prevent chronic diseases.
Intermittent fasting and muscle mass: When people go on a diet they usually burn a lot of muscle mass along with fat, but intermittent fasting helps you to hold on to your muscle mass while losing fat. In a review study, it was observed that intermittent fasting helps in weight loss but with less reduction in the muscle mass. More research is required in this area as this study had some limitations to it.
As the number of meals is restricted from 3-2 meals in the eating window, intermittent fasting makes it very easy and simple to maintain a healthy lifestyle in the long run. It is very important to eat whole foods and focus on your calorie content as calories will still count. Don’t try to compensate for the lost calories during the eating window. Consistency, patience and discipline of your meal schedule is the key for good results. Weight training is important along with intermittent fasting as it will help you to retain your muscle mass. Therefore, intermittent fasting can be used as a great tool to reduce your body fat and weight.
References :
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