I understand the theories behind fasting and omad and keto and state of ketosis. I am curious if there’s any study or any information on how much of a weight loss (not autophagy stuff) difference it is for lets say:
I understand with prolong fasting we lose more water and when we refeed we get some of those back. But is it all “calories” in the end?
Like if I fast 3 days then days 4-7 1200 calories OMAD keto vs OMAD 1200 for a week, is my “net loss” from former X - (4 * 1200) calories vs latter X - (7 * 1200) calories? Assuming X is my BMR. Or is there more “weight loss” benefits besides those numbers?
I am just wondering about the weight loss aspect and not autophagy (yet) . Thanks!
It takes about 1-2 days to fully deplete the glycogen reserves and force your body into deep ketosis, an ability your body will remember and be able to make the transition from carbs to fats quicker and more smoothly in future starving windows.
Doing at least one 3+ day fast before will have you benefit more from OMAD than someone who’s just doing OMAD but never did an extended fast.
If you plan to loose a lot of weight doing regular 3+ fasts to enter autophagy is a must or you’ll end up with a lot of excess skin (as seen in TV shows where participants are on a calorie restricted diet and eat 3 times a day)
If all you’re concerned about is weight loss and nothing else the only thing that matters is your calorie deficit end of story
What are you get a calorie deficit from calorie restricting or time restriction eating a.k.a. intermittent fasting or whenever you get a calorie deficit from extended fasting that’s one day long or two days long or a weeklong etc. it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is a calorie deficit for weight loss.
Now obviously there are other benefits of fasting which is why I do extended fast now and then
But if literally the only thing you care about is weight loss then doesn’t matter how you get the calorie deficit the only thing that matters is that you have a calorie deficit
Technically speaking he will get a calorie deficit the fastest by fasting doing an extended fast. But you’re also going to see your athletic performance drop significantly and he won’t be able to build muscle mass really while you’re doing that. For me the nice happy balance is 1 to 2 days extended fasts. I can still work out and run and function and work just fine being fasted for 24 and 48 hours respectively and even on the third day being fasted until my time restricted eating window starts. But on days three and onwards I start to see athletic performance drop and I start to see bigger swings in mental state.
So if you’re trying to get the fastest weight loss possible while still maintaining athletic performance than I recommend 1 to 3 days fast with eating up to your total daily energy expenditure in between. And if you’re not so concerned about getting a weight loss as fast as possible then you might consider not even doing extended fast at all or just doing one to two days fast like me or whatever you’re comfortable with