Given that fasting increases cortisol levels which causes our bodies to store fat, I was wondering what the impact of fasting was on chronically stressed individuals or individuals with anxiety
Coming from a (previously)360lb chronically depressed alcoholic who works high stress IT, alternate day fasting has helped me a lot.
At the same time it’s been combined with quitting alcohol, quitting World of Warcraft, consistent exercising, getting sun every day, and spending more time with people I enjoy. So I don’t think fasting is some kind of silver bullet that fixes everything, but it’s 100% a part of the solution and not the problem.
I quit drinking coffee because I didn’t need the boost anymore. I dialed in my diet so I had energy in the morning. Anyhow, after 3 weeks I noticed that my muscles were getting bigger and stronger lifting weights. That surprised me. The only thing that changed was quitting coffee. It ended up that the high cortisol was killing my gains. I was shocked. People say coffee is benign…smh. I had no idea.
So I think that based on this study - elevated cortisol in an otherwise healthy person is not enough to cause weight gain.
In sheep, the ones who were very responsive to high cortisol levels simply are more in response to stress - these sheep were prone to weight gain. The ones who were not responsive to cortisol did not eat as a stress response. And there were other metabolic differences noticed in the highly responsive sheep group as well that may contribute to excess weight gain in response to elevated cortisol
So, even if your cortisol IS raised via fasting and if you ate at any kind of caloric deficit then you can NOT gain fat.
I am a HUGE ball of Stress and Anxiety … But, Fasting + Keto works for me, when nothing else does. I lost 75 lbs between 2018-2019 with IF + Keto/Low Carb. I’m back at it now & down 11 lbs in 24 days
my advice would be to treat weightloss as a science experiment.i had alot of success my first time fasting but not my 2nd time. i lost 10lb in less than 2 months. the 2nd time was a nightmare, it was like clawing for success took a year to lose over 10lb.i would say give it a shot for a month and log your results.i would also say record everything from what you eat, the time of days you eat and fast and your weighins.from there use process of elimination.
from sept 2021 till march 2022 i used to workout 30min cardio + weight train 1hour almost every day, and did IF, saw very slow weight loss but i was physically strong. it was beyond disappointing. i would only lose about 1-2lb per month.around end of march 2022 i cut the cardio down to 2x a week and weight training 3x a week. saw better weight loss but it was still a major struggle. i was clawing at the pounds to come off. i got down to around 112-113 by May 2022then i burned out and between june2022 -end of august2022, i did strictly 2x a week weight training, cardio randomly and ate like an asshole. stopped intermittent fasting, and i was able to maintain a weight at 115lb, i am 5.2ft.current goal is 105. i have another 10lb to go. currently retstarting with IF, cardio 2x a week and weight training 2x a week.
when i look back at everything i think my biggest mistake was over stressing my body with the exercise and IF. let my long ass weightloss of 10lb be a warning to you and dont make my mistake.
No fasting didn’t help me lose weight. Breaking up sure did though
Edit: fasting while in a high stress relationship did not help with weight loss. I gained weight. When I broke up. Fasting helped me lose about 15lbs in 4 weeks.