I’m 30M, 5’10” 167-170 lbs, mainly looking to maintain or lean up some. Currently i aim for 1800 calories a day. Will IF boost how fast I lose weight compared to normal eating? Or is IF primarily used to make it easier to be in a caloric deficit and the rate of weight loss stays the same?
If the deficit is the same, little to no difference. With some minor consideration towards IF helping to control insulin which then helps the body to prefer to burn body fat.
Obviously lots of folks, myself included, find the structure of IF beneficial to help facilitate a deficit though. Either by cutting out snacking, freeing up food choices a bit, helping to naturally eat less without counting, etc.
I find it does help me to lose weight faster but maybe not the way you think.
The biggest benefit for me is that when I’m fasting I find it easier to eat less calories. I’m trying to eat around 1750 calories per day at the moment. Previously on this target I’ve really struggled with hunger, particularly at night. Since changing to 18:6 I find it’s an absolute breeze to stick to my calorie target or even lower. Most days I have 1400 to 1600 calories now and I don’t have any hunger issues.
In terms of the fasting period itself. The only benefit I really find is that, because I stop eating at 6pm every day and weigh myself at 8am the next day. I can be pretty confident that I’m at the lowest weight I can be, without food still kicking around in there skewing the numbers.
The only reason IF works is because its a calorie deficit - there are some studies that show IF can also help you gain muscle and lose fat and an accelerated rate - but weight loss is purely calorie deficit - the reason it works is because its hard to eat at a calorie surplus in such a restricted eating window.
It depends.
A big part of the answer to this question depends upon how your body responds to calories. Especially carbohydrates.
Some of us, myself included, do much better with fasting vs. doing regular meals and CICO. Some people will do just as well or even better without IF. I’ve been under the supervision of a hospital dietician doing CICO with 3 meals + 3 snacks per day. The plateau started at 15 pounds down and never broke. I’ve lost 50 pounds doing IF and similar calorie deficits.
I don’t overthink it. I just go with what works. For your particular situation, you need to try it and see if it improves or if things stay the same. There’s no one answer for everyone.
It mostly helps with being in an energy deficit but it also helps regulate your hormones and enzymes related to body composition. You can research time-restricted feeding which is more or less the same thing as intermittent fasting if you want to know more.