I’m currently beginning an intermittent fasting diet, however I’ve been told by some people that this will slow down your metabolism, causing you to lose less weight. Firstly, is this true, and if so, is it permanent. Secondly, would intermittent fasting still be better, because despite you losing less calories naturally, you’re cutting down on intake/intermittent fasting is losing more than if you had that meal. Thanks
TL;DR - Title
Fasting induces a temporary, minor dip in metabolism that recovers quickly.
Calorie restriction without fasting induces a deep drop in metabolism that persists for years.
This study of Biggest Loser contestants showed that 6 years after leaving the show almost all contestants had regained the weight as fat, an average bmi of 45%, but their resting metabolic rate kept going down.
They had an average resting metabolic rate of 2,607 calories before the show, dropped to about 2,000 calories per day by the end, but six years later it hadn’t recovered, it had actually slowed down further to 1,900 per day.
They were eating less and getting fat again 6 years after losing weight.
Remember I said almost all? One person didn’t gain the weight back, why? He had a bariatric procedure done… which forces you to fast until it heals and you get acclimated to it.
You’re friends, coworkers, and family are all suddenly health experts when you’re trying something different. They heard something from a tiktok video or read a click bait headline and feel compelled to give advice. I’ve lost 150lbs and counting, there are hundreds of progress posts with before and after photos here, fasting is the only way to reduce stored body fat while protecting your metabolism.
No, it doesn’t. What could slow down your metabolism is the actual weight loss. In a nutshell the body detects the weight loss and tries to compensate a perceived reduction in nutrient availability by lowering metabolism. Or in other words, the brains thinks here is a shortage of food and lowers metabolism to save energy.
Dr. Ekberg made a very easy to understand video on how all this works and what can be done to counter it (spoiler: it’s more fasting :)