Going a prolonged period of time without eating does in fact send your body into ketosis, which utilizes fat for energy, this is true, but if you fast for 10 hours etc and then eat 5000 calories at dinner, it defeats the purpose of fasting.
My father had fasted for a year, didn’t eat until 5 pm every day, and he lost no weight and couldn’t figure out why, and then I realized the reason was because even though he was fasting, he would come home and eat nonstop.
Point being: Fasting does not mean you are exempt from a calorie deficit
You mean fasting only works for weight loss if you are eating in a deficit. Many people use intermittent fasting for autophagy, better clarity, seizure control, reduced inflammation, etc., without weight loss being a goal.
And your point is solid.
I agree!
On a separate note, just because It’s loosely related- some of us can’t calorie count with history of restrictive EDs. I’m determined to lose another 30lbs without counting but I’ll be doing so by being careful about what i eat. That being said i’m trying not to put too much emphasis on “good” or “bad” foods. Just trying to make good choices based on the benefits of each type of food. I just started IF so right now im focused on just the fasting, not making any changes to how i currently eat- but once I’m comfortable i’ll be making the necessary changes! Can never be too diligent. Yes I’ve recovered from my ED but i will never let myself fall back down that slippery slope. Being obese is less harmful than slipping back into old bad habits in my experience.
I definitely wish there was more information or guides on losing weight without calorie counting. Yes it’s an extremely helpful tool but there has to be other ways.
Actually it works just fine if you use it to eat your maintenance amount too. I am almost at 4 years now. 2 at a deficit to lose weight and now almost 2 at maintenance holding my weight at the same level. If is just a way you can eat. You don’t have to eat that way only when you are losing weight.
This is totally true.
The whole “and you can eat whatever you want!” Mentality is just not accurate.
Weight loss, for the most part, is all calories in calories out. IF is just another tool to help accomplish that. I dropped 20 pounds by JUST doing IF, and another 30 when I figured out I need to incorporate CICO.
There are of course outliers. Thyroid issues, hormones being whacked, genetics etc. But you’ll find most people have success if they are truly in a deficit
Fasting is a tool that helps some people stay in a calorie deficit a little easier.
Besides that, and the mental/spiritual benefits many people enjoy are 99% of what a person will get out of fasting. Most other benefits of fasting are vastly overstated.
Not quite. If your dad ate the same amount but throughout the day then he would have gained more weight. We know this from clinical trials. Calories are less important than the timing and the type of food.
If it was just about calories it would be no different than any other diet. It is not. It is closer in pattern and physiology to the diets of ancient humans. As such it is well evolved to maintain steady weight regardless of calorie input within reason.
It is underpinned by hormonal control. The relationship between food and insulin, thyroxi
ne, cortisol and growth hormone and so on. Too much to describe here but to make the point consider the power of insulin alone: If you had no insulin then no matter how many calories you consumed, you would not gain any weight. In fact you would lose weight. Don’t believe me? It’s the truth. That’s what happens to diabetics. It’s called a diabetic Ketosis and leads to dramatic weight loss, compulsion to drink and eat all the time, and eventually coma and death. Even if you ate 50,000 calories a day.
The point I’m making is not entirely to dismiss yours, because the principle you make is not bad, but just a little misdirected in my view.
dad ate way too much. That’s why he didn’t lose weight. If he ate the same calories
CICO remains an important factor and I believe a part of basic physics, no matter the type of diet you follow. A complicating factor is that you never really know how much calories you really need. It varies day to day and period to period. You don’t know exactly what goes out and thus what needs to go in.
One argument about being in a deficit for longer periods of time is that your body lowers daily calorie usage. Making weight loss harder and gaining weight a greater risk. And one of the interesting things within fasting is that it seems that this effect is less noticable. In other words: your basic daily calorie need is not slowing down when fasting, which makes losing weight easier over time. And also lowers risk of gaining weight too easy again.
So yes, considering this, CICO is important, but not the only thing yo watch for when losing weight (and maintaining it).