Intermittent fasting
Joy, 32 years old "My coworker started intermittent fasting for weight loss. I am healthy and want to lose 12 lb. I have tried Weight Watchers and lost 3 lb., but my finances are limited. Is intermittent fasting effective?"
Dear Joy,
Intermittent fasting (IM) was known for centuries in diverse religious practices, including Hinduism, Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, Ramadan in Islam, Yom Kippur in Judaism. It helps to lose weight by limiting calorie intake during certain days or specific hours of the day.
The hypothesis is that intermittent fasting helps to decrease appetite by slowing the metabolism. Scientific data confirms that intermittent fasting combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle work for weight loss when done correctly. The recent meta-analysis of six studies investigating alternate day fasting, fasting for two days, and up to four days per week for 12 months. This study showed that intermittent fasting was more effective than no treatment for weight loss. It also concluded that there was no difference in the weight loss of intermittent fasting against a continuous diet (1). My patients told me, and I confirm that IM is a much easier way to lose weight than be on a diet continuously.
It works like a well-known business principle of 80/20. Eighty percent of the time, you eat a healthy diet, as soon as it's not fast food and a high glycemic load food. Twenty percent of the time, you limit your calories by taking not alcoholic and not sweet beverages. My favorite resource about Intermittent fasting is Jason Fung's " Obesity Code" bestseller book that explains how IM works on the physiological level.
You may consider different variations of IM. However, I do recommend to discuss all the pros and cons of IM and if IM is the best way FOR YOU to lose weight, especially if you take medications, have digestive problems or diabetes or other serious health illnesses.
There are no extensive human studies on comparing different variations IM below.
1. The 16/8 Method: Most people find this method of weight loss to be most comfortable to use: have the usual healthy dinner at 6-PM and fast till 1 P2M. Your "eating time " is reduced to 8-10 hours (12 pm- 6-7 PM) while you can eat 1 or 3 meals of mostly healthy foods. I recommend following a Mediterranean diet to take multiple other benefits. Within the "fasting time, " continue drinking water, tea, coffee, bone broth (chicken or beef), or any other non-alcoholic nonsweet beverages at least totaling 100 oz a day. Avoid sugar substitutes, initially attractive; they will eventually increase your appetite. Start using this method 3-4 times a week, and continue on a daily bases if you feel well
2. The 5/2 Diet: Fast for two days a week and eat healthy (preferred low carbs, healthy fat, minimum processed food) for five days of the week, while restricting calories to 500 Cal on the days of fasting by drinking water, tea, coffee, and bone broth during the fasting time at least 100 oz a day. My patients tell me that drinking liquids make it much more comfortable instead of calculating calories and thinking about food.
3. 24-hour fast This way of IM s the most difficult, and I do not recommend it than once or twice a week. It lasts from dinner ( breakfast or lunch) one day, to dinner ( breakfast or lunch accordingly ) the following day. If you have fast on Thursday at 7 pm, you don't eat dinner until Friday at 7 pm. Continue drinking water, tea, coffee, and bone broth or any other non-alcoholic nonsweet beverages avoiding sugar substitutes during the fasting time at least 100 oz a day.
4. Fasting every other day. This method seems rather extreme, and I do not recommend it. 5. Spontaneous meal skipping Skip meals from time to time when you don't feel hungry or are too busy to cook and eat. How about breakfast, that traditionally been recommended by nutritionists? There is not much scientific background behind a myth that people need to eat every few hours. The humans are well fitted to handle short periods of fasting with adequate hydration. The key is to continue drinking fluid (water, tea, coffee, and bone broth) during fasting time.
Key references:
Harris, Leanne, Sharon Hamilton, Liane Azevedo, Joan Olajide, Caroline De Brún, Gillian Waller, Vicki Whittaker, Tracey Sharp, Mike Lean, Catherine Hankey, and Louisa Ells. "Intermittent Fasting Interventions for Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis." Jbi Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports. N.p., 01 Feb. 2018. Web. 21 Nov. 2019.