Intermittent Fasting Debunked in Study

Makes sense. You need a strong caloric intake for metabolic purposes. Men - 2500 calories a day, Women - 2000.

Is it true that people end up gaining weight after they go off of it?

R2 I hope not because I've been doing it for awhile. Where did you read that?

I’m in my 14th year of being an IFer. First half of those years doing it 1-3 times a week, thereafter, everyday. I lost my weight in the early years & have kept it off since.

R4 you’re amazing that you’ve been able to maintain it. I feel like I would do it for a few months and lose weight and then stop and gain it all back.

Not sure how many people can do it for years. But kudos if you can.

I've started doing it recently (8/16 - eating between noon and 8pm). However I think it's incompatible with strength training, especially when training first thing in the morning. In order to prevent muscle breakdown you need to consume some protein either before or after the workout. So on days I work out i'll break the fast and have a protein shake after working out.

I’m alternating 10 days of 8/16 restricted calories with 10 days of eating normally. It seems to work for me.

So none of you will stop IFing after seeing this study?

It's one study, R8, and many people have had good results with IF.

It does say it did work due to calorie restriction & fewer hours of eating. So if that's what it takes and makes sense for people to restrict calories, more so than other regimes, and you can keep lean muscle on, fine.

Those of you who are successful - how do you deal with being hungry? Do you just get used to it? Does your body adjust?

Please share.

I'm pre-diabetic and working with an endocrinologist on getting healthier which includes diet and other eating habits. We talked about what I eat and when I eat and when I mentioned that my hours of non-eating comply with IF, he sort of shrugged it off. It was clear from him that what I ate and how much I ate was much more important then when I ate.

Maybe not great to lose weight but still good to maintain blood sugar.

Who paid for this study, McDonald's or Wendy's?

Once the body figures out that it's not getting the calories it is used to it gets stingy with burning the stored fat, because it wants that stored fat to last longer.

Once you go back to your old ways the body stores even more fat for the days you decide to go on a stupid diet once again.

The best way to lose weight is to lower your calories intake ever so slightly and raise your physical activities ever so slightly, too. Once you've lost the weight you may - hopefully - have found a healthier eating routine you can stick to for good and no longer do the yo-yo dieting thing that puts your body under so much stress.

Good! Intermittent fasters just as exhausting as vegans. Your body goes into fat storage mode if you don't eat after a certain amount of time. I've tried arguing that point on here and with two friends who do this but am always scoffed at.

I think IF is really just a diff way to restrict caloric intake. So it's not the miracle it claims to be. I mean, what happens if you eat 2000 cals in an 8 hour window instead of 12? The results will be the same as far as weight loss goes

I had a lot more success with Intermittent Eating.

Study compares apples to oranges. The two groups should have been consuming the same amount of calories with only the timing of the meals changed. Instead they put the control group on a diet! So yes people eating fewer calories lost weight. In related news water is wet.

Not very useful data-wise.

[quote] Those of you who are successful - how do you deal with being hungry? Do you just get used to it? Does your body adjust?

Not an IFer, but I think those that do well on IF are the people who don't like to eat breakfast, anyway. Also, I'm guessing successful IFers are working people (not retired) who can drink black coffee and work, work, work. Then pig out at the end of the day.

Totally R20

R19 of course both groups lost weight. The point is that the IF dieters didn't lose any MORE weight than the regular dieters.

I do the .25/23.75 every day. It seems to work a little too well for me.

Oh, well I guess as long as ONE study "debunks" it then... end of story!

This diet is so dangerous for women, and for young people. It can play havoc with hormones, damage fertility, affect bone mass, and lead to eating disorders.

Then how do you explain this?

Well, duh. Fasting causes the body to go into standby mode shutting off some processes which require energy the body doesn't want to spend.

I started doing it because eating breakfast put me to sleep by 12. I have a ton more energy doing the 18/6

Please--we all eat so many calories that, even with skipping one meal during IF, it still isn't close to a 2000 calorie diet.

[quote] I started doing it because eating breakfast put me to sleep by 12. I have a ton more energy doing the 18/6

what hours do you eat?

Reality debunks this study, which was designed for no other reason then to promote mindless consumption and increase the profits of the junk food industry. Remember all the propaganda to discredit the link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer? This is the same shit coming from a different set of assholes.

Are you a man or a mouse?

R30 I try to eat from 2 to 8. I’m usually so busy at work that I don’t even realize it’s time to get up to eat.

R31, it's not attacking dieting. It's proving that this kind of diet doesn't work better than others. Where did you get that it's promoting junk food?

I've been intermittently fasting my entire life.

It definitely keeps off the pounds !

To lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn over time. You can "diet" by eating less or increase the calories you burn by working out. That's it. That's all there is to it. EVERYTHING besides that is either bullshit that's meant to sell you garbage or people just making things up to pretend they know fitness "secrets".

There is no technique, or magic food, or bodily process you can trigger that will change the basic law of energy balance. Eat more than you burn, gain weight. Eat less than you burn, lose weight.

I'm sure fasting was part of human evolution. It was called 'famine' or 'starving'.

I DON'T trust ANYTHING The New York Post says. They are akin to The National Inquirer.

The intermittent fasting fad diets are just another currently fashionable, and therefore legitimized version of serious eating disorders. The intermittent fasting diets will come back to bite those in their fifties. Fact.

There have been a plethora of studies showing that while someone might initially lose weight on one of these eating disorder diets - they eventually put it all back on and then gain 1/2 more of the weight they lost.

R36 is correct. Sorry folks with eating disorders - there is no magic spell or fad diet that is going result in weight loss which can be sustained. A well-balanced diet, proper portions and at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.

The only guy I know who does this is a Boris troll and an idiot. Overweight and flabby.

In my experience, IF does not help people lose weight, but it helps them maintain their weight once they get to their desired weight. But to get to your desired weight, you really can escape diet and exercise.

I'm trying to tell from the OP how the intermittent fasting went. Doctors who know IF say a 24-hour fast over 12 weeks has results, not so much a 16/8 schedule over that time.

But the link goes to a New York Post article, probably no meaningful specifics are included.

R15 is right on the money. I've been losing weight slowly, starting in January 2020. My body seems to be fighting against any further weight loss--I tried IF, but I would binge during that short window of time when I was allowed to eat. Now I'm eating just a little under my maintenance calories and walking 15k steps a day. Seems to be working.

Oh, FFS. They compared apples to oranges:

"Participants were randomized such that the consistent meal timing (CMT) group was instructed to eat 3 structured meals per day, and the time-restricted eating (TRE) group was instructed to eat ad libitum from 12:00 pm until 8:00 pm and completely abstain from caloric intake from 8:00 pm until 12:00 pm the following day."

IOW, one group ate controlled portions, the other didn't. What the hell? The only weight you'll lose will be from lack of time to continue free feeding.

Eat controlled portions, AND don't let yourself cheat by snacking or sneaking food outside of the permitted window of time. The structure helps you adhere to your diet. Plus your metabolism isn't constantly gearing up to digest the latest round of grazing or snacking.

I don't understand how people can IF. I've done it for less than a week and I am EXHAUSTED.

How do you function? How do you complete work tasks that require thinking?

Calories In and Caloires Out. The End.

All these diets are kinda shit. The bottom line, no matter what the fat people brigade or "nutritionists" say is that

Less calories = weight loss.

Unless you are more than 100 lbs overweight, then you probably need surgery or do go inpatient for a supervised water fast.

Yes our lives our so different from you straight white fraus - you are quite privileged.

I am in a pattern where I fast two days a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. I will eat a light breakfast each of those mornings and then nothing but water for 24 hours, so the next morning I'll have breakfast and eat regularly the rest of the day.

I exercise five days a week and don't exercise on my fast days.

In terms of diet, I am on weight watchers, and I count points, but I eat sensible food and I have not had anything "bad" in at least five months. When I started, I allowed myself a cheat item once a month, but I started realizing how hard it was to burn that off so I stopped, and now I don't really even miss it. It's the first time I've ever dieted without allowing myself cheat items and I'm fine without them.

I have lost 87 lbs in 13 months, but I will say that the past 2 months my weight loss has slowed considerably. I am thinking about starting up Paleo to get the last 20 lbs off.

r49 what weight did you start at?

I do it because it allows me to feel better fed on a restricted calorie diet. (8:16.) If that makes any sense. But you are able to make fewer calories go further on two meals a day. And I gather it's better for keeping your blood sugar balanced. Can't do any harm as near as I can tell.

[quote] what weight did you start at?

The high 200s

All bullshit restricted eating behaviors.

Eat moderate amounts of nutritious foods most of the time.

Eat mostly plants

Avoid red meat

Limit dairy

[quote] The intermittent fasting fad diets are just another currently fashionable, and therefore legitimized version of serious eating disorders. The intermittent fasting diets will come back to bite those in their fifties. Fact.

I started intermittent fasting at the age of 50. I lost a considerable amount of weight that - 14 years later & still intermittent fasting - I have kept off.

That so-called study was paid for by the snack food industry.

I eat lean meat and non starchy vegetables and pecans and walnuts. I walk on a treadmill 30 to 45 minutes a day. I am rarely hungry because my glucose doesn't spike. On the days I lift weights my appetite increases so I eat avocado, hard boiled eggs and lots of broccoli .

How much do you eat on fast days? Literally nothing? 500 calories?

I just fasted for a whole day. It's nothing. I can do this at least once a week, maybe twice. I'm also on keto, although I had a cheat day yesterday. 5'10, was 228 lb at my highest weight, I'm already down to 210 just a few weeks into keto.

I made a Keto "garlic bread" the other day. Recipe was interesting but it was so oily I had to pour it out of the pan... which isn't bread to me.

I've been doing IF for a week now and all I want to do is binge

It doesn't work if you eat standard or double-meal portions when allowed.

Honestly, it's the only diet that's ever worked for me.

But I don't simply add calories to my allowed meals and I also have the rule of thumb to halve the size of meals I do eat.

Which IF model do you use, r63?

The posts saying that not eating from 8pm till 12pm the next day will put your body into “starvation mode” make me chuckle. Only fat Americans would say something so silly. Going days without eating will put your body into starvation mode. Going a few hours without stuffing food into your gaping maws won’t hurt you, you great lumps.

You seem like the kind of person anyone would like to take advice from, R65.

Doing it now. 18-6. I'm slowly losing weight. I can feel bones I haven't seen for over a year. My clothes are looser.

I do not weight myself.

It has been surprisingly easy for 2 months now. I don't eat until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. On days I get hungry I tell myself I can do it another hour and a half and then I have my half caf coffee with milk and I'm fine.

But the best part is the end of my inflammation. I had painful hands and was relying on naproxen and voltaren each day. Now nothing, no pain.

Wonderful, just wonderful.

It's not dramatic, it's slow, but it's very definitely weight loss. After the Fourth holiday I am going to do 24 hour fasts and take advantage of my hot weather loss of appetite.