Fasting > eating less per meal

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
30,160
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at least according to this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APZCfmgzoS0

my summary:
not eating for long periods (ie: a day or days) > 3 meals of 500 calories a day.
less hunger, better physical and mental efficiency

The reason: Ketosis
if there's no response to the hunger feeling (ie: eat food), the body will switch to burning fat for fuel.

if the body gets food in regular intervals, it will never switch over.
but if you calorie restrict, once the body runs of out food, you will feel hungry.
do this for a while (ie: on a 'diet'), your metabolism slows down.

metabolism does not slow down for fasting.
after that initial hunger phase, ketosis will kick in and the body will have a constant supply of fuel.
 
Last edited:

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
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There's more to it than what's in the OP. Genetics plays a huge role in fat storage / burning. The foods you eat make a huge difference also. Try no processed foods, daily exercise to get the metabolism going, add in some resistance training, and you'll get results.
 
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Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
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Caloric restriction has been studied for a few decades now, and what they've found is people who restrict their calories tend to live longer and with fewer medical complications. Add in fasting, and IMO you get some really good health benefits.

If you think about it, this is how our prehistoric ancestors ate. They ate in small windows. They didn't eat breakfast because eating would slow them down. They fasted for long periods, went on hunts, brought back the meat and ate it. We haven't really evolved that much from our ancestors. But, our society has and we have been conditioned to think that you need 3 square meals. That breakfast is the most important meal. But, this is far from the truth.

There are some real benefits to fastening. One being autophagy. You can only reach autophagy by fasting, and it occurs within 24-36 hrs. After 3 days, the benefits diminish. For anyone that doesn't know, autophagy is when the good cells devour the weaker ones. It's like cleaning house. A Japanese scientist won the noble prize on medicine a few years ago for his research into this matter. It's a real thing and not bro science.

I'll check out the rest of this video.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
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You misunderstand some levels of ketosis, and full fasting is not necessary to kickstart ketosis.

If you really want to do some science yourself, buy some ketone testing strips and play around with them. Generally you can get most of the benefits of ketosis simply by limiting your carbs significantly and reducing protein to a low level and keeping fat at something consistent. Pairing a high fat diet with intermittent fasting (18 hour fast period) can get most all of the benefits of ketosis while not compromising your muscle capacity for anaerobic exercise.

Tbh keto and IM are not really good long term strategies for weight loss or muscle performance. They certainly work for some people - and everyone is different - but carbs are not the enemy and not eating is not the solution for reducing your calorie intake.
 
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Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
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You misunderstand some levels of ketosis, and full fasting is not necessary to kickstart ketosis.

If you really want to do some science yourself, buy some ketone testing strips and play around with them. Generally you can get most of the benefits of ketosis simply by limiting your carbs significantly and reducing protein to a low level and keeping fat at something consistent. Pairing a high fat diet with intermittent fasting (18 hour fast period) can get most all of the benefits of ketosis while not compromising your muscle capacity for anaerobic exercise.

Tbh keto and IM are not really good long term strategies for weight loss or muscle performance. They certainly work for some people - and everyone is different - but carbs are not the enemy and not eating is not the solution for reducing your calorie intake.

I eat about 300g carbs a day, and I'm getting them from bananas, whole grain oatmeal and pasta. I'm with you. Carbs aren't the enemy. Bad carbs are, and those would be donuts, cakes, white bread, etc.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
6,582
698
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I eat about 300g carbs a day, and I'm getting them from bananas, whole grain oatmeal and pasta. I'm with you. Carbs aren't the enemy. Bad carbs are, and those would be donuts, cakes, white bread, etc.
I dare say that pasta isn't really a great carb either - even if whole wheat.

In an ideal world, your carbs are generally all from fibrous vegetables, starchy vegetables, and some fruit, with additional from un-processed high carb foods like beans, brown or wild rice, quinoa, whole oats, etc.

I generally get about 50% of my daily carbs from vegetables, another 20% from fruit, and the rest through something like rice, oats, etc.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
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Typically when people fast, they are eating less food than if they were not fasting.

Shocker that eating less food will result in losing weight...
 
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JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
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As a du=iabetic I can tell you that for me fasting will never happen!
But with that said -- instead of 3 big meals a day I eat 5 meals that involve very small portions!
That seems to keep my weight in check!!
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
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www.anyf.ca
This is one of those things where there's so much conflict I'm not sure what to believe as there are different philosophies. There's the fasting one where the idea is as explained in OP. But on the other hand I've also heard another philosophy saying that fasting slows down your metabolism, so when you DO eat, it will not be able to process it as well and it will mostly store it all as fat and also spike your blood sugar more which is bad even if you don't have diabetes as doing it too much can lead to it (supposedly, I don't know if this is true or not). Basically this version says you should actually be eating as often as possible, think 7 smaller meals per day is the recommendation. This is very hard and inconvenient to do though. Who has time to prepare 7 meals per day? Even if you are retired chances are you have other stuff you want to do in your day than to cook. Not to mention you would need a serious portfolio of recipes for that so you're not always eating the same thing.

I have a bad habit myself of only eating 1 meal per day though. I'm never hungry in the morning, so I end up eating lunch as my first meal, and if I eat lunch late, then I'm not hungry for supper. So I tend to do the fasting route, but it's not really intentional. It's more because I'm too lazy to make something. :p