How many times have you heard that you have to eat a little many times a day?
You've tried?
I do not know about you, but for me it's torture.
Also, if you eat little, many times a day, you do not have the opportunity to prepare meals that taste delicious.
Forget about hamburgers, chilaquiles, or tacos.
I do not say that they are the healthiest foods, but tell me if you do not cheer up the day?
Carrying healthy nutrition is not about being perfect every day all day, it's about progressing.
And sometimes it is necessary to give yourself tastes to keep you on the road.
Intermittent fasting is a very effective way to achieve this, sacrificing very little, and also has many health benefits, from helping to maintain a caloric deficit, to look younger and give you more years of life.
Intermittent fasting is the most natural thing in the world and today you will learn everything about it.
Welcome to the Complete Guide on Intermittent Fasting.
The fear of not eating for a while
The content of the post [ Show ]
We have a real fear of not eating.
How many times have you felt "a little hungry" and immediately go to the refrigerator to eat the first thing you see?
We do not like to feel hungry because it is uncomfortable.
And believe me, the discomfort is right.
As the saying goes:
Discomfort is a fundamental part of the human being.
This is how we evolved; this is how we grow.
But in our modern life, feeling a bit of discomfort is something we can not afford.
Be honest, how many times have you eaten when you were not hungry? ... and you ate only because "it was time to eat".
And I'll be honest, when I heard about intermittent fasting, something inside of me died.
Are you saying that I'm not going to eat anything? ... Are you crazy?
That's right ... very deep inside I knew that this was not going to be fun.
I thought that not eating for a while was going to make me the saddest and most grumpy person in the world.
But I was very wrong.
This completely changed my life and helped me achieve my goals more efficiently.
mike sculpts your body
In the photo on the left, he ate "normally", on the right the result of intelligent training and intermittent fasting is shown.
But why did he think he was going to suffer?
Simple: MYTHS AND MARKETING.
Marketing and nutritional myths
The marketing of the food industry teaches us to eat at all times.
To have breakfast because it is the "most important food of the day".
skip breakfast
Aha ... I can not imagine how a ration of refined sugar with processed cereals could be the best way to start the day.
Marketing "teaches" what suits us and is beneficial to us ... or that's what they tell you.
Reality is very different, and science proves it again and again.
Besides, the myths have left us many scars as far as nutrition is concerned.
By "scars" I mean wrong information.
For example, that your metabolism will slow down if you do not eat every 3 hours ...
(The irony of this, is that it is, on the contrary, our metabolism accelerates slightly when we are fasting. )
or that the sugar goes down ...
(Again, on the contrary, the body perfectly regulates the body's glucose, and those who have problems with insulin resistance, intermittent fasting helps to regain sensitivity to it.)
... or that you are going to get fat because your body "keeps fat".
( Another nonsense: studies show clearly that fasting is a great tool to lose body fat)
etc etc…
But if we realize that fasting is our natural state, maybe the way we see fasting is different.
That is, do you think that the human evolved eating every 3 hours?
Most likely not.
Probably our ancestors hunted a large animal, feasted, and did not eat for many hours afterward.
But I advance to the subject.
In this post, you will learn all about intermittent fasting, and for that, we must begin with the first: What is intermittent fasting?
I want to exercise but I do not have time
In the other hours you do not eat absolutely anything, you can only drink non-caloric beverages, such as coffee (without sugar or cream), teas, or light drinks.
As simple as that.
When you eat, the food is broken down by your body into several molecules that are released into the bloodstream, and that your cells can use.
Insulin is released too, and its job is to allow nutrients to "enter" the cells.
Depending on how much you have eaten, your insulin levels can remain elevated for several hours (from 3 to 6 or more hours)9 .
When your body is digesting and absorbing what you ate, it is said to be in a "fed" or "postpatrial" state.
Only when your body has finished absorbing the food, and the insulin returns to its minimum levels, is that you are "fasting".
Every day your body moves between these two states (fed, fasted), and the purpose of intermittent fasting is to extend the amount of time you spend in the fasting state.
There are several intermittent fasting protocols, each with its pros and cons.
Choose the protocol you choose, intermittent fasting is very convenient if you want to lose weight.
If you want to gain weight or gain muscle faster, you can also do so to get the benefits it brings to health.
Like many answers in fitness, the best is always: "it depends".
It depends on your goals, situation, preferences, lifestyle, etc.
But if there is something constant with intermittent fasting, it is the benefits it has on health.
Health benefits of intermittent fasting
All commercial diets have one thing in common:
They sell you an idea that is supposed to "change everything completely".
Either the diet of negative calories, or the alkaline diet, or any other ...
They all promise you a "completely different" system.
But intermittent fasting has many benefits that no other diet has.
For example, fasting activates a physiological process called " autophagy ", which is responsible for the recycling of cells in the body.
Autophagy has a fundamental role in maintaining muscle mass11 and neutralize some degenerative aspects of aging.
In fact, it is the main mechanism of the anti-aging benefits of caloric restriction.
carnitine-third-age
That's right, intermittent fasting can make you look younger and live longer.
Intermittent fasting can make you look younger and live longer .
If you do not believe me, believe the monkeys:
Look at the image below, and tell me which of the two monkeys seems healthier :
intermittent fasting live longer
Clearly, the monkey on the right has much more vigor, and looks much younger, although both are 24 years old (the life expectancy of a rhesus monkey is 27 years).
It turns out that in this study, the monkey on the left ate without restriction, while the monkey on the right was with periods of caloric restriction14.
The study was conducted to have more evidence of whether humans can be benefited by caloric restriction since "rhesus" monkeys are very similar physiologically to humans.
The caloric restriction has been tested with worms, flies, spiders, rats, dogs, cows, etc., and in all cases, the life expectancy of each species has increased.
This is probably due to the fact that excess blood glucose can be a key factor in aging
And if living longer and looking younger seems like little, fasting also reduces systemic inflammation and oxidative damage.
Remember what we talked about earlier about insulin?
As it turns out, intermittent fasting also helps improve insulin sensitivity19 and increase growth hormone levels.
Other benefits of intermittent fasting include the following :
Help against cancer by depriving the cancer cells of glucose, and reduces the growth of tumors.
Enhances the effectiveness of cancer treatments.
It can reduce the risk of cancer throughout life.
Reduces IGF-1 levels (promoter of increased cells, but dangerous for those who have cancer).
Increase SIRT3 protein (known as the youth protein).
Reduces triglycerides and improves the blood lipid profile.
Improves neuronal plasticity.
People with type 2 diabetes responded better to this type of diet.
Activates mitophagy (is the autophagy of mitochondria) that rejuvenate and reduce the disease.
Helps increase the ketone bodies (help to obtain energy without glucose and to protect the neurons).
Looking at it in a simpler way, intermittent fasting allows your body to "cleanse" your body, and it works almost like a reset button.
And the goal of intermittent fasting is precisely to press that button more often.
There is no doubt that intermittent fasting is healthy, but is it for everyone?
Intermittent fasting protocols
NOTE: I made a guide that shows you the most effective intermittent fasting protocols.
Those who should not fast
Intermittent fasting, as we have seen, is quite noble. But there is a certain group of people who would be better off refraining from doing so.
Basically, they are pregnant women or those who think about getting pregnant, and people who have had eating disorders.
Pregnancy
Obviously, the first segment that should not fast is pregnant women.
Studies have been done on pregnant women who fasted during Ramadan (15 hours fasting) and interesting things were found.
One study found that the growth of the fetus slowed down but grew more efficiently .
Another study found that fasting during Ramadan had no negative effects on the development of the fetus.
In general, no negative effects have been found in pregnant women doing 15-hour fasts , but it is better not to take any risks .
So I would not recommend you to fast if you're pregnant.
It is better to follow your maternal instinct here and better eat when you are hungry .
Similarly, if you are thinking about starting a family soon, better abstain and fast because it may interfere slightly with your fertility38 .
Eating disorders
If you have suffered from eating disorders, it is not a good idea to start with intermittent fasting.
If you are a teenager, it is not a good idea to do intermittent fasting either, because it has been seen that it may bring about eating disorders in the future39 .
We saw then who should not fast, but if you are not in these groups, and you want to start with the intermittent fasting, you can continue reading:
If I do not exercise, is it recommended to fast?
In this 8-week study, we compared a group of people who only ate once a day, and another who did it 3 times a day.40 .
Neither group exercised weights, and their protein intake was low (15% of their daily calories).
It was found that people who ate only once a day did not get used to that intermittent fasting style .
This tells us that maybe there is a limit on the minimum number of meals you can make per day.
In this case, it seems to indicate that a single meal a day is not as recommendable in terms of adherence.
It was also found that muscle mass remained intact in both groups .
The interesting thing about this is that, although both groups ingested practically the same amount of calories (there was only a difference of 69 cals, which is something insignificant), the group that only made one meal a day, managed to lose more weight and reduce your percentage of body fat more than the group of 3 meals a day.
So, how does this apply to you?
Look, the participants were eating calories at maintenance levels , and despite that, those who ate once a day lost some weight.
This tells us that, if you want to lose weight, and you do not exercise resistance, it is a good idea to fast, but do not do it only once a day, as it may hinder adherence to this style of fasting.
A better way to do it may be skipping breakfast .
If you do not exercise, I recommend that it be the first thing you do from now on, it is much more important than you think .
Ok ... but what if I do exercise?
Fasting cardiovascular training
body mass index
Fasting cardiovascular training can be an ally to help eliminate those last places of unruly fat .
This is achieved because of the blood flow in the abdominal region increases when you are fasting41 , which helpseliminate that last rebellious fatof that region.
That's why it's a good strategy to mark your abdomen more .
This is because, when you do cardio or weights on an empty stomach, the body does not have enough glucose to take the energy to make that effort, which makes you use the energy stored in it: body fat.
Related post to continue nerding about fitness: How to transform your body in your 40-50 years
Studies show that doing cardio in fasting increases lipolysis42 (the adipose cell releases the contained fatty acid) and theoxidation of fat43 (the use of that fatty acid as energy).
That is, it helps you mobilize body fat, and then use it as energy .
And if you can do HIIT , it would be a help combo to eliminate the unruly fat because it also helps to increase the level of catecholamines .
The catecholamines are neurotransmitters such as adrenaline and noradrenaline , which help your cell receptors to release the fatty acids contained in them .
But it has its disadvantages :
Cardio on an empty stomach is not the best strategy if your goal is physical performance or muscle gain , because it increases the rates of protein degradation .
This means that if you damage and degrade too many muscle cells in your workouts, your body will not be able to repair itself in time , and you can lose muscle over time .
But do not worry, you can do intermittent fasting and still leave your muscle intact or even have muscle gains, as long as you know what to do .
So let's see that right now.
Fasting and muscle gain
Many people have the impression that fasting can interfere with muscle gains.
This has some truth, but it is not the whole truth.
In some studies, it is shown that reducing food intake to only 2-3 hours did not have an effect on muscle loss in rats46 .
Studies conducted in humans show similar results.
Like this, where it was found that, in humans, restricting food to only 4 hours a day on days off from training did not interfere with muscle gain significantly compared to the control group47 .
In addition, participants who made this protocol, commented that the "difficulty" to follow this diet was 3.8 on a scale of 10.
That is, quite easy to follow.
Of course, if they were not restricted at all, they could eat whatever they wanted , as long as it was within those 4 hours they could eat.
The detail is that there was a lot of variability in how the participants responded .
Another problem with this protocol is that most participants did not reach an optimal protein intake for muscle building.
This is logical, if you only eat in a range of 4 hours a day, you will be easily satiated, causing you to not be able to ingest enough food from the proteins.
Although, as we said before, everything depends on your goals.
If you want to maximize your muscle gain, then you better eat 3-4 times a day and avoid spending a lot of time without eating .
As this study shows, where higher protein synthesis was found in 4 meals a day, than eating 8 or 2 times a day48 .
And this other study shows that eating regularly (3 meals a day) can help you gain more muscle mass than doing intermittent fasting49 .
Does this mean you should not do intermittent fasting if you want to gain muscle?
Not necessarily.
This is shown by this study that found that there was no significant change in muscle mass between the group that ate regularly and the one that did intermittent fasting .
But you should keep in mind that maybe it is not the best strategy to see results in the gym more quickly .
gym results 2
Now, if you want to decrease your percentage of body fat, then intermittent fasting is a very good option.
And if you know what you do, you will not lose muscle mass.
For example, the University of Padova conducted a study comparing people who fasted for 16 hours, and people who did not51 . Both groups trained weights 3 times a week.
The results were that both groups maintained their muscle mass , but the group that fasted lost 1.6 kg of body fat , while in the other group there was no change in this aspect.
This shows us that, if you do intermittent fasting, the ideal would be that you train with resistance exercises (weights).
And it is that, it is logical ...
Your body is highly adaptable.
You need to carry heavy things and you have the necessary nutrients = the muscles grow.
It does not need to move = it atrophies the muscles because it does not need them .
Your body, not having a stimulus for which you must maintain your muscles; what you are going to do is precisely, decrease the volume of these .
The key then, if you want to do intermittent fasting and not lose muscle, is to train with resistance exercises and have an adequate intake of protein per day (1.6 - 2 gr per kilo of body weight)52 .
How to fast
Intermittent fasting protocols
NOTE: I made a guide that shows you the most effective intermittent fasting protocols.
It's totally free and you can download it by clicking here .
There are many intermittent fasting protocols.
But I'll recommend two: " Leangains ", and " Eat Stop Eat ".
Leangains (also known as 16/8):
Yes, yes, yes ... it sounds very nice ... but how do you think I will not stop eating ?
How to hold your first fasts
It is possible that, the first time you fast, the world comes to you.
You will have hunger, headache, irritation ...
But this is normal, and it's just a clue that your body is adapting to this new stimulus .
You will see how, after a few days or weeks, fasting becomes the most normal thing in the world .
There are even studies that show that intermittent fasting improves mood, symptoms of dedepression,ndimproves mental alertness56 .
But at the beginning it is difficult.
Do not worry, there are ways to mitigate this problem .
The most important in my experience is drinking coffee .
Coffee, and especially decaffeination, is an appetite suppressant .
The great advantage of decaffeinated coffee is that it does not alter you .
In addition, studies have found that hunger decreased by 3 hours after taking it.
Another strategy to endure your first fasts, is to drink a lot of water .
Many times, what we think is hunger, is really thirst .
Take the test today, when you start to feel a little hungry, take a glass of water.
You will see how in reality, it was not hunger, but thirst.
Okay. You finished your fast ... and now what?
Are you going to ask for double ration of everything?
No ... ideally, you should eat normally.
And that's what we're going for ...
What to eat after fasting
The usual: many vegetables, protein, and unrefined carbohydrates.
lose-of-weight-protein
Eat as you normally would at home; as long as you have an idea of how to put together a good plate of food .
What you should keep in mind is that when you finish your fast, it is better to distribute your protein intake 3-4 times a day58 .
Look for between 20-40gr of protein per intake.
The great advantage of intermittent fasting is that, thanks to fasting, you can have larger meals.
But you still can not get rid of the energy balance.
So first, you have to calculate how many calories you need , and then your macronutrients :
Calories> protein> fats> carbohydrates.
If you do not want to count calories (super effective), you can measure your portions (moderately effective).
The vast majority of people will have no problem if they follow these recommendations.
But there is a percentage of people who do not seem to tolerate fasting well:
Women and fasting
abdomen-defined
Most women do not have problems with intermittent fasting.
But there is some evidence that shows that they do not respond as well to fasting as men do.
If you try for some time and feel that you can not adapt to fasting, or your periods become irregular, or you have any of these symptoms , better return to eat as you did regularly.
your period is irregular
it's hard for you to sleep or stay asleep
your hair starts to fall
develop acne
you do not recover well from your workouts
your tolerance to stress decreases
you lack of sexual desire
your digestion is noticeably encouraged
you are always cold
If on the contrary, you fast and you feel great, then you can continue doing it without a problem.
What you must not do
Intermittent fasting is one of those things where more does not mean better.
According to what we have seen, the optimal point is within 16-24 hrs of fasting .
The problems with spending hours in the fast, begin to have after 60 hours without food, and this is when it begins to slow down the metabolism62 .
And after 3 days (72 hours) without food is when the real problems begin .
As this time passes, your body begins gluconeogenesis (to take energy from proteins).
This means goodbye muscle .
But if you follow the most studied protocols, you will not have to spend as much time fasting .
And tell me ...
When I did my first transformation from past weight to skinny, I trained poorly and spent a lot of time fasting.
The result was that I lost a lot of muscle mass:
degordoaflaco
I stayed that way for years.
Until I understood better when to use fasting and when not .
This change made that in just 11 months, training better, and lowering the frequency of fasting, will increase my muscle mass much more.
imc
Another thing you should avoid is to think that the rules of the energy balance stop applying with intermittent fasting.
Do not think that because you fasted all day, at night you can eat 4 bowls full of colonel's chicken.
At the end of the day, the amount of food energy is what still matters.
Intermittent fasting is a great tool to control your caloric intake.
But the true value of fasting is another.
The true value of fasting
Imagine that a fat burner , one of those that you sell in the supplement stores (and that is useless), gave you all the benefits of intermittent fasting.
It would be the best selling product of all time .
And all this you have free and literally, without doing anything .
But if intermittent fasting has an advantage, it is this: it helps you to strengthen your mental resistance to the impulses of hunger.
We have become accustomed to flee from hunger ... as if it were something really bad.
Learning to stop, and not being controlled by our impulses, will completely change your life and you will stop being a slave to cravings and anxiety when eating .
Also, it helps you feel comfortable with your hunger.
To realize that there is nothing wrong with hunger and it is very natural to feel it.
It frees you from the addiction to food, because it shows you that you were not eating out of necessity, but on a whim.
And that's another value that intermittent fasting gives you:
When you break the fast, and you have the first bite of food, you'll see how delicious each bite tastes.
It is as if the hunger you have strengthens the taste of food .
It is something that we have been losing with our current modern life.
conclusion
Intermittent fasting is a great ally to achieve your goals.
If you want to gain muscle, it can help you, but it will not be the best strategy .
If you want to lose weight, then it is very convenient because it helps you stay on the diet by not restricting food.
To avoid losing muscle mass with this protocol, it is necessary to train with weights.
Intermittent fasting is something that has a lot of variability in how each person perceives it.
For this reason, it is not completely necessary that you do it, since there will be people who come to you as a glove, and others who will hate it.
You can start with something simple, postponing your breakfast 1 hour more, and go increasing this time one hour more each week, until you eliminate breakfast completely.
Every new nutrition protocol is difficult to maintain at the beginning, and it is not different for intermittent fasting.
Give him a month to see how you feel. If after a month of trying intermittent fasting you still "suffer" for not eating, leave it.
But the safest thing is that after about 2-3 weeks, you no longer feel that voracious hunger every 3 hours.
This changes your life.
You've tried?
I do not know about you, but for me it's torture.
Also, if you eat little, many times a day, you do not have the opportunity to prepare meals that taste delicious.
Forget about hamburgers, chilaquiles, or tacos.
I do not say that they are the healthiest foods, but tell me if you do not cheer up the day?
Carrying healthy nutrition is not about being perfect every day all day, it's about progressing.
And sometimes it is necessary to give yourself tastes to keep you on the road.
Intermittent fasting is a very effective way to achieve this, sacrificing very little, and also has many health benefits, from helping to maintain a caloric deficit, to look younger and give you more years of life.
Intermittent fasting guide
Intermittent fasting is the most natural thing in the world and today you will learn everything about it.
Welcome to the Complete Guide on Intermittent Fasting.
The fear of not eating for a while
The content of the post [ Show ]
We have a real fear of not eating.
How many times have you felt "a little hungry" and immediately go to the refrigerator to eat the first thing you see?
We do not like to feel hungry because it is uncomfortable.
And believe me, the discomfort is right.
As the saying goes:
"No calm sea made an expert a sailor"
Discomfort is a fundamental part of the human being.
This is how we evolved; this is how we grow.
But in our modern life, feeling a bit of discomfort is something we can not afford.
Be honest, how many times have you eaten when you were not hungry? ... and you ate only because "it was time to eat".
And I'll be honest, when I heard about intermittent fasting, something inside of me died.
Are you saying that I'm not going to eat anything? ... Are you crazy?
That's right ... very deep inside I knew that this was not going to be fun.
I thought that not eating for a while was going to make me the saddest and most grumpy person in the world.
But I was very wrong.
This completely changed my life and helped me achieve my goals more efficiently.
mike sculpts your body
In the photo on the left, he ate "normally", on the right the result of intelligent training and intermittent fasting is shown.
But why did he think he was going to suffer?
Simple: MYTHS AND MARKETING.
Marketing and nutritional myths
The marketing of the food industry teaches us to eat at all times.
To have breakfast because it is the "most important food of the day".
skip breakfast
Aha ... I can not imagine how a ration of refined sugar with processed cereals could be the best way to start the day.
Marketing "teaches" what suits us and is beneficial to us ... or that's what they tell you.
Reality is very different, and science proves it again and again.
Besides, the myths have left us many scars as far as nutrition is concerned.
By "scars" I mean wrong information.
For example, that your metabolism will slow down if you do not eat every 3 hours ...
(The irony of this, is that it is, on the contrary, our metabolism accelerates slightly when we are fasting. )
or that the sugar goes down ...
(Again, on the contrary, the body perfectly regulates the body's glucose, and those who have problems with insulin resistance, intermittent fasting helps to regain sensitivity to it.)
... or that you are going to get fat because your body "keeps fat".
( Another nonsense: studies show clearly that fasting is a great tool to lose body fat)
etc etc…
But if we realize that fasting is our natural state, maybe the way we see fasting is different.
That is, do you think that the human evolved eating every 3 hours?
Most likely not.
Probably our ancestors hunted a large animal, feasted, and did not eat for many hours afterward.
But I advance to the subject.
In this post, you will learn all about intermittent fasting, and for that, we must begin with the first: What is intermittent fasting?
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is limiting your food intake on the day to a few hours.I want to exercise but I do not have time
In the other hours you do not eat absolutely anything, you can only drink non-caloric beverages, such as coffee (without sugar or cream), teas, or light drinks.
As simple as that.
When you eat, the food is broken down by your body into several molecules that are released into the bloodstream, and that your cells can use.
Insulin is released too, and its job is to allow nutrients to "enter" the cells.
Depending on how much you have eaten, your insulin levels can remain elevated for several hours (from 3 to 6 or more hours)9 .
When your body is digesting and absorbing what you ate, it is said to be in a "fed" or "postpatrial" state.
Only when your body has finished absorbing the food, and the insulin returns to its minimum levels, is that you are "fasting".
Every day your body moves between these two states (fed, fasted), and the purpose of intermittent fasting is to extend the amount of time you spend in the fasting state.
There are several intermittent fasting protocols, each with its pros and cons.
Choose the protocol you choose, intermittent fasting is very convenient if you want to lose weight.
If you want to gain weight or gain muscle faster, you can also do so to get the benefits it brings to health.
Like many answers in fitness, the best is always: "it depends".
It depends on your goals, situation, preferences, lifestyle, etc.
But if there is something constant with intermittent fasting, it is the benefits it has on health.
Health benefits of intermittent fasting
All commercial diets have one thing in common:
They sell you an idea that is supposed to "change everything completely".
Either the diet of negative calories, or the alkaline diet, or any other ...
They all promise you a "completely different" system.
But intermittent fasting has many benefits that no other diet has.
For example, fasting activates a physiological process called " autophagy ", which is responsible for the recycling of cells in the body.
Autophagy has a fundamental role in maintaining muscle mass11 and neutralize some degenerative aspects of aging.
In fact, it is the main mechanism of the anti-aging benefits of caloric restriction.
carnitine-third-age
That's right, intermittent fasting can make you look younger and live longer.
Intermittent fasting can make you look younger and live longer .
If you do not believe me, believe the monkeys:
Look at the image below, and tell me which of the two monkeys seems healthier :
intermittent fasting live longer
Clearly, the monkey on the right has much more vigor, and looks much younger, although both are 24 years old (the life expectancy of a rhesus monkey is 27 years).
It turns out that in this study, the monkey on the left ate without restriction, while the monkey on the right was with periods of caloric restriction14.
The study was conducted to have more evidence of whether humans can be benefited by caloric restriction since "rhesus" monkeys are very similar physiologically to humans.
The caloric restriction has been tested with worms, flies, spiders, rats, dogs, cows, etc., and in all cases, the life expectancy of each species has increased.
This is probably due to the fact that excess blood glucose can be a key factor in aging
And if living longer and looking younger seems like little, fasting also reduces systemic inflammation and oxidative damage.
Remember what we talked about earlier about insulin?
As it turns out, intermittent fasting also helps improve insulin sensitivity19 and increase growth hormone levels.
Other benefits of intermittent fasting include the following :
Help against cancer by depriving the cancer cells of glucose, and reduces the growth of tumors.
Enhances the effectiveness of cancer treatments.
It can reduce the risk of cancer throughout life.
Reduces IGF-1 levels (promoter of increased cells, but dangerous for those who have cancer).
Increase SIRT3 protein (known as the youth protein).
Reduces triglycerides and improves the blood lipid profile.
Improves neuronal plasticity.
People with type 2 diabetes responded better to this type of diet.
Activates mitophagy (is the autophagy of mitochondria) that rejuvenate and reduce the disease.
Helps increase the ketone bodies (help to obtain energy without glucose and to protect the neurons).
Looking at it in a simpler way, intermittent fasting allows your body to "cleanse" your body, and it works almost like a reset button.
And the goal of intermittent fasting is precisely to press that button more often.
There is no doubt that intermittent fasting is healthy, but is it for everyone?
Intermittent fasting protocols
NOTE: I made a guide that shows you the most effective intermittent fasting protocols.
Those who should not fast
Intermittent fasting, as we have seen, is quite noble. But there is a certain group of people who would be better off refraining from doing so.
Basically, they are pregnant women or those who think about getting pregnant, and people who have had eating disorders.
Pregnancy
Obviously, the first segment that should not fast is pregnant women.
Studies have been done on pregnant women who fasted during Ramadan (15 hours fasting) and interesting things were found.
One study found that the growth of the fetus slowed down but grew more efficiently .
Another study found that fasting during Ramadan had no negative effects on the development of the fetus.
In general, no negative effects have been found in pregnant women doing 15-hour fasts , but it is better not to take any risks .
So I would not recommend you to fast if you're pregnant.
It is better to follow your maternal instinct here and better eat when you are hungry .
Similarly, if you are thinking about starting a family soon, better abstain and fast because it may interfere slightly with your fertility38 .
Eating disorders
How to Find the Motivation to Stop Exercising
If you have suffered from eating disorders, it is not a good idea to start with intermittent fasting.
If you are a teenager, it is not a good idea to do intermittent fasting either, because it has been seen that it may bring about eating disorders in the future39 .
We saw then who should not fast, but if you are not in these groups, and you want to start with the intermittent fasting, you can continue reading:
If I do not exercise, is it recommended to fast?
In this 8-week study, we compared a group of people who only ate once a day, and another who did it 3 times a day.40 .
Neither group exercised weights, and their protein intake was low (15% of their daily calories).
It was found that people who ate only once a day did not get used to that intermittent fasting style .
This tells us that maybe there is a limit on the minimum number of meals you can make per day.
In this case, it seems to indicate that a single meal a day is not as recommendable in terms of adherence.
It was also found that muscle mass remained intact in both groups .
The interesting thing about this is that, although both groups ingested practically the same amount of calories (there was only a difference of 69 cals, which is something insignificant), the group that only made one meal a day, managed to lose more weight and reduce your percentage of body fat more than the group of 3 meals a day.
So, how does this apply to you?
Look, the participants were eating calories at maintenance levels , and despite that, those who ate once a day lost some weight.
This tells us that, if you want to lose weight, and you do not exercise resistance, it is a good idea to fast, but do not do it only once a day, as it may hinder adherence to this style of fasting.
A better way to do it may be skipping breakfast .
If you do not exercise, I recommend that it be the first thing you do from now on, it is much more important than you think .
Ok ... but what if I do exercise?
Fasting cardiovascular training
body mass index
Fasting cardiovascular training can be an ally to help eliminate those last places of unruly fat .
This is achieved because of the blood flow in the abdominal region increases when you are fasting41 , which helpseliminate that last rebellious fatof that region.
That's why it's a good strategy to mark your abdomen more .
This is because, when you do cardio or weights on an empty stomach, the body does not have enough glucose to take the energy to make that effort, which makes you use the energy stored in it: body fat.
Related post to continue nerding about fitness: How to transform your body in your 40-50 years
Studies show that doing cardio in fasting increases lipolysis42 (the adipose cell releases the contained fatty acid) and theoxidation of fat43 (the use of that fatty acid as energy).
That is, it helps you mobilize body fat, and then use it as energy .
Intermittent fasting helps mobilize body fat, and then use it as energy.
And if you can do HIIT , it would be a help combo to eliminate the unruly fat because it also helps to increase the level of catecholamines .
The catecholamines are neurotransmitters such as adrenaline and noradrenaline , which help your cell receptors to release the fatty acids contained in them .
But it has its disadvantages :
Cardio on an empty stomach is not the best strategy if your goal is physical performance or muscle gain , because it increases the rates of protein degradation .
This means that if you damage and degrade too many muscle cells in your workouts, your body will not be able to repair itself in time , and you can lose muscle over time .
But do not worry, you can do intermittent fasting and still leave your muscle intact or even have muscle gains, as long as you know what to do .
So let's see that right now.
Fasting and muscle gain
Many people have the impression that fasting can interfere with muscle gains.
This has some truth, but it is not the whole truth.
In some studies, it is shown that reducing food intake to only 2-3 hours did not have an effect on muscle loss in rats46 .
Studies conducted in humans show similar results.
Like this, where it was found that, in humans, restricting food to only 4 hours a day on days off from training did not interfere with muscle gain significantly compared to the control group47 .
In addition, participants who made this protocol, commented that the "difficulty" to follow this diet was 3.8 on a scale of 10.
That is, quite easy to follow.
Of course, if they were not restricted at all, they could eat whatever they wanted , as long as it was within those 4 hours they could eat.
The detail is that there was a lot of variability in how the participants responded .
Another problem with this protocol is that most participants did not reach an optimal protein intake for muscle building.
This is logical, if you only eat in a range of 4 hours a day, you will be easily satiated, causing you to not be able to ingest enough food from the proteins.
Although, as we said before, everything depends on your goals.
If you want to maximize your muscle gain, then you better eat 3-4 times a day and avoid spending a lot of time without eating .
As this study shows, where higher protein synthesis was found in 4 meals a day, than eating 8 or 2 times a day48 .
And this other study shows that eating regularly (3 meals a day) can help you gain more muscle mass than doing intermittent fasting49 .
Does this mean you should not do intermittent fasting if you want to gain muscle?
Not necessarily.
This is shown by this study that found that there was no significant change in muscle mass between the group that ate regularly and the one that did intermittent fasting .
But you should keep in mind that maybe it is not the best strategy to see results in the gym more quickly .
gym results 2
Now, if you want to decrease your percentage of body fat, then intermittent fasting is a very good option.
And if you know what you do, you will not lose muscle mass.
For example, the University of Padova conducted a study comparing people who fasted for 16 hours, and people who did not51 . Both groups trained weights 3 times a week.
The results were that both groups maintained their muscle mass , but the group that fasted lost 1.6 kg of body fat , while in the other group there was no change in this aspect.
This shows us that, if you do intermittent fasting, the ideal would be that you train with resistance exercises (weights).
And it is that, it is logical ...
Your body is highly adaptable.
You need to carry heavy things and you have the necessary nutrients = the muscles grow.
It does not need to move = it atrophies the muscles because it does not need them .
Your body, not having a stimulus for which you must maintain your muscles; what you are going to do is precisely, decrease the volume of these .
The key then, if you want to do intermittent fasting and not lose muscle, is to train with resistance exercises and have an adequate intake of protein per day (1.6 - 2 gr per kilo of body weight)52 .
How to fast
Intermittent fasting protocols
NOTE: I made a guide that shows you the most effective intermittent fasting protocols.
It's totally free and you can download it by clicking here .
There are many intermittent fasting protocols.
But I'll recommend two: " Leangains ", and " Eat Stop Eat ".
Leangains (also known as 16/8):
- Basically, you just have to skip breakfast, having a fast known as 16/8 .
- That is, you spend 16 hours fasting, and a window of 8 hours to eat.
- It is recommended to fast in the morning to sleep without hunger and not affect your sleep.
- I already talked more about this and you can check the article by clicking here .
- It is done daily.
- Eat Stop Eat:
- This is a different fast, and it is about having fasts for 24 hours, twice a week .
- It is a longer fasting, but it is very effective too.
- 2 days a week, but on non-consecutive days , you will fast for 24 hours.
- For example: breakfast, lunch, NO dinner, NO breakfast the next day, YES eat the next day and YES dinners the next day.
- You let another day pass, and you can go back to another 24-hour fast.
- The recommendation is that you do not spend more than 24 hours fasting .
- If you want to know more about each protocol (and 3 more), you can download my intermittent fasting guide.
Yes, yes, yes ... it sounds very nice ... but how do you think I will not stop eating ?
How to hold your first fasts
It is possible that, the first time you fast, the world comes to you.
You will have hunger, headache, irritation ...
But this is normal, and it's just a clue that your body is adapting to this new stimulus .
You will see how, after a few days or weeks, fasting becomes the most normal thing in the world .
There are even studies that show that intermittent fasting improves mood, symptoms of dedepression,ndimproves mental alertness56 .
But at the beginning it is difficult.
Do not worry, there are ways to mitigate this problem .
The most important in my experience is drinking coffee .
Coffee, and especially decaffeination, is an appetite suppressant .
The great advantage of decaffeinated coffee is that it does not alter you .
In addition, studies have found that hunger decreased by 3 hours after taking it.
Another strategy to endure your first fasts, is to drink a lot of water .
Many times, what we think is hunger, is really thirst .
Take the test today, when you start to feel a little hungry, take a glass of water.
You will see how in reality, it was not hunger, but thirst.
Okay. You finished your fast ... and now what?
Are you going to ask for double ration of everything?
No ... ideally, you should eat normally.
And that's what we're going for ...
What to eat after fasting
The usual: many vegetables, protein, and unrefined carbohydrates.
lose-of-weight-protein
Eat as you normally would at home; as long as you have an idea of how to put together a good plate of food .
What you should keep in mind is that when you finish your fast, it is better to distribute your protein intake 3-4 times a day58 .
Look for between 20-40gr of protein per intake.
The great advantage of intermittent fasting is that, thanks to fasting, you can have larger meals.
But you still can not get rid of the energy balance.
So first, you have to calculate how many calories you need , and then your macronutrients :
Calories> protein> fats> carbohydrates.
If you do not want to count calories (super effective), you can measure your portions (moderately effective).
The vast majority of people will have no problem if they follow these recommendations.
But there is a percentage of people who do not seem to tolerate fasting well:
Women and fasting
abdomen-defined
Most women do not have problems with intermittent fasting.
But there is some evidence that shows that they do not respond as well to fasting as men do.
If you try for some time and feel that you can not adapt to fasting, or your periods become irregular, or you have any of these symptoms , better return to eat as you did regularly.
your period is irregular
it's hard for you to sleep or stay asleep
your hair starts to fall
develop acne
you do not recover well from your workouts
your tolerance to stress decreases
you lack of sexual desire
your digestion is noticeably encouraged
you are always cold
If on the contrary, you fast and you feel great, then you can continue doing it without a problem.
What you must not do
Intermittent fasting is one of those things where more does not mean better.
According to what we have seen, the optimal point is within 16-24 hrs of fasting .
The problems with spending hours in the fast, begin to have after 60 hours without food, and this is when it begins to slow down the metabolism62 .
And after 3 days (72 hours) without food is when the real problems begin .
As this time passes, your body begins gluconeogenesis (to take energy from proteins).
This means goodbye muscle .
But if you follow the most studied protocols, you will not have to spend as much time fasting .
And tell me ...
When I did my first transformation from past weight to skinny, I trained poorly and spent a lot of time fasting.
The result was that I lost a lot of muscle mass:
degordoaflaco
I stayed that way for years.
Until I understood better when to use fasting and when not .
This change made that in just 11 months, training better, and lowering the frequency of fasting, will increase my muscle mass much more.
imc
Another thing you should avoid is to think that the rules of the energy balance stop applying with intermittent fasting.
Do not think that because you fasted all day, at night you can eat 4 bowls full of colonel's chicken.
At the end of the day, the amount of food energy is what still matters.
Intermittent fasting is a great tool to control your caloric intake.
But the true value of fasting is another.
The true value of fasting
Imagine that a fat burner , one of those that you sell in the supplement stores (and that is useless), gave you all the benefits of intermittent fasting.
It would be the best selling product of all time .
And all this you have free and literally, without doing anything .
But if intermittent fasting has an advantage, it is this: it helps you to strengthen your mental resistance to the impulses of hunger.
We have become accustomed to flee from hunger ... as if it were something really bad.
Learning to stop, and not being controlled by our impulses, will completely change your life and you will stop being a slave to cravings and anxiety when eating .
Also, it helps you feel comfortable with your hunger.
To realize that there is nothing wrong with hunger and it is very natural to feel it.
It frees you from the addiction to food, because it shows you that you were not eating out of necessity, but on a whim.
And that's another value that intermittent fasting gives you:
When you break the fast, and you have the first bite of food, you'll see how delicious each bite tastes.
It is as if the hunger you have strengthens the taste of food .
It is something that we have been losing with our current modern life.
conclusion
Intermittent fasting is a great ally to achieve your goals.
If you want to gain muscle, it can help you, but it will not be the best strategy .
If you want to lose weight, then it is very convenient because it helps you stay on the diet by not restricting food.
To avoid losing muscle mass with this protocol, it is necessary to train with weights.
Intermittent fasting is something that has a lot of variability in how each person perceives it.
For this reason, it is not completely necessary that you do it, since there will be people who come to you as a glove, and others who will hate it.
You can start with something simple, postponing your breakfast 1 hour more, and go increasing this time one hour more each week, until you eliminate breakfast completely.
Every new nutrition protocol is difficult to maintain at the beginning, and it is not different for intermittent fasting.
Give him a month to see how you feel. If after a month of trying intermittent fasting you still "suffer" for not eating, leave it.
But the safest thing is that after about 2-3 weeks, you no longer feel that voracious hunger every 3 hours.
This changes your life.
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