Intermittent fasting: reviews. Intermittent fasting for weight loss

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Since ancient times, great thinkers and politicians have practiced fasting to cleanse the body and mind. With the development of science and medicine, disputes about the benefits and harms of fasting flared up hotter. Over the past centuries, there have been enough studies and experiments on animals and humans to accurately describe the reactions that occur in the human body when food is refused. Based on the results of research, several dozens, maybe hundreds, of methods for such a diet as intermittent fasting have been developed. Reviews of the results are contradictory. The technique has both adherents and ardent opponents.

Effective Diet: Intermittent Fasting

Today there are several types of fasting: absolute, complete and periodic.

With absolute starvation, both food and any liquid, including water, are excluded from the diet. In view of the onset of irreversible reactions in the body and the possibility of causing irreparable harm to he alth, absolute restriction in food should not be carried out for more than 7 days. It is recommended to resort tosimilar procedure only under the supervision of a physician.

Full fasting implies the rejection of food in any form, however, the consumption of water is allowed in any volume. The minimum that must be consumed daily is 2 liters of water, if desired, more can be. With this type of fasting, you can hold out for about 21 days. If this method is used for recreational purposes, it is carried out exclusively in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.

Intermittent Fasting Rules

For effective weight loss, you need a diet. Periodic refusal of food involves the consumption during the day of the daily norm of food during the so-called "eating window", the framework of which is set individually. Usually the window is from 2 to 8 hours. The rest of the day (that is, the remaining 16-22 hours), a person observes intermittent fasting for weight loss, using only water.

It should be noted that this method implies proper nutrition, exclusion from the diet of bakery products, fast food, soda and other semi-finished products with a high content of fats and carbohydrates. In other words, if you eat half a kilo of cakes after a fasting period, washed down with a liter of Coca-Cola, there will be no result, the opposite phenomenon with weight gain is possible.

A reasonable approach and a well-chosen strategy implies an active lifestyle and mandatory physical activity during a starvation diet. Intermittent fasting shows excellent results as part of weight loss exercises. At the same time, the effect can be achieved without burning muscle mass.

Intermittent fasting in bodybuilding

Recently, there was an opinion that if an athlete feels hungry and does not have time to make up for the lack of certain substances in the body, the process of catabolism starts, and muscle volume decreases, which is unacceptable for bodybuilders. However, many athletes still use intermittent fasting. Drying for drawing muscles and a relief body is mandatory, especially before competitions.

However, to date, it has been proven that the above statement is false. The process of catabolism starts only after 16-24 hours of fasting, that is, before that, the body replenishes the missing substances from fatty tissues, thus stimulating fat burning and weight loss.

It has also been proven that it is intermittent fasting that is most effective when it comes to burning fat in the so-called problem areas. In men, this is the lower abdomen and lower back. For women, the abdomen and the entire lower body, including the buttocks, thighs and calves.

How does fasting trigger fat burning?

Simplistically, it all looks something like this: during meals and immediately after eating, the level of fatty acids and insulin rises, and the fat burning process stops.

But after about 16 hours you begin to feel hungry, which means that insulin levels have decreased, and catecholamines rush tofat cells. The process of burning fat in problem areas starts. It is with the help of the described technique that it is possible to most effectively get rid of body fat without losing muscle mass. This is the result of intermittent fasting in bodybuilding.

Undeniable advantages of the technique

Studies have shown that intermittent fasting experienced the following benefits:

• Blood pressure decreased.
• The risk of cancer was getting lower.
• Disappeared signs of inflammation, including acne.
• Increased metabolism.
• The process of cell renewal accelerated.
• Intermittent fasting for girls was an effective way to lose weight and burn fat.
• Appetite control was established.

Despite the improvement in many indicators, another thing is worth noting: similar reactions occur in the body and during sleep, during which a person does not eat, which in fact is intermittent fasting. The results can be improved or accelerated, and experts recommend increasing the hours of not eating and introducing mandatory training.

Contraindications

There are several contraindications that should not be used for intermittent fasting:

• BMI less than 15.
• Tuberculosis.
• Tumours.
• Heart disease.
• Diabetes.
• Low or high blood pressure.
• Urolithiasis.
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including ulcers, gastritis.
• Children's age.
• Pregnancy and lactation.

Some of the contraindications are relative, after consultation with a doctor, restrictions can be lifted, and intermittent fasting can be used as a diet.

Overview of intermittent fasting systems

1. Fasting every other day. With this program, you should fast for 36 hours, and eat only 12, while choosing only he althy foods.
2. Random skipping meals. Proponents of this technique suggest skipping one or two meals a week at your discretion.
3. 24-hour fast. In this case, once or twice a week, you yourself choose 24 hours of refusal of food, on the rest of the days you eat protein foods and fiber.
4. Drying. This program is designed for the most part for professional athletes who need to dry out, but not allow muscle tissue to decrease. Thus, the optimal ratio of the fasting period and meals is 16/8. At the same time, in the 8-hour period, which is called the "eating window", 50% of the total diet falls on the period after training, which, in turn, takes place on an empty stomach.
5. Warrior diet. In this program, the "eating window" lasts only 4 hours. The list of products is strictly limited. Training takes place on an empty stomach.

Things to remember with intermittent fasting: feedback from practitioners

Almostall fasting protocols reduce the time of the "eating window", it is acceptable to increase the period of fasting. Reviews of those who constantly practice fasting say that you need to focus only on your own well-being, select a nutrition scheme individually.

To maintain muscle mass, you need to balance the hours of fasting and eating. In practice, it has been found that the optimal ratio is no more than 20-24 hours of fasting. A longer refusal of food will lead to the loss of muscle tissue. In this case, the first meal immediately after training will allow the muscles to recover quickly. Testimonials from professional athletes indicate that if the time frame is not respected, muscle mass rapidly decreases.

Practitioners also note: if he alth problems arise, you don’t feel well, your concentration has dropped significantly, there is a breakdown, or it has become too difficult to adhere to a strict fasting framework from a psychological point of view, the diet should be stopped or the duration of the “food intake” should be increased. windows.”

Quite often there are reviews of people with diseases of the digestive tract who have tried to endure fasting. Unfortunately, practice has shown that the contraindication for gastritis and ulcers is strict.

Cure fasting for obesity

With overweight, experts often resort to hunger treatment. Scientific publications and medical experience confirm the effectiveness of the method. However, a number of preparatory measures should be taken before using periodicstarvation. Mass gain with the wrong approach is almost guaranteed.

Approximately 1-2 months before the start of the program, the patient is transferred to a reduced diet. That is, his eating behavior first changes. To do this, the patient must adhere to 6 meals a day in fractional portions, preferably at the same time of day.

If obesity has come as a result of a sedentary or sedentary lifestyle, the doctor will individually select the laughter of physical activity. Only then does the diet itself begin. As a rule, for therapeutic purposes, intermittent fasting is carried out in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.

Eating rules for fasting

Summing up the results of all programs using this method, we can single out the most common and safest diet, which is used by both ordinary people and athletes, combining it with training. Basic principles of the 16/8 diet:

• There are two periods in the day: "eating window" and fasting.
• Eating window is 8 hours, no food is 16 hours.
• During fasting, you can drink water, green tea, black coffee without cream and sugar.
• BCAAs required for athletes to maintain muscle mass.
• The "eating window" should fit 2-3 meals, each of which should not exceed the volume of two fists.
• Animal fat intake should be reduced to 50 grams per day.
• Workout is done on an empty stomach at the end of the fasting period.
• The first meal should be immediatelyafter training and in relation to the daily calorie intake is 50%.
• For a visible result, fast food, sweets, flour and pasta, thermally processed food are excluded from food.

Day plan for intermittent fasting 16/8

8.00 - a glass of water, BCAA.

9.00 - green tea or coffee.

11.00 - green tea or coffee.

12.00 – BCAA.

12.00-13.30 – training.

13.40 - 1st meal, 50% of the total diet.

16.40 - 2nd meal, 25% of the diet.

20.40 - Meal 3, 25% meal or light protein snack.

21.00-13.00 fasting.

This diagram is just an example. For the best result, you should build your schedule individually, taking into account the training time, which you should be guided by, since it is after physical activity that the “exit” from fasting and the first meal occur. Weight loss does not happen quickly enough. This is offset by a long and stable result, which does not disappear when the diet is abandoned, and weight gain does not occur.