What does Intermittent Fasting do if it all comes down to calories ?

[Elian16]

What the hell does IF do if fat loss all comes down to caloric deficit anyways ? Hidge twins made it seem like its a good way to lose fat and maintain muscle , but if ill lose fat anyways, why do IF ?

There must be a reason.

[Znik]

It's a eating pattern that can be used to control hunger, if you respond well to it you usually never get hungry outside your eating window.

[CaffeineYAY]

It's a eating pattern that can be used to control hunger, if you respond well to it you usually never get hungry outside your eating window.

This. There's also a relationship between elevated levels of cortisol in the morning leading to higher blood glucose levels if carbs in particular are consumed soon after waking.. Which leads to hunger shortly after breakfast.

Hence why many people dont eat until after a certain hour of the day.

[unleashthelion]

Indeed... compliance.

When I started losing weight, I was coming off of eating 2000+ calorie meals and there is no way I could've instantly transitioned to more normal 500 calorie meals. Instead, I started IF and ate two 1000 calorie meals (within an 8 hour window) and it didn't feel like I was denying myself; it felt like I was getting a lot of food for being "on a diet".

[xanderlam]

intermittent fasting is just new broscience.

ive tried it consistently and its really overrated. u will be fkin hungry regardless of what diet u use when cutting down to low body fat levels

[CaffeineYAY]

intermittent fasting is just new broscience.

ive tried it consistently and its really overrated. u will be fkin hungry regardless of what diet u use when cutting down to low body fat levels

I guess everyone feels different with IF. It works great for me, and I don't get hungry.

[madhessian]

I eat one meal every 24 hours of about 1700- 2000 calories. Rather have a good steak, and a pile of veggies, than a bunch of will power testing 500 calorie meals through the day. Just easier on me personally. Have a cup of coffee in the AM and water the rest of the day till dinner. Works for me YMMV.

[AncientYouth]

eating breakfast make me hungrier , waiting until between noon and 2pm helps me manage my calories much easier in fact I often find it hard to eat all the calories I need some days despite going 500-600 cals below TDEE. IF + IIFYM + leptin reset days + high activity = not as painful as it could be to maintain a reduction in calories!

if it works for you do it if it don't dont

[CanadianEric]

IF is not just about reducing hunger. It manipulates your hormones and insulin levels in a way which is favorable towards making your body burn fat while maintaining muscle.

Fasting through the day is a catabolic activity which activates what is called Cyclical AMP. When cAMP is active, it releases hormones which encourage fat loss while simultaneously blocking the release of insulin, which is extremely detrimental to the body's ability to burn fat. With IF, the underfeeding or fasting part of the day is what activates cAMP.

The next stage of IF is the overeating stage.With your body having been "switched" to cAMP for most of the day, it has been primed for Cyclical GMP. cGMP, triggered by the act of overeating (especially of carbs), releases a massive spike of insulin and IGF1 (Insulin Growth Factor 1, a steroid).

It is the way that IF manipulates the AMP and GMP cycles that makes it an effective strategy for cutting. Yes, it reduces hunger, thus making caloric reduction easier to deal with. But perhaps the greatest benefit of IF is the way it constantly shifts gears between catabolism (allowing your body to burn fat) and anabolism (allowing your body to preserve muscle during a cut) that makes it such an effective nutritional protocol. Your metabolism is never given the chance to adjust its "set-points" which so often plauge both 'cutters' and 'bulkers'. The daily shift from catabolism to anabolism keeps your metabolism in fat burning, muscle preserving mode, never lingering in one state for too long.

[basedgod10]

basically nothing, don't worry about little stuff like this unless you're an elite bodybuilder. like you said calories in calories out

[jimaras22]

better insulin control,no hunger,no worry , better energy but yes it's calories in vs out

i have used it even with low cal 700-800 with tdee of 2000 and it worked great .. but i did it gradually dropping 100 calories every other day

[Slanman]

they said in one of their videos that it's really only beneficial if you do morning cardio. im not sure if its correct but it makes sense.

the logic behind what they said was that say you eat 11am-5pm for your window. if you go work out the next morning, you will have an empty stomach because all of your food from the previous day has been digested or w/e during the night.
so instead of burning the food for energy, your body goes to its stored energy source - fat, thus making it a better fat burning method.

but like i said, im not sure if this is actually true. it's just what was explained, and honestly it does make sense.

[jimsmith9999]

Works great for appetite control which leads to greater dietary compliance for some. That's it, that's all. There is no physiological advantage to it over eating the same calories/macros in a non-IF manner.

Ever Martin Berkhan has said there is nothing special about IF.

That said - if it works for you wrt appetite control, it's like bloody magic. Easiest way I have ever dieted. I never feel hungry with IF.

[xanderlam]

i actually think what i did wrong was i fasted for 20 hrs and only ate 1 meal post workout which caused hunger and low energy.

been accidentally IFing these past few days due to morning cardio and its right around 16:8 fast:feed and it seems hunger controls been better these few days : )

[Znik]

they said in one of their videos that it's really only beneficial if you do morning cardio. im not sure if its correct but it makes sense.

the logic behind what they said was that say you eat 11am-5pm for your window. if you go work out the next morning, you will have an empty stomach because all of your food from the previous day has been digested or w/e during the night.
so instead of burning the food for energy, your body goes to its stored energy source - fat, thus making it a better fat burning method.

but like i said, im not sure if this is actually true. it's just what was explained, and honestly it does make sense.

It's true that is a excellent way to burn off your fat stores if you do LISS and food in the system is mostly gone so fat becomes the primary fuel source.

But the thing all those articles/studies etc. do not tell you, is that once you eat again most of that food will go straight back to replenishing those fat stores, how and when you burn the energy(calories) makes no difference as long as it results in a calorie deficit by the end of the day/week/month etc. So a system for burning the most fat is useless , since it all comes down to Calories in vs Calories out.

For instance if you do 45min of fasted cardio and burn off 500cals of fat, and during the day you eat enough to only make a 200calorie deficit from maintenance, that would mean you only burned 200 calories of fat since 300cals of that previously burned fat got stored as new fat.
Or if you did no cardio, and had a 500 calorie deficit in diet from maintenance at the end of the day, the body would need to make up for that 500 deficit by going to fat stores, and you burned off 500 calories of fat without doing any cardio.

[fightnak3d]

Can't say much for fat/weight loss but once you get used to IF, it's awesome. I love the feeling of hunger now. And I love eating everything at once. I eat in a 4 hour window. Plus my energy is through the roof

[apace]

i love I.F because even while dieting you can eat big satifying meals , sometimes if i eat out im save all my calories for that meal , extremely enjoyable

[lycaki]

i love I.F because even while dieting you can eat big satifying meals , sometimes if i eat out im save all my calories for that meal , extremely enjoyable

As above, this pretty much sums up IF for me too... It gives you flexibility with eating, you can go out and not be a diet freak and enjoy while eating more than anyone else at the table.
I buy into the whole 'perhaps it burns more fat because you're fasted' but I can never stop that little voice at the back of my head saying 'it's just a food management program' and I think that's what it is. I find it works for me... I like it a lot

Try it but give it a week to break your cravings and routine... first few days are tough and you will convince yourself you are getting lighthead!!! You're not

[jimsmith9999]

i actually think what i did wrong was i fasted for 20 hrs and only ate 1 meal post workout which caused hunger and low energy.

been accidentally IFing these past few days due to morning cardio and its right around 16:8 fast:feed and it seems hunger controls been better these few days : )

It can take your body time to adapt to it, but it will. Read up on ghrelin if you are interested in the why.