Even though the concept of fasting has literally been around for centuries, the idea of intermittent fasting has only become popular over the last few years. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The average person probably eats food from around 8 AM to maybe 9 PM in the form of various meals and snacks.

 

That means you eat for around 13 hours and then eat nothing for about 11 hours. Once you stop eating and your body has processed all the food from your last meal you will go into a fasted state which lasts for around 6-7 hours.

 

Intermittent fasting doubles this fasted state by having you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8. Some diets even go as far as 20h fasting and 4 hours eating.

 

Now, what happens when you do this? Proponents of the intermittent fasting diet will tell you that longer fasting will lower insulin levels, increase testosterone, help will cellular repair and gene expression.

 

Sounds pretty amazing, right?

 

Not so fast, the problem with this is that all these changes (if they actually take place and aren’t made up) are so small that they won’t make a noticeable difference.

 

At least that’s what a meta-study of over 40 studies on intermittent fasting found. The scientists concluded that intermittent fasting is not superior to traditional dieting and found no significant benefits related to body composition, fat loss, insulin sensitivity, or hormones.

 

 

This means that much of the marketing done in the name of IF is made up or completely exaggerated. That said, I do belief this dieting approach can make sense for people that fall into two categories.

 

1. Anyone who doesn’t have the time or discipline to eat 5 or 6 meals per day and prefers to eat large amounts of food within a small time frame. Meal frequency and meal timing are a lot less important than most people think. What matters is how much you eat (in calories) and what (in nutrients).

 

Intermittent fasting takes this to the extreme and has you eating large amounts of food within a few hours. If this approach appeals to you then go ahead and try it out. I personally am completely happy with the traditional approach and feel weak when I go several hours without food, but that might be different for you.

 

2. The second category of people who might benefit from intermittent fasting are those who have trouble counting calories. Since you will be consuming most of your food in just a few hours, it’ll bee easier to monitor your calorie intake and stick to a calorie deficit.

 

If you don’t allow yourself to eat outside the 6 hour window you already eliminate one of the biggest reasons why people don’t succeed at dieting: High calorie snacks.

 

I don’t have this problem and have dieted successfully for years, so again this approach isn’t my favorite but if it fits your lifestyle and preferences go ahead and give it a try.

 

And this is basically the bottom line for intermittent fasting. It’s not some amazing cure for all your weight loss and muscle building problems. In fact, if you still consume the same amount of calorie and the same macros you probably won’t see any changes. But the stricter approach does help some people to get back on track and simply stick to their diet plan.