“Preclinical studies consistently show the robust disease-modifying efficacy of intermittent fasting in animal models on a wide range of chronic disorders, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and neurodegenerative brain diseases,” notes a review paper on Intermittent fasting published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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You might think that fasting to lose weight would cause a drop in metabolism—I certainly assumed that it would—but this is not true according to a new, very interesting book called The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmie Moore.

Fasting does not reduce basal metabolism.

In fact, one study suggests that the exact opposite happens.

4 days of continuous fasting increased metabolism by 12%

They noted that one study found that four (4) days of continuous fasting increased basal metabolism by 12 percent.

Dr. Fung explains why this is.

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Does fasting to lose weight causes you to lose muscle?

No, it does not according to a new book called The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmie Moore.

“Alternate-day fasting over seventy days decreased body weight by 6 percent, but fat mass decreased by 11.4 percent and lean mass (muscle and bone) did not change at all,” Dr. Fung writes.

“The normal protein breakdown of around seventy-five [75] grams per day falls to fifteen to twenty [15-20] grams per day during fasting.

“Rather than burning muscle during fasting, we start conserving muscle.

“Much of the amino acids that are broken down during regular turnover of cells are reabsorbed into new proteins.”

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Does fasting to lose weight cause low blood sugar?

No, it does not according to a new book called The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmie Moore.

“Sometimes people worry that blood sugar will fall very low during fasting and they will become shaky and sweaty. Luckily, this does not actually happen,” Dr. Fung writes.

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If someone fasts for a day, will they eat twice as much the next day?

No according to a new book called The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmie Moore.

Studies show that people eat roughly an extra 500 calories on the day after a fast, but not nearly enough to make up for the calories lost on the day where people consume no calories Dr. Fung notes.

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Here is a summary of the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting has cured some people with type 2 diabetes, and some in as little as two weeks, as noted by Jason Fung, MD who is the author of the book The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting.

Intermittent fasting has allowed some people with type 2 diabetes to get off of insulin (which is a great thing).

Intermittent fasting has allowed some people to get off of all prescription drugs including those for diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, and some in a very short time (in as little as 1.5 months according to one patient Dr. Fung talked about).

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Having people limit their calorie intake to 500 calories every other day, which is 25% of their calorie needs, and allowing them to eat as much as they wanted to on the other days, caused them to lose an average of 11.4 lbs in 3 months, dropping from an average of 169 lbs to 158 lbs, according to a study by Krista Varady, PhD from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Krista Varady, PhD has noted that their research has found that eating 25% of calories every other day (roughly 500 calories every other day) works BETTER than eating 0% of calories—eating NO calories on the “fasting” day—and better than eating 50% or 75% of calories every other day.

They have found that compliance with this type of diet—limiting intake to 500 calories per day (25% of your calorie needs)—is MUCH higher than when people are told to eat NO calories on the “fasting” day.

They have also found that eating 500 calories every other day causes most of the weight loss to be fat, and preserves muscle.

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Having people limit their calorie intake to 500 calories every other day, which is 25% of their calorie needs, and allowing them to eat as much as they wanted to on the other days, causes an average weight loss of 5-6% of body weight in obese people (BMI 30-39) in 2-3 months according to three studies done by Krista Varady, PhD from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Krista Varady, PhD has noted that their research has found that eating 25% of calories every other day (roughly 500 calories every other day) works BETTER than eating 0% of calories—eating NO calories on the “fasting” day—and better than eating 50% or 75% of calories every other day.

They have found that compliance with this type of diet—limiting intake to 500 calories per day (25% of your calorie needs)—is MUCH higher than when people are told to eat NO calories on the “fasting” day.

They have also found that eating 500 calories every other day causes most of the weight loss to be fat, and preserves muscle.

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Having people limit their calorie intake to 500 calories every other day, which is 25% of their calorie needs, and allowing them to eat as much as they wanted to on the other days, causes an average weight loss of 5-6% of body weight in 2-3 months according to studies done by Krista Varady, PhD from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Blood pressure fell by 7 points, falling from 124/78 to 117/72 mm Hg.

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Having people limit their calorie intake to 500 calories every other day, which is 25% of their calorie needs, and allowing them to eat as much as they wanted to on the other days, causes an average weight loss of 5-6% of body weight in 2-3 months according to studies done by Krista Varady, PhD from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

“A couple of adverse events were reported during the study,” the paper notes.

“Two subjects experienced mild headaches during week 1 of the trial, which may or may not be related to dietary treatment.

“One other subject reported constipation during week 1 and 2 of the trial. The subject was advised to consume more fruits and vegetables on feed days, and the constipation subsided by week 3 of the dietary intervention period.”

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Having obese people limit their calorie intake to 500 calories every other day, which is 25% of their calorie needs, and allowing them to eat as much as they wanted to on the other days, caused them to lose an average of 12.3 lbs in 2 months, reducing their body weight by 5.8%, dropping from an average of 213 lbs to 201 lbs, according to a study by Krista Varady, PhD from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Nearly all of the weight loss—11.9 lbs of the 12.3 lbs weight loss—was body fat.

Krista Varady, PhD has noted that their research has found that eating 25% of calories every other day (roughly 500 calories every other day) works BETTER than eating 0% of calories—eating NO calories on the “fasting” day—and better than eating 50% or 75% of calories every other day.

They have found that compliance with this type of diet—limiting intake to 500 calories per day (25% of your calorie needs)—is MUCH higher than when people are told to eat NO calories on the “fasting” day.

They have also found that eating 500 calories every other day causes most of the weight loss to be fat, and preserves muscle.

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The benefits of time-restricted feeding, that is, limiting eating to 8 hours per day (and fasted 16 hours per day), as noted in a recent mouse study which compared time-restricted feeding of 8-hours per day to an ad lib diet where food was available 24-hours per day, include:

• decreased body fat
• improvement in glucose tolerance
• decrease in leptin resistance
• decrease in fatty liver
• decrease in inflammation
• increase in motor coordination
• a higher amplitude of circadian rhythms and metabolic rhythms.

The problems seen in mice that were given access to food 24-hours per day (an ad lib diet) include:

• increased in body fat
• decrease in glucose tolerance
• increase in leptin resistance
• increase in fatty liver
• increase in inflammation
• decrease in motor coordination
• a lower amplitude of circadian rhythms and metabolic rhythms.

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Mice that were given access to a high-fat (61% fat) diet 24-hours per day became obese, but mice that were given time-restricted access to the same high-fat diet only 8 hours per day (and fasted 16 hours per day) did NOT become obese even though both groups at an equivalent number of calories.

This study suggests that time-restricted feeding “reprograms the molecular mechanisms of energy metabolism and body weight regulation” the authors of the paper note.

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Mice that were given access to a high-fat (61% fat) diet 24-hours per day showed glucose intolerance and elevated insulin levels (the equivalent of Type 2 diabetes), however mice that were given time-restricted access to the same high-fat diet only 8 hours per day (and fasted 16 hours per day) showed normal glucose tolerance and insulin levels even though both groups at an equivalent number of calories.

The mice given time-restricted access to the high-fat diet “did not display the hallmarks associated with glucose intolerance found in diet-induced obesity, instead showing glucose tolerance and insulin levels comparable to the control NA mice [mice who were given ad-lib access to a normal low-fat (13% fat) lab chow diet]” the authors of the paper note.

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Mice that were given access to a high-fat (61% fat) diet 24-hours per day showed a:

• disruption of fat oxidation
• impaired entry of fatty acids into the mitochondria (where they are burned for energy)

Whereas, mice that were given time-restricted access to the same high-fat diet only 8 hours per day (and fasted 16 hours per day) showed:

• an increase in fat being released from fat cells (an increase in lipolysis)
• increasing the breakdown of fat in the mitochondria (beta oxidation)
• increasing fat oxidation (the burning of fat)
• increasing energy expenditure (calories burned)
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Limiting eating to 8-hours per day (and fasting 16 hours per day) prevents obesity, Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, inflammation and elevated insulin levels according to a study in mice given a high-fat diet (61% fat) even though the mice were allowed to eat as much as they wanted to.

Another group of mice that were given the same high-fat diet, but the food was available 24-hours per day, became obese even though they ate an equivalent number of calories during the 4.5 months study.

Time-restricted access to food, allowing the mice to only eat 8 hours per day, prevented obesity and metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver by:

• increasing the release of fat from fat cells (lipolysis)
• increasing the breakdown of fat in the mitochondria (beta oxidation)
• increasing fat oxidation (the burning of fat)
• increasing energy expenditure (calories burned)
• reducing insulin levels
• reprogramming glucose metabolism away from gluconeogenesis (the synthesis of glucose from fat and protein), and towards glycolysis (converting glucose into ATP, the universal energy molecule)

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Here is the exercise and diet protocol that is described in the study of the "mini-fast with exercise" described previously here.

I cannot verify if this works or not, but wanted to post it for those who would like to try it.

Thank you to David W. Pearce-Smith for sending me this article. Read the entire article | Email this article

People lost an average of 16.3 pounds of fat in three months when they were asked to fast 12-14 hours per day and then perform prolonged, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise at least 3-5 times per week during this period of fasting each day.

This according to a study by Babak Bahadori, MD from Austria, author of the book "Dr. Bahadori´s Leanness Program" (which does not seem to be available at this time), and people from the Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana, Mexico.

The idea behind this is that exercising while fasting forces your body to burn fat. Read the entire article | Email this article

Fasting every other day may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, but may not reduce body weight according to a new study from researchers at the University of California at Berkeley in Berkeley, California, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

People lose more muscle while fasting than on a low-calorie or very-low-calorie diet. While fasting, approximately 18 percent of weight loss is lean body mass (muscle). While on a very-low calorie diet, 30 percent of weight loss is lean body mass (muscle). While on a low-calorie diet, 18 percent of weight loss is lean body mass (muscle). Read the entire article | Email this article

People lose weight three times as fast while fasting as opposed to while on a low-calorie diet. While fasting, people lost an average of 0.77 pounds per day compared to 1.14 pounds per day while on a very-low calorie diet versus 2.22 pounds per day while fasting. Read the entire article | Email this article

People who fasted for six days lost an average of 13.3 pounds or 5.6 percent of their body weight according to a new paper about fasting. Read the entire article | Email this article

Obese women lost 15 percent of body weight on average by without restricting calories during the daytime from 6 am to 5 pm, but simply by fasting at night after 5 pm according to an interesting study from researchers in the Department of Experimental Nutrition at the Institute of Nutrition in Tunisia. Read the entire article | Email this article

Fasting every other day causes normal weight people to lose an average of 2.5 percent of their body weight in three weeks and increase the amount of fat they burned by 15 grams (45 calories) per day according to a new study.. Read the entire article | Email this article