Fasting for a week:
- Causes significant changes in protein levels across various organs.
- May have health benefits beyond weight loss, but only after 3 days.
- Switches energy source from glucose to fat after 2-3 days.
- Average weight loss of 5.7 kg (fat and muscle), with most fat loss sustained after 3 days of eating.
Implications:
- Provides insights into the molecular basis of fasting’s health effects.
- Paves the way for developing alternative treatments based on fasting benefits.
- Confirms historical use of fasting for specific health conditions.
Doctors will recommend fasting, or at least intermittent fasting, for a variety of conditions. Particulaly it helps you deal with insulin resistance, which isn’t just diabetes. It could be why you’re carrying a lot of weight, and it could also have to do with anxiety.
‘Diet’ and exercise don’t always work for everyone, or for all problems, and insisting that it does really damages the people who have legitimately put a lot of effort into both those things without seeing meaningful results. Not only do they not see benefits from their hard work, they also start to feel like they’re just not doing enough even if they are.
You should really look into some of the actual science behind fasting, and also behind caloric reduction and exercise before you criticize it so dismissively.
CICO is science.
Yeah, we’re aware that the laws of thermodynamics must be followed. The study clearly showed that if you set CI to zero, and CO remains nonzero, you lose weight.
CICO is science, but your CO can change based on your CI and there are cases where it’s very hard to keep CI down. For an example, I have ADHD, it’s legitimately extremely difficult to keep track of what I eat, eating one meal a day was about the only thing that helped. I believe I was also prediabetic (based on my glucose levels before my weight loss) and eating a small meal, particularly if rich in carbs, made me go hangrryyyyyyy later, but in a fasted state I was completely OK. Now I’ve lost something around the neighbourhood of 30 kilos/65 lbs and don’t need to do one meal a day anymore, because I feel sated from much less food AND stay sated way longer.
This is why different people need their different tricks for weight loss. Find out how to reduce your hunger first and foremost, then focus on actually reducing calories. If fasting leads to being able to handle caloric restriction, it’s awesome. If not, try something else. But don’t restrict calories in a way that makes you continuously feel hungry, because that just won’t work long term.