There are many different ways to lose weight.
One that has become popular in recent years is called intermittent fasting.
This is a way of eating that involves regular short-term fasts.
Fasting for short periods helps people eat fewer calories, and also helps optimize some hormones related to weight control.
There are several different intermittent fasting methods. Three popular ones are:
- The 16/8 Method: Skip breakfast every day and eat during an 8-hour feeding window, such as from 12 noon to 8 pm.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: Do one or two 24-hour fasts each week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
- The 5:2 Diet: Only eat 500-600 calories on two days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
As long as you don’t compensate by eating much more during the non-fasting periods, then these methods will lead to reduced calorie intake and help you lose weight and belly fat.
How Intermittent Fasting Affects Your Hormones
Body fat is the body’s way of storing energy (calories).
When we don’t eat anything, the body changes several things to make the stored energy more accessible.
This has to do with changes in nervous system activity, as well as a major change in several crucial hormones.
Here are some of the things that change in your metabolism when you fast:
- Insulin: Insulin increases when we eat. When we fast, insulin decreases dramatically. Lower levels of insulin facilitate fat burning.
- Human growth hormone (HGH): Levels of growth hormone may skyrocket during a fast, increasing as much as 5-fold. Growth hormone is a hormone that can aid fat loss and muscle gain, among other things.
- Norepinephrine (noradrenaline): The nervous system sends norepinephrine to the fat cells, making them break down body fat into free fatty acids that can be burned for energy.
Interestingly, despite what the 5-6 meals a day proponents would have you believe, short-term fasting may actually increase fat burning.
Two studies have found that fasting for about 48 hours boosts metabolism by 3.6-14%. However, fasting periods that are longer can reduce metabolism.
Bottom Line: Short-term fasting leads to several changes in the body that make fat burning easier. This includes reduced insulin, increased growth hormone, enhanced epinephrine signalling and a small boost in metabolism.
Intermittent Fasting Helps You Reduce Calories and Lose Weight
The main reason that intermittent fasting works for weight loss, is that it helps you eat fewer calories.
