The Real Truth About Intermittent Fasting & Fat Loss

A lot of people sort of hyped it up as being some kind of magical dieting solution that everyone should be using. So today I want to give you the real facts about what intermittent fasting is and what it isn’t, so that you can decide for yourself if it’s right for you. So what intermittent fasting is; is that it’s one option out of many different options when it comes to laying out your calories and macros for the day. So we know that meal frequency is basically a non issue when it comes to fat loss, so in other words eating a larger meals less frequently or smaller meals more frequently that’s not going to affect your bottom line rate of fat loss, and so the basic goal of your fat loss diet should be to lay out your daily meals in whatever you personally prefer and in whatever way it feels best for you individually in terms of managing your hunger, maintaining you energy and focus, and sticking to your diet over the longer term.

For a certain percentage of people fasting for 16 hours and then eating two or three larger meals within an eight hour window, which is the most popular I.F. method, for certain percentages of people that is the most effective way of doing things. A lot of people find that they get more physical and mental satisfaction out of being able to sit down and enjoy those larger meals, and they also might find that there’s less margin for error because they’re not eating all throughout the day and so it was easier to not overboard on calories. So for a lot of people it’s just a good way of simplifying things and hitting their daily calories more easily.


But that’s really all intermittent fasting is, again it’s one possible option, one possible way of laying out your daily meals and it’s a way that a certain percentage of the population will prefer. Now, what intermittent fasting isn’t; is some sort of fail-proof way of eating that every single dieter will do better on and on top of that it doesn’t have any special fat burning effects in comparison to eating more frequently throughout the day. In other words, assuming that your calories and your macros are the same it’s not going to make any difference in terms of bottom line fat loss. Someone eating 2,000 calories on an intermittent fasting diet will ultimately lose fat at the same rate as someone eating 2,000 calories on six meals a day.

There actually is some data on this that I’ll link in the description box below, which looked at 40 different studies comparing an intermittent calorie deficit with a continuous calorie deficit, and the conclusion was basically that not only were the actual fiber-rating(?) results the same but the number of people who stuck with the diet versus how many dropped out, that was also the same. The reason why a lot of people swear by the intermittent fasting and say that they got better results with it, isn’t because I.F. itself burn fat faster but instead it’s because for a lot of people using the I.F. structure helps them stay on point with their daily calorie targets more effectively, which is a huge issue because most average dieters will tend to under-report their calorie intake by a pretty big margin.

So they lose fat faster simply because of better accuracy and better overall adherence, and that’s something that they might have been lacking when they were eating more frequent meals. As a final note, yes you will see plenty of client testimonials from people who promoted intermittent fasting, but you can very easily find testimonials for pretty much any type of diet and keep in mind that for every person who reports, you know, great results with intermittent fasting there’s also going to be plenty people out here, who you never hear from, who don’t get the results that they’re after. So it’s pretty easy to have those positive testimonials take out but there’s probably just as many people out there who tried intermittent fasting and didn’t like it but you just never hear from them. So what’s the bottom line here?

If you’ve tried dieting on a traditional structure of four to six meals spaced throughout the day and you have a hard time sticking with it or if you just want to give something different a try then, yeah, intermittent fasting is a perfectly reasonable option to try out, and a lot of people do prefer it and you might also. That said, it doesn’t have any magical fat burning effects and if you do just fine on a more traditional fat loss diet, don’t think that switching to I.F. is going to make any difference because it probably won’t. I personally have tried intermittent fasting. It wasn’t for me and I’ve gotten fairly lean and then just fine using the typical five meals spaced throughout a day. I personally always prefer eating breakfast and I like eating later at night too, and I don’t like training fasted and I also don’t like going long periods without eating.