![\"Tony](\"http:\/\/bestratefinders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Tony-the-Tiger-2.jpg\")
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“…Tony the Tiger tells us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It’s grrrrrreat!”<\/strong><\/p>\n This adage about breakfast has become commonplace that it’s readily and unquestionably accepted as fact.<\/p>\n Well then, what\u2019s with the growing popularity of Intermittent Fasting and SKIPPING breakfast? <\/span><\/p>\n (Tony just audibly gasped.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In this Ultimate Guide to Intermitting Fasting<\/span>, I’ll teach you everything about the science of fasting and what results you can expect:<\/strong><\/p>\n ALSO, if you’re interested, Nerd Fitness Journey has an intermittent fasting adventure that you can start today!<\/strong><\/p>\n This fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life, all while building your very own superhero!<\/p>\n Sign-up for a free trial right here:<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cConventional wisdom\u201d isn\u2019t that smart. <\/b><\/p>\n We\u2019re going to take two widely accepted healthy eating \u201crules\u201d and turn them on their head:<\/span><\/p>\n RULE #1: You HAVE to eat first thing in the morning: <\/strong>Make sure you start off with a healthy breakfast, so you can get that metabolism firing first thing in the morning! <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There are even studies that show those that eat earlier in the day lose more weight than those who ate later in the day or skipped a meal.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n RULE #2: Eat lots of small meals for weight loss. <\/b>Make sure you eat six small meals throughout the day so your metabolism stays operating at maximum capacity all day long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In other words,<\/span><\/i> \u201c<\/span><\/i>eat breakfast and lots of small meals to lose weight and obtain optimal health.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n But what if there\u2019s science and research that shows SKIPPING BREAKFAST (the horror! blasphemy!) can help with optimum human performance, mental and physical health improvement, maximum muscle retention, and body fat loss?<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s where an Intermittent Fasting Plan comes in.<\/b><\/p>\n Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a <\/span>dieting pattern<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n In simpler terms: it’s making a conscious decision to skip certain meals on purpose.<\/em><\/p>\n By fasting and then feasting deliberately, intermittent fasting generally means that you consume your calories during a specific window of the day, and choose not to eat food for a larger window of time.<\/span><\/p>\n There are a few different ways to take advantage of intermittent fasting, which I learned about from Martin over at LeanGains<\/a>, a resource specifically built around fasted strength training:<\/strong><\/p>\n #1) INTERMITTENT FASTING 16\/8 PLAN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n What it is:<\/strong> Fasting for 16 hours and then only eating within a specific 8-hour window.\u00a0For example, only eating from noon-8 PM, essentially skipping breakfast.<\/p>\n Some people only eat in a 6-hour window, or even a 4-hour window. This is the “feasting” and “fasting” parts of your days and the most common form of Intermittent Fasting. It’s also my preferred method (5 years running).<\/p>\n Two examples:<\/strong> The top means you are skipping breakfast, the bottom means you are skipping dinner each day:<\/p>\n You can adjust this window to make it work for your life:<\/strong><\/p>\n #2) INTERMITTENT FASTING 24-HOUR PLAN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Skip two meals one day, where you take 24 hours off from eating.<\/strong>\u00a0For example, eat on a normal schedule (finishing dinner at 8PM) and then you don’t eat again until 8PM the following day.<\/p>\n With this plan, you eat your normal 3 meals per day, and then occasionally pick a day to skip breakfast and lunch the next day.<\/p>\n If you can only do an 18 hour fast, or a 20 hour fast, or a 22 hour fast – that’s okay! Adjust with different time frames and see how your body responds.<\/p>\n Two examples:<\/strong> skipping breakfast and lunch one day of the week, and then another where you skip lunch and dinner one day, two days in a week.<\/p>\n Note: You can do this once a week, twice a week, or whatever works best for your life and situation.<\/em><\/p>\n Those are the two most popular intermittent fasting plans, and the two we’ll be focusing on, though there are many variations of both that you can modify for yourself:<\/p>\n You’ll need to experiment, adjust to work for your lifestyle and goals, and see how your body responds.<\/p>\n Let’s first get into the science here behind Intermittent Fasting and why you should consider it!<\/em><\/p>\n Now, you might be thinking: “okay, so by skipping a meal, I will eat less than I normally eat on average (2 meals instead of 3), and thus I will lose weight, right?”<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n By cutting out an entire meal each day, you are consuming fewer calories per week – even if your two meals per day are slightly bigger than before. Overall, you’re still consuming fewer calories per day.<\/p>\n In this example, you\u2019re eating LARGER lunches and dinners than you normally do, but by skipping breakfast you\u2019ll consume 500 less calories per day.<\/p>\n And thus, weight loss!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n This is highlighted in a recent JAMA study[2]<\/sup><\/a> in which both calorie restricted dieters and intermittent fasters lost similar amounts of weight over a year period.<\/p>\n That doesn’t tell the FULL story, as\u00a0the timing of meals can also influence how your body reacts.<\/p>\n Intermittent Fasting can help because\u00a0your body operates differently when “feasting” compared to when “fasting”:<\/strong><\/p>\n When you eat a meal, your body spends a few hours processing that food, burning what it can from what you just consumed. <\/strong><\/p>\n Because it has all of this readily available, easy-to-burn energy (thanks to the food you ate), your body will choose to use that as energy rather than the fat you have stored.<\/p>\n During the “fasted state” (the hours in which your body is not consuming or digesting any food) your body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy.<\/p>\n Thus, it is more likely<\/em> to pull from the fat stored in your body as it’s the only energy source readily available.<\/p>\n Burning fat = win.<\/em><\/p>\n The same goes for working out in a “fasted” state.<\/strong><\/p>\n Without a ready supply of glucose and glycogen to pull from (which has been depleted over the course of your fasted state, and hasn’t yet been replenished with a pre-workout meal), your body is forced to adapt and pull from a source of energy that it does have available: the fat stored in your cells.<\/p>\n Why does this work?<\/strong>\u00a0Our bodies react to energy consumption (eating food) with insulin production.<\/p>\n The more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you’ll be to use the food you consume efficiently, and your body is most sensitive to insulin following a period of fasting\u00a0<\/em>[3]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n These changes to insulin production and sensitivity can help lead to weight loss [4]<\/sup><\/a> and muscle creation\u00a0[5]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n Next:<\/strong> Your glycogen (a starch stored in your muscles and liver that your body can burn as fuel when necessary) is depleted during sleep (aka during fasting), and will be depleted even further during training, which can\u00a0lead to increased insulin sensitivity.<\/p>\n This means that a meal following your workout will be used more efficiently:<\/strong>\u00a0converted to glycogen and stored up in your muscles\u00a0or burned as energy immediately to help with the recovery process, with minimal amounts stored as fat.<\/p>\n Compare this to a regular day (no intermittent fasting):<\/strong>\u00a0With insulin sensitivity at normal levels, the carbs and foods consumed will see full glycogen stores and enough glucose in the bloodstream, and thus be more likely to get stored as fat.<\/p>\n Back to fasting:<\/strong> growth hormone is increased during fasted states (both <\/span>during sleep\u00a0[6]<\/sup><\/a>and after a period of fasting). Combine this <\/span>increased growth hormone secretion:[7]<\/sup><\/a>, the decrease in insulin production (and thus increase in <\/span>insulin sensitivity\u00a0[8]<\/sup><\/a>), and you’re essentially priming your body for muscle growth and fat loss with intermittent fasting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The less science-y version:<\/strong>\u00a0Intermittent fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently, and your body can learn\u00a0to burn fat as fuel when you deprive it of new calories to constantly pull from (if you eat all day long).<\/p>\n TL\/DR:<\/strong> For many different physiological reasons, fasting can help promote weight loss and muscle building when done properly.<\/p>\n I know Intermittent Fasting can be overwhelming for many, which is why we sought to simplify the practice for our new app: Nerd Fitness Journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n When you get started, we won’t have you jumping into the deep end. Instead, we’ll provide small missions so you can gradually grow accustomed to skipping meals.<\/p>\n If you want, you can sign-up for a free trial right here:<\/p>\n There are a few main reasons why diet books recommend six small meals:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1) When you eat a meal, your body does<\/em> have to burn extra calories <\/strong>[9]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0just to process that meal.<\/strong>\u00a0So, the theory is that if you eat all day long with small meals, your body is constantly burning extra calories and your metabolism is firing at optimal capacity, right? Well, that’s not true.<\/p>\n Whether you eat 2000 calories spread out throughout the day, or 2000 calories in a small window, your body will\u00a0burn the same number of calories processing the food\u00a0[10]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n So, the whole “keep your metabolism firing at optimum capacity by always eating” sounds good in principle, but reality tells a different story.<\/p>\n 2) When you eat smaller meals, you might<\/em> be less likely to overeat during your regular meals.<\/strong>\u00a0I can definitely see some truth here, especially for people who struggle with portion control or don’t know how much food they should be eating.<\/p>\n However, once you educate yourself and take control of your eating, some might\u00a0find that eating six times a day is very prohibitive and requires a lot of effort. I know I do.<\/p>\n Also, because you’re eating six small meals, I’d argue that you probably never feel “full,” and you might be MORE likely to eat extra calories during each snack.<\/p>\n Although grounded in seemingly logical\u00a0principles, the “six meals a day” doesn’t work for the reason you think it would (#1), and generally only works for people who struggle with portion control (#2).<\/p>\n If we think back to caveman days, we’d have been in serious trouble as a species if we had<\/em> to eat every three hours. Do you think Joe Caveman pulled out his pocket sundial six times a day to consume his equally portioned meals?<\/p>\n Hell no! He ate when he could, endured and dealt with long periods of NOT eating (no refrigeration or food storage) and his body adapted to still function optimally enough to still go out and catch new food.<\/p>\n A recent study (written about in the NYT, highlighted by LeanGains<\/a>) has done a great job of challenging the “six-meals-a-day” technique for weight loss [11]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n There were [no statistical] differences between the low- and high- [meal frequency] groups for adiposity indices, appetite measurements or gut peptides (peptide YY and ghrelin) either before or after the intervention. We conclude that increasing meal frequency does not promote greater body weight loss under the conditions described in the present study.<\/p>\n That’s why we made this:<\/strong><\/p>\n Now that we’re through a lot of the science stuff, let’s get into the reality of the situation: why should you consider Intermittent Fasting?<\/strong><\/p>\n #1) Because it can work for your goals. <\/strong>Although we know that not all calories are created equal<\/a>, caloric restriction plays a central role in weight\u00a0loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n When you fast, you are also making it easier to restrict your total caloric intake over the course of the week, which can lead to consistent weight loss and maintenance.<\/p>\n #2) Because it simplifies your day.<\/strong> Rather than having to prepare, pack, eat, and time your meals every 2-3 hours, you simply skip a meal or two and only worry about eating food in your eating window.<\/p>\n It’s one less decision you have to make every day.<\/p>\n It could allow you to enjoy bigger portioned meals\u00a0(thus making your tastebuds and stomach satiated) and STILL eat fewer calories on average.<\/p>\n It’s a point that Coach Matt makes in this video on intermittent fasting<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/a>What is Intermittent Fasting?<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?<\/h2>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/a>Should I Eat 6 Small Meals a Day?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/a>Should I Try intermittent fasting? (6 Things to Consider)<\/h2>\n
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