Back in 2011 when I started IF (Intermittent Fasting) I made some big mistakes getting caught up in wanting to lose weight as quickly as possible.  Luckily I'm very good about listening to my body and putting my own health first and I kind of figured it out on my own, but had these two recent articles been available back then it would have saved me some hard lessons.

I am posting this to hopefully help others.  It applies to whatever fasting protocol you use, there are many types out there.  What is really important is understand the difference between the concept of Intermittent FEEDING vs. Intermittent Fasting and doing a bunch of "dieting" while also fasting (not so good).

Fasting for Weight Loss – Setting the Record Straight

by Brad Pilon on December 23, 2012:

 http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/fasting-for-weight-loss-setting-the-record-straight/

Paleo eating and vegan eating are the EXACT SAME THING.

This is why any and all research on Paleo diets can be used for Vegan diets, and vice versa.

It’s also why any personal experiences people have had with a Vegan diet can be directly applied to what you will probably experience with the Paleo Diet and vice versa.

I mean, after all… they’re both ‘eating’ right?

I hope this sounds crazy to you, because this is EXACTLY how I feel when people talk about different types of fasting.

‘Fasting’ or ‘Fasting for weight loss’ is a very BROAD description of a style of ‘not eating’, just like ‘Eating’ or ‘Eating for weight loss’ can cover just about any diet in existence.

All fasting is NOT the same, just like all styles of Eating are not the same.

So, I’d like to give you my own way of clarifying this apparent confusion.

These are my own definitions, but they have served me extremely well over the years…

Long-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period over 72 hours.

Short-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period of 72 hours or under.

OK, so now that we’ve divided up fasting based on length, let’s look at much more confusing issue – Intermittent Fasting.

Intermittent – Occurring occasionally or at regular or irregular intervals… so really “Occasionally”

Fasting – Taking a break from eating (zero calorie intake) for a predetermined period of time without a necessary interval from one fast to the next.

So Intermittent fasting becomes ‘Occasionally taking a break from eating’

(Pretty simple eh?)

But this is where people get confused… Or at least where I get confused.

If you are spending MORE time NOT eating than you are eating in any given period of time (let’s say a week) why are you calling that Intermittent Fasting?

In my eyes this cannot be defined as taking an occasional break from eating, in fact I think it should be defined as the opposite, and that would be “Intermittent Feeding”.

Intermittent Feeding = Taking the occasional break from fasting to eat during a predetermined window.

There are similar approaches but also very different approaches to fasting for weight loss.

This is not an attempt to disparage this type of approach. Diets that are Intermittent Feeding can be fantastic, helpful, effective, but they can also be in some ways completely different than Eat Stop Eat.

I feel that it’s not accurate to lump them together as the experience of doing a form of intermittent fasting is much different than intermittent feeding.

In my opinion the sub-categories of IF need to make it into our way of thinking.

LeanGains, The Renegade Diet and even some of the more extreme protocols along these lines (like fasting for 20 hours eating for 4 every day) -  all can incredibly effective fat loss programs, but in my eyes (and I know you guys are going to hate this) NOT intermittent Fasting. To me they are more accurately described as Intermittent Feeding.

Now, the benefits are very similar – simple, easy fat loss, no loss of muscle mass etc.

The technique is similar; Don’t eat for a period of time.

And they, along with most other kinds of IF probably share about 80% of the supporting research.

But there are also some major differences that I feel is what merits this new definition – specifically the amount of time you are ‘allowed’ to eat, and because the ‘eating windows’ are different, you also have to approach your eating differently. The more ‘extreme’ the Intermittent Feeding, the short the eating window, the more you must eat with ‘purpose’ during that window.

Each style shares some pros and cons, but also have other unique pros and cons.

Sometimes there is research that applies to ALL types of fasting, sometimes it’s specific to one style or the other.

The same goes with personal experience. If someone tells you they had a *great* or *horrible* experience with IF, it would be best to clarify exactly WHAT they were doing – was it IF – Intermittent fasting or IF – Intermittent feeding?

Different, but similar. For many people you can use both depending on your current lifestyle, or even the season of the year. Other people may simply find one style specifically works for them and they have no reason to change it.

If you tried Eat Stop Eat and didn’t like the lack of structure and found it too loose that’s fine, go try LeanGains or the Renegade diet, you’ll likely get awesome results.

Or perhaps you found LeanGains or the Renegade Diet to be a little too much fasting? – That’s fine, try Eat Stop Eat, I bet you’ll love it.

Don’t like any of them? Fine – go eat.. Lot’s of people lose weight eating 5-6 times per day too.

I’d like to challenge your current thoughts on what the definition of IF and “Intermittent Fasting” means. Starting today add “Intermittent Feeding” to your definitions of what it means to take a break from eating and realize that “Intermittent Fasting” really is a different experience than “Intermittent Feeding”. At the very least, I ask you to recognize that there are multiple forms of Intermittent Fasting, and that these forms, while similar, cannot always be lumped together.

BP

PS – Of note, anything that is a ‘fast’ but also contains food you can eat during the fast, or a specific amount of calories you are to eat during a fast is no longer a fast in my eyes. It can be a low-calorie diet, or even a ‘cleanse’ but if you have foods to eat, I don’t see it as being the same as a fast.

Help with Fasting

 by Brad Pilon on January 30, 2013

 http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/help-with-fasting/

Every once in a while I get an email that reads something like this:

I recently purchased your books and have been trying fasting for 2 months now. I fast for 24 hours twice a week, then on the days I’m not fasting for 24 hour I fast for 16 hours. I’m Paleo, except on weekends where I eat carbs, but only ever with protein (never with fat) I run 5 miles two to three times per week and I also do a spin class at least once a weekend. I am tracking my calories and I’m eating about 1000 to 1200 daily, I’m 5’6″, 155lbs. F.

 Lately, my weight loss has slowed down, can you help?

 If this sounds like you then I have a suggestion. If your weight loss is slowing down, try this one thing: Try Eat Stop Eat.

(Because what is written in that email is NOT Eat Stop Eat)

EAT STOP EAT:

One OR two 24-hour fasts per week, divided between two days, combined with a sound resistance-training program. When your fast is over I want you to pretend that it never happened and eat responsibly. That’s it. Nothing else.

Let’s take a second and dissect this…

“One OR two fasts” means exactly that… once or twice, not twice every week, not three times a week…once or twice. Even the 24 is a guideline. I like 24 best, but if you can only do 22, that’s fine. They key is I don’t want you to strive to not eat ever again… just take a break every once in a while.

“Combined with a sound resistance-training program.”  I’m not sure if I’ve explained my thoughts on this properly, so I’m going to be very blunt with how I say this.

I am not a fan of fasting on its own.

And, for the purpose of weight loss and fat loss I am ALSO not a fan of weight training on its own.

However, for the purposes of losing body fat I am a huge fan of occasional fasting + consistent weight training (Especially when the fasting style is Eat Stop Eat).  In fact, I like the idea of ESE style fasting + weight training better than I do the idea of chronic caloric restriction + weight training. But if you’re not weight training, you’re not doing Eat Stop Eat. Your fasting, just not the way I recommend.

Next: pretending your fast is over and eating in a style that I call “responsibly”. Basically, I really DO NOT like the idea of combining fasting with extreme dieting. That wasn’t the purpose. And I don’t like the idea of using fasting to allow for a huge binge afterwards.

With anything I write or do, the goal is to make things easier and less complicated, not to give people something to further complicate their approach to weight loss.

The way I suggest people use Eat Stop Eat is as a REPLACEMENT for extreme dieting, not as an addition to it. Yes it is true that eating ‘responsibly’ means eating less that you want to or are used to, but it also doesn’t mean extreme dieting… most likely it means just a little less, and you probably know EXACTLY the things you should cut out in order to consider what you are doing ‘responsible’ without me telling you.

As an example, if a 5’6” woman needs to eat about 1200-1400 calories per day to lose weight (just picking numbers), with Eat Stop Eat she could fast once or twice a week and then eat 1700-1800 calories on the non fasting days and still lose weight. To me, that makes much more sense.

The other thing to keep in mind is that with Eat Stop Eat you still eat every single day.

So in reality the example above could look something likes this:

 

Monday – Eat 900 Calories then start fasting…

Tuesday – End fasting then eat 1400 Calories

Wednesday – Eat 1800

Thursday – Eat 1800

Friday – Eat 900 Calories then start fasting

Saturday  – End fasting and eat 1200 Calories

Sunday – Eat 1800 Calories

 

In my opinion this looks a lot more enjoyable than simply eating 1400 calories every single day.

Finally, Eat Stop Eat is meant to replace the need for extreme exercise. So in the example above, if you love running, if it’s your thing, then by all means keep doing it, however, if you are running to try to lose weight you probably need to re-think your approach. It’s not needed. Especially when you start becoming obsessive about how many calories you are burning each day..

 THERE IS SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING….

This is true for  both diet and exercise.

Here’s the thing about trying to massively speed up your fat loss…

‘Fast fat loss’ is typically a synonym for ‘transient fat loss’. It won’t last. You will burn out, you will stop. And then the weight gain will happen and you will be angry at yourself.

Then what?

You try again, only harder… more rules, more dieting, more exercise…

Guess what happens this time..yep..same thing.

It’s a viscous and unnecessary cycle that leads to negative reinforcement that you simply cannot lose weight because you are somehow broken.

Bottom line:  If you are having issues with your weight loss, if you feel you are stalling or just having an all together rough go… Simplify and try going back to basics.

 One OR two 24-hour fasts per week, divided between two days, combined with a sound resistance-training program. When your fast is over I want you to pretend that it never happened and eat responsibly. That’s it. Nothing else.

 

Rest when tired, eat when hungry,

BP

 

I hope this helps,

Bobbie

 http://bobbiesfitness.com/