LogFAQs > #981499866

Monopoman posted...

I have a feeling we haven't had a ton of in-depth studies on fasting but I have seen cases of it having some real good affects. Now there are also a variety of ways to fast which also makes a study harder to do, someone partaking in intermittent fasting for 20 years would be valuable info but having a study go that long is pricey and time consuming.

I personally fast 18 hours three times a week, and I have felt healthier because of it. I typically eat the same number of calories more or less but it has helped me.

Definitely hard to measure. Shorter term studies on fasting - when calorie controlled - have reported virtually no difference in health markers.

But - and this is the big but - when you leave obese participants to just eat what they please and all you do is restrict the eating window, you tend to find that intermittent fasters eat less and lose weight.

This isn't true for everyone. Some people do better with many meals, or with simple portion control.

This is the thing about humans. We are the ultimate omnivores. And everyone you talk to will give you a different recommendations for the ultimate diet. Keto, paleo, carnivore, mediterranean. And then different eating strategies - 8 meals a day, IF, calorie counting, portion control, etc.

Again and again, the success of the diet always seems to loop back to some kind of diet restriction, and ultimately your ability to adhere to that long term.