Intermittent fasting: Is it for you?

I definitely get this question a few times a week, if not daily.

“Oh, I do intermittent fasting, is that good?

To which I love to respond “Define good. Good for what? Fat loss? Muscle gain? Doing less dishes? Getting to seamlessly skip brunch invites with the excuse that you don’t eat breakfast, so that you can peacefully go to the gym and smash personal bests while they lounge around in a crepe-fuelled stupor?”

Kidding, I don’t say that. Well…not usually.

Anyway, let’s dig in.

Intermittent fasting, also known as time-restricted eating, is a powerful tool that may allow certain people to stick to their daily lifestyle to-do’s more easily, such as hitting their nutrition numbers, dialling in their training intensity, and allowing them to get more out of life.

The traditional way to do this is to fast for a longer period of time in the 24 hour daily cycle and consume all the nutrition in a condensed window. Typically, people choose to fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window, although a 14:10, 18:6, and even 20:4 setup can work. Most usually wake up, skip breakfast and then eat a regular lunch and dinner. Non-caloric beverages like black tea/coffee are permitted during the fast, along with water, sparkling water and occasionally, diet sodas.

Some people find that skipping dinner works for them, but most humans prefer to eat in the evening and relax with family/friends or just to wind down, and when looking at it as a long term LIFESTYLE, adherence becomes a high priority.

Now let’s get clear on the facts:

No, you cannot eat whatever you want and lose weight/gain weight.

No, you cannot neglect training, specifically resistance training.

Yes, you do have to track calories and macros. The laws of thermodynamics still exist. Calories matter.

Yes, you can eat before bed. There’s no magical “fattening window” before bed that automatically takes all your food from dinner and diabolically turns it into a pile of body fat. Just like there’s no magical “anabolic window” after a workout where failing to consume food nullifies the muscle and strength stimulus from the workout. At least for regular, non-athlete folk. Think 24-hour consumption more than fretting over meal timing obsessively.

Yes, you can train in a fasted state. There is a bit of an adaptation phase to it, just like with fasting itself. Given adequate water and electrolytes in the system, fasted workouts can be very high intensity and the level of mental clarity and focus is significant.

Now the real question is adherence. If you’re the busy, go-go-go type in the morning and tend to be the most productive in the early part of the day, this may be for you.

If you aren’t hungry upon waking, if you’d rather grab an espresso and head out the door to attack your day, function better with no or minimal food in your stomach and enjoy the laser focus that comes with fasting, then yes, intermittent fasting can be a great tool. I myself do find higher levels of productivity without any food in me. After a productive AM block of work, I do get a little hungry, so a small to medium meal with a substantial amount of protein does the job perfectly, and keeps me going till dinner. Now there’s a large percentage of my daily caloric allotment left to attack, so I enjoy a rather large meal for dinner, putting me into a parasympathetic state (rest and digest mode). Evenings are for unwinding and relaxing before a solid night’s sleep.

This setup works well for most men, coincidentally. At least when dealing with a moderate surplus, maintenance or deficit of calories. Women have to be a bit more careful with fasting, especially if already quite lean, as the female body is more sensitive to physiological stress and has tighter margins to protect against perceived malnutrition. Perhaps a shorter fasting window may suffice, or transitioning to an intermittent fasting setup while on a caloric surplus to offset the stressful nature of time restricted eating. Again, trial and error is key, along with listening honestly to bodily signals.

To sum it up, a 16:8 intermittent fasting window could look like this for the average person:

7 AM: Wake up. Water/black coffee

10 AM: Black coffee/sparkling water/water

12 PM: Small meal with protein, fat and veg/fruit to hold off appetite till dinner but ensure stable blood sugar levels for productivity

4 PM: Small meal with protein and fat

7-8 PM: Massive dinner with remaining protein and carb allotment

10 PM: Bedtime

Fasting window: 8 PM to 12 PM the following day = 16 hrs

Feeding window: 12 PM to 8 PM = 8 hrs

Why consume a majority of carbs before bed? Because carbs promote relaxation and drowsiness, put one in a parasymapthetic state by increase circulating tryptophan which then gets converted into serotonin and melatonin in the brain, making one ready to escape into dreamland for a (hopefully) deep sleep.

Why eat mostly protein, fat and fibre during the day? Because this combination slows down gastric emptying (slows digestion), thus keeping one full and ensuring stable blood sugar levels for a productive afternoon. Also, higher fat before bed can slow down digestion too much and have a deleterious impact on sleep. Nope. We can’t have that!

That’s that for intermittent fasting! Try, adjust and improvise. There is more than one way to skin a cat, find what suits your lifestyle!