IF beneficial regardless of calories? page

[PrimaLauren]

so is it beneficial to do intermittent fasting even if you eat the same average amount of calories per day as you would have if you had spread out your meals?

for example, if i would have had this caloric breakdown:
B: 300
L: 400
S: 200
D: 700
TOTAL: 1600
and because i fasted (18 hrs from supper the night before), i fast til lunchtime and have this:
B: 0
L: 700
S: 200
D: 700
TOTAL: 1600

so is there still a benefit to the fasting when it comes to fat-loss? or is fasting really just a way to cut calories?

[UndergroundNutritionist]

Yes. You get the same amount of calories as you would during a normal day, but you eat all your calories within a much smaller time frame.

IF is for cutting fat.....and lots of other health benefits......not for cutting calories.

[federkeil]

if you really wanted to you could get all your calories in one meal and fast for the rest of the day

but yeah, it should be the same amount of nutrition.

[MalPaz]

i think the benefit has to do with nutrient partioning during the fasted state vs the fed state

[cdwrites]

That is so interesting. I always thought it was a way to cut calories, to eat less. But now that I analyze it: When I hold off on Breakfast and eat at 2pm, I am hungry, I have fasted about 18 hours and I eat the same: 3 eggs, 1 beef stick. Then, I eat a large dinner and have another snack after dinner to stop eating around 8ish, which is not a strict fast 5, more like a fast 6. This is all new to me. I've done it off and on for a month or so, playing around with longer fasts some weeks. And sometimes I do nibble while I'm preparing dinner (not saving any calories there either).
I haven't lost any weight doing any of this .

[UndergroundNutritionist]

what are you typically eating for dinner...and after dinner snack?

[js290]

Unless you're also measuring the calories out of your feces, stop counting calories. If you're going to count anything, count macronutrient intake. Keep track using this software by the Health Correlator. At least then you can make some association between the nutrient content of your diet and your weight.

Two, fasting isn't about calorie reduction, per se. It's about hormonal balance. Your eating strategy should be about hormonal balance, not energy balance. Energy will always be balanced. One doesn't need to count to confirm it. Counting calories is obsessive compulsive and superstitious.

[PrimaLauren]

Unless you're also measuring the calories out of your feces, stop counting calories.

hahah. i love that.
yes, it is obsessive and superstitious. i mostly keep track of what i eat in order to keep macronutrient amounts in check. i got the primal blueprint expensive 30-day package thing, and in the first section it gave me all this very specific advice about how many calories and fat grams and carb grams and protein grams to take in per day if i want to lose 4-5 lbs a month. i was disappointed because being obsessive about counting and measuring my food is not what i want to be doing, and i had been hoping that going primal was going to be a way not to have to do that. so when i got the package and the first thing i saw was "track your calories and grams", the wind got knocked out of my sails a bit.
on the other hand, it has been working, and i would really like to feel comfortable in my swimsuit when we go on holiday at the end of the month!

UndergroundNutritionist: i usually have two small suppers: one with my daughter around 6:30, and one in the later evening. you could call that "dinner" and "snack" i guess, but the "snack" is usually the same size as the "dinner"... i usually have something like (local, free range) pork sausage and some broccoli first, and then a small curry with chicken/fish and veg and lots of butter and coconut milk. why do you ask?

[spakesneaker]

One of the main benefits is improving insulin sensitivity and repairing 'broken' metabolisms in that way, I believe.

[Primal Fist]

IFing also has been shown to lower triglyceride and VLDL levels.

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