Download My Free Fasting Timeline PDF: drbeckyfitness.com/Fasting-Timeline/ For those who asked, Keith continues to do well! Happy, healthy, and 1 1/2 year cancer-free.
It it accurate to conclude from watching the video that perhaps every once in a while doing omad and IF to kind of switch things up metabolically is more beneficial than every single day due to the risk of the body beginning to use muscle for nutrients and when more calories are reintroduced the body will gain weight because of the storage mode being initiated by the body.
Wow this is probably the most sensible video I've ever seen on IF. I just started doing 16:8 IF and it has already changed my life and my hunger levels throughout the day! I have way more energy than I did before and have lost 4 lbs so far.
I think she is right on the money here. I used daily Keto OMAD and 72 hour bi-weekly fasts to achieve a 140 pound weight loss in 13 months. I was feeling great through the first year, but slowly I started feeling tired, developing heart palpations, and edema in my feet. I have backed off the fasts, (limiting myself to 24 hours every other week) and I am trying 2 meals a day. This of course, has stopped my weight loss, but everything seems to be improving. I am definitely going to rotate OMAD and possibly try alternate day fasting going forward.
The problem is not the daily OMAD (assuming you were eating the right foods and amounts), it was with the bi-weekly 72-hour fasts. That's WAY too much prolonged fasting to do on any consistent basis. Who the hell told you to do that??
IM is my way of life . 5/7 is 20:4 and 1/7 Saturday 18:6 . sunday is nil IF . I aviod sugar and have very little processed food. I have discovered Vegan Loaf- delicious and eat a slice toasted on Sunday for breakfast with 2 fried eggs-. otherwise nil bread. snack in eating window is RAW nuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds. I exercise every day- run AM and walk evenings except Sunday , my chill day. I was 11st 6 lb and now 9st 4lb . my desired weight. my concern is not to loose anymore weight but continue IF. by the way am 68 YRS OLD. Thank you for reading and Dr Becky you are inspirational.
I have lost 32 kg in 10 months it was not easy hard and it took so much time and dedication until I heard about intermittent fasting we as Muslim do dry fasting in Ramadan where you don't even drink water or any thing just dry mouth fasting I noticed that in this month my weight dramatically lost even I did not care about diet then Ramadhan passed and I was again worried about my goal and lifestyle then I heard about intermittent fasting and i was amazed when I heard that in this we can even drink water and some liquid like coffee or ACV etc... I decided to start intermittent fasting and It was easy because Ramadan fasting was little tough. Now Talk about results 1. My belly started to shrink more quickly than ever I used to do 16 to 18 hours fasting or sometime I prolonged if I am not feeling hungry 2. Control over my hunger 3. Energy level are awesome 4. my tests level were high because I did not feel tired after hardcore workout iin the gym or morning yoga and continued 15000 steps for walk a day :) 5. too many great compliments from friends family and colleagues now I am going to continue this for the rest of my life 😀
I appreciate the content. I"m a keto/IF/extended-fast lifestyler, with good metabolic-improvement results due to the lifestyle change over a year ago. The topic of muscle loss, though, due to extended fasts is a bit divisive within the fasting community. Some fasting proponents believe that extended fasting actually increases the metabolism, because the body is trying to give you the energy to hunt/kill your next meal. Others, like yourself, believe that the body reacts differently in an extended fast, because the body wants to 'cut the losses and protect" (I hope that I'm not incorrectly stating your beliefs, regarding fasting). Both are probably true, to some degree. What is clear is that the human body is an amazing, adaptive machine. Sometimes, we have to out-play it, in order to achieve desired results (such as weight loss). I think that it ultimately comes down to everybody being different, and we each have to listen to our own bodies, to recognize the positive and negative results from the actions that we take.
GREAT video, Dr. Becky!! Your information is spot on and delivered in such a calm, soothing voice! I would like to share something I discovered when my IF (20:4) and OMAD stagnated my weight after a while. Unorthodox, but as a former bodybuilder, it worked like a charm for a tired metabolism: I got stuck on one weight for 2 months after losing 10kg (with reduced caloric intake and cardio. ) Then I did something people gasp at: I started eating 1000 calories MORE (I do OMAD, so it is one meal of high density food) and hit the heaviest weights I could handle instead of cardio. The following day, I had broken the plateau and lost 2kgs that I still have not regained. Upping one's calories and lifting hard weights is a great way to force your metabolism to work harder and prevents your BMR from falling to an unsustainable level and now I do it 3 days a week just to build that MAC truck you speak of!!
I have been using intermittent fasting sporadically over the past year with some success, but I'm currently feeling stuck. I'm ready to learn more and commit to a healthier lifestyle so I've requested your free download and ordered your book. Thank you for the inspiration!
I appreciate this video..it addresses one question I needed answered about length of fasting & the point of diminishing returns..(like the optimal exercise one needs daily). Thanks for the one page chart. Now I better understand length of time to fast w/o overdoing it. (which I am prone NOT to do, as I count eating as one of my big pleasures in life)..
I don't have much luck with yet. I don't have enough space to live so I tend to eat because that is basically the only pleasure I can experiment. Not that I did not try intermittent fasting but I did not apply it well for the simple reason that you don't want to cut off what is pleasurable to you yet. So I turn in circles, unless proven otherwise. I am not complaining just explaining why I did not succeed so far. I understand everything, it's another thing to put it in application. Once I can really breath, then I will be able to have other activities not involving food that I can enjoy. Thank you for being there Dr. Becky. So at least I understand the link between the hormones -vs low carb diet and Intermittent fasting once we reached menopause.
The body is very smart. It will not turn to your muscles for fuel until you are literally skin and bones. In other words if you have body fat the body will use that and then when body fat is depleted it can Turn to the muscles. The body wants to live.😀
I’m not persuaded the reported protein is from muscle loss from the caloric restriction/fast itself, but instead, from autophagy as your body takes out the garbage. There are other doctors that have that view. Does it make any sense that our bodies, when we desperately need to get more food (or even not too desperately, since all but those about to starve to death have many day’s worth of calories in fat) would eat our muscle mass that we need to hunt? I’d be curious to know what those in the mentioned study were doing as they were fasting: did they take it easy, and thus their bodies decided they didn’t need that “wasteful” muscle mass? Last month I did a 106 hour water fast. In the last few hours I did my typical climbing workout, no detected negative impact on performance, and if anything, helped ensure I didn’t have a low blood sugar issue. But certainly, if you’re not hydrating correctly and working out electrolytes, you’ll not be very energetic. I’d love to see a better study using known actually demanding physical exercise levels.
Exactly. The fat is there as stored energy. Why would our bodies eat up the muscle needed to *function* before the fat it saved for this very occasion? 🤔
My understanding is that muscle breaks down only as a person is either moving from sugar burning to fat burning (and, even then, the amino acids broken down are NOT all muscle; it can be skin and old cells) or if there is no body fat left to burn. But, if you are fat adapted and have fat to burn, the growth hormone and autophagy promote fat burning and growth hormone is muscle sparing. Not to mention, you can use the growth hormone increase as a way to build muscle with a great resistance routine before breaking the fast. Megan Ramos did this after weekly 72 hour fasts to not only add muscle but to reverse osteoporosis. On top of that, OMAD is often not enough for people who are metabolically unfit to lose weight. An alternate day fasting is what is needed. Then, add in all the benefits of an extended fast, such as stem cell production and healing certain things.
Thank you Dr Becky. Always great info presented and good reminders. I miss carbs but this reminds me of why I'm doing this. I will stay the course! It is well worth it. Thanks for the encouragement. God bless!
The avg person with regards to weight has at least 100k of excess calories stored throughout the body. It will take much much longer than 20 days to burn through it all. The body is far too intelligent to start breaking down muscle with all that excess fat around😀
Not only informative but your voice Becky is caressing. What a change from the majority of females who screech like hammering on metal yet they work in television. Beats me.
Will you explain autophagy please. Some have said this kicks in after 16 hours of fasting and peaks at 36 hours. I have done several 40 hour fasts and felt great. I lost no appreciable muscle. I did train quite hard during this period in the hope of accelerating the effect. Thank you for a lovely video.
I fasted for 30 days without losing a relevant percentage of muscle mass, instead I lost all the fat on my liver and even improved my eyesight, and my blood general results to the extent that my doctor thought the lab had made a mistake. But it had not. I also tried intermittent fasting with one meal a day or 6 hour window plus some cheating days to maintain the results of weight loss but so far neither have worked well. I had to do another prolonged fast yo lose weight again.
That sounds dangerous? I lost a third of my body weight a few years ago. Started with a five day fast, then back to regular eating with smaller proportions. Went at it fairly aggressively for the first few months then backed off to take a breather before it became a burden or too much an obsession in my own mind. Then after reaffirming my determination I got back into it taking a more sustainable approach. I used alternate day restriction for a lot of it, counting my calories overall so that my average stayed just a couple of hundred calories below maintenance for my age, height and activity level. Then I finally settled on a reduced eating window of 4 hours or so a day. Took a bit over 18 months to get where I wanted to be and even then I continued to lose a little weight even as I started eating more. Now I pretty much eat all my meals in a 4-6 hour window daily. I'd prefer to do it in a shorter time frame so I wouldn't have the distraction from other things but my gut gets sore if I eat everything I need in less than 4 hours. Unfortunately the longer time frame allows me to get distracted from meal prep with other things so that even though I aim for 4 hours it's typically 5-6 with one or two days a weak at 4.
Ive done CARNIVORE and INTERMITTEN FASTING for a flippin year-- with NO effect.. not loast an ounce-- lost the pains from arithric stuff resulting from a truck acciend years ago, for a SHORT time- now it's all back. My breathing is still a LOT better.. but nothing else.
Excellent info have done quite a few 36 hour fast alot of 24 all on weekends during the week 14 to 16 some times only 12 hours all of which has helped me without muscle loss this could be because of physical work .and some exercise
This is really interesting to me as I tend to feel rather washed out that last hour of fasting. Not sure if it’s psychological or not 🤣. I am, however, six pounds from my target weight and still doing 20:4 and 20g carbs. Maybe I’ve reached my tipping point at 19 hours for my fat stores?
@@glenrisk5234 Would love to be able to do 24-36 hours. I guess we’re all different. I think it’s the summer heat and needing more electrolytes for me.
I definitely think that the muscle breakdown that occurs throughout let’s say a three day fast could easily be reversed by proper exercise and feasting following the fast. Also, I’m not certain how much “muscle” is broken down vs. Let’s say protein breakdown which doesn’t necessarily have to come from muscle.
Thank you good information, for faster weight loss results, do exercise before breaking your fast, you push your body to burn more fat faster at end of your fasting!!! Do a 15 min slow run, do 30 min fast walk, cycling,swimming, ……🚴♀️🏃🏽♂️🏊♂️🚣🫀🫀🫀
I just recently heard of studies that say, that fasting reduces muscles first. But as I understand it, from this video, when you fonly ast for 12/16 hours this does not happen?
So why wouldn't you just recommend exercise instead of not fasting longer. Studies have found the major benefits don't kick in unless doing a prolonged fast
The urea nitrogen indicates the breakdown of amino acids (proteins) which can come from numerous sources, not just muscle. Are there any studies that evaluate a direct impact on healthy muscle tissue from fasting? Between autophagy cleaning out weak cells and the (hopeful) reduction in aggregate skin cells (loose skin) I'm hoping the findings are that a large percentage of the amino acids are not from healthy muscle tissue...
ok I know sugar is bad but how about fruit? I think I can give up sugar, but if fruit like apples and bananas also bad or or they not so bad? Thank you
Its the insulin. I wish we would stop talking about calories. Thermodynamic laws dont apply to humans as we are not closed systems. We are physiological beings with hormones. Not engines
Dr Becky, As always, I'm forever grateful beyond words! I'm at my ideal weight now. I was 104kg, I'm now 64kg. I've achieved this through your videos. Every bit of information is true and right. I can't see myself going back to my old weight. You're a gift to nations. Thank you is not enough! So, God richly bless you. Thanks again.🙏🏾🙏🏾
@@beckygillaspy Thank you. Much appreciated. I will be 58yrs tomorrow and thanks to you, I'm healthy, my blood pressure is at normal figures. I've been spreading your name to anyone who will listen 😊. Once more, thanks again 🙏🏾❤️
This channel has always been evolving.....always becoming more sophisticated. She has never sold out or lost her striving to reveal cutting edge ideas as a gift for us.
Do you have thoughts on the concept of resting (no exercise) during fasting days whereby autophagy tends to create a muscle protein sparing environment but instead goes on a cleanup rampage of damaged/junk/excess proteins first. Also allowing stem cell production after about 36 hours of fasting for added health benefits! I’m not a particularly active person, needed to lose about 10kg and did a 4 day fast after listening to a Jason Fung podcast. I have since done another 4 day generally now don’t have more than 2 meals a day but honestly, could easily drop to OMAD again as I’m eating whole foods with plenty of saturated healthy fats. I’ve never had a six pack but seem to have one now. 😁 i lose about 700g a day when fasting hence my now usual 2 meals per day so I at least get my calories in. But beyond that, I don’t really think about it.
I am pretty active, lift weights and do regular cardio. I have also seen a lot of stuff about the benefits of longer fasting periods, that around 72 hours your immune system resets itself for example. Not something I think would be necessary fir healthy living very often but likely beneficial occasionally? Thinking about how our ancestors lived it seems likely that such periods of enforced fasting would have been pretty normal?
If you are still eating carbs on OMAD, then it probably is good to limit fasting length but if you are completely fat adapted, your metabolism will not lower and neither will you burn muscle for fuel. If that were true, our ancestors would have never survived. Be hard to kill a mammoth if you haven't eaten in 5 days if you are weak and tired. If you are not fat adapted, the body will burn muscle after glycogen is used up since it requires fuel. Metabolism will lower too. Any prescence of insulin will limit fat burning. Even on a OMAD diet, insulin will be present if carbs are eaten. GH is also muscle sparing and low insulin also spikes that. With proper adaption, your body will go from glycogen as fuel to fat as fuel without missing a beat. If any insulin is present, you will hit the wall hard when glycogen is used up. For strict IF dieters, this may not be a problem but anyone that has ate high carb for 30 or 40 years needs to retrain the body to burn fat. May take 2 weeks....may take a month, everyone is different. After you are fat adapted, these IF, low carb, or OMAD diets become much easier to maintain.
I like the way you have focused in on this. I've been doing 12-16 hour fasts every day, and I can definitely see a difference, but it's good to know what's going on each hour you are fasting
So glad I found your channel. Very interesting video. I’ve just finished a 24 hr fast. I felt really good when fasting but really exhausted now I’ve eaten. Thanks for sharing all this information x
Changing my eating habits to fruits,vegetables, nuts,seeds and meat twice a week and intermittent fasting. I dropped seven prescription drugs I was told I would be on for life. (And dropped 40 pounds) Diet and intermittent fasting are very important to good health. Actually the third meal of the day came from the cereal companies many years ago. What have we been told all our lives? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is a marketing ploy. People eating two meals a day goes all the way back to bible times.
@@glenrisk5234 Hi Glen. Normal actually means “the norm” usual, typical or standard. I have been questioning what I have been taught for many years. I have come to this conclusion. Observe what everyone else is doing. (in any area of life) Do the exact opposite, and you will usually be headed in the right direction. Swimming upstream and against the flow of traffic is a key component for any who becomes successful in life.
@@bonnie5972 The culture of the day was two meals per day. This is not spoken of in the Bible specifically to my knowledge. But can be seen as a common practice.
Most people watching this should focus less on how long to fast and more on actually getting into gear and train their muscles. Don't get bogged down in the scientific minutiae when most of you are still getting the broad strokes wrong.
Thank you for this. I know I get up to 16 hours but when life happens I have to start over again. I like to use bone broth for a couple of days to ease my digestion then start with eggs for breakfast since I can stay full longer after eating them. I find this to be a success for me.
I am fasting for longer periods in a attempt to starve cancer, specifically stage 4 prostate cancer. There is so much information that confusion on my part results.
I couldn't do the OMAD thing. The best I can do is about 4hours, eating faster than that just gives me a bellyache. Typically I eat for between 4 and 6 hours a day. I'm also vegetarian and eat a good deal of fruit, 6-8 serves a day so I'm consuming a lot of sugar, some fat from avocado and dairy sources. I'm not overweight, lift weights regularly, do a lot of moderate cardio and some more intense stuff occasionally but at 55 even with all that I still have to be careful.
Thank you IF seems to be my default setting, so it's easy for me. I can eat at any time but I don't get hungry until late in the day. Eating early while long distance hiking was hard, but necessary on steep trails.
My hyerpmobile EDS and related gut-issues means that often fasting causes gas, bloating and pain. And of course, the only thing I can tolerate is toast - more carbs! 😩
Some really really good information here, thank you. I've been doing one to two meals a day very low carb sugar moderate protein moderate fat for the last 6 months. I've lost approximately 62 lb and have about 5 lb to go. A few weeks back I did a 72 hour fast. I started with a 24 then did a 48 and and worked up to the 72 hour. Not only did I lose about 6 lb but it was the way it made me feel. It was like my body was saying thanks for the break. If there was any muscle loss I did not notice. I actually had more energy at the end of the fast than i did when I started. Amazing thing fasting. Thanks again for the informative video.
Please Ma'am, Need a video on how to add salts and electrolytes during water fast for more than 2 days in Simplest and easiest way possible without any complications or brand endorsement. I have seen many clips about importance of salts and electrolytes during fast but how to add it at home, the recepie in simple words is not available. So I am cautious not to do water fast. I am on OMAD, Saw some videos where they put some Pink Himalayan Salt, some epsom salts , some baking soda and what not. Need a simple recepie which even a layman can understand and ingredients should be available globally. I am Indian. Problem is many videos use some technical terms to add to water during fast and it is somewhat confusing as to what exactly to add and in what quantity, need to translate what the ingredient means in local language to confirm. Or else it may cause harm during fasting. Complete knowledge is essential. Thanks.
I've stopped time-restricted eating to a deficit for weight loss. I found it had exactly the opposite result of extended fasting, and actually intermittent _real_ fasting works better, and allows me to be stronger. An occasional 36-72 hour fast on the weekend works best for me. Otherwise, I virtually never go longer than 16 hours. I've found that beyond low carb, the only way I can lose weight is by fasting for periods of longer than a day and eating high protein, three meals, while not fasting (to replace what I'm not consuming while fasted.) This is after having beaten diabetes and lost 100 pounds and getting down to approximately 30% body fat. I believe I did, indeed, lose lean mass along with fat when I did this, but it was because I didn't replace the protein or do resistance training. Studies show that you lose a small amount of lean mass but stop losing it after the initial fasting period (because of metabolic changes which mentioning them seem to get this post removed) and it is regained at the end of the fasting period (per Dr. Jason Fung's books.) The requirement is to _use_ the muscle and to replace the protein when returning to eating. You _need_ to exercise, and you _need_ to replace the protein you lose during the initial fasting period. In short, I do not maintain a calorie deficit anymore, and only experience a deficit during a "real" fast. An occasional weekend fast seems to work best for me.
My attempt to post my own Pubmed research was eaten by Google, along with references to Dr Fung's work. I did not find any support for protein wasting in the study you referenced. I maintain it is fasting without weight bearing exercise or protein replacement when not fasting that causes the issues you've cited, and the biggest reason is the change in the hormone whose name is forbidden on youtube. PS: This is important to me, because I've done it "the wrong way," both with time-restricted eating _and_ with extended fasts (without protein replacement and without resistance training.) PPS: …and now it shows up again, so YMMV. The difference I'm still seeing is weight-bearing exercise and protein replacement.
The text on the screen is distracting. Every time text comes up, I start reading and then I don't remember what you said. I have to go back and replay the video. It's annoying.
While I have been pretty successful with my keto/low carb/low sugar since I started it back a couple of years ago, I just now learned thru this excellent vid that by eating at least once a day, I'm really practicing TRE rather than true IF, which is fine by me. Altho I've long recognized the benefits of longer term fasting, I'm pretty much a 1-2 meal a day guy. Both meals of course being keto style.
I'm not Keto, I love fruit but definitely TRE. The shortest I can do is 4 hours or I bellyache but if I could I'd get it down to 2-3 just so I didn't have the distraction of meal prep and eating for the rest of the day.
Thank you for explaining this clearly and concisely. The only reason I do longer than 12 or 13 hours is to reap the benefits autophage. Having T2D I get frustrated with my numbers being constantly high.
Well if you are in a calorie deficit.... you empty the fat cells... but you will keep the number of cells... So when your fat cells are normal size, or lower, you got your normal body. If you engage in too tough activity over a prolonged time, even if your fat cells have not reached the "closer to empty" point... you can burn muscle mass. And you don't want that.
♡♡♡♡♡Yes♡♡♡♡♡♡ I'm a certified health coach and I 100% agree! I follow an ancestrally appropriate weston a price approach to true nourishment and reducing inflammation, but FASTING is so helpful in addition to proper nourishment for me! Love your channel!
@@edgarlopez1640 Yes I agree Edgar, unfortunately, everything here in South Africa is regulated ... they track everything so by not taking medication affects things like health insurance, life insurance etc. I am going to look into options on how to lower it and getting a much information so that I can have a better blood test and manage my health for the future. Being South African you are born with "bad genetics" so I need to work with what I have. Thank you for your sound advise.
This can be similar with what I thought, but not everybody knows what "insulin amplitude" is The smaller amplitude is better. WW strategy is not sustainable due to "cut all"
![Fasting Doesn’t Work [Without These 4 Things]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8uawznRqkgs/mqdefault.jpg)
Download My Free Fasting Timeline PDF: drbeckyfitness.com/Fasting-Timeline/
For those who asked, Keith continues to do well! Happy, healthy, and 1 1/2 year cancer-free.
It it accurate to conclude from watching the video that perhaps every once in a while doing omad and IF to kind of switch things up metabolically is more beneficial than every single day due to the risk of the body beginning to use muscle for nutrients and when more calories are reintroduced the body will gain weight because of the storage mode being initiated by the body.
Wow this is probably the most sensible video I've ever seen on IF. I just started doing 16:8 IF and it has already changed my life and my hunger levels throughout the day! I have way more energy than I did before and have lost 4 lbs so far.
Sugar lips share food with poor never lie
I think she is right on the money here. I used daily Keto OMAD and 72 hour bi-weekly fasts to achieve a 140 pound weight loss in 13 months. I was feeling great through the first year, but slowly I started feeling tired, developing heart palpations, and edema in my feet. I have backed off the fasts, (limiting myself to 24 hours every other week) and I am trying 2 meals a day. This of course, has stopped my weight loss, but everything seems to be improving. I am definitely going to rotate OMAD and possibly try alternate day fasting going forward.
What do you eat, are you on a keto diet still..
I do three day fast 7 years so far nothing but I do plant base only no eggs no dairy I feel great after second day but I only weigh 155
The problem is not the daily OMAD (assuming you were eating the right foods and amounts), it was with the bi-weekly 72-hour fasts. That's WAY too much prolonged fasting to do on any consistent basis. Who the hell told you to do that??
IM is my way of life . 5/7 is 20:4 and 1/7 Saturday 18:6 . sunday is nil IF . I aviod sugar and have very little processed food. I have discovered Vegan Loaf- delicious and eat a slice toasted on Sunday for breakfast with 2 fried eggs-. otherwise nil bread. snack in eating window is RAW nuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds. I exercise every day- run AM and walk evenings except Sunday , my chill day. I was 11st 6 lb and now 9st 4lb . my desired weight. my concern is not to loose anymore weight but continue IF. by the way am 68 YRS OLD. Thank you for reading and Dr Becky you are inspirational.
I have lost 32 kg in 10 months it was not easy hard and it took so much time and dedication until I heard about intermittent fasting we as Muslim do dry fasting in Ramadan where you don't even drink water or any thing just dry mouth fasting I noticed that in this month my weight dramatically lost even I did not care about diet then Ramadhan passed and I was again worried about my goal and lifestyle then I heard about intermittent fasting and i was amazed when I heard that in this we can even drink water and some liquid like coffee or ACV etc... I decided to start intermittent fasting and It was easy because Ramadan fasting was little tough.
Now Talk about results
1. My belly started to shrink more quickly than ever I used to do 16 to 18 hours fasting or sometime I prolonged if I am not feeling hungry
2. Control over my hunger
3. Energy level are awesome
4. my tests level were high because I did not feel tired after hardcore workout iin the gym or morning yoga and continued 15000 steps for walk a day :)
5. too many great compliments from friends family and colleagues
now I am going to continue this for the rest of my life 😀
Wow, can't believe for a 7 minute or so video, it's one of best you will ever view on fasting - was a wealth of information!
Thank you, Q E!
I appreciate the content. I"m a keto/IF/extended-fast lifestyler, with good metabolic-improvement results due to the lifestyle change over a year ago. The topic of muscle loss, though, due to extended fasts is a bit divisive within the fasting community. Some fasting proponents believe that extended fasting actually increases the metabolism, because the body is trying to give you the energy to hunt/kill your next meal. Others, like yourself, believe that the body reacts differently in an extended fast, because the body wants to 'cut the losses and protect" (I hope that I'm not incorrectly stating your beliefs, regarding fasting). Both are probably true, to some degree. What is clear is that the human body is an amazing, adaptive machine. Sometimes, we have to out-play it, in order to achieve desired results (such as weight loss). I think that it ultimately comes down to everybody being different, and we each have to listen to our own bodies, to recognize the positive and negative results from the actions that we take.
Nicely stated! Thanks for your comment, Chuck!
There was a study that discovered the optimum fasting window for women as far as weight loss and the magic number was 15 hours.
GREAT video, Dr. Becky!! Your information is spot on and delivered in such a calm, soothing voice!
I would like to share something I discovered when my IF (20:4) and OMAD stagnated my weight after a while. Unorthodox, but as a former bodybuilder, it worked like a charm for a tired metabolism:
I got stuck on one weight for 2 months after losing 10kg (with reduced caloric intake and cardio. )
Then I did something people gasp at: I started eating 1000 calories MORE (I do OMAD, so it is one meal of high density food) and hit the heaviest weights I could handle instead of cardio.
The following day, I had broken the plateau and lost 2kgs that I still have not regained. Upping one's calories and lifting hard weights is a great way to force your metabolism to work harder and prevents your BMR from falling to an unsustainable level and now I do it 3 days a week just to build that MAC truck you speak of!!
Because of your vlog series it is finally working for me ❤️
I have been using intermittent fasting sporadically over the past year with some success, but I'm currently feeling stuck. I'm ready to learn more and commit to a healthier lifestyle so I've requested your free download and ordered your book. Thank you for the inspiration!
I appreciate this video..it addresses one question I needed answered about length of fasting & the point of diminishing returns..(like the optimal exercise one needs daily). Thanks for the one page chart. Now I better understand length of time to fast w/o overdoing it. (which I am prone NOT to do, as I count eating as one of my big pleasures in life)..
I lost muscle mass by switching from 2 meals a day to OMAD for one month; I’m regretting it.. back to ketogenic 16:8 intermittent fasting
I don't have much luck with yet. I don't have enough space to live so I tend to eat because that is basically the only pleasure I can experiment. Not that I did not try intermittent fasting but I did not apply it well for the simple reason that you don't want to cut off what is pleasurable to you yet. So I turn in circles, unless proven otherwise. I am not complaining just explaining why I did not succeed so far. I understand everything, it's another thing to put it in application. Once I can really breath, then I will be able to have other activities not involving food that I can enjoy. Thank you for being there Dr. Becky. So at least I understand the link between the hormones -vs low carb diet and Intermittent fasting once we reached menopause.
The body is very smart. It will not turn to your muscles for fuel until you are literally skin and bones.
In other words if you have body fat the body will use that and then when body fat is depleted it can
Turn to the muscles.
The body wants to live.😀
I’m not persuaded the reported protein is from muscle loss from the caloric restriction/fast itself, but instead, from autophagy as your body takes out the garbage. There are other doctors that have that view. Does it make any sense that our bodies, when we desperately need to get more food (or even not too desperately, since all but those about to starve to death have many day’s worth of calories in fat) would eat our muscle mass that we need to hunt?
I’d be curious to know what those in the mentioned study were doing as they were fasting: did they take it easy, and thus their bodies decided they didn’t need that “wasteful” muscle mass? Last month I did a 106 hour water fast. In the last few hours I did my typical climbing workout, no detected negative impact on performance, and if anything, helped ensure I didn’t have a low blood sugar issue. But certainly, if you’re not hydrating correctly and working out electrolytes, you’ll not be very energetic.
I’d love to see a better study using known actually demanding physical exercise levels.
Exactly. The fat is there as stored energy. Why would our bodies eat up the muscle needed to *function* before the fat it saved for this very occasion? 🤔
Ever since I've had thyroid problems either hyperthyroid or hypothyroidism. I have had a harder time keeping the weight off.
My understanding is that muscle breaks down only as a person is either moving from sugar burning to fat burning (and, even then, the amino acids broken down are NOT all muscle; it can be skin and old cells) or if there is no body fat left to burn. But, if you are fat adapted and have fat to burn, the growth hormone and autophagy promote fat burning and growth hormone is muscle sparing. Not to mention, you can use the growth hormone increase as a way to build muscle with a great resistance routine before breaking the fast. Megan Ramos did this after weekly 72 hour fasts to not only add muscle but to reverse osteoporosis.
On top of that, OMAD is often not enough for people who are metabolically unfit to lose weight. An alternate day fasting is what is needed. Then, add in all the benefits of an extended fast, such as stem cell production and healing certain things.
Thank you Dr Becky. Always great info presented and good reminders. I miss carbs but this reminds me of why I'm doing this. I will stay the course! It is well worth it. Thanks for the encouragement. God bless!
The avg person with regards to weight has at least 100k of excess calories stored throughout the body. It will take much much longer than 20 days to burn through it all. The body is far too intelligent to start breaking down muscle with all that excess fat around😀
Not only informative but your voice Becky is caressing. What a change from the majority of females who screech like hammering on metal yet they work in television. Beats me.
Thank you, Ron!
Wow, what an incredibly misogynistic comment!!
@@halfamo2422 🤣🤡
I drink a couple cups of coffee with MCT oil and plant based milk in morning. Then i eat one time a day. 20/4
Will you explain autophagy please. Some have said this kicks in after 16 hours of fasting and peaks at 36 hours. I have done several 40 hour fasts and felt great. I lost no appreciable muscle. I did train quite hard during this period in the hope of accelerating the effect. Thank you for a lovely video.
I fasted for 30 days without losing a relevant percentage of muscle mass, instead I lost all the fat on my liver and even improved my eyesight, and my blood general results to the extent that my doctor thought the lab had made a mistake. But it had not.
I also tried intermittent fasting with one meal a day or 6 hour window plus some cheating days to maintain the results of weight loss but so far neither have worked well. I had to do another prolonged fast yo lose weight again.
That sounds dangerous?
I lost a third of my body weight a few years ago.
Started with a five day fast, then back to regular eating with smaller proportions.
Went at it fairly aggressively for the first few months then backed off to take a breather before it became a burden or too much an obsession in my own mind. Then after reaffirming my determination I got back into it taking a more sustainable approach. I used alternate day restriction for a lot of it, counting my calories overall so that my average stayed just a couple of hundred calories below maintenance for my age, height and activity level. Then I finally settled on a reduced eating window of 4 hours or so a day.
Took a bit over 18 months to get where I wanted to be and even then I continued to lose a little weight even as I started eating more.
Now I pretty much eat all my meals in a 4-6 hour window daily.
I'd prefer to do it in a shorter time frame so I wouldn't have the distraction from other things but my gut gets sore if I eat everything I need in less than 4 hours. Unfortunately the longer time frame allows me to get distracted from meal prep with other things so that even though I aim for 4 hours it's typically 5-6 with one or two days a weak at 4.
Ive done CARNIVORE and INTERMITTEN FASTING for a flippin year-- with NO effect.. not loast an ounce-- lost the pains from arithric stuff resulting from a truck acciend years ago, for a SHORT time- now it's all back. My breathing is still a LOT better.. but nothing else.
Everything I read and hear says IF 16/8. Will 14/10 help to lose weight?
Excellent info have done quite a few 36 hour fast alot of 24 all on weekends during the week 14 to 16 some times only 12 hours all of which has helped me without muscle loss this could be because of physical work .and some exercise
This is really interesting to me as I tend to feel rather washed out that last hour of fasting. Not sure if it’s psychological or not 🤣. I am, however, six pounds from my target weight and still doing 20:4 and 20g carbs. Maybe I’ve reached my tipping point at 19 hours for my fat stores?
I'm still good for 24-36 hours but get a slight headache at that point as my blood sugar gets a bit low.
@@glenrisk5234 Would love to be able to do 24-36 hours. I guess we’re all different. I think it’s the summer heat and needing more electrolytes for me.
I definitely think that the muscle breakdown that occurs throughout let’s say a three day fast could easily be reversed by proper exercise and feasting following the fast. Also, I’m not certain how much “muscle” is broken down vs. Let’s say protein breakdown which doesn’t necessarily have to come from muscle.
Thank you for your good information!
Thanks doc, i learned a lot from your channel .
No oil no sugar no salt ! Is this a good diet !
No carbs, no sugar, no fruit, no seed oils. Yes butter, yes olive/avocado oil, yes green veggies, yes salt, yes meat/fish/eggs. 🤗✌🏼
Thank you good information, for faster weight loss results, do exercise before breaking your fast, you push your body to burn more fat faster at end of your fasting!!! Do a 15 min slow run, do 30 min fast walk, cycling,swimming, ……🚴♀️🏃🏽♂️🏊♂️🚣🫀🫀🫀
Please show your 18 hr. Fast chart. Or is it in the 12-24 hr fast? Most likely I think
Wondering how your husband is doing? Miss seeing him
How about an update on Dr Keith? We are wondering how he is doing. Maybe you should formally retire the Two Fit Docs from RUclips.
Thank You cheers watching this 2022 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🙏🙏
Look into ‘Protein Sparing modified fast’ as a way to maintain muscle mass while getting the same benefits of fasting. 🤗 Thank me later.
I just recently heard of studies that say, that fasting reduces muscles first. But as I understand it, from this video, when you fonly ast for 12/16 hours this does not happen?
Any tips for shift worker. Days. Nights type of routine?
You are the best !!!!!
Hey Doc can you do a presentation on gut health? Is it good or bad and what’s your opinion on it ?
How often (weekly/monthly) should autophagy fasting be implemented? How long shoud this type of fast be considered. Thankyou
Great information. But I wish I could figure out how to help my mom gain weight in a healthy way.
So why wouldn't you just recommend exercise instead of not fasting longer. Studies have found the major benefits don't kick in unless doing a prolonged fast
I’m just here for the surprise packages!
The urea nitrogen indicates the breakdown of amino acids (proteins) which can come from numerous sources, not just muscle. Are there any studies that evaluate a direct impact on healthy muscle tissue from fasting? Between autophagy cleaning out weak cells and the (hopeful) reduction in aggregate skin cells (loose skin) I'm hoping the findings are that a large percentage of the amino acids are not from healthy muscle tissue...
ok I know sugar is bad but how about fruit? I think I can give up sugar, but if fruit like apples and bananas also bad or or they not so bad? Thank you
TY❤💛💙
Its the insulin. I wish we would stop talking about calories. Thermodynamic laws dont apply to humans as we are not closed systems. We are physiological beings with hormones. Not engines
Lol...i was here for surprise package😀
To anyone who needs Jesus and hasn’t come to Him yet…
Romans 3:23, 6:23, 10:9-10
Trust in Him to save you.
Wake up! He is coming soon!
Lets go Brandon
Dr Becky,
As always, I'm forever grateful beyond words! I'm at my ideal weight now. I was 104kg, I'm now 64kg. I've achieved this through your videos. Every bit of information is true and right. I can't see myself going back to my old weight.
You're a gift to nations. Thank you is not enough!
So, God richly bless you. Thanks again.🙏🏾🙏🏾
What an accomplishment! You should be proud! 👍
That is wonderful to hear, Alice! Congratulations!
@@beckygillaspy Thank you. Much appreciated. I will be 58yrs tomorrow and thanks to you, I'm healthy, my blood pressure is at normal figures.
I've been spreading your name to anyone who will listen 😊.
Once more, thanks again 🙏🏾❤️
@@charlestonscnative9083 Yes, I am. Thanks.
Dr.Becky’s delivery of information is flawless and easy to digest. She is very pleasant and a joy to listen to. Thank you🙏🏽🇦🇺
Thank you, Zlatko! I appreciate the comment!
So true!!!! I just love her so much !❤💪
This channel has always been evolving.....always becoming more sophisticated. She has never sold out or lost her striving to reveal cutting edge ideas as a gift for us.
Thank you, Chuck!
I'm under weight but adopt IF 16:8 in order to lower down Insulin level and lower down glucose level.
Great video. Can you give us an update on Keith, how is he doing?
He continues to do well! Happy, healthy, and 1 1/2 year cancer-free.
@@beckygillaspy That is great news. Thank you.
I am at least glad you were honest and mentioned the reduction of overall calories most people experience when they fast.
Do you have thoughts on the concept of resting (no exercise) during fasting days whereby autophagy tends to create a muscle protein sparing environment but instead goes on a cleanup rampage of damaged/junk/excess proteins first. Also allowing stem cell production after about 36 hours of fasting for added health benefits!
I’m not a particularly active person, needed to lose about 10kg and did a 4 day fast after listening to a Jason Fung podcast. I have since done another 4 day generally now don’t have more than 2 meals a day but honestly, could easily drop to OMAD again as I’m eating whole foods with plenty of saturated healthy fats.
I’ve never had a six pack but seem to have one now. 😁 i lose about 700g a day when fasting hence my now usual 2 meals per day so I at least get my calories in. But beyond that, I don’t really think about it.
I am pretty active, lift weights and do regular cardio.
I have also seen a lot of stuff about the benefits of longer fasting periods, that around 72 hours your immune system resets itself for example.
Not something I think would be necessary fir healthy living very often but likely beneficial occasionally?
Thinking about how our ancestors lived it seems likely that such periods of enforced fasting would have been pretty normal?
If you are still eating carbs on OMAD, then it probably is good to limit fasting length but if you are completely fat adapted, your metabolism will not lower and neither will you burn muscle for fuel. If that were true, our ancestors would have never survived. Be hard to kill a mammoth if you haven't eaten in 5 days if you are weak and tired. If you are not fat adapted, the body will burn muscle after glycogen is used up since it requires fuel. Metabolism will lower too. Any prescence of insulin will limit fat burning. Even on a OMAD diet, insulin will be present if carbs are eaten. GH is also muscle sparing and low insulin also spikes that. With proper adaption, your body will go from glycogen as fuel to fat as fuel without missing a beat. If any insulin is present, you will hit the wall hard when glycogen is used up. For strict IF dieters, this may not be a problem but anyone that has ate high carb for 30 or 40 years needs to retrain the body to burn fat. May take 2 weeks....may take a month, everyone is different. After you are fat adapted, these IF, low carb, or OMAD diets become much easier to maintain.
I like the way you have focused in on this. I've been doing 12-16 hour fasts every day, and I can definitely see a difference, but it's good to know what's going on each hour you are fasting
So glad I found your channel. Very interesting video. I’ve just finished a 24 hr fast. I felt really good when fasting but really exhausted now I’ve eaten.
Thanks for sharing all this information x
Switch to carnivore. You’ll thank me when you feel 20 years younger. Starve fat cells lol get real. Stop eating sugar. Problem solved.
Thank you,Dr. Becky
As always,your explanations are clear and concise. 👍🏻
Thanks for your comment, Becky!
I disagree, Dr. Becky. There's nothing wrong with daily OMAD, assuming you're getting the right foods in sufficient amounts and supplementing as well.
Changing my eating habits to fruits,vegetables, nuts,seeds and meat twice a week and intermittent fasting. I dropped seven prescription drugs I was told I would be on for life. (And dropped 40 pounds) Diet and intermittent fasting are very important to good health. Actually the third meal of the day came from the cereal companies many years ago. What have we been told all our lives? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is a marketing ploy. People eating two meals a day goes all the way back to bible times.
Congratulations, Brian!
That's very interesting. Found myself wondering about what has really been normal over the lifetime for our species.
@@glenrisk5234 Hi Glen. Normal actually means “the norm” usual, typical or standard. I have been questioning what I have been taught for many years. I have come to this conclusion. Observe what everyone else is doing. (in any area of life) Do the exact opposite, and you will usually be headed in the right direction. Swimming upstream and against the flow of traffic is a key component for any who becomes successful in life.
I’m curious, are you saying 2 meals a day is stated in the Bible. Where ?
@@bonnie5972 The culture of the day was two meals per day. This is not spoken of in the Bible specifically to my knowledge. But can be seen as a common practice.
Great title. Great content. Thank you! 🌹
Most people watching this should focus less on how long to fast and more on actually getting into gear and train their muscles. Don't get bogged down in the scientific minutiae when most of you are still getting the broad strokes wrong.
this lady is incorrect.
The use of muscle vs. fat doesn't make sense and goes against what Dr. Fung's take on the body's use of muscle vs. fat.
Thank you for this. I know I get up to 16 hours but when life happens I have to start over again. I like to use bone broth for a couple of days to ease my digestion then start with eggs for breakfast since I can stay full longer after eating them. I find this to be a success for me.
I’m trying to lose weight but if I skip meals my blood sugar drops and I get shaky /anxiety…however I want to fast ..is there a way to hack this?
That happened to me. I adapted to it and it went away. I ramped up my protein intake. Best to you
@@gman77gas good to know-thanks!
Dr Becky you ALWAYS give us such amazing important information.. Thank you for All you do😊
Thanks for your comment, Debbie!
@@beckygillaspy it is THE TRUTH💗
I am fasting for longer periods in a attempt to starve cancer, specifically stage 4 prostate cancer. There is so much information that confusion on my part results.
I couldn't do the OMAD thing.
The best I can do is about 4hours, eating faster than that just gives me a bellyache.
Typically I eat for between 4 and 6 hours a day.
I'm also vegetarian and eat a good deal of fruit, 6-8 serves a day so I'm consuming a lot of sugar, some fat from avocado and dairy sources.
I'm not overweight, lift weights regularly, do a lot of moderate cardio and some more intense stuff occasionally but at 55 even with all that I still have to be careful.
Thank you
IF seems to be my default setting, so it's easy for me.
I can eat at any time but I don't get hungry until late in the day.
Eating early while long distance hiking was hard, but necessary on steep trails.
Thank you for this reminder.
How’s Dr Keith? I’m praying for him. God bless you both
My hyerpmobile EDS and related gut-issues means that often fasting causes gas, bloating and pain. And of course, the only thing I can tolerate is toast - more carbs! 😩
Will my set point lower because my calorie intact is low especially on omad, will fasting avoid this?
Some really really good information here, thank you. I've been doing one to two meals a day very low carb sugar moderate protein moderate fat for the last 6 months. I've lost approximately 62 lb and have about 5 lb to go. A few weeks back I did a 72 hour fast. I started with a 24 then did a 48 and and worked up to the 72 hour. Not only did I lose about 6 lb but it was the way it made me feel. It was like my body was saying thanks for the break. If there was any muscle loss I did not notice. I actually had more energy at the end of the fast than i did when I started. Amazing thing fasting. Thanks again for the informative video.
Please Ma'am, Need a video on how to add salts and electrolytes during water fast for more than 2 days in Simplest and easiest way possible without any complications or brand endorsement. I have seen many clips about importance of salts and electrolytes during fast but how to add it at home, the recepie in simple words is not available. So I am cautious not to do water fast. I am on OMAD, Saw some videos where they put some Pink Himalayan Salt, some epsom salts , some baking soda and what not. Need a simple recepie which even a layman can understand and ingredients should be available globally. I am Indian. Problem is many videos use some technical terms to add to water during fast and it is somewhat confusing as to what exactly to add and in what quantity, need to translate what the ingredient means in local language to confirm. Or else it may cause harm during fasting. Complete knowledge is essential. Thanks.
Go to Mary’s nest channel she has the best recipe anyone can make. amen 🙏
Just get LMNT. Best electrolytes on the market
Dr. Becky, I’ve always been told that your metabolism will slow down to accommodate food loss.
And unfortunately I know from own experience that each diet is more difficult to lose weight (as a yoyoer).
I did intermittent fasting 20 -4- and gained 1 pound. Doctor said I put my body in starvation mode
I've stopped time-restricted eating to a deficit for weight loss. I found it had exactly the opposite result of extended fasting, and actually intermittent _real_ fasting works better, and allows me to be stronger. An occasional 36-72 hour fast on the weekend works best for me. Otherwise, I virtually never go longer than 16 hours.
I've found that beyond low carb, the only way I can lose weight is by fasting for periods of longer than a day and eating high protein, three meals, while not fasting (to replace what I'm not consuming while fasted.) This is after having beaten diabetes and lost 100 pounds and getting down to approximately 30% body fat. I believe I did, indeed, lose lean mass along with fat when I did this, but it was because I didn't replace the protein or do resistance training. Studies show that you lose a small amount of lean mass but stop losing it after the initial fasting period (because of metabolic changes which mentioning them seem to get this post removed) and it is regained at the end of the fasting period (per Dr. Jason Fung's books.) The requirement is to _use_ the muscle and to replace the protein when returning to eating. You _need_ to exercise, and you _need_ to replace the protein you lose during the initial fasting period.
In short, I do not maintain a calorie deficit anymore, and only experience a deficit during a "real" fast. An occasional weekend fast seems to work best for me.
My attempt to post my own Pubmed research was eaten by Google, along with references to Dr Fung's work. I did not find any support for protein wasting in the study you referenced. I maintain it is fasting without weight bearing exercise or protein replacement when not fasting that causes the issues you've cited, and the biggest reason is the change in the hormone whose name is forbidden on youtube.
PS: This is important to me, because I've done it "the wrong way," both with time-restricted eating _and_ with extended fasts (without protein replacement and without resistance training.)
PPS: …and now it shows up again, so YMMV. The difference I'm still seeing is weight-bearing exercise and protein replacement.
Yes let our fat cells starve!!
The text on the screen is distracting. Every time text comes up, I start reading and then I don't remember what you said. I have to go back and replay the video. It's annoying.
While I have been pretty successful with my keto/low carb/low sugar since I started it back a couple of years ago, I just now learned thru this excellent vid that by eating at least once a day, I'm really practicing TRE rather than true IF, which is fine by me. Altho I've long recognized the benefits of longer term fasting, I'm pretty much a 1-2 meal a day guy. Both meals of course being keto style.
I'm not Keto, I love fruit but definitely TRE.
The shortest I can do is 4 hours or I bellyache but if I could I'd get it down to 2-3 just so I didn't have the distraction of meal prep and eating for the rest of the day.
The link doesn't lead to the time line sheet presented in the video. It's something different.
Good video.
Fasting allows the body to heal itself from every so called "disease"...
Dr Chiropractor….why are they so many on the internet.
Prolonged fasting is one of the worst things I have done to my body so far.
Thank you for explaining this clearly and concisely. The only reason I do longer than 12 or 13 hours is to reap the benefits autophage. Having T2D I get frustrated with my numbers being constantly high.
Dr. Becky, you always motivate and inform me. THANK YOU!
Thank you, Sheree!
How does type 2 diabetes fit into the IF picture? Is it safe to do intermittent fasting when you are diabetic taking medication?
I would say eat at least 2 times a day…light meals
Well if you are in a calorie deficit.... you empty the fat cells... but you will keep the number of cells... So when your fat cells are normal size, or lower, you got your normal body.
If you engage in too tough activity over a prolonged time, even if your fat cells have not reached the "closer to empty" point... you can burn muscle mass. And you don't want that.
Autophagy
I love the tittle of your video. that's exactly what intermittent fasting is for.
♡♡♡♡♡Yes♡♡♡♡♡♡ I'm a certified health coach and I 100% agree! I follow an ancestrally appropriate weston a price approach to true nourishment and reducing inflammation, but FASTING is so helpful in addition to proper nourishment for me! Love your channel!
I do IF/OMAD & get weight loss. However, my Cholestrol is now Sky High, so much that I need to go on statins 😢
Cholesterol is not the problem,you need to research on Dr Robert Cywes,Dr Ken Berry,Dr Jason Fung
@@edgarlopez1640 Yes I agree Edgar, unfortunately, everything here in South Africa is regulated ... they track everything so by not taking medication affects things like health insurance, life insurance etc. I am going to look into options on how to lower it and getting a much information so that I can have a better blood test and manage my health for the future. Being South African you are born with "bad genetics" so I need to work with what I have. Thank you for your sound advise.
@J P Thank you JP
This can be similar with what I thought, but not everybody knows what "insulin amplitude" is
The smaller amplitude is better.
WW strategy is not sustainable due to "cut all"
Ur voice is soothing and peaceful while listening u have give lot of knowledge to us
It’s my stomach and belly, eww, just can’t lose that fat. The rest of me is slim