Lets talk about Intermittent Fasting The Power of BroScience by AJAC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I posted this yesterday, and it led to a cacophony of responses, ranging from the appreciative to the incendiary
Been down these paths so many times and indeed, IF works (but it's just caloric restriction). In combo with a predominately Paleo whole food diet, I dropped 30 kilos in 2009ish. My preferred method, rather than daily eating window, was 2x 30hr per week. From after a lunch one day, to dinner the next.
I've done various eating windows, from 18/6 to 22/2 (OMAD) at times. But yea, it's all caloric restriction no matter how you get it done.
There is one method that MIGHT be superior in terms of the general health benefits that accrues BECAUSE of the timing, rather than being only a downstream effect of the caloric restriction and fat loss.
eTRF. Skipping dinner. So, calories are front loaded for the day, and then you're done until the next day. You rarely hear about this because people shudder at the thought. "What, no DINNER!!!???" Most Shiite IFers are all about skipping breakfast, going as long as possible, many ending up munching in front of the TEEVEE every night, going to bed well-fed. It's a good area of study since it's a completely reverse approach to the same level of overall caloric restriction by means of eating window.
I stumbled upon this back in 2020 after moving to Thailand and learning about how the monks eat and how healthful looking many of them are (especially in rural areas where they adhere to their practices better, and get low-energy-density rural food...as contrasted with urban monks who get a lot of stuff from 7/11).
They eat in the early morning, then lunch around noon, and that's it for the day.
One other thing (you have mentioned this in the past, just not in this letter)
If a person does IF and don't pay attention to protein, the IF diet is associated w lean muscle loss. It may be a particular problem with IF, as any people find it hard to cram in 1g/lb protein in a short window. Result: skinny-fat.
I think we are seeing the same thing happen with using GLP-1 agonists for weight loss.
Been down these paths so many times and indeed, IF works (but it's just caloric restriction). In combo with a predominately Paleo whole food diet, I dropped 30 kilos in 2009ish. My preferred method, rather than daily eating window, was 2x 30hr per week. From after a lunch one day, to dinner the next.
I've done various eating windows, from 18/6 to 22/2 (OMAD) at times. But yea, it's all caloric restriction no matter how you get it done.
There is one method that MIGHT be superior in terms of the general health benefits that accrues BECAUSE of the timing, rather than being only a downstream effect of the caloric restriction and fat loss.
eTRF. Skipping dinner. So, calories are front loaded for the day, and then you're done until the next day. You rarely hear about this because people shudder at the thought. "What, no DINNER!!!???" Most Shiite IFers are all about skipping breakfast, going as long as possible, many ending up munching in front of the TEEVEE every night, going to bed well-fed. It's a good area of study since it's a completely reverse approach to the same level of overall caloric restriction by means of eating window.
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30253-5
I stumbled upon this back in 2020 after moving to Thailand and learning about how the monks eat and how healthful looking many of them are (especially in rural areas where they adhere to their practices better, and get low-energy-density rural food...as contrasted with urban monks who get a lot of stuff from 7/11).
They eat in the early morning, then lunch around noon, and that's it for the day.
Here's a good summary article of the study.
https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9433-etrf-improves-blood-sugar-control-and-blood-pressure-pilot-study-says
Cheers.
One other thing (you have mentioned this in the past, just not in this letter)
If a person does IF and don't pay attention to protein, the IF diet is associated w lean muscle loss. It may be a particular problem with IF, as any people find it hard to cram in 1g/lb protein in a short window. Result: skinny-fat.
I think we are seeing the same thing happen with using GLP-1 agonists for weight loss.