Alternate Day Fasting

Sounds sad but it's true, just reducing calories (what might be called dieting) and starting to do some exercise is not enough. It has to be a low carb diet teamed with exercise to make a real difference.

The sad reality is that it's very hard to be disciplined all day every day. The old idea that you could 'cheat' on your diet once a week or even for the whole week-end just does not work. For anyone who is considerably overweight and as a result their body is probably very carb sensitive, 'cheating' is a disaster. If this is you then your experience is that even one 'bad' meal can eliminate all the weight loss of a whole week.

It's sad and one wishes the world was different but this is reality. So what to do ?

One option to consider is fasting on three days a week. Usually, fasting is a bad idea as it reduces your body's metabolic rate i.e. you end up burning fewer calories the longer the fast goes on. However if you fast for less than a day, that is from one breakfast time to the next, and on alternate days, your body should not start to protect itself by reducing calorie burn. Lots of varied exercise will keep the calorie burn high.

You can build into three days by partially fasting on one day when you have a small breakfast and then don't eat for the rest of the day. The next day is a 'normal' day which is somewhat calorie restricted i.e. eating carefully.

Then you add on extra fasting days and increase the discipline of fasting days.

To an extent you can make up for the one really 'bad' evening of the week by fasting and exercising the next day.

How much exercise to at least limit the damage ? At least 400 calories of exercise. Best to do this in an exercise sessions of at least 400 calories within 8 hours of the bad meal i.e. get up the next morning early and walk and walk.

Linking alternate day fasting and exercise to a low carb approach is the best way to go. Low carb will inevitably reduce the glycogen in your muscles so hard running or cycling will be difficult but walking or using an elliptical will be OK. On the 'eating' days workout with weights and resistance. The reason for this is to make sure you take in sufficient protein immediately after working out.

Is there any science behind this ? Yes, read this tough paper.