Is fasting just another way to reduce calories....

[1newname]

Or is there more to it? Like something happens in your body when fasted for long enough.

Yes if you skip meals you tend to eat less calories

Yes. I naturally fast a lot of the time as I can happily not eat 8pm-12pm, looked into it and it just seems to be a mental thing to help manage less food, couldn't find much to substantiate claims that it's good for the digestive system.

Nothing magical happens to your body. Most people fast at least 9 hours or so when they sleep each night.

I should have been more specific. I mean more of a 16-8 approach rather than whole day fasting etc

Could leaving 12 hours between dinner and breakfast benefit health? - BBC Food

It is to do with not have a glucose spike and stimulating your metabolism. This should then make the body burn fat differently. But, on the whole, it will help reduce calories.

I think it is supposed to help lower your blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. There is some concern it may be negative for women of reproductive age.

Yes, it just means your weekly calorie allowance is split unevenly. It works for me because I can happily go until dinner time with no food on a couple of days but once I start eating in a day it wakes up my digestion and I register I'm hungry.

I'm wondering about there being a different mechanism other than reducing calories because I've heard people saying even a bit of milk in your morning coffee will spoil the fasting effect. If it's just calorie reduction why would that matter? Not being picky, just trying to understand!

@1newname , I found it helps stop eating rubbish in the evenings.

Yes I can imagine, but just another diet then! I was hoping for some magic😆

Fasting triggers autophagy which helps get rid of damaged cells in the body. It’s also prevents viruses replicating in cells thereby boosting your immune system. (the scientist who discovered this won a Nobel prize in 2016).

It gives your gut a rest from digesting allowing the microbiome to flourish.

There is a really interesting podcast on diary of a ceo regarding fasting for women, and fasting in accordance with your cycle if that’s something that interests you.

It's definitely not a diet. It's a lifestyle.

Podcasts to listen to:

Zoe fasting
Huberman fasting
Mel Robbins fasting

@1newname , the best bit is that I find I recognise hunger better. I try to eat healthily because some foods give me false hunger.

A carb heavy meal will have me hungry three hours later. I'm not anti-carb at all but try to have veg based meals with some protein and a little fat. There is carbohydrate in the meal but it will be from pulses or potatoes not rice or pasta.

Cakes, biscuits, crisps etc I avoid as they make me crave carbs.

@1newname many benefits explained here

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fasting-benefits#blood-sugar

There was also one of his podcasts with a guest not so long ago who said fasting does nothing except reduce your eating time so reduces your calories. Tbh he gets all kinds of quacks on that podcast.

Personally I don't think there is anything magical about fasting other than you tend to eat less. I just used to naturally not eat until around 1, I was just never hungry. I have to take meds morning and evening with food now so that put an end to that.

It's just fancy talk for skipping a meal, that's all.

For some reason, I snack less when I do 16-8, so I automatically take in fewer calories. I also have more energy. It really does work for me.

Yeah it's not magic, just a convenient way to reduce calories. Have your splash of milk.

There’s been recent research suggesting it increases your chances of serious cardiac issues and death, so the autophagy might not be all good…

It mostly just reduces calorie intake. It only tends to work if you’re pretty strict with it, or you’ll excuse everything and not actually have the break, hence the militance about milk.

I don't miss meals usually. I have three meals a day and I eat from 7:30am and stop at 4:30pm.

I'm sure I have reduced calories by not eating in the evening and drinking wine so often.

Be careful if you have stomach acid problems and/or gall bladder, anectdotally and personally I have found I have to eat little and often to protect this, friends of mine have reported the same

But as others have aid, its just a way of consuming fewer calories and theres nothing wrong with that as a system if it works for you but its not some magical difference

There are some proven benefits yes, but there's also negative impacts for women to a longer faster period. You naturally fast overnight, giving your body the chance to do the turnover it needs each day.