Intermittent Fasting & Weightloss
Welcome to another weekend episode of The ZecoHealth Show.
This is Weight Management Expert, Narado Zeco Powell
In this weekend’s short, I will explain the benefits & downfalls of Intermittent Fasting when it comes to weight management & health.
At the end I will give you some recommendations to properly implement a fasting protocol to lose weight.
So, let’s get started.
Let’s begin with a definition
What is Intermittent Fasting?
According to Healthline
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.
It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.
In this respect, it’s not a diet in the conventional sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern.
This definition is spot on.
I will add that there are different ways to fast, i.e water fasts, dry fasts, dinner to dinner fasts.
As long as you are purposely condensing your feeding windows, you are fasting.
Now that we know what it, let’s discuss the possible benefits:
- When you fast, several things happen in your body on the cellular and molecular level. I.e your body adjusts hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible.
- Fasting can reduce insulin resistance by lowering blood sugar & fasting insulin levels.
- Your cells also initiate important repair processes and change the expression of genes. (Epigenetics)
- The levels of growth hormone skyrocket, increasing as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for fat loss and muscle gain, to name a few.
- When fasted, your cells initiate cellular repair processes. This includes autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cells.
Reasons 3 & 5 are why there are animal studies that show that fasting can prevent cancer. The key word is can.
There are other benefits of Intermittent fasting like improving brain health & the list goes on & on.
I mean weight-loss, muscle gain, cellular repair, these all sound amazing.
No wonder why Intermittent Fasting is the main trend in health & fitness.
Just like anything else, there are possible downsides, so let’s discuss them:
- Hunger & Cravings
- Headaches & lightweight
- Digestive Issues
- Mood Swings
- Fatigue
- Weight Gain
These happen for a few reasons, but the main ones are fasting too long, hormonal imbalances, nutrition deficiency & metabolic inflexibility.
Let me explain, if you fast for too long, you will put your body under undue stress, raising your cortisol levels.
If you have been listening to me, you know the issues that chronic cortisol levels cause.
Hormonal issues like drop in thyroid T3 hormone which is crucial for energy.
If you are diabetic, especially if you are not being monitored by a health or medical professional, your blood sugar may drop to dangerous levels.
Excessive fasting can lead to nutrient deficiencies.
In short, we need food.
When we starve our bodies, it will give priority to the large processes i.e our heart, while starving our smaller processes, which can shorten our lives.
Think about it like a car where the engine and large mechanisms still work.
The car still runs well, but not optimally, until the issues with the small mechanisms stop holding up and it impacts the large ones and the car dies or you have to take it to the shop.
Now, let’s discuss metabolic flexibility & gut enzymes.
If you have been following The ZecoHealth Show, by now you know about gut enzymes & how they are connected to the flexibility of your metabolism & fat loss.
If not go back and listen to my recent episodes in the following order:
- Introduction to Gut Enzymes & Metabolic Flexibility
- Keto vs Metabolic Flexibility
- Metabolic Flexibility with Lumen Metabolic Coach Maria Fox
Long story short, if you are not metabolically flexible, especially if you have a sugar metabolism, you will less likely burn fat, but you can stress your body and your blood sugar will drop to unsafe levels.
This is the perfect spot to disuss Lumen.
It is the only breathelizer on the market that reads if you are burning fat or carbs, gives you a score to determine the flexibility of your metabolism.
Based on the flexibility of your metabolism, they provide nutriention macro guidance so your body can develop adequate enzymes to break down fats or carbs as needed.
This magic of being metabolically flexible, leads to improved metabolic health and sustainable weightloss.
I highly recommend Lumen and their services.
Go to lumen and use code zecohealth for 10% off all their services.
The link to lumen is in the shownotes & the description of the podcast.
Lastly, here are ways to implement a fasting protocol to promote fatloss.
It begins with habits around fasting:
- Reduce stress.
Stress promotes a sugar metabolism because it raises cortisol.
Habits like diaphragmatic breathing, slow breathing & meditation.
If you have not, listen to the solo episode titled, Morning Habits To Jumpstart Fatburn to learn how to implement these habits.
- Start with a shorter window.
Do not jump into long fasts, especially if you have a sugar metabolism.
Start at the low end and slowly increase.
- Fasting windows for men & women are different
I recommend 12 to 14 hours of fasting for women, but 14 to 16 for men.
Again starting at the low end so 12 for women and 14 for men.
Remember I am referring to daily fasts here and be mindful if you have health issuss
- Train your metabolism to be metabolically flexible.
As your body shifts from a sugar to fat metabolism, it will become better at breaking down it’s own body fat for fuel.
Remember to look into lumen and use code zecohealth for 10% off their services.
- Once you are metabolically flexible and you can consistently fast at the height of your window, 14 hours for women & 16 for men, then you can have a weekly 24 hour or dinner to dinner fast.
I would say you can try dinner to dinner fasting after about 2 months of consistently fasting at the height of your window.
At the point your metabolism operating efficiently.
There it is fam.
Enjoy your weekend & let’s crush 2022!
