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Intermittent Fasting: What You Should Know

By John Berardi
Date Released : 25 Feb 2013

If you w ork in fitness, I know youve been hearing a lot about intermittent fasting (IF) lately. Its no surprise as to w hy. With feature
articles in Time, The NY Times, and The LA Times, as w ell a TV specials, including one from the BBC, you should be taking notice.

IF is all the rage and, like it or not, your clients are being exposed to it. Thats w hy its important to dig in and learn the basics - so you can
answ er their questions; so you can stay current. With this particular trend theres another reason for learning all you can. There is some
intriguing new data show ing that IF just might offer unique health and body composition benefits.

So, heres my advice: Dont dismiss this trend as a fad. By doing so youll be missing out on a genuine opportunity to challenge your ow n
beliefs, to learn, and to grow as a professional.

So whats Intermittent Fasting All About?

The practice of intermittent fasting involves either skipping specific meals (like breakfast) or skipping entire days of eating. While,
technically, there are hundreds of w ays to not eat, the follow ing describes the 5 protocols that seem to have the most scientific and
user-driven support:

Alternate Day Fasting (36-hour fast / 12-hour feed)

With this plan you simply eat every other day. For example, on Monday, youd eat w ithin a 12-hour w indow , say, 8 AM to 8 PM. Then
youd fast overnight on Monday, and all day/overnight on Tuesday. Youd eat again from 8 AM to 8 PM on Wednesday. And so on.
Alternate day fasters are encouraged to make good eating choices, but theyre allow ed to eat w hat they w ant on the non-fasting days.

Eat Stop Eat (24-hour fast, 1 or 2 times per w eek)

On this plan, you fast for a full 24 hours once or tw ice per w eek, eating sensibly (higher protein, minimizing processed foods, etc.) on
the other days of the w eek. Its flexible: You can choose w hichever 24 hours you w ant to fast. Want to fast from breakfast to
breakfast? Thats fine. Just eat breakfast on Monday, and dont eat again until breakfast on Tuesday. Want to fast dinner to dinner?
Thats fine too. Eat dinner on Wednesday, and dont eat again until dinner on Thursday.

LeanGains (16-hour fast / 8-hour feed)

This brand of fasting is based on an 8-hour feeding period follow ed by a 16-hour fast. How ever, it also layers a few other food rules on
top: The diet should be high in protein, should cycle carbohydrates, should include fasted training, and should use nutrient timing (eating
the bulk of your calories during the post-exercise period).

On this plan, you fast from, say, 9 PM on Monday night until 1 PM on Tuesday afternoon. If youre going to exercise, youd do so just
before 1 PM on Tuesday, w ith 10 g BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) during training. After training, you eat 2-3 meals before 9 PM,
w ith your biggest meal coming right after exercise. The fast begins again on Tuesday evening until Wednesday at 1 PM, and repeats
every day.

The Warrior Diet (20-hour fast / 4-hour feed)

On this plan, you w ould either fast, or eat very small amounts of specifically recommended foods, for the first 20 hours of each day,
w orking out during this period of under eating. Then, you w ould eat the majority of your daily intake w ithin a 4-hour over feeding w indow .
After that 4-hour over feeding period, you w ould repeat the under eating/fasting for the next 20 hours.

Generally, most people place their 4-hour over feeding w indow at the end of the day, as its more convenient for family dinners and
after-w ork training sessions. How ever, modifications can be made based on individual and scheduling needs.

Meal Skipping (Random)

Some IF proponents believe w e should behave like our evolutionary ancestors did. As humans evolved to get their food and exercise
randomly, so should w e. This brand of IF includes eating unprocessed, evolutionary friendly food (think Paleo-diet type). Randomly
cycling daily calorie intake and randomly skipping a breakfast or dinner meal once or tw ice a w eek. The rules are very flexible. (It is
random, after all.)

What About Frequent Eating?

I know , I know the idea of fasting for a few extra hours every day seems to fly in the face of conventional nutrition w isdom. Many of
you probably think that going entire days w ithout eating is sheer lunacy. I get it. As a long-time proponent of grazing (eating smaller meals
more frequently), I w as a little skeptical of the concept too. Would I get moody? Experience blood sugar drop? Have muscle proteins
dissolve and burned for energy? Its enough to make any fitness buff run screaming from the room.

But heres the funny thing: If you do intermittent fasting right, none of that actually happens. How do I know ? Well, first, theres the
research. In fasting-related studies, muscle isnt lost like youd expect, unless theres a huge energy deficit and theres no w eight training
involved. How ever, Ill share a dirty little secret: I dont alw ays believe the research. Even though I spent eleven years in higher education
and earned a research-based PhD, I know how poorly research can be conducted. Furthermore, how many actual bodybuilders end up
in research studies? Very few .

My Experiments with Intermittent Fasting

Thats w hy I spent eight months experimenting w ith intermittent fasting. Indeed, I turned myself into a human guinea pig and tested dozens
of different fasting-related protocols. Throughout the process, I meticulously recorded everything from body composition to blood values
to lifestyle factors, all in an attempt to figure out w hether intermittent fasting is a new and potentially valuable paradigm shift in the
nutrition w orld or just another fad diet.

(For those w ho are interested, I published my findings in a free E-book called Experiments w ith Intermittent Fasting)

In the end, some of the experiments w ere a huge success, leading to improvements in my body composition, health, and performance.
Others w ere disastrous, causing me to drop muscle mass and develop food obsessions. Yet, at the end of the day, I w as able to
accomplish most of my goals. I lost about 20 pounds of body fat w hile preserving most of my lean mass, strength, and pow er. According
to my Intelametrix device (a validated ultrasound-based form of body composition testing), I w ent from a fairly lean 10% body fat to a
very lean 4%.

Here are some of my progress photos:

Before

After
Yes, I know the lighting w as different in the after photos. I w as so happy w ith my results I decided to schedule a professional photo
shoot and thats w hy the lighting difference. How ever, even if youre a photo skeptic, you cant deny the obvious changes in body
composition. Again, Ive already reported body w eight and body fat measures so you know something w as w orking.

What About Muscle Gain?

Of course, not everyone is interested in getting leaner. So w hat about muscle gain?

Well, my colleague Nate Green experimented w ith intermittent fasting too. During his experiments he gained 20 pounds of lean muscle. He
also improved his aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance at the same time. (For those w ho are interested, he also published his
findings in a free E-book called Bigger, Smaller, Bigger)

His protocols w ere obviously different than mine, but his results also show that intermittent fasting can assist w ith either fat loss or
muscle gain as long the protocols are a good fit are and are follow ed correctly.

But Id Never Be Able to Fast!

For those of you w ho are deathly afraid of missing a meal, let alone going entire days w ithout eating; for those of you w ho sw ear that
youd never, ever fast I have new s for you.You already do intermittent fasting.

Thats right; every night, from the time you eat your dinner to the time you eat your breakfast, youre fasting. Whether its 8 hours, 10
hours, or 12 hours, youre fasting. Believe it or not, that fasting brings some unique benefits. So before you freak out and summarily
dismiss the concept, understand that youre naturally already doing some form of IF.

The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Many of you are probably w ondering w hy I did my fasting experiments in the first place.

Well, a lot of it is curiosityIm w hat youd call a professional dieter. In other w ords, Ive tried nearly every diet or nutritional protocol
thats around in order to test its efficacy. In addition, Ive been pursuing a new goal: track and field. When youre running competitively,
every pound has got to earn its rent, so I w anted to test drive this new w ay to drop fat and get extremely lean w hile staying strong and
pow erful.

Finally, the proposed benefits of IF are quite interesting and extensive. They include:

Reduced:
blood lipids (including decreased triglycerides and LDL cholesterol)
blood pressure (perhaps through changes in sympathetic/parasympathetic activity)
markers of inflammation (including CRP, IL-6, TNF, BDNF, and more)
oxidative stress (using markers of protein, lipid, and DNA damage)
risk of cancer (through a host of proposed mechanisms; w ell save them for another review )

Increased:
 cellular turnover and repair (called autophagocytosis)
fat burning (increase in fatty acid oxidation later in the fast)
grow th hormone release later in the fast (hormonally mediated)
metabolic rate later in the fast (stimulated by epinephrine and norepinephrine release)

Improved:
appetite control (perhaps through changes in PPY and ghrelin)
blood sugar control (by low ering blood glucose and increasing insulin sensitivity)
cardiovascular function (by offering protection against ischemic injury to the heart)
effectiveness of chemotherapy (by allow ing for higher doses more frequently)
neurogenesis and neuronal plasticity (by offering protection against neurotoxins)

To be frank, most of the research to date has been done in animal models w ith pretty limited data collection in humans. While the human
studies that have been done show some promise, w ere probably a good 5-7 years aw ay from know ing exactly w hat IF does in humans
and w hy, and 10-12 years from know ing w hich IF protocols are best. Thats another reason Ive been putting IF to the test, w ith great
results.

Is Fasting a Must?
Of course not! People have been getting in shape for a very long time w ithout using the intermittent fasting ideas I outline above. In fact,
the dominant nutrition paradigm suggests that w e should be eating smaller meals every few hoursso doesnt intermittent fasting just fly
in the face of everything w eve been told to do?
Not really. The rules of good nutrition havent changed. You still need to eat good foods. Calorie balance still applies. Peri-w orkout
nutrition is still important. The only real difference betw een more traditional bodybuilding-style eating and intermittent-fasting style eating is
how you distribute your calories betw een days or meals.
This means that for most people, as long as w e eat the right foods in the right amounts, meal frequency is a matter of personal
preference. You can eat lots of small meals (every few hours) or you can eat a few big meals (w ith bigger time gaps betw een them).
You can even go an entire day w ithout eating, once in a w hile.

But w hat about speeding up the metabolism, controlling appetite, and controlling blood sugar? New data has been published show ing that
eating more frequently doesnt necessarily speed up the metabolism. (Check out this study for a full review of the literature on the subject
of feeding frequency and metabolism). Although grazing is supposed to enable better appetite and blood sugar control, that effect isnt
reliable. For some people, eating more frequently does help to control both. For other people, the opposite is true; eating less frequently
gives them an appetite and blood sugar advantage. This means that your decision to eat small meals more frequently or larger meals less
frequently should be based on w hat w orks best for your schedule, your mood, your appetite, and how you prefer to spend your time.
That flexibility is pretty cool.

In the end, w e shouldnt totally abandon the grazing concept. Instead, w e should recognize that w e dont have to graze. Its not a must;
rather, in most cases, its a choice.

Summary
A grow ing number of experts claim that short fasts can accelerate fat loss and make you healthier. As a result, I spent eight months
testing the most popular Intermittent Fasting (IF) protocols for myself. During this time, I dropped tw enty pounds of w eight (from 190
pounds to 170 pounds) and reduced my body fat from 10% to 4% w hile maintaining most of my lean muscle mass.

I also helped others lose fat and gain muscle using a host of different intermittent fasting strategies. Of course, the full details of my
experiments are beyond the scope of this article. How ever, if youd like to learn more, you can check out my free e-book called
Experiments w ith Intermittent Fasting. In the book I cover everything I did, including details of my training programs and my exact eating
plans for all of the IF protocols I tried. Theres also measurement data (including blood w ork) and a host of other features you w ont w ant
to miss. The best part? Its 100% hosted online so anyone interested in more can pop over to the site and read the entire thing right now ,
for free, w ithout having to enter an email address or anything.

As a result of my experiments, I learned that IF is a helpful tool and one Ill continue to use periodically, but its not the end-all, be-all of
nutrition or fitness.
People have been getting in aw esome shape (and staying in aw esome shape) for decades w ithout the use of intermittent fasting. Simply
put, w hen people control their calories, eat good quality food and train regularly, they get in shape.

The rest is a matter of personal preference, lifestyle, and individual difference.

Dr. John Berardi is the co-founder of Precision Nutrition and the creator of the Precision Nutrition Certification Program. For more from Dr.
Berardi, check out this free 5-day course exclusively for fitness professionals The Essentials of Exercise and Fitness Nutrition.
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