Intermittent Fasting to Lose Weight - Be Careful of THIS Hidden Side Effect.
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Elaine shares her thoughts with us on Intermittent Fasting and why it's her least recommended method for losing weight/fat loss. Please note: She does not have any obligations for intermittent fasting (IF) for religious or alternative health reasons.
"In the past month alone, I've done 2 weight loss consultation calls where the ladies had tried to force themselves into a 16/8 fast for weight loss. The result for both of these women was the creation of disordered eating patterns where they would feel so restricted in their "eating window" that they would binge after a while, feel guilty, restrict more/adhere more to the eating window, then binge again! - Leading to the binge-restrict cycle.
For women using fasting for weight loss ONLY, I've noticed this is a very common trend - either bingeing due to over restriction OR enormous feelings of guilt when they would eat outside of their eating window and just enjoy life (which everyone has the right to do without guilt).
After working with multiple clients who have used IF as their previous mode of trying to lose weight, it's really become one of my least favorite dietary protocols for weight loss. Can it work? Absolutely - ANY diet that facilitates a calorie deficit can help you lose weight BUT that doesn't mean it's
HEALTHY or SUSTAINABLE.
Most of my clients who struggled with IF lost weight for 2-6 months but had a large binge, fell off track and regained all the weight.
Other negative patterns I've noted from ladies using fasting during their weight loss journey's include:
Increased food guilt, decreased ability to sense hunger cues or completely ignoring hunger cues, decreased life satisfaction and reduced ability to enjoy basic life events like birthdays or dates without overwhelm & concern.
Personally, if you're going to choose a fad diet for weight loss specifically, I think fasting can be one of the least beneficial to your "relationship" with food and your own hunger cues & as a coach I NEVER recommend it to my clients because you DON'T need to cut out meals to lose weight, you need a calorie deficit, that's it."
A number of studies on intermittent fasting have been reviewed at Harvard College and
noted that the studies never showed that Fasting is any better than a regular daily calorie
deficit diet.ยน
It's also interesting to note that the weight loss