Can fasting help me lose weight?

This is a controversial topic, mainly because of its association with anorexia, but can controlled fasting help with weight loss? Notice the word ‘controlled’ in my last sentence, though, because a lot of people think that the easiest way to lose weight is to simply not eat. The problem with that is that your body will start to panic and store whatever energy you give it, or whatever energy reserves you have (your fat) because it thinks you’ve run out of food, which kind of kills that idea. Plus, you won’t get the nutrients you need to stay healthy—calories aren’t the only thing your body needs to function. However, with intermittent fasting, where you fast 1 day out of 3 or 4, your body doesn’t have a chance to panic and may actually have a beneficial effect.

The idea seems to come from our hunter-gatherer ancestors who never knew where their next meal would come from. For them 3 solid meals a day would be a luxury, but in reality they would probably eat more sparingly. They would gorge themselves after making a big kill or finding a good source of fruit/veg, but then probably surviving on very little for a while until they make another kill or find other food sources.

Intermittent fasting has been studied since 1943, and in 1945 a study by Carlson and Hoelzel on rats found that it increased the lifespan of males by 20% and females by 15%. The health benefits of calorie restriction have been public knowledge for some time and include significant benefits for cholesterol levels, a reduction in insulin levels (which may also improve memory), and a reduction in inflammation that it would affect things like arthritis, so it may be that intermittent fasting provides similar benefits.

However, it’s not something you can do without planning, you can’t just eat junk food one day and then not eat the next day and expect to lose weight. You want to make sure you’re getting enough calories on the days you eat, and more importantly, the right amount of nutrition to get you through the days you fast. That’s why you should really read up on how to do it properly before trying it out. One of the most prominent books on the subject right now is Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon, which takes you through all the studies he’s found to support the use of intermittent fasting and the benefits they’ve observed, plus takes you to through how to do it all correctly.

You should also consult your doctor before trying something like this, as you could have health problems that would be aggravated by not eating for a day, like trouble regulating your blood sugar, for example.