Since ancient times, great thinkers and politicians have practiced starvation in order to cleanse the body and mind. With the development of science and medicine, disputes about the benefits and harms of fasting flared up hotter. Over the past centuries, enough research and experiments on animals and humans have been conducted to adequately describe the reactions that occur in the human body when refusing food. Based on the results of research, several dozen, maybe hundreds, methods of such a diet as periodic fasting were developed. Feedback on the results is contradictory. The methodology has both adherents and ardent opponents.
Effective diet: intermittent fasting
Today, there are several types of starvation: absolute, complete and periodic.
With absolute starvation, both food and any liquid, including water, are excluded from the diet. Due to the onset of irreversible reactions in the body and the possibility of causing irreparable harm to health, an absolute restriction in food should not be carried out for longer than 7 days. It is recommended to resort to such a procedure only under the supervision of a physician.
Complete starvation implies refusal of food in any form, however, water consumption is allowed in any quantities. The minimum that you need to consume daily is 2 liters of water, if desired, more. With this type of fasting, you can hold out for about 21 days. If this method is used for recreational purposes, it is carried out exclusively in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.
Rules for Periodic Fasting
For effective weight loss, you need a diet. Periodic refusal of food involves consumption during the day of the daily norm of products during the so-called "food window", the framework of which is set individually. Typically, the window is 2 to 8 hours. The rest of the time during the day (that is, the remaining 16-22 hours), a person observes periodic fasting for weight loss, consuming only water.
It should be noted that this method implies proper nutrition, exclusion from the diet of bakery products, fast food, soda and other processed foods with a high content of fats and carbohydrates. In other words, if you eat a pound of cakes after a period of fasting, washed down with a liter of Coca-Cola, there will be no result, the opposite is possible with weight gain.
A sensible approach and the right strategy implies an active lifestyle and mandatory physical activity during a hungry diet. As part of the exercise for weight loss, periodic fasting show excellent results. In this case, the effect can be achieved without burning muscle mass.
Periodic fasting in bodybuilding
More recently, it was believed that if an athlete feels a sense of hunger and does not have time to make up for the lack of certain substances in the body, the process of catabolism starts, and muscle volumes decrease, which is unacceptable for bodybuilders. However, many of the athletes still use periodic fasting. Drying for drawing muscles and a sculpted body is mandatory, especially before competitions.
However, to date it has been proven that the above statement is false. The process of catabolism starts only after 16-24 hours of fasting, that is, before that, the body replenishes the missing substances from adipose tissues, thus stimulating the burning of fat and weight loss.
It has also been proven that it is periodic fasting that acts most effectively if necessary to burn fat in the so-called problem areas. In men, this is the lower abdomen and lower back. In women, the abdomen and the entire lower body, including the buttocks, thighs and calves.
How does fasting start the process of burning fat?
Simplified, it all looks something like this: during meals and immediately after eating, the level of fatty acids and insulin rises, and the process of burning fat stops.
But after about 16 hours, you begin to feel a sense of hunger, which means that insulin levels have decreased, and catecholamines rush to fat cells. The process of burning fat in problem areas starts. It is with the help of the described technique that it is possible to most effectively get rid of body fat without loss of muscle mass. This result gives periodic fasting in bodybuilding.
Indisputable advantages of the technique
Studies have shown that with periodic starvation, the following positive phenomena were observed in the subjects:
- Blood pressure decreased.
- The risk of cancer was getting lower.
- Signs of inflammatory processes, including acne eruptions, disappeared.
- Metabolism accelerated.
- The process of cell recovery accelerated.
- Periodic fasting for girls was an effective way to reduce weight and burn fat.
- Established appetite control.
Despite the improvement of many indicators, it is worth noting another thing: similar reactions occur in the body and in a dream, during which a person does not eat, which in essence is a periodic fasting. The results can be improved or accelerated, and experts recommend increasing the hours of refusal of food and introducing mandatory training.
Contraindications
There are several contraindications, in the presence of which you should not resort to the practice of periodic fasting:
- Body mass index less than 15.
- Tuberculosis.
- Tumors
- Heart disease.
- Diabetes.
- Low or high blood pressure.
- Urolithiasis disease.
- Gastrointestinal tract diseases, including ulcers, gastritis.
- Childhood.
- Pregnancy and lactation.
Some of the contraindications are relative, after consultation with the doctor the restrictions can be lifted, and periodic fasting can be used as a diet.
Overview of Periodic Fasting Systems
- Fasting every other day. With this program, you should starve for 36 hours, and eat only 12, while selecting only healthy foods.
- Random skipping food. Proponents of this technique suggest skipping one of the meals at their discretion once or twice a week.
- 24 hour fast. In this case, once or twice a week, you yourself choose 24 hours of refusal of food, the rest of the days you eat protein food and fiber.
- Drying. This program is designed for the most part for professional athletes who need to dry themselves, but not to allow a decrease in muscle tissue. Thus, the optimal ratio of fasting to meals is 16/8. Moreover, in the 8-hour period, which is called the “food window”, 50% of the total diet falls on the period after the training, which, in turn, passes on an empty stomach.
- Diet warrior. In this program, the "food window" lasts only 4 hours. The list of products is strictly limited. Training takes place on an empty stomach.
What you need to remember with periodic fasting: feedback from practitioners
Almost all fasting protocols can reduce the time of the "food window", it is permissible to increase the period of fasting. Reviews of those who constantly practice starvation suggest that you need to focus only on your own health, select an individual nutrition scheme.
To maintain muscle mass, you must observe the balance of hours of fasting and eating. In practice, it was found that the optimal ratio is no more than 20-24 hours of fasting. Longer refusal of food will lead to loss of muscle tissue. In this case, the first meal immediately after training will allow the muscles to recover quickly. Reviews of professional athletes indicate that, if you do not observe the time frame, muscle mass is rapidly reduced.
Also, practitioners note: if you have health problems, you do not feel well, the concentration of attention has fallen significantly, there is a breakdown, or adhering to a strict framework of fasting has become too difficult from a psychological point of view, the diet should be stopped or the duration of the “food window” should be increased.
Quite often there are reviews of people with diseases of the digestive tract who have tried to withstand starvation. Unfortunately, practice has shown that contraindications for gastritis and ulcers are severe.
Treatment for obesity
With excess body weight, specialists often resort to treatment with hunger. Scientific publications and medical experience confirm the effectiveness of the method. However, a number of preparatory measures should be taken before using periodic fasting. Weight gain with the wrong approach is almost guaranteed.
About 1-2 months before the start of the program, the patient is transferred to a reduced diet. That is, his eating behavior first changes. For this, the patient should adhere to 6 meals a day in fractional portions, preferably at the same time of day.
If obesity occurs as a result of a sedentary or sedentary lifestyle, the doctor will individually select a physical load for laughter. Only then does the diet itself begin. As a rule, for therapeutic purposes, periodic fasting is carried out in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.
Nutrition Rules for Fasting
Summing up the results of all programs using this methodology, we can single out the most common and safe diet that both ordinary people and athletes resort to, combining it with training. The main principles of the diet 16/8 :
- There are two periods in a day: the “food window” and fasting.
- The “food window” is 8 hours; refusal of food is 16 hours.
- During fasting, you can drink water, green tea, black coffee without cream and sugar.
- For athletes, BCAA is required to preserve muscle mass.
- In the "food window" should fit 2-3 meals, each of which in volume should not exceed the volume of two fists.
- The consumption of animal fats should be reduced to 50 grams per day.
- Training is carried out on an empty stomach at the end of the fasting period.
- The first meal should be immediately after a workout and in relation to the daily norm of calories is 50%.
- For a visible result, fast food, sweets, flour and pasta, and thermally processed food are excluded from food.
Scheme of the day with periodic fasting 16/8
8.00 - a glass of water, BCAA.
9.00 - green tea or coffee.
11.00 - green tea or coffee.
12.00 - BCAA.
12.00-13.30 - training.
13.40 - 1st meal, 50% of the total diet.
16.40 - 2nd meal, 25% of the diet.
20.40 - 3rd meal, 25% of the diet or a light protein snack.
21.00-13.00 - fasting.
This diagram is just an example. For the best result, you should build your schedule individually, taking into account the training time, which you should focus on, since it is after physical exertion that there is a "way out" of starvation and the first meal. Weight loss does not occur fast enough. This is offset by a long and stable result, which, when you refuse a diet, does not disappear, and weight gain does not occur.