Is Intermittent Fasting Just Masked Anorexia?

February 20, 2023 Ashley 0 Comments

“Skipping meals destroys your metabolism,” warn the experts.

“Intermittent fasting is great for weight loss and other benefits!” exclaim the same people.

“Make it make sense!” demand the rest of us.

It took me a little while to figure this one out, but here it is:

Meal skipping and intermittent fasting look similar because both include an intentionally large time span between meals. However, the difference is in the timing. With meal skipping, you’re choosing to get rid of either breakfast, lunch, or dinner for the sake of weight loss. It’s a meal you’d usually have that you eliminate. With intermittent fasting, you’re not taking away any meals – you’re merely condensing the window during which you allow yourself to eat them. People vary on the hours they choose to fast; but it lasts generally anywhere from twelve to sixteen hours. Because of that long span, that usually means that the majority of the fast is going to occur during the one time of your day that you can rest (literally) assured that you won’t be hungry – because you’re sleeping. If you log a full eight hours of sleep and do a 12 hour fast, that’s only four conscious hours that you have to dredge up the willpower to avoid food and fight your cravings. If you do a sixteen hour fast, it’s only eight. Even then, that means four hours after dinner and before bedtime (when you likely won’t be too hungry) and four hours after rising when you’re presumably busy with morning workouts and getting ready for work anyway.

Versus, ya know… being ravenous and trying to ignore it.

This explains why intermittent fasting is more sustainable.

Done correctly, you don’t have to tell your body to shut up (like the meme above suggests). So, yes, it’s definitely easier to keep going and make it a habit if the temptation isn’t there and you’re not miserable doing it. (Sustainability is key.) But the other reason IF is better than simply starving (aside from the uncomfortable feeling of being hungry) is that it’s not detrimental to metabolism; during sleep, everything changes. Something totally different happens in your body, allowing for you to forego eating.

Why? If you’re not moving, you’re not spending brain or body calories and don’t need more fuel.  That’s pretty intuitive. (Studies done show about a 15% drop in metabolic rate when we power down.) Also, your body processes regulate your levels and your liver quickly goes to work when you slumber to maintain your blood glucose levels. You don’t have to try. You don’t have to dredge up willpower as you walk by Papa John’s after a long, hard day. Your body is doing it on its own. So you’re not doing yourself a disservice by avoiding meals during these hours. It’s a natural process. During the day, on the contrary, we’re working. We’re working out. We’re using our brains. All of these activities require energy expenditure. (Yes, your brain needs glucose to do its job even from your desk.) Thus, it’s tougher – and less beneficial – to deprive ourselves of calories then.

So, there’s our answer.

In the end, IF is safer, more sustainable, and better metabolically.

And it beats skipping meals because you wouldn’t be eating food when you snooze anyway.