Periodic fasting: reviews. Periodic fasting for weight loss

Since ancient times, great thinkers and politicians have practiced starvation in order to purify the body and mind. With the development of science and medicine, the debate about the benefits and dangers of starvation flared up ever hotter. Over the past centuries, there have been enough studies and experiments on animals and humans to accurately describe the reactions that occur in the human body in refusing food. Based on the results of the research, several dozen, and maybe hundreds, methods of such a diet as periodic starvation were developed. Feedback on the results is contradictory. The methodology has both adherents and ardent opponents.

Efficient diet: periodic fasting

Today, several types of fasting are distinguished: absolute, complete and periodic.

With absolute starvation, the diet excludes both food and any liquid, including water. In view of the onset of irreversible reactions in the body and the possibility of causing irreparable harm to health, absolute restriction in food should not be spent longer than 7 days. It is recommended to resort to such a procedure only under the supervision of a doctor.

Complete starvation implies the rejection of food in any form, but the consumption of water is allowed in any amounts. The minimum that must be consumed daily is 2 liters of water, if desired, you can and more. With this type of fasting, you can stay for about 21 days. If such a method is used for recreational purposes, it is carried out exclusively in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.

Rules for periodic starvation

To effectively lose weight, you need a diet. Periodic refusal of food assumes consumption within a day of the daily norm of the products during the so-called "food box", the frames of which are set individually. Usually the window is from 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, using only water.

It should be noted that such a method implies proper nutrition, exclusion from the diet of bakery products, fast food, soda and other semi-finished products with a high content of fats and carbohydrates. In other words, if you eat half a kilogram of cakes after a fasting period, after drinking a liter of Coca-Cola, there will be no result, perhaps the opposite phenomenon with weight gain.

A sensible approach and a correctly chosen strategy imply an active lifestyle and the necessary physical activity during a hungry diet. In the exercise for weight loss, periodic fasting shows excellent results. This effect can be achieved without burning muscle mass.

Periodic fasting in bodybuilding

Most recently, it was believed that if an athlete feels hungry and does not have time to fill the body with a shortage of certain substances, the catabolism process is started, and muscle volumes are reduced, which for bodybuilders is unacceptable. However, many of the athletes still use periodic fasting. Drying for the drawing of muscles and relief body is mandatory, especially before the competition.

However, to date it has been proved that the above statement is incorrect. The process of catabolism starts only after 16-24 hours of fasting, that is, before that the body replenishes the missing substances from fat tissues, thus stimulating fat burning and reducing body weight.

It is also proved that it is the periodic fasting that is most effective when it is necessary to burn fat in the so-called problem areas. In men, this is the lower abdomen and the lower back. Women have a belly and the entire lower body, including buttocks, hips and calves.

How does the process of fat burning start when starving?

Simply, it all looks like this: during food and immediately after meals, the level of fatty acids and insulin rises, and the process of burning fat stops.

But after about 16 hours you begin to feel hungry, which means that the level of insulin has decreased, and catecholamines rush to the fat cells. The process of burning fat in problem areas is starting. It is through the technique described that it is possible to most effectively get rid of fat deposits without losing muscle mass. This result gives a periodic starvation in bodybuilding.

Undeniable advantages of the methodology

Studies have shown that with periodic fasting, the subjects observed the following positive phenomena:

• Blood pressure was lowering.
• The risk of cancer was lower.
• There were signs of inflammatory processes, including acne.
• The metabolism was accelerated.
• The process of cell repair accelerated.
• Periodic starvation for girls served as an effective means of reducing weight and burning fat.
• Control of appetite was established.

Despite the improvement of many indicators, it is worth mentioning another thing: similar reactions occur in the body and in a dream, during which a person does not eat, which in fact is a periodic starvation. The results can be improved or speeded up, and experts recommend for this to increase the hours of refusal to eat and introduce mandatory training.

Contraindications

There are several contraindications, in the presence of which you should not resort to the practice of periodic starvation:

• Body mass index less than 15.
• Tuberculosis.
• Tumors.
• Diseases of the heart.
• Diabetes.
• Low or high blood pressure.
• Urolithiasis disease.
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including ulcer, gastritis.
• Childhood.
• Pregnancy and lactation.

Some of the contraindications are relative, after consultation with the doctor the restrictions can be removed, and periodic fasting can be used as a diet.

Overview of periodic starvation systems

1. Fasting every other day. With this program, you should go hungry for 36 hours, and eat only 12, choosing only useful products.
2. Accidental omissions of food. Supporters of this technique suggest once or twice a week to skip one of the meals at their discretion.
3. 24-hour fasting. In this case, once or twice a week, you choose 24 hours of refusing food, on the remaining days you consume protein foods and fiber.
4. Drying. This program is designed for the most part on professional athletes who need to dry, but do not allow the reduction of muscle tissue. Thus, the optimal ratio of the period of fasting and meals is 16/8. At the same time, in the 8-hour period, which is called the "food box", 50% of the total diet is for the period after training, which, in turn, goes to an empty stomach.
5. The Warrior's Diet. In this program, the "food window" lasts only 4 hours. The list of products is strictly limited. Exercise takes place on an empty stomach.

What you need to remember for periodic starvation: reviews of practitioners

Almost all the protocols of starvation allow to reduce the time of the "food box", it is permissible to increase the period of fasting. Feedback from those who are constantly practicing fasting, say that you need to focus only on your own health, to choose a scheme of nutrition individually.

To maintain muscle mass, you must observe the balance of the hours of fasting and eating. It was practically established that the optimal ratio is not more than 20-24 hours of fasting. A longer refusal of food will result in the loss of muscle tissue. At the same time, the first meal immediately after training will allow the muscles to recover quickly. The responses of professional athletes indicate that if the time frame is not kept, the muscle mass quickly decreases.

Also, practice notes: if you have health problems, you feel unwell, concentration of attention has dropped significantly, there is a breakdown, or to adhere to strict fasting frames it has become too difficult from a psychological point of view, the diet should stop or increase the duration of the "food box".

Quite often there are reviews of people with diseases of the digestive tract who tried to withstand starvation. Unfortunately, practice has shown that the contraindication for gastritis and ulcer is strict.

Therapeutic starvation for obesity

With excessive 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 starvation. Set of mass with an incorrect approach is almost guaranteed.

Approximately 1-2 months before the start of the program, the patient is transferred to a reduced diet. That is, first his eating behavior changes. To do this, the patient must adhere to a 6-times supply with fractional portions, preferably at the same time of day.

If obesity comes as a result of a sedentary or sedentary lifestyle, the physician will individually pick up a laugh at physical exertion. Only after this, the diet itself begins. As a rule, with a curative purpose, periodic fasting is carried out in a hospital under the close supervision of doctors.

Nutrition rules for fasting

Summarizing the results of all the programs on this technique, one can single out the most widespread and safe diet, which is used by both ordinary people and athletes, combining it with training. Basic principles of the diet 16/8:

• There are two periods in the day: a food window and starvation.
• The "food box" is 8 hours, the refusal of food is 16 hours.
• During fasting, you can drink water, green tea, black coffee without cream and sugar.
• For athletes is mandatory admission BCAA for the preservation of muscle mass.
• In the "food box" should be accommodated 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 conducted on an empty stomach at the end of the fasting period.
• The first meal should be immediately after exercise and in relation to the daily rate of calories is 50%.
• For a visible result, fast food, sweets, flour and pasta, thermally processed food are excluded from food.

Diagram 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 - the second meal, 25% of the diet.

20.40 - the third 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 time of training, which should be guided, as it is after physical exertion that the "exit" from starvation and the first meal take place. Weight loss does not happen quickly enough. This is compensated for by a long and stable result, which, if the diet is abandoned, does not disappear, and the body mass gain does not occur.