The Hormonal Effects on Intermittent Fasting to Know
What do you know about the hormonal effects on intermittent fasting? With the number of weight loss plans outside, which of these plans, do you consider the best?
While many of us love intermittent fasting for weight loss, you should understand the hormonal effects on intermittent fasting.
The body stores energy as fat because it is nature’s most concentrated form of metabolic energy.
It contains over twice the energy per unit weight as proteins or carbohydrates such as glucose.
When you fast, your body undergoes several changes to make its stored energy more available.
These may include changes in nervous system activities and changes in the level of several important hormones.
Research shows that whole-day fasting trials lasting 12–24 weeks as well as alternate-day fasting trials lasting 3–12 weeks reduce body weight and body fat.
Interestingly, regardless of what most individuals who consume 5–6 meals per day claim, short-term fasting increases fat burning.
However, more research needs to be carried out to investigate the long-term effects of fasting, especially the hormonal effects on intermittent fasting.
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Facts about hormonal effects on intermittent fasting
Hormones altered during fasts include:
Insulin
Insulin makes fat, so the more insulin made, the more fat you store. During intermittent fasting, the insulin levels decrease dramatically, which in turn facilitates fat burning.
Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
This hormone is released by the nervous system and sent to the fat cells.
They break down body fat into free fatty acids that can be burnt for energy, which ultimately results in weight loss.
Growth Hormone
During fasts, the human growth hormone levels may increase as much as five folds. The hormonal effects on intermittent fasting include these hormonal activities.
It is believed that this hormone helps to burn fat but recent studies have shown that it can signal the brain to conserve energy, which makes it harder to lose weight.
Activating small amounts of agouti-related protein (AgRP) neurons will cause the growth hormone to indirectly increase appetite and decrease energy metabolism.
Although the intermittent fasting plan leads to several changes that help you reduce calories, which aid weight loss, the changes in hormones may indirectly affect energy metabolism.
Why Hormonal Effects on Intermittent Fasting is Important
Benefits of Intermittent fasting.
Based on a 2014 review, intermittent fasting reduces the bodyweight of its participant by about 3–8% over 3–24 weeks.
It produces a weight loss at an estimated rate of approximately 0.25–0.75kg (0.55–1.65pounds) per week and about a 4–7% reduction in waist circumference.
The hormonal effects on intermittent fasting signify the loss of belly fat is observed.
The main reason that intermittent fasting works for weight loss is that it helps you eat fewer calories and unless you compensate by eating much more during the eating periods.
You will be consuming fewer calories. Tracking your calories is not exactly required while doing intermittent fasting.
The weight loss is mostly mediated by an overall reduction in calorie intake. This occurs due to hormonal effects on intermittent fasting.
A scientific review shows that intermittent calorie restriction causes a similar amount of weight loss as continuous calorie restriction but with a much smaller reduction in muscle mass
In the calorie restriction studies, 25% of the weight lost consists of muscle mass, compared with only 10% in the intermittent calorie restriction studies.
However, these studies have some limitations, and more recent studies are yet to find any difference in lean mass with intermittent fasting.
This happens when compared with other types of eating plans. It is important to know that the purpose of intermittent fasting goes beyond weight loss.
The hormonal effects on intermittent fasting should be understood.
Interestingly, it has been observed that intermittent fasting is beneficial for maintaining muscle mass while losing body fat.
Intermittent fasting makes healthy eating simpler. It makes it easier for you to stick to a healthy diet, which has obvious benefits for long-term health and weight maintenance.
For many, one of the major benefits of intermittent fasting is its simplicity. Rather than counting calories, most intermittent fasting regimes simply requires you to tell time.
It also helps to maintain one’s metabolic health and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
These are some of the hormonal effects on intermittent fasting.
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