Our Guest: Brandon, from The Body Logic
This conversation with Brandon Mentore is all about Intermittent Fasting. Brandon is a strength and conditioning coach, a functional medicine practitioner, and a sports nutritionist. He has appeared on CNN, Men’s Fitness, Shape, Medical Daily, and many other publications online and in print.
A Quick Summary
In this conversation with a sports nutritionist and strength coach, Brandon Mentore shares his insights on Intermittent Fasting. This guide explores the connection between intermittent fasting and weight loss, as well as the common myths around this diet.
It also dives into the health benefits of intermittent fasting such as better blood sugar regulation, lower blood pressure levels, and improved brain function. It also reveals that maintaining a calorie deficit while consuming nutrient-dense foods during your eating window improves muscle growth and metabolic health.
You’ll also learn how you can incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle.
Debunking What About Intermittent Fasting?
We will examine how Intermittent Fasting can help you lose weight and build lean muscle. In this conversation with Brandon Mentore, we'll find answers to some of the most common questions, including:
- What is the best time to fast?
- At what point does an Intermittent diet stop working?
- Lastly, we clarify the facts and myths of the intermittent diet.
You are about to learn the secrets of one of the most groundbreaking health hacks practiced since the biblical era.
Question #1: Why do some people not believe in the power of intermittent fasting?
Brandon: The power of intermittent fasting, unfortunately, tends to be missed by the public due to our sensationalist, quick-fix, faddish cultural obsession with dieting. Strong superstitions and preconceived notions about “diets” cause people who are curious about intermittent diets to get it wrong, and intermittent diet is a dieting style that you can easily go wrong.
Want to learn more? Read this in-depth guide on Intermittent Fasting!
Question #2: So how do you approach Intermittent Fasting for yourself and your clients?
Brandon: As a health and fitness professional, I take a scientific approach to things. I studied, experimented, and took notes on the intermittent diet myself before I recommended it to any of my clients.
After sifting through and filtering all of the nuances and aspects of what can occur physiologically from intermittent fasting I would put together protocols appropriate for my client and their personal health status.
As intermittent diets have become increasingly popular, I’ve found myself spending more time correcting preconceived notions or errors people make when exploring this dieting style. Given that the success of intermittent diets lies in the nuance, here are some things to know before you try one.
Things To Know Before Doing It And Clarifying The Myths Vs Facts
1. Unbroken Blocks Of Time Matter
Many people get tripped up by “intermittent.” You can intermittently eat throughout the day as much as you can intermittently fast. Eating breakfast at, say, 9 a.m. and then not eating again until 8 p.m., when you have dinner, is an intermittent fast in between, but the time frames are off.
This diet has two-time windows: an eating window and a fasting window. These windows need to be unbroken. For your fasting window or block of time, no food is supposed to be consumed. The closest you can get without throwing yourself off is coffee with a little cream—that’s it.
For your eating window, food needs to be consumed within the window of time that you set. You don't spread it out over time, defeating the purpose.
Learn how you can lose weight with the Banting Diet!
2. Adequate Calorie Intake During Eating Periods
So many people are used to cutting calories or eliminating or removing something when it comes to dieting; this is a big mistake when applied to intermittent fasting.
The effectiveness of the diet is contingent upon loading up on resources calorically during your eating window so that your body has something to work with during your fasting window.
If your calorie intake is insufficient or hypocaloric (low-calorie) during your eating window, you’ll run into problems and set alarms off in your body. Remember, fasting is the control you're placing on your diet most people use calories as a control but you don't really do that with an intermittent diet, doing both would be detrimental.
Learn more about the Ideal Protein Diet for weight loss!
3. Transition Phases
The body goes through several transition phases while on an intermittent diet, which may or may not happen and in varying intensities depending on the person.
The one to focus on the most is the acute sense of the abrupt change in behavior, which usually takes place in the first 72 hours.
Sometimes, hunger comes out of nowhere, as do lethargy and light-headedness. You have to remember that your body was in a certain pattern before the intermittent diet.
Gears will need to shift, and sometimes symptoms pop up. This is normal - stay the course.
Check out these 10 superfood snacks you can munch on guilt-free!
4. You Won’t Die If You Don’t Eat
It’s funny because some people go to work, have coffee for breakfast, have a granola bar for lunch, and then do not eat again until 8 p.m., when they have a massive dinner.
Yet when you tell these people how the fasting window works, they suddenly become concerned about being unable to eat. Embrace the hunger. It isn’t bad; in fact, it’s a temporary thing.
Your body will adjust as time goes on. No one ever died from skipping their 3 p.m. snack.
Check out these healthy lunch ideas for weight loss!
5. Lastly, Worrying About The Type Of Food
As a general rule of thumb, food selection isn’t as important as people want to make it out to be when intermittent fasting.
You should always strive to eat healthy, nutrient-dense foods, but you can be more liberal with your selection or less restrictive when fasting because time control replaces the need for food control.
This is not a license to binge or be extremely rigid in your selection. The more rigidity you apply, the less compliant you’ll be with the diet.
For a less rigid meal plan, explore the Flexitarian Diet!
Question #3: What is the best time to fast?
Brandon: Nocturnal fasting is more effective for fat loss and overall health because it aligns with the body's circadian rhythm, or the body's clock system.
Fasting at night allows the repair and regeneration patterns to run and they are all advantageous to fat loss and muscle building such as growth hormone, leptin, and melatonin.
Eating and digesting in the evening can impede or slow down many of these processes. You can fast in the morning/day, but the less healthy you are, the more effective evening fasting becomes.
Try these 4 low fat dessert recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings!
Question #4: You mentioned fat loss. How does Intermittent Fasting help shred fat and lose weight?
Brandon: Here's what you need to know:
1. Longer periods of time in the absence of food drive the body to utilize internal metabolic instead of response metabolic from foods. Because your body doesn’t have the supply of food ingested during fasting periods, it will upregulate beta-oxidation to continue to produce energy by liberating your fat stores, thus leading to fat loss.
2. Periods of fasting increase insulin sensitivity, which can aid in fat loss in short bursts and increase nutrient uptake in muscle tissue if the anabolic stimulus is triggered through training.
3. Fasting also increases autophagy and mitophagy, which is a form of cellular cleansing. This helps you internally detoxify tissues, augment fluid dynamics, and reduce inflammation and bloating. If you have increased cellular and mitochondrial performance, metabolism performs better, increasing thermogenesis and caloric expenditure at rest as well as enhanced exercise performance.
Explore the pros and cons of No Sugar Diet!
Question #5: Can intermittent fasting help people lose weight and build lean muscle at the same time?
Brandon: It can cause fat loss and has the potential to increase lean muscle, provided you have the right training stimulus and do things correctly.
Incorporate this HIIT workout into your routine to boost your fat loss journey!
Question #6: Are there any limitations to Intermittent Fasting?
Brandon: There are limitations to the amount of fat you can lose and muscle you can build with intermittent diet because multiple factors are at play. However, it is a viable strategy that gives you the most bang for your buck in terms of fat loss, lean tissue, and general health and wellness benefits.
Gain strength and lean muscle with this full-body battle rope workout!
We thank Brandon for his time.
We learned a great deal about intermittent fasting and some of its myths.
We will catch up with you next time on another topic.
Follow Brandon on Instagram.
FAQs
How much weight can you lose in a month with intermittent fasting?
Although your results depend on your fitness levels, age, body weight, and several other factors, mostly after 1 month of intermittent fasting, people see a 0.8%-13% difference in their weight. The difference depends on how long they fast, what they eat during fasting, their physical activities, etc. Your insulin sensitivity level will also improve, effectively regulating your blood sugar.
Can you lose weight by fasting for 18 hours every day?
Absolutely! You can lose weight by fasting for 18 hours every day. Typically, this method of intermittent fasting is a time-restricted eating strategy. You're allowed to eat during your window period. According to studies, this method effectively cuts down your daily calorie consumption, creating a deficit and leading to weight loss. An average person is likely to lose 3% weight through this method.
What are the benefits of intermittent fasting?
The 5 major benefits of intermittent fasting include:
- Weight Loss: It helps you lose weight, reduces belly fat, and gives you a lean physique.
- Enhanced Insulin Sensitivity: It improves your body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels, helping you manage diabetes more effectively.
- Lower Blood Pressure: It has been proven to reduce blood pressure levels for a few people.
- Reduced Oxidative Stress: Fasting minimizes oxidative stress, preventing your cells from being damaged.
- Mental Clarity: According to a few studies, fasting boosts brain function and memory retention.
Why am I not losing weight while practicing intermittent fasting?
If you're not losing weight while practicing intermittent fasting, it's most likely because you're in a calorie surplus. This means that you're overeating or eating unhealthy, junk foods during your eating window. During your window, you need to consume a nutrient-dense, high-protein diet with balanced meals. In addition, avoid eating high-calorie and low-nutrient meals as this could keep you from losing weight. You also need to workout to set your body on a fat loss track by burning extra calories and gaining lean muscle.
Can fasting help reduce belly fat?
Totally! Fasting helps in reducing belly fat because it helps you drop overall weight. By restricting the time you consume food at, you're going to eat less as well. This means your overall calorie consumption reduces, which creates a deficit. Naturally, this reduces your overall weight. When you lose weight, you'll also lose belly fat. You can also try some hourglass body exercises to get a slimmer waist.
