Why Fasting, Not Caloric Restriction, Reduces Body Fat in Women Over 50

It has long been asserted that caloric restriction is the only effective method for reducing body fat, yet few people have success losing and keeping off weight with intermittent fasting diets, which work differently. In his WSJ Bestselling book, Weightlifting is a Waste of Time – So is Cardio, scientist, inventor, and author Dr. John Jaquish examines the fitness industry’s long-held myths and misconceptions about calorie restriction. Let us discuss the clinically proven protocol for fasting that will reduce body fat and build muscle.

Why are gym enthusiasts so big?

When the people in the gym look the same as the people in the pizza joint there’s something not right about the gym fitness path. We have taken a different approach to this issue by doing a very deep dive into the science of human physiology.

Intermittent fasting 

For anyone researching fasting, it is important to know how fasting is being defined. I am talking about “intermittent fasting” also called “time-restricted eating”. This is when you fast for a certain amount of time a day and eat during a certain time of day. As an example, you fast for 20 hours and then eat during the other 4 hours of the day. While if you consumed the total calories for the day and instead had those calories spread throughout the day, your results would be worse.

Benefits of fasting

In the book  Weightlifting is a Waste of Time – So is Cardio, Dr. Jaquish details the benefits of intermittent fasting;

• No metabolic adaptation, meaning with calorie restriction, your body attempts to reset how many calories you need. Suffering through a diet only changes how the deficit works or doesn’t work. All that you are doing, is putting on body fat anyway.
• Fasting promotes autophagy which is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells in order to regenerate newer healthier cells.
• Completely regenerate the cells of the immune system.
• Your body can produce more growth hormones that can protect from loss of muscle mass.
• Most importantly,  it doesn’t allow you to be hungry, which after all is the reason that many other diet approaches seem to fail for the vast majority of people.

What happens in the body during fasting?

• In the context of health benefits, ‘fasting’ starts after twelve hours without consuming any calories. Around twelve hours after last consuming food, the body “flips a switch” and beings to break fatty acids down into ketone bodies. These ketone bodies become the new blood-borne energy replacing the glucose that the body is running out of.
• After the 18-hour mark, rapid fat loss begins.
• At the forty-eight-hour mark, growth hormones levels peak, on average, increasing to five times one’s baseline levels.
• Insulin, which has been trending downward since the onset of fasting, typically reaches its minimum level at 50 hours of fasting.
• At the seventy-two-hour mark, the body has been triggered to recycle and replace all of its T-cells (part of the immune system). This effectively regenerates a substantial part of the immune system and reverses immunosuppression (a reduced ability to fight infections and other diseases).

Research shows fasting is one of the healthiest things you can do to your body. Multiple studies have demonstrated that fasting can be undertaken while preserving muscle and losing fat. Fasting can lead to accelerated muscle growth after the fasting period.  And there is a right way to fast to achieve these results.

About John Jaquish, PhD

Scientist, inventor, and author John Jaquish, PhD. has spent years researching and developing improved approaches to health. He is the inventor of the bone density-building medical technology OsteoStrong. John Jaquish also created of the variable resistance X3 exercise system for accelerated muscle development. Dr. Jaquish’s methods are used in training the world’s most elite athletes. His book,  Weightlifting is a Waste of Time – So is Cardio, explains his non-conventional approach to human physiology and is a WSJ Bestseller.

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