The Simplest Fat Loss Hack
Our bodies are a beautiful symphony of balance. It’s one of the miracles of life that homeostasis is the second-by-second goal of our physiology.
It’s likely one of the reasons that we often use balance as a guide for a healthy lifestyle. Extremes of most things become harmful. Once we pass the point of benefits, the scale of balance shifts to the negative.
Too much water will drown you.
Too much exercise will kill you.
Too much food will gorge you.
Too much sleep will kill you.
Too much fasting will starve you.
Too much sunlight will burn you.
But the opposites are also very true: Too little of these things will not benefit you either. So one of the questions I have had since promoting fasting as a fat loss and maintenance program, is why is fasting, simply not eating frequently or every time we get a little hungry or on a 3-hour schedule, so controversial to so many?
There’s a lot to unpack in that answer, but I’m going to simplify with this:
We have to look at any solution within the context of what problem we’re trying to solve.
Fasting is one of the easiest ways to lower blood sugar and insulin levels that requires no external intervention. It’s one of the most simple solutions to this complex problem. And most of us have this problem!
You many have heard of the 2018 study (or observed yourself the last time you were in public) that most adults in America are walking around with a metabolic disease. This isn’t a criticism. This is our reality.
These markers include: too much abdominal fat, high blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose as well as the need for medication. It’s not popular to profess that having extra mass is a health risk, but we all know that too much body fat is unhealthy, regardless of any aesthetic appreciation.
Too much fat makes it hard for our bodies to do almost everything. We have to create more skin, muscle, and circulation. Our skeleton has to strengthen. Our hearts and lungs work harder all the time. Hormones become imbalanced and blood sugar remains too high. Metabolism dysfunctions. Our brain shrinks and decreases in function. And that’s not the whole of it.
Recently in our culture, open exchanges about facts, even when they’re about uncomfortable topics, are unacceptable. Healthy bodies (who would have ever guessed) are now included as an untouchable subject. Unfortunately, that’s costing us our health and we’re all paying for it. We must keep addressing the need to choose healthy, life-promoting behaviors that solve lifestyle diseases within the context of caring for ourselves and others. That should NOT be offensive or controversial. It should be a relief.
This relief is what many of my clients share with me in our beginning stages of Formula3, the fasting and fitness program for females. For the first time in their adult lives, they are given permission to not eat if they aren’t hungry. This may seem insignificant if you’ve never tried to diet before. But, if you have been led to believe that the reason you can’t lose weight or feel well is because of some secret prescriptive diet that you haven’t been capable of following perfectly, then knowing that you can listen to your body is freedom!
Another revelation that comes up initially is that fasting actually ADDS time and money into your life, all while simplifying your schedule. Have you ever seen a commercial for that on January 1? For sure you haven’t because fasting doesn’t cost you anything. It accommodates any schedule, it’s completely flexible in duration and frequency, and mostly, it addresses the huge problem of metabolic disease.
Fasting lowers our blood insulin levels which allows our bodies access to stored fat for energy. Wow. Taken to an extreme, fasting will lead to starvation, but, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re addressing the extreme need to be at less risk for diseases. Fasting is a tool to that end.
If you’re new to the idea of fasting as a tool to feel better, understand this: If you try it and ever don’t feel well (not just a little hungry, but truly not well) all you have to do is eat something. And, to your great surprise, almost all of us feel better, not worse, when we’re a little fasted. It frankly couldn’t be any easier. Or more effective.
Here’s how it works: in people without insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes, blood glucose decreases a couple of hours after a meal, and our brain senses the need for energy. We may start to feel hungry. In someone WITHOUT extra body fat, still growing or malnourished, this is typically time for the next meal.
However, in someone WITH extra fat, hunger signals don’t necessarily mean we have to eat. It simply means our blood sugar is low enough that we need energy OR that it’s been a habit of ours to eat at regular intervals. Luckily, we have lots of energy stored as fat just for this purpose!
Once our insulin gets low enough, our liver starts to break down fat for energy from the triglycerides in our fat cells. The energy from a fat cell always includes a glycerol backbone (that can be converted into glucose in our liver), so we don’t technically need to eat any; we have plenty of fuel in storage. What a miracle!
However, if we eat frequently, our body never gets access to the stored fat cells because insulin is the gate-keeper for either energy use or storage. When insulin is elevated, we store energy. When insulin is lowered, the door opens for our liver to break down stored fat. It’s the gaps between our meals that are necessary for this access to be granted. This is where fasting becomes an incredibly effective tool for fat loss.
When we space out meals at longer and intermittent times, we allow our metabolism to gain access to previously locked energy. This is a crucial piece of the fat loss puzzle. It’s also very straight forward. It’s physiology, not opinion. This is why we don’t need to go to extremes in order for our metabolic diseases to be cured. In very many cases, we can fast our way to healing.
There are several enlightening resources that support fasting as a tool for improving and healing our metabolic problems. Here’s just a few that I continue to reread:
The Obesity Code, by Dr. Jason Fung
The Complete Guide to Fasting, by Dr. Jason Fung
The Menopause Reset, by Dr. Mindy Pelz
The Longevity Solution, by Dr. James DiNicolantonio and Dr. Fung
Why We Get Sick, by Dr. Ben Bikman
The Glucose Revolution, by Jessie Inchauspe
My hope is that anyone who is looking for relief from the extra weight of extra weight, will believe the truth about the extremely adaptable tool of fasting. And if YOU know someone, or are that someone, who needs help, please connect to me. There’s little I like more than helping you feel better.
