Leangains

I'm going to jump right into the idea of fasting for 6 days and the unfortunate reality that most people in our field(s) don't.

1. know how to lose weight (really)
2. know how to eat
3. know how to workout

Here, if you want to try fasting, which I do recommend, give this a shot. http://www.leangains.com/ or do the Warrior diet (one huge meal a day). A 16/8 fast is great. Heck, I sometimes even do an eat-stop-eat way and skip an entire day after I had a cheat day.

If you want to lose weight, it isn't about a crash diet, it most DEFINITELY is not about cardio and will never, ever be about low fat.

Here it is, in a nutshell, to lose weight and maintain decent muscle mass through life.

Eat whole foods in these categories only.
Veggies, organic/grassfed meats (chicken, beef, fish etc), organic eggs. Some fruit (don't go nuts) and, only if you tolerate it, very little dairy.

Some rules: every meal has protein, no exceptions. Fat is your friend. Carbs from veggies and fruit only.

Now, exercise like this:
Hard, very, very hard. And short. Think lifting big weights in a complex manner like squats and deadlifts. If someone says you should be doing front shoulder raises, run.....

And sprint...bike REALLY fast for a short period of time, or jump rope really fast...something intense and short. Kettlebell swings in the 150-250 range would be great.

Do that a couple of days a week (2-3) there are awesome programs out there so don't think too much about this, rather just do it.…

Check out Martin Berkhan's http://leangains.com for more about making muscle gains while fasting. There's a subtle difference between using fasting as a tool for weight loss and one for body fat loss, but it's a difference nonetheless—it largely boils down to better management of your macro-nutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) versus "eating like normal" after a fasting period.

The most basic explanation is that you can fast whichever periods you would like (most do 16 hour fasts + 8 hour "feeding windows"), but you must:

A) Lift weights no more than 3 days a week
B) Lift heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth
C) Eat more carbs / less fats on workout days (more calories)
D) Eat more fats / less carbs on "rest" days (less calories)

Compared to most lifestyles (this isn't a diet) this takes a lot of mental preparation and calculation, so it is more daunting initially and less mentally draining as you go on and see results (as compared to a fad diet which is simple to implement but impossible to maintain). It's not easy but, once a routine is established and the learning curve is overcome, many people make the decision to keep the 'LeanGains' lifestyle for the remainder of their lives.

Interesting to see how mainstream intermittent fasting has become. It's worth noting where it started.

A few years ago a few hardcore fitness fanatics started playing with the idea of using controlled fasting for weight loss and/or body recomposition. Two people that should be mentioned are Lyle McDonald[1] and Martin Berkhan[2]. Martin especially made IF popular via his blog, laying out the principles he used as a fitness consultant with his clients.

Most research (and especially the commercial IF knockoffs) only take some part of these principles, but the "diet" part is only part of the picture when it comes to body recomposition. It's almost worthless without the rest (high intensity, low volume weight training, basic compound movements, progressive overload, no focus on cardio).

Quite a few people/company are trying to rip off customers via their IF programs knockoffs and supplements. If you want give IF a shot, read through Martin's blog, and try the original Leangains protocol.

[1] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/
[2] http://www.leangains.com/

The satiation thing is a valid point (as others have pointed out). I just don't like the super high level view he took of it. I'd prefer something more controlled like eating calorically equal foods and then ranking them by how long they satisfied his hunger.

Fasting is a very effective tool for losing weight. By itself it doesn't really cause any magic (meaning, it doesn't increase the rate of fat loss on its own or anything like that). It's a great tool for diet adherence because your body eventually gets used to its eating hours. If you only eat in an 8 hour window each day, you're fuller during that 8 hour window and generally less hungry in the 16 hour foodless window. You can read more here - http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html.

The whole site is dedicating to intermittent fasting and is a good resource.

Eat five times a day and never fast is very old school. When I was trying to gain weight I would eat 6 times a day. Watched low fat and low sugar.

But it seems things changed Intermittent fasting is actual working and even a 24 hour fast can be beneficial.

Also Calories in and out are a very easy way to lose weight if you calculate correctly. Lot of people overestimate what they burn.

I practice intermittent fasting and now I can maintain low BF % all the time. while using the 5 to 6 meals a day was great for getting more muscle on with a bit of fat gain. But eating 5 to 6 meals a day on low calorie consumption sucks and is not maintainable in the long run.

Some good material with studies to back it up:
http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
http://rippedbody.jp/2012/03/02/why-is-leangains-so-effective/

With respect 'common sense' is frequently wrong which is why I was asking for some study, evidence, documentation etc. Along the lines of the articles I provided.

If you just want an anecdote it certainly works for this guy [1]. And he, in turn links out to a ton of studies.

To be clear at no point did I claim that fasting would grow muscle, I don't have any data to back that up. What I said was that your body will preserve muscle when fasting because muscle is useful and fat is not. This is backed up by the articles I cited indicating significant HGH increase, and articles citing the role of HGH as inhibiting the breakdown of muscle and promoting the breakdown of fat.

Your claim requires evidence.

[1] https://leangains.com/