“Intermittent Fasting is not planned starvation but planned consumption of food”. All in all, means the same to us.

Intermittent Fasting also known as Intermittent Starving has become popular among people who are so consumed by the thoughts of losing weight that they are ready to give up (not completely, however) what is keeping them alive- food.

For there are claimed benefits as well as serious repercussions of Intermittent Fasting, we are going to make the truths lay bare in this post and let you decide what is right for you!

The basic logic behind Intermittent Fasting is that the rate at which you lose weight is dependent upon the difference between the calories you consume and the calories you burn. For people who like equations-

Calories You Burn – Calories You Consume α Weight You Lose

By fasting intermittently, you are limiting your overall calories consumption while continuing your normal routine wherein you burn almost the same number of calories everyday. Except, perhaps, your weekends!

Pros:

Intermittent Fasting changes your body at its most basic level- cellular level.

1. Lowers Insulin Levels – When we eat, insulin level increases. However, when we starve the insulin level decreases which facilitates for weight loss.
2. Increases Metabolism – Contrary to popular belief that you need to eat proteins and stuff to keep your metabolism rate high, some studies have established that intermittent fasting improves you metabolism rate and hence helps weight loss.
3. Production of Anti Stress Hormones – When you starve, you trick your body into making it feel stressed. This activates the production of anti stress hormones which help you deal with daily stresses better.
4. Increases Concentration – When your stomach is empty(ish), you can concentrate at the work in hand better.
5. Improves Heart Health – Intermittent Fasting is believed to improve your heart health and keep heart diseases at bay.
6. Improves Brain Health – The probability of Cognitive Disorders like Alzehmeir’s, Dementia etc is reduced.
7. Slows Skin Aging – Aging of the body as a whole is slowed down due to which…
8. Lifespan Increases.

**Most of the above observations are extrapolations of findings of experiments performed on lab mice and none of them can be clearly conclusive when it comes to humans.

The Pros of Intermittent Fasting outweigh the Cons in number but whether they do in terms of quality is still not clear.

Let’s have a look at the Cons.

Cons:

1. The most disappointing Con of Intermittent Fasting is that whatever results you obtain from it over a particular period of time, all of them get reversed within a fraction of that time you observed the fasting for. Meaning, if one wishes to undertake Intermittent Fasting, it needs to be a lifelong exercise else it is of no use. 
2. Limiting you overall intake, means limiting your nutrients intake. For example, you need carbs and proteins on a regular basis else your body starts to crave for it.
3. As already mentioned, short term Intermittent Fasting is as good as useless when it comes to losing weight; it makes you irritable, susceptible to common illnesses, fatigued etc.
4. Women between the ages 15 and 45 need to be very meticulous about their PMS cycles and any irregularities between them and the fasting patterns are bound to expose them to a host of harmful illnesses and unwanted diseases.

**While most of the Pros were extrapolations of lab mice findings towards humans, all the Cons of Intermittent Fasting are conclusive to humans from studies done on humans.

There have been no major conclusive studies when it comes to Intermittent Fasting simply because of the fact that Intermittent Fasting is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is really tough to give up on your regular way of eating.

Although many people have tried different ways of Intermittent Fasting and posted their personal reviews online, none of them match and it seems as though that they vary with individuals and just aren’t universal.

Here are 3 different testimonials I could find on the internet to prove it to you –

1. https://lifehacker.com/what-ive-learned-from-2-years-of-intermittent-fasting-1458916019
2. https://foodcanwait.com/home/my-weight-loss-journey-intermittent-fasting/
3. https://civilizedcavemancooking.com/reviews/how-intermittent-fasting-saved-mewhile-slowly-killing-me/

If you have read the reviews, you’ll now realize how much the results vary from person to person and what might work for your friend might not necessarily work for you and vice versa.

As much as we are against Intermittent Fasting, we would like to encourage you to try it, nonetheless.

Like we have mentioned multiple times, Intermittent Fasting depends strictly upon what your body type is, what method of fasting you have taken up and how motivated are you to do it for a really long-term.

We will give you a brief account of the established methods of Intermittent Fasting in our next article; choose one and give it a try.