Eat only every other day and lose weight?

The alternate-day fasting thing is very popular right now. This gist of it is, basically, feast and famine. You starve one day, then feast the next. Proponents claim that this approach will lead to weight loss, as well as a number of other benefits. As a physician researcher, this annoys and alarms me. I preach sensible intake of real foods as part of a lifelong approach to health. I also depend on scientific evidence to guide my counseling. So, I welcomed this yearlong study comparing alternate-day fasting with more common calorie restriction. Some data on alternate-day fasting Researchers divided 100 obese study volunteers (mostly African-American women, without other major medical issues) into three groups: one group followed an alternate fasting plan, which meant on the fasting day they would eat only 25% of their caloric needs and on the non-fasting day they’d eat a little bit more (125% of their caloric needs per day) a second group ate 75% of their caloric needs per day, every day a third group ate the way they typically did, for six months. The two diet groups received counseling as well as all foods provided. This “weight loss” period was followed by another six months of “weight maintenance” and observations. Both diet groups lost about 5.5% of their body weight (12 pounds) by month six, and both regained about 1.8% (four pounds) by month 12, and had significant improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar, insulin, and inflammatory proteins when compared...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Health Source Type: blogs