Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! Today we’ll be wrapping up our in depth look at June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore. In particular, I want to share with you some of my final thoughts on intermittent fasting and whether or not it might be a good fit for you.

When it comes to weight loss, there really is no ‘one size fits all’ plan that works for everyone and intermittent fasting is no exception. Spending a week following an intermittent fasting schedule really gave me the opportunity to experience what fasting is like and to learn more about my own eating behaviors. It also gave me the chance to think about who might really benefit from intermittent fasting and who should steer clear. Is it a good match for you? Keep reading as I share my thoughts on who should and who shouldn’t give it a try.

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Who should consider intermittent fasting?

Wondering whether intermittent fasting might be right for your goals? Below you’ll find my thoughts on who might want to consider intermittent fasting for weight loss. Of course, it’s ultimately up to you (and your health care team!) to figure out what’s best for your nutrition and health needs, but here are my 2 cents!

Constant Grazers

If you have tried the ‘small and frequent meals’ approach to weight loss with no success, intermittent fasting might be an interesting option for you. Though some argue that increasing meal frequency helps a person avoid hunger attacks and keeps the metabolism humming, others would say each additional meal eaten is just another opportunity to overeat. By limiting your eating window with an intermittent fasting schedule, you can flip the script by eating less frequently with less concern over portion sizes.

Mindless Nibblers

Maybe you’re the sort that eats pretty regular meals but then also has a little of this, a little of that all throughout the day. You finish off that half a cookie from last night with your mid-morning coffee and you help Little Junior polish off the remains of his lunch. Or maybe you get a little snacky in the afternoon and meander over to the break room to see what sort of stale pastries are lying around. If this sounds like you, intermittent fasting might be the reality check you need.

When you are purposefully following a fasting schedule, you’ll be amazed at how often you catch yourself in the an the act of mindless snacking! The vast majority of people greatly underestimate how many calories they consume each day, partly due to this sort of unintentional eating. If intermittent fasting does nothing else, it will definitely make you a very mindful eater.

Late-night Munchers

For many people trying to lose weight, evening snacking can completely undo a day’s worth of diligence. Just think–if you’re trying to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day in order to lose a pound per week, all it would take to erase that deficit is a couple big handfuls of Doritos or a bowl of Haagen Dazs. If this sounds familiar, really sticking to a set eating window might help you avoid this excessive nighttime noshing.

You just want something simple!

Once you pick which schedule you want to use, intermittent fasting is as straightforward as you can get. Granted, you could add a bit of work to your regimen by following Fung’s particular nutrition recommendations, but even these are fairly simple and don’t require deciphering lengthy food lists or measuring portions. Though I wouldn’t necessarily say that fasting is easy, I would say that it is uncomplicated.

You’re stuck in a rut.

Are you just bored with how you’ve been eating? Let me tell you, fasting has an amazing way of turning meals into something to look forward to! Because you’re not just eating whatever whenever, “What’s for dinner?” will become an exciting question each day. You’ll find yourself wanting to make the most of meal times because now you’re eating with purpose, not just on a whim.

Who should NOT try intermittent fasting?

Though there are rarely hard and fast rules about who shouldn’t follow a particular weight loss plan, some plans are certainly better or worse given a person’s situation. Intermittent fasting really isn’t the right plan for everyone, as you’ll see in my comments below. Fortunately, there are as many ways to tackle weight loss as there are people, so no worries if fasting isn’t the best fit for you!

You already skip meals and yet struggle with your weight.

If you already have fallen into a sort of intermittent fasting pattern and yet find yourself overweight or obese and unable to lose weight, following a more formalized fast may not particularly benefit you.

You already swing between feast and famine.

Perhaps you are someone who tends to skip breakfast, often misses lunch, but then comes home with a ravenous appetite, ready to eat everything in sight. You wolf down a big dinner and keep on eating until the lights go out. If that sounds at all familiar–eating very little throughout the day but then overeating later to compensate–intermittent fasting might not be your best bet. I have worked with many individuals with this set of eating behaviors–famine all day and feasting all night. Almost always the answer is more regular and consistent meals, NOT missing or skipping meals.

You spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Being around food when you’re fasting is no fun. Or at least that was my experience. Having to prepare food for others knowing full well I wouldn’t be having anything until much later in the day was nothing short of brutal some days. Hunger was a real issue for me, despite Fung’s claims that those pangs would diminish within a couple days of following the regimen. Simply handling food would immediately trigger a bout of tummy rumbling that could be heard from the neighbor’s house!

You’re work is physically demanding.

If you have a job that requires a lot of hard, physical work, you need to be fueling your body appropriately. You should be eating regularly throughout the day to ensure you’re getting the energy you need. If weight loss is on your radar, you’ll want to look for other diet plans that provide regular meals with a balance of nutrients but at a calorie level appropriate for losing weight.

You’re prone to getting lightheaded, nauseous, or woozy when you miss meals.

Granted, if you struggle with this, you might need to make sure you are getting in a good balance of nutrients at meals to ensure a more gradual rise and fall in your blood sugar levels regardless of which diet plan you choose. But, if do eat fairly balanced meals and you are simply prone to these symptoms when you go too long without eating, than fasting might not be your best option.

You have a history of eating disorders or disordered eating behaviors.

Reading through this book, I could not help but hear echoes of statements I have heard from both anorexic and bulimic clients. Though the recommendations offered by Fung may be harmless and even helpful to individuals who do not struggle with disordered eating, those who do may find many of his statements very affirming and enabling of their unhealthy attitudes toward food.

(Note that Fung himself states that people with a history of eating disorders should not practice intermittent fasting. I simply want to reiterate the point. He also includes pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and anyone who is malnourished amongst those who should avoid fasting.)

So this wraps up the very first Diet of the Month here at The Diet Oracle. Thank you so much for following along! I look forward to the next diet we’ll put under the microscope starting in August!

If you’d like to read more about The Complete Guide to Fasting, check out my previous posts here!