The Best Fasting Window For Fat Burning

Best Fasting Window for Weight Loss 0:00

In today's video, I'm going over what the research says is the best fasting window for weight loss. Now, when it comes to fasting or time restricted feeding, I recommend typically on a day to day basis, doing something between a 6 to 10 hour eating window, meaning that you're eating 2 to 3 meals in a 6 to 10 hour eating window as a whole. But research shows, and this is really the type of time restricted feeding that's been practiced and studied the most. Research shows that a 16 eight window tends to be the most effective window for burning fat, stabilizing blood sugar, improving insulin sensitivity, and being something that people can be compliant with.

Compliance is a really big factor here. And so there was a study December 2022 study that it is time restricted feeding beneficial for body weight and metabolism of obese and overweight adults. And what they showed. And it was actually a meta analysis, which is kind of the the gold standard, where you're looking at a whole bunch of studies and you're doing an overall review. So it's a stomach review, meta analysis of all of these studies. And what they found was that 16 eight was very effective.

It was there was a high compliance rate, which is always key in any kind of study, any kind of therapeutic activity. You want to make sure people are going to be compliant and follow through. So there was high compliance rate and there were great results where people lost weight. They improved their blood sugar, they improve their insulin levels. And on top of that, they didn't lose lean body tissue.

How 16:8 Fasting Works 1:36

They didn't lose muscle tissue or bone tissue. And it was something where their quality of life really improved as they were doing this. And so what does the 16 eight look like? It's basically eight hours of eating. So you might eat between, let's say 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and then you would fast from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next day. And I always say the time between your first meal and your last meal, we call that your building phase. You're stimulating hormones that have to do with cell reproduction and storage.

Okay. And so that would be hormones like insulin for example, which when insulins elevated we store fat. And we also store sugar in our muscles and our liver. When insulin goes down we burn fat. We also liberate glycogen. Right. This storage form of sugar that's in our muscles in our liver. So during the time between our last meal and our first meal, we're going into the cleansing phase where we now start to burn fat. We start to break down old damage proteins within the cell. We call that autophagy.

And we start to reduce our overall glycogen. We start to also burn through blood glycogen or basically glycogen, glucose that's stored in our our muscles and our livers. We start to break that down as well. And so it's all part of the phase. And so the interesting thing with with this study was that they showed that early time restricted feeding was better than late time restricted feeding. What does that mean? Depends on when your window is early time restricted feeding is basically when you have your eating window earlier in the day.

Okay. So let's say again 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. would be considered early timer circuit feeding. Or you could do like let's say 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.. So earlier in the day, consuming your meals, that's actually going to have better benefit. And that's because when it gets dark out at night, we start secreting more melatonin.

Why Early Time-Restricted Feeding Is Better 3:30

Melatonin is this amazing anti-aging hormone that helps us sleep really well, really deep. But it also is this powerful antioxidant that cleans up mitochondria, protects the mitochondria. We stimulate melatonin release at night as as it gets dark. The other thing about melatonin is when its melatonin is elevated, we become more insulin resistant. So we're not as good at getting sugar out of the bloodstream and into the cells. So if we're eating meals at night after dark, we are not going to metabolize the glucose in that meal as more as effectively.

Also, our overall digestive juice production, our production of stomach acid, bile and pancreatic enzyme pancreatic enzymes goes down at night. And now we're not able to break down the food. In general, it's more of a stressor on our body if we're eating late at night. And so when it comes to time restricted feeding and intermittent fasting, you really have to fit it around your schedule. And for some individuals, they just have to eat in the evening. But as much as possible, if you're able to do it where you finish your last meal before it gets dark.

Okay, I recommend finishing your last meal before 7:00, ideally at night. You were going to get much better benefits when it comes to blood sugar stability, insulin sensitivity, and overall fat burning, and you're going to feel better in general. And so that's what the study showed and that's what we try to accomplish. And so 16 eight is great for some individuals. They might feel better doing a 1410 where they're basically like a 14 hour fast and a ten hour eating window. Some individuals like myself, I typically do an 18 six where I'm actually fasting for 18 hours and I eat my meals in a six hour window, usually from about 1:00 to 7:00 in the evening.

That's usually when I'm consuming my meals. Now, a couple other things that I recommend. One is called A511 variation. This is where five days a week we're doing some sort of time restricted feeding, intermittent fasting, a 16 eight like just like the study said. So you're doing five days a week, you're doing the 16 eight fast one day a week. You are not doing a fast like that. You might fast 12 hours overnight.

Choosing a Fasting Schedule That Fits 5:39

I recommend that, but then you're eating throughout the day. So you're eating in a longer eating window one day a week, and then the other day that one one the other day a week. You're actually stretching your fast, so you're really trying to stress your system a little bit more. I recommend trying to do a 20 to 24 hour fast, one day a week, where maybe you just consume 1 or 2 meals in a, let's say, a 1 to 4 hour eating window that's going to drive up more autophagy. You're going to get rid of more damage proteins.

It's also going to drive up more fat burning. So doing something like that really provides kind of a sustainable lifestyle that you can follow. You can have one day a week where it's your feast day. You're able to enjoy a lot of food, eat more calories that day, and don't restrict yourself to a tight eating window. Another day a week you are doing your famine day where you're kind of extending your normal fast, and then the other five days you're doing the most compliant form of time restricted feeding, which is that 16.8 window consuming your meals in that eight hour eating window that's been shown based on research, to have great benefits and high compliance rate.

One more caveat is to remember women and menstruation. And so the menstrual cycle starts on day one. So the moment a woman starts menstruating we call that day one of the cycle. And normal cycle is about 28 days. For day 14 is ovulation usually the last week before a woman menstruate. That's when she has more hunger, more cravings.

Women, Menstrual Cycle, and Fasting 7:11

That's when it's harder to do intermittent fasting. So I don't recommend intense intermittent fasting during that last week. Don't do the 20 to 24 hour fast in that last week. So during that last week, what you want to do is maybe like a 12 to 14 hour overnight fast and then consume more calories in general more protein. You can consume more healthy carbs, let's say root vegetables and fruits during that last week before you menstruate, because that will help to reduce overall cortisol, reduce stress hormones, and allow your body to produce the progesterone it needs for a really good menstrual cycle so you have less PMS symptoms, less negative symptoms associated with menstruation, and then right after you start menstruating, that's actually a really great time to go in and do a little bit more intense intermittent fasting.

So whether it's a 16 eight, whether you might want to try that week, maybe compressing it to 18 six, right, and doing something like that, or you know, that maybe if you're going to do like a three day or a five day fastest, a great time is right after you start menstruating. Those first couple of days, really good time. Really first ten days or so of your cycle, great time to do a little bit more intense fasting. So you have to break it up based on where you're at in your menstrual cycle, usually around ovulation as well, like day 12 to 14 or so.

You don't want to do intense intermittent fasting either. So you have to kind of figure out where are you at your menstrual cycle and figure out your fasting routine from there. Also, you want to make sure your meal planning properly. So when you consume a meal, make sure you're prioritize protein. I recommend at least 30g of good quality protein in every meal, so if you're eating 2 to 3 times a day, 30 to 50g of protein in each of those meals. So make sure you're getting your macros roughly 30g in each of those meals.

Healthy fats adding in. You know, making sure you get at least 15 to 20g of healthy fats. And it's going to depend on how well you break down fats. Some people metabolize fats better than others. Some people need more fats to feel better and feel more satiated.

Meal Planning and Fasted Exercise 9:13

Some people need a little bit less. So 15 to 20g, usually at a minimum, is good. Make sure you're adding a lot of colors and fiber in your food, and that can help you stabilize your blood sugar and feel better and be able to fast longer. And finally, the last thing is to burn fat. To lose weight is adding in fasted exercise. And really, the best time for this would be right before right at the end of your fast or you eat. So like the last hour or so, get a really good workout in. That's a great time to do it for other individuals.

They can do it in the morning. It depends on your schedule. So let's say you're going to break your fast at 10 a.m.. You're going to fast from 10 to 6. And based on your schedule, you've got to work out at 7 a.m. or 6 a.m. you can absolutely do that. Just make sure you're hydrating after that workout and then break it with a good high protein meal at 10 a.m.. Or let's say you're breaking your fast. Like for me, I break it at 1:00. And so usually 12:00, 1230 or so. That's what I'm getting my workout in.

And then I'll break my fast after that. And that's when I'll consume my meals. And so working out in a fast and state turns on more fat burning. You get great benefits from this, more autophagy. So that's just an added hack that will really help you burn fat and lose weight quicker, and really optimize your overall physique, optimize your lean body tissue, look better, feel better, and optimize your overall physiology. So hopefully this was really helpful for you guys. Please share it with anybody that you know and care about.

And we'll see you guys on a future of video training. Be blessed.