The term voluntary fasting has come up in recent years when health or wellness concerns are raised. Intermittent fasting is one of the most popular diets because of its many benefits. This diet is also recommended by coaches for sportsmen and women who want to lose weight or for other sports programmes. Find out everything you need to know about it.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a Mediterranean diet, rather than a conventional diet. It consists of a lifestyle that introduces a particular way of eating. The principle is to alternate periods of eating and fasting. The idea is not to consume particular foods, but rather to control the frequency of meals, which must be done at particular times of the day.
Intermittent fasting exists in several forms (16/8, 2/5, every other day, etc. ) but all principles divide the day or week into periods of rest and abstinence.
This diet can also be defined as a continuity of the time when a person does not eat as during sleep for example. It has very beneficial health benefits. In fact, some studies recommend fasting for a better functioning of the cerebrovascular and cardiovascular systems.
How does daily fasting work?
Daily fasting is simply skipping breakfast, i. e. eating the first meal at noon and the last meal at 8 pm. This means that the body fasts for 16 hours and the eating window is limited to 8 hours. This is the 16/8 method and is the most common principle.
This easy method allows for satisfactory results with a minimum of effort. It does not require special diets with strict rules and regulations.
For some years now, 16/8 intermittent fasting has enjoyed stratospheric fame. It is particularly popular with people who want to lose weight and burn fat. Many bodybuilders also use it to burn off the last layer of fat to allow the muscle to round out.
This method is generally considered to be less restrictive and much more flexible as there are no caloric limitations. Moreover, it is suitable for any lifestyle. Especially suitable for sportsmen and women who need an abundance of calories to be able to follow an intensive training. However, there are a few factors that will greatly impact the value of this diet for a top athlete.
Is it a good method for weight loss and for a smoother result for a top athlete?
Of course, there are not many studies on the subject of intermittent fasting. Nevertheless, the research that has been carried out so far has produced more than promising results. Some studies have found results on increased weight loss and according to others, a result on developed metabolic markers.
It is suggested by more recent studies that some athletes need to have periods of reduced or no energy intake to help improve performance. For endurance athletes, the production of new mitochondria called mitochondrial biogenesis is one of the most important signs of adaptation to exercise.
During training, the athlete's body reacts to the depletion of energy stores. This is interpreted as the triggering of a series of signalling factors. These, in turn, stimulate several positive responses to endurance exercise including mitochondrial biogenesis.
Therefore, for specific cases, endurance training in a low energy state may give a better result in terms of adaptation or resistance to training. It should be noted, however, that this research is often conducted on the basis of a low-carbohydrate diet, not as a completely fasted workout, as is the case with intermittent fasting.
Is intermittent fasting recommended for athletes?
Intermittent fasting already has remarkable positive effects on a normal person. And for top athletes, depending on their training objective, periods of low carbohydrate intake caused by intermittent fasting can either improve or reduce performance.
In this case, it is difficult to define whether intermittent fasting is a good or bad idea for sportsmen and women because it depends on several factors.
For example, if the athlete trains early in the morning and the last meal was late afternoon the day before, this may compromise the ability to concentrate during training.
Also, not eating before high intensity training such as sprinting or endurance exercises will probably reduce success. However, if the training is done later in the day, intermittent fasting has no impact as long as the athlete consumes enough energy and nutrients during the meal, before and after the training.
To conclude
So to conclude, intermittent fasting has enormous benefits for normal people. And for top athletes, the results are mixed. It is important to note that even if they diet before meals without time limits, studies have shown that many fail to eat enough calories. It is therefore logical to assume that successfully eating more calories with enough meals can provide energy in the quantities of food needed.
In the end, the most important thing for an athlete is to store enough calories to perform, no matter how many times they eat.
