Fasting (IF too) affects the secretion and amount of insulin and other hormones, carbohydrate and fat processing and storing, basal metabolic rate, gut microbiome and many other things we don’t even know yet.
CICO is a simplistic concept for basic understanding, but when examined in more detail, it is not suitable for describing the biology of the human body. In fact, it is completely wrong to address obesity in an individual.
If you add fuel of different quality to the engine, the fuel efficiency of the engine will change. Changing the engine settings will also change its efficiency. This is also a very simplistic concept.
Yes, the main benefit is to improve insulin resistance but sugar can offset this benefit. When insulin resistance improves, cravings would never be an issue. People may feel less hungry. You don’t have to control your diet. Just cut sugar and be consistent.
Looks like you got the deeper dive answer to your question. I would say that if you do IF your caloric intake WILL decrease, because you’ll cut out snacking and night eating. Your stomach will shrink, and it won’t take so much food to fill you up. After a while, you won’t always be hungry when you reach your fasting time, so you’ll fast longer. I eat the same food I’ve always eaten, just less. And I get whatever the benefits come from doing IF. Good luck.
CICO and controlling insulin spikes are 2 different aspects of intermittent fasting. I fast to control insulin resistance. I eat the same as always, sometimes more, but in a narrow time window. Controlling insulin resistance has changed how my body processes fat and I have lost weight in my midsection because of that. This bulge specifically did not budge for me by CICO alone which I have tried for years.
No, if calories remain the same you’re not going to lose weight just pushing them into a smaller window or extremely minor loss. At least one study showed small metabolism boosts with IF and IF would help direct the body to fat stores by helping to control insulin, but for the most part a calorie is a calorie. Losing weight means being in a calorie deficit.
Your body stores energy in various ways. I think some of it is stored in the liver (?). It’s like an easy accessible storage. Then surplus over that is stored in fat.
If you’re eating the same amount of calories as before but with fasting. I think it would questionable if you would lose weight or not. You’d be filling up that storage and then taking out from that storage. But then it’s getting into weird details about if the fasting would increase your metabolism and the such. If so then it might put you over the edge into losing weight.
Personally. I don’t measure calories. I do OMAD which makes it harder to over eat in that one sitting. So I’ll generally be in a deficit. But some times I’ll increase in weight if I have a bad week.
part of the problem is that there is a ton of variability in individual responses, so there isnt a quantifiable answer to “how much of an effect it will have on me”. Fasting certainly has some advantage for weightloss beyond the simplistic “shorter eating window = less calories in” formula. Still, CICO undoubtedly is a major factor in weightloss (the laws of thermodynamics arent going away). What you eat and when you eat relative to fasting windows and activity also definitely matters as well, not just straight calories and fasting windows. A recent mice study found :
“It turned out that many of the benefits originally ascribed to calorie restriction alone – better blood sugar control, healthier use of fat for energy, protection from frailty in old age and longer lifespans – all required fasting as well. Mice who ate fewer calories without fasting didn’t see these positive changes.
Fasting on its own, without reducing the amount of food eaten, was just as powerful as calorie restriction with fasting. Fasting alone was enough to improve insulin sensitivity and to reprogram metabolism to focus more on using fats as a source of energy. The livers of fasting mice also showed the hallmarks of healthier metabolism.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211018112513.htm
I also think one of the best things Ive received from fasting is a re-programing of my eating habits. The idea of always be comfortably not-hungry is just asking for over eating.
I think it depends of what has causes the weight gain in the first place, thats why we are getting different answers. For me My weight was just not moving, less calories, lot of workout, even 16:8 IF and then sudden weight gains if i strayed off diet. It was all because of sugar. Calories in and calorie out is not straight forward, insulin is a big factor. As soon as i stopped sugar my weight started dropping. So calorie counting and IF did not bring my weight down as long as I was eating sugar daily. It was like may be a biscuit and a 2 squares of chocolate. Total of just 100-150 calories of sugar and refined flour. I dont have diabetes or pre diabetes.So for me no difference when i ate same food in IF window or out of it, untill i removed sugar. IF did not offset the effects of eating sugar.