Myth 2: Fasting makes you burn muscles. In fact fasting ONLY burn muscles when body fat is as low as 4%!, elite male marathon runners carry 8% of Body Fat.
Studies of alternate-day fasting over seventy days show decreased of 6% in body weight, fat mass decreased by 11.4% AND LEAN MASS (muscle and bone) DID NOT CHANGE AT ALL!
When we eat, the energy comes from fat, protein and carbs.
If you start fasting the body increases carbs oxidation=burns sugar in the form of glycogen?
After 24-48hours of fasting the body runs out of food=glucose, glycogen.
With no more sugar to burn the body switches to burning fat, so fat oxidation increase AS PROTEIN OXIDATION DECREASES.
YES PROTEIN OXIDATION DECREASES!! The normal protein break down of around 75g per day falls to 25g WHEN FASTING!
RATHER THAN BURNING MUSCLE DURING FASTING, WE ACTUALLY START CONSERVING MUSCLES!
Sources: McCue, ed., Comparative Physiology of Fasting, Starvation, and Food Limitation.
Important Take!
Muscle gain or loss is mostly a function of exercise. You can't eat your way to more muscle, YOU HAVE TO TRAIN MORE!
By the same token weight loss and beating a type 2 diabetes is mostly a function of diet.
YOU CANNOT OUTRUN A BAD DIET!
In the above mentioned study of 70 days alternate-day fasting, some impressive results came to surface.
Day 1 body weight=96.4kg VS Day 70 Body Weight 90.8kg
Day 1 BMI 33.7 VS Day 70 BMI 31.4
Day 1 fat mass=43kg VS Day 70 38.1kg
Day 1 body Fat-free mass (MUSCLES) =52.0kg VS Day 70 51.9kg
Day 1 waist circumference (cm) 109 vs Day 70 105
Source: Bhutani et al., "Improvements in coronary Heart Disease Risk Indicators by Alternate-Day Fasting Involve Adipose Tissues Modulations."
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