Researchers suggest that depriving yourself of certain foods for a day would be enough to restart fat burning. Good news for those who don’t want to count hours or calories.
Intermittent fasting has emerged in recent years as a leading method for losing weight, with the idea that by eating less often, the body is forced to draw on its reserves. The problem is that having very low calorie days or regularly skipping meals is not always compatible with daily life. Between fatigue, frustration and dropping out, many give up before seeing lasting results. A recent British study then provides an interesting alternative, more targeted, based less on the quantity of food than on its nature.
Led by researchers at the University of Surrey, this study looked at the link between carbohydrates and fat loss. The initial idea is simple: it is not only the fact of eating less that pushes the body to lose weight, but the moment when it changes its energy source. “What interests us is not necessarily weight loss, but the metabolic effect of this dietary intervention”explains Doctor Adam Collins, co-author of the study, in the columns of BBC Science Focus. Behind this scientific precision lies a very concrete issue for the figure: as long as the body functions mainly on glucose, it stores more than it releases. When this fuel disappears, it is forced to look elsewhere, notably in fats.
To observe this mechanism, researchers followed twelve adults aged 20 to 65, all overweight or obese. Each participant tested three different diets, each lasting 36 hours, with several days of break between each phase. Once they were eating normally. Another time, they consumed the same number of calories, but with very few carbohydrates. Finally, they followed a diet that was both low-carb and low-calorie. Each time, the measurements taken the next morning made it possible to assess how their body had reacted.
The result is clear and particularly interesting for those looking to lose weight. As soon as carbohydrates were significantly reduced, the body began to burn more fat, even when calorie intake remained the same as a typical day. In other words, it is not so much eating less that triggers fat burning, but rather depriving the body of its preferred energy source. In this case, white bread and pasta. “The body is designed to use carbohydrates for energy when available – for example, after a meal – and fats between meals and at night,” recalls Adam Collins.
This is precisely where the link with intermittent fasting becomes interesting from a slimming point of view. In practice, fasting forces the body to lack glucose for several hours, which forces it to burn fat. This study shows that a comparable effect can be achieved without necessarily drastically reducing calories, simply by eliminating carbohydrates for a day.
Thus, alternating normal days with others deprived of these two foods would be enough to restart fat burning and preserve metabolic balance. In addition, for many, this approach would be easier to maintain over time, and therefore more effective for losing weight.
