In order to go into "starvation mode" your muscle tissue has to be forced into gluconeogenesis by stress, where proteins and aminos are broken down into a glucose-like substance. Starvation mode is actually much easier to enter by eat several small low fat meals a day than it is by fasting. Your body can only burn one source at a time, either food you are eating or fat from your body. If you are eating, and your body is digesting that food, you are not burning body fat during that process; no matter how much you exercise.
Under most conditions your body can go weeks (and with sufficient body fat even months) without eating with no loss of muscle mass or adverse effects on your internal systems. This is because we have a natural built in response mechanism to fasting where our bodies increase testosterone and release additional human growth hormone to prepare us "for the hunt". As long as you have fat to burn you will enter ketosis and life will carry on just fine. This is why fasting is the single best way to "burn off" unwanted body fat, presuming you are in otherwise fair health and have the fortitude and fasting-specific knowledge to pull it off. When I fast I supplement with sodium and magnesium to ensure I feel energetic throughout. Without those supplements I begin to feel a little sluggish around day 3. I have fast dozens and dozens of times, up to 7 days at a time, and have never lost a single lb of lean muscle mass. But I always lose 2-3lbs of body fat as well as some stored water weight. Overweight people will also burn off excess glycogen, which shows up as weight loss but not fat loss.
And not to sound pompous or disagreeable, but these are not just my personal beliefs, they are based on human physiology, science, and experience. I have spent years studying this subject as I have lost many family members to diabetes and related diseases. I will not be following in their footsteps. Based on my lifestyle of keto and fasting, I am closing in on 50 years old with above average muscle mass, below average body fat, and overall health that makes my Doctor ask me how I am able to do it so she can share that info with her other patients. I checked off every box in the excellent category again this year during my physical, sans the one that reports when you eat a diet high in protein.
For more information I recommend any books or videos by Dr. Jason Fung, who is likely the world's leading expert on fasting. Also DietDoctor.com which offers an impressive amount of excellent information free of misinformation or disinformation.
Under most conditions your body can go weeks (and with sufficient body fat even months) without eating with no loss of muscle mass or adverse effects on your internal systems. This is because we have a natural built in response mechanism to fasting where our bodies increase testosterone and release additional human growth hormone to prepare us "for the hunt". As long as you have fat to burn you will enter ketosis and life will carry on just fine. This is why fasting is the single best way to "burn off" unwanted body fat, presuming you are in otherwise fair health and have the fortitude and fasting-specific knowledge to pull it off. When I fast I supplement with sodium and magnesium to ensure I feel energetic throughout. Without those supplements I begin to feel a little sluggish around day 3. I have fast dozens and dozens of times, up to 7 days at a time, and have never lost a single lb of lean muscle mass. But I always lose 2-3lbs of body fat as well as some stored water weight. Overweight people will also burn off excess glycogen, which shows up as weight loss but not fat loss.
And not to sound pompous or disagreeable, but these are not just my personal beliefs, they are based on human physiology, science, and experience. I have spent years studying this subject as I have lost many family members to diabetes and related diseases. I will not be following in their footsteps. Based on my lifestyle of keto and fasting, I am closing in on 50 years old with above average muscle mass, below average body fat, and overall health that makes my Doctor ask me how I am able to do it so she can share that info with her other patients. I checked off every box in the excellent category again this year during my physical, sans the one that reports when you eat a diet high in protein.
For more information I recommend any books or videos by Dr. Jason Fung, who is likely the world's leading expert on fasting. Also DietDoctor.com which offers an impressive amount of excellent information free of misinformation or disinformation.
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