Did you know that most, if not all diets fail? What, but how can that be? Yes, that seems to be the truth. Well, you might say I’ve lost 20 or 30  pounds, or maybe even 50, but the question becomes, were you able to keep that weight off or did you gain it back plus some? This seems to be the prevailing result from dieting. It doesn’t matter which one it is,(Paleo, Atkins, etc.) take your pick. We’ve all heard the stories of how much one has lost but then soon (6, 8,12 months later) the weight returns and becomes nearly impossible to lose it again. This creates enormous frustration to the point most people just give up. So what is the solution? If you have read my book,” Aging Well”, you know that I am a great proponent of intermittent fasting. You might ask, what is the difference between intermittent fasting and simply restricting caloric intake? which is the purpose of most diets. 

We now know, through research and experience, that if you do not address the insulin levels in your body when attempting to lose weight, your efforts will be futile.

This is because the body inherently wants to resort back to its original higher set weight. In other words, if you weighed 250 pounds and lost 30 pounds, your body will fight to return to the 250 lb level.  So eating “properly” is only half the problem. The other half has to be addressed by “when we eat”. This is where intermittent fasting enters in. You see, when insulin levels remain high, we will store fat and sugar which keeps the weight on and makes it slow to come off. On the other hand, when we have periods of time that insulin levels decrease, our bodies go into a burning mode, thereby reducing sugar and fat levels in the body resulting in weight loss. This is the benefit of intermittent fasting as related to weight loss. As a result, the body now has a chance to reset the thermostat, so to speak, back to its original set weight and design. Then, once we have reached our desired weight level, we can begin a simple maintenance regimen of intermittent fasting, at a reduced rate, and that will keep the weight from returning. For a more in-depth explanation of this entire process, I would refer you to my book “Aging Well”.