Top 10 Dieting / Fasting Myths.

[ATZ]

This is a fantastic article by IF enthusiast Martin Berkhan, and synonymous with the quality I've come to expect from his blog, as you can tell, I'm quite a fan.

Top Ten Fasting Myths Debunked | Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health

Article covers:

- Meal Frequency
- Meal Size
- Fasting
- Catabolism
- Breakfast
- Cortisol

Backed up by references also. Recommended reading for all.

[ab-fit]

Interesting read, it certainly challenges a lot of the common guidance circulated in the UK's PT industry.

[ATZ]

Most PT's know what they are talking about?

Not in my experience...

[MJ.23]

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Interesting read, it certainly challenges a lot of the common guidance circulated in the UK's PT industry.

The general rule of thumb with most PT's is to do the exact opposite of what they suggest.

[ab-fit]

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The general rule of thumb with most PT's is to do the exact opposite of what they suggest.

Slightly harsh, we're not all bad! Some of what is disregarded in that article has been shown to work very well for people, including myself. At the end of the day, its all about results. We could debate right and wrong forever.

[Tauren]

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Slightly harsh, we're not all bad! Some of what is disregarded in that article has been shown to work very well for people, including myself. At the end of the day, its all about results. We could debate right and wrong forever.

Thats actually a good point in a way.

I'm a big Leangains fanboy myself, but I think its worth pointing out that if you always ate breakfast, never had more than 30g of protein in one meal, ate 6-8 meals a day, never trained fasted etc etc. it would achieve at worst pretty similar results to an IF protocol.

Or in other words, I don't really see any of those myths as particularly harmful. People won't waste much more than their time.


(Just to be clear I am not criticising the article, or advising people to eat 8 meals a day, before anyone gets an attack of the stupids).

[Fiji]

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People won't waste much more than their time.

You say that like it's not a big deal. A lot of people believe all this stuff and slavishly follow protocol to the detriment of their lives, relationships, etc. There was someone on here just yesterday saying that being overly anal about food had caused problems with their partner. The sooner these myths are debunked the better I say.

[ATZ]

It's not harmful per say Tauren, but people will almost go crazy / orthorexic thinking you HAVE to eat 8 meals per day, get exactly 30g of protein per meal, missing a meal equalling instant catabolism etc etc. We've all seen the guys trotting out their little tupperwear boxes every 2.5hrs.

Essentially, I didn't post the article to say "This is the light and the way, all shall follow" as there is more than one way to get results, but more to show people that there is actually more science behind not following the mainstream recommendations than adhereing to the industry accepted dogma.

That is, none of what you've been told really matters one bit so long as:

1. You hit you daily calories and macro targets: This applies to cutting, bulking, whatever. It doesn't matter how you do it (2, 5, 20 meals) so long as you do and whatever is most convenient. That plus our muscles won't fall off if you miss breakfast or a meal.

[khris]

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Most PT's know what they are talking about?

Not in my experience...

Same, theyre wheeling them out like general motors.

The article seems interesting but too much over analysis for me, I just prefer to try things rather than soley read about them, but yea some good points in there.

[Matt Strong]

ATZ, couldn't agree more. Need to circulate this one around the interwebs. Death to broscience