Fasting affects energy levels

To explain their results, the researchers say that the difference in body mass
between the energy restriction groups may be partly due to a reduction in physical
activity, and thus energy lost from heat production, in those who fasted. 

They did not observe decreased physical activity among those who fasted without
energy restriction, however. 

The researchers also noted that all of the groups lost similar levels of visceral
fat over the study period. Visceral fat is fat that the body stores around the
abdomen, and it is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

No short-term changes in metabolic health — such as blood sugar levels,

cholesterol, and blood pressure — or fat tissue gene expression occurred among
the study participants. This, say the authors, may be because the participants were
not overweight at the start of the study.

The researchers conclude that reduced physical activity during calorie-

restricted fasting may limit weight loss and that people should include
physical activity as part of alternate-day fasting diets to get the best weight
loss results.

They note, however, that they cannot completely explain weight loss from fat-free
mass in fasting diets, as no participants chose to provide skeletal muscle samples.
Another limitation, they explain, is that their dietary intervention only lasted 3
weeks. 

“Many people believe that diets based on fasting are especially effective for weight
loss or that these diets have particular metabolic health benefits even if you don’t
lose weight,” senior study author Prof. James Betts commented on the team’s
results. 
“But intermittent fasting is no magic bullet, and the findings of our experiment
suggest that there is nothing special about fasting when compared with more
traditional, standard diets people might follow,” he continued.