Madison Burgess
If you’re struggling to lose weight, it’s easy to fall into the dark rabbit hole of unconventional dieting trends.
Whether it’s intermittent fasting or expensive supplements, different ‘trendy’ ways of dieting have always been around and sometimes are even endorsed by celebrities.
According to the Association of UK Dieticians, many fad diets will lead to initial weight loss but ‘this weight loss is often lean muscle and fluid loss instead of body fat.’
These diets can’t be followed long term as many people, understandably, become fed up with the rigid rules and limits.
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According to the Mayo Clinic, intermittent fasting means you abstain from eating food for extended periods each day or week.
But now, as if that’s not extreme enough, there’s another version of the controversial diet on the horizon.
The popular method in question is the OMAD diet, which is an abbreviation for 'one meal a day'.
It does what it says on the tin - it’s a type of intermittent fasting where you consume all of your calories for the day in a single sitting within a one-hour window, then you fast for the remaining 23 hours.
While it may seem appealing to some, a shocking video has revealed what’s really going on inside your body hour by hour when fasting.
The simulation, shared this week by Wellness Wise, takes you step by step through the initial hunger pangs to the potential psychological effects.
As it turns out, most people won’t want to see what happens to your body after 36 hours without food.
Here's a full breakdown.
The video explains then in the first twelve hours of fasting, your body is still running on its last meal, insulin levels drop and blood sugar begins to stabilise.
Then, your body starts burning through glycogen and stored carbs in your liver and muscles.
By 12 to 18 hours, the simulation shows how you’re now moving into fat burning mode.
Ketones - the byproduct of fat breakdown - start to rise, while hunger hormones spike but eventually level out.
The video claims that between 18 to 24 hours your body enters deeper ketosis and growth hormone levels increase dramatically.
Autophagy also begins - that’s your body cleaning out damaged cells.
In the final 24 to 36 hours, inflammation reportedly drops and insulin sensitivity improves.
Your brain might feel sharper due to increased ketones as you enter a ‘metabolic reset zone’.
The video outlines that there can be benefits such as fat loss and insulin sensitivity, autophagy, brain boost and reduced inflammation.
It's worth bearing in mind that everyone reacts differently to fasting—so it’s worth checking with your medical professional before taking part in the practice.
Experts are divided on whether or not fasting is good for the body, with some claiming a lack of human-backed studies renders making conclusions difficult.
“There [are] a lot of proposed benefits to [running on fats]. But a lot of the research hasn’t really [been borne out in] human beings. So we don’t see dramatic health benefits, certainly in the short term,” James Betts, professor of metabolic physiology at the University of Bath, told The Guardian.