Can Intermittent Fasting Cause Weight Gain 2024: Safety Tips & More

Intermittent fasting, or IF for short, is a popular method to achieve weight loss and other health benefits including intermittent fasting muscle gain, better digestion, and hormone balance. Intermittent fasting involves alternating between periods of eating (or feeding) and periods of fasting. There are numerous intermittent fasting results you can expect, as well as several ways to practice IF. It may take some experimenting to find a method that works well for your body.
Though IF is a popular tool for many, there are intermittent fasting side effects to be aware of, so it is important to monitor your progress with a health practitioner. It’s also helpful to view IF as just one tool in your health toolbox, and to consider pairing IF with healthy exercise, a good diet, and supplements like the best probiotics for weight loss (check out this Ritual Synbiotic review).

What is Intermittent Fasting?

As the name suggests, intermittent fasting is the practice of fasting intermittently, or non-continuously. Fasting intermittently requires periods of fasting interspersed with periods of eating (these are referred to as “feeding windows”). There isn’t one way to practice IF. In fact, there are several approaches to cycle through eating and fasting that one can practice. The most common ways to practice intermittent fasting are:

• 16/8: This method refers to the fasting hours vs. the eating hours. With this approach a person would fast for a 16-hour window and restrict their eating to an 8-hour window. For example, restricting eating to between 10am and 6pm each day, and fasting overnight between 6pm and 10am the next morning.
• 5/2: With this approach, 5 refers to the number of consecutive days you would eat normally, followed by 2 consecutive days of restricting intake of calories to around 500 calories per day. For example, choosing to eat normally Monday-Friday, and then limiting calories to roughly 500 a day on Saturday and Sunday.
• Alternate Day Fasting: This method involves alternating fasting and eating normally every other day. On the days you fast, you can restrict food entirely (if tolerated) or limit calories to about 500 per day.
• Eat-Stop-Eat: With this approach, you choose one or two 24-hour fasting periods per week. For example, you could eat breakfast and then choose to fast until breakfast the following morning. During the 24-hour fasting periods, no-calorie beverages such as seltzer, water, tea or coffee are encouraged.
• OMAD (One Meal a Day): The OMAD plan is similar to Eat-Stop-Eat, except that it involves fasting for approximately 23 hours every day. This means eating all your daily calories within the span of one hour each day.
• Warrior Diet: This involves fasting for 20 hours each day, leaving a 4-hour eating window in the evenings. During periods of fasting, low calories foods such as raw fruit or vegetables are allowed, as well as some lean protein.

Can Intermittent Fasting Cause Weight Gain?

The short answer is yes, intermittent fasting can cause weight gain, although it’s not intended to. IF, among its many health benefits, is a medical tool/practice that generally helps people lose weight^[1]. 

However, everyone is unique, and your individual metabolism, hormone balance, and DNA can play a role in whether or not IF helps you lose or gain weight. 

Another thing to consider is that the weight some people may gain from IF may be in the form of muscle mass rather than body fat, which may be the desired outcome.

Weight gain can also be a side effect of IF if it’s not done correctly. The rules of the dietary approach say that all you have to do is stick to your feeding windows and fasting times, however, there is more to consider. Fasting can create hunger, leading people to eat larger portions than necessary. Fasting can also lead to binging, in which not only is the person eating more than they should, but they are also not paying attention to the types of foods they are eating during their feeding windows. What you choose to eat and how much can play a role in weight gain while practicing IF.

Why You May Be Gaining Weight With Intermittent Fasting

Eating Too Much Sugar

Eating too much sugar and/or carbs (especially alone, without protein, fat, and fiber) can cause blood sugar spikes. Even sugar replacements and artificial sweeteners can have this effect on blood sugar^[2]. Not everyone feels this process happening in their body, but nevertheless, sugar causes more insulin to be released which can eventually lead to insulin resistance, diabetes, and weight gain. If nothing else, this process sets us up to feel hungrier later, which can set the stage for excessive calorie intake.

Eating Too Fast

It’s not just what we eat, but how we eat. Another way to avoid digestive upset and weight gain is to mind the pacing of our meals. After fasting, we may want to eat fast. However, the body needs time to adjust and burdening it with too much food too quickly can cause upheaval. Instead, sit down for break-fast meals and eat slowly^[3]. Eating slowly and chewing food thoroughly will not only help ease food back into the body, but it can help us detect when we start to feel full, which can prevent overeating later.

Eating Too Much

Fasting causes hunger.  It’s inevitable. But it’s important to resist the temptation to overeat when we break our fast. One of the ideas behind IF is to limit calories by limiting the time we are  eating. However, if we’re eating excess calories during our feeding windows, we could be canceling out this effect. Meals and portion sizes should be kept to normal amounts. Eating slowly and mindfully can help us avoid eating too much.

Eating While Stressed

Our nervous system has two modes: fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest. It can’t be in both modes at once. In other words, when we’re in flight-or-flight mode, stressed out, we can’t digest our food properly. This can lead to indigestion, nutrient malabsorption, and weight gain. Increased stress causes increased cortisol, which can build up in the body causing stubborn belly fat, and increase blood sugar. Not to mention, stress can cause more overeating^[4]. Be sure that when you do break your fast that you’re seated comfortably without distractions and in a calm state of mind.

Other Lifestyle Factors

Let’s not forget that exercise, stress management and quality sleep are also important for weight loss. If you’re following an IF method, consider a few things: Are you also sleeping well? Managing stress? Working out a few times a week? Without these all in balance, weight loss efforts can halt. Also, consider that the particular method of IF you’re doing may not be the right one for you, and that you may need to experiment with other methods to find the best fit.

Conclusion

IF, or the practice of alternating periods of fasting with periods of eating, is a practice used by many to achieve weight loss^[5] and hormone balance, among other health benefits. There are several popular methods of IF (although more exist), ranging from fasting every other day, to fasting for a specified number of hours each day, and more extreme versions. As a general rule, IF is better known to help people lose weight, rather than gain it, however, if IF is not done correctly, including choosing poor food choices, eating oversized portions, and engaging in poor lifestyle habits, it’s possible that this practice can lead to weight gain.

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