Why Intermittent Fasting Works: The Research You Need to Know.
Understanding how intermittent fasting works is essential for anyone wanting to optimize their health through strategic eating patterns. This comprehensive guide explains how intermittent fasting works at the cellular, hormonal, and metabolic level. Discover how intermittent fasting works to trigger fat burning, enhance mental clarity, and promote longevity through science-backed mechanisms.
Intermittent fasting is backed by over 200 peer-reviewed scientific studies demonstrating
its powerful effects on weight loss, autophagy, brain health, and metabolic flexibility.
Combined with exogenous ketones, fasting becomes easier, more effective, and delivers
faster results.
Here’s the research you need to know.
What Happens to Your Body When You Fast?
Fasting isn’t starvation. It’s a metabolic switch that activates powerful healing and fat-burning pathways your body was designed to use.
Here’s what the science shows:
🔥 Fat Burning Accelerates (12-16 hours) Your body depletes glucose stores and begins breaking down fat for fuel (Anton et al., 2018).
🧬 Autophagy Activates (16-24 hours) Your cells start “cleaning house,” removing damaged proteins and recycling cellular debris (Alirezaei et al., 2010).
🧠 Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Increases Fasting boosts BDNF, supporting brain health, memory, and mood (Mattson et al., 2018).
⚡ Ketone Production Rises Your liver converts fat into ketones—clean, efficient fuel for your brain and body (Cahill, 2006).
🛡️ Inflammation Drops Fasting reduces inflammatory markers like CRP and IL-6 (Jordan et al., 2019).
💪 Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Surges HGH can increase up to 5x, preserving muscle and accelerating fat loss (Hartman et al., 1992).
Understanding How Intermittent Fasting Works in Your Body
Research reveals how intermittent fasting works to activate autophagy, the cellular cleaning process that removes damaged proteins.
Fasting has been studied for decades. Here’s what we know:
1. Weight Loss & Fat Burning Intermittent fasting leads to significant fat loss without muscle loss (Tinsley & La Bounty, 2015).
2. Improved Insulin Sensitivity Fasting lowers insulin levels and improves glucose regulation (Sutton et al., 2018).
3. Cellular Repair & Longevity Autophagy triggered by fasting supports cellular health and may extend lifespan (Madeo et al., 2019).
4. Heart Health Fasting improves cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides (Bhutani et al., 2013).
5. Brain Protection Fasting enhances cognitive function and may protect against neurodegenerative diseases (Mattson et al., 2017).
6. Reduced Inflammation Fasting lowers chronic inflammation, a root cause of many diseases (Jordan et al., 2019).
7. Cancer Research Preliminary studies suggest fasting may inhibit tumor growth and enhance chemotherapy (Lee et al., 2012).
8. Metabolic Flexibility Fasting trains your body to efficiently switch between glucose and fat as fuel (Anton et al., 2018).
Is Intermittent Fasting Safe ?...What the Research Shows?
Yes, when done correctly.
What the research shows:
Intermittent fasting is safe for most healthy adults (Patterson et al., 2015).
Short-term fasting (16-24 hours) has minimal side effects (Tinsley & La Bounty, 2015).
Fasting is NOT recommended for pregnant/nursing women, children. Some individuals with certain medical conditions, may need medical support to do it.
Our Approach:The LOSE IT protocol uses therapeutic fasting windows (16-20 hours) combined with exogenous ketones and professional guidance to ensure safety and results.
Why We Combine FASTING Fasting with Exogenous Ketones ?
Yes when done correctly! Knowing how intermittent fasting works with exogenous ketones empowers you to customize protocols for your specific health goals and lifestyle.
Fasting works. But it can be hard, especially in the first few days.
That’s where exogenous ketones come in.
The Science:
Ketones suppress hunger hormones (ghrelin), making fasting easier (Stubbs et al., 2018).
They provide instant energy, preventing fatigue and brain fog.
They accelerate the metabolic benefits of fasting without extending the fasting window.
The Result: You get all the benefits of fasting, without the struggle.
The LOSE IT Protocol: Where Science Meets Strategy
We don’t just tell you to “skip meals.”
The LOSE IT protocol is a structured, science-backed system that combines:
✅ Therapeutic fasting windows (optimized for fat loss and autophagy)
✅ Exogenous ketones (to enhance energy and suppress hunger)
✅ Nutrient timing (to preserve muscle and maximize results)
✅ Professional guidance (so you’re never alone)
The result?
Many people report 4-9 lbs lost in 16 days, while gaining energy, clarity, and metabolic flexibility.
📚 Scientific References
📊 Scientific References
1. Anton SD, et al. Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting. Obesity. 2018;26(2):254-268.
Summary: Explains how fasting triggers a metabolic switch from glucose to fat burning, activating powerful health benefits including weight loss, improved energy, and cellular repair.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.220652. Alirezaei M, et al. Short-term fasting induces profound neuronal autophagy. Autophagy. 2010;6(6):702-710.
Summary: Demonstrates that short-term fasting (24-48 hours) activates autophagy in brain neurons, helping clear damaged proteins and supporting brain health.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/auto.6.6.123763. Mattson MP, et al. Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes. Ageing Res Rev. 2017;39:46-58.
Summary: Comprehensive review showing intermittent fasting improves multiple health markers including insulin sensitivity, inflammation, cardiovascular health, and cognitive function.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S15681637163025134. Mattson MP, et al. Intermittent metabolic switching, neuroplasticity and brain health. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2018;19(2):63-80.
Summary: Explains how fasting increases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), enhancing memory, learning, and protecting against neurodegenerative diseases.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.1565. Cahill GF Jr. Fuel metabolism in starvation. Annu Rev Nutr. 2006;26:1-22.
Summary: Classic study explaining how the body shifts from glucose to ketones as primary fuel during fasting, preserving muscle while burning fat.
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.nutr.26.061505.1112586. Jordan S, et al. Dietary intake regulates the circulating inflammatory monocyte pool. Cell. 2019;178(5):1102-1114.
Summary: Shows that fasting reduces circulating inflammatory monocytes, lowering chronic inflammation and supporting immune health.
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30850-57. Hartman ML, et al. Augmented growth hormone (GH) secretory burst frequency and amplitude mediate enhanced GH secretion during a two-day fast in normal men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992;74(4):757-765.
Summary: Demonstrates that fasting increases human growth hormone (HGH) levels up to 5-fold, helping preserve muscle mass and accelerate fat burning.
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/74/4/757/26547898. Tinsley GM, La Bounty PM. Effects of intermittent fasting on body composition and clinical health markers in humans. Nutr Rev. 2015;73(10):661-674.
Summary: Meta-analysis showing intermittent fasting leads to significant fat loss (3-8% body weight) without muscle loss, while improving metabolic markers.
https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/73/10/661/19351139. Sutton EF, et al. Early time-restricted feeding improves insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative stress. Cell Metab. 2018;27(6):1212-1221.
Summary: Shows that time-restricted eating (eating within a 6-hour window) dramatically improves insulin sensitivity and lowers blood pressure, even without weight loss.
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30253-510. Madeo F, et al. Caloric restriction mimetics against age-associated disease. Cell. 2019;186(1):97-110.
Summary: Reviews how fasting activates autophagy and other longevity pathways, potentially extending lifespan and protecting against age-related diseases.
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)31503-X11. Bhutani S, et al. Improvements in coronary heart disease risk indicators by alternate-day fasting. Obesity. 2013;21(3):E51-E57.
Summary: Alternate-day fasting significantly improves cholesterol (LDL down 25%, HDL up), triglycerides (down 32%), and blood pressure in just 8 weeks.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.2035312. Lee C, et al. Fasting cycles retard growth of tumors and sensitize a range of cancer cell types to chemotherapy. Sci Transl Med. 2012;4(124):124ra27.
Summary: Preliminary research showing fasting cycles may slow tumor growth and make cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy while protecting healthy cells.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.300329313. Stubbs BJ, et al. A ketone ester drink lowers human ghrelin and appetite. Obesity. 2018;26(2):269-273.
Summary: Proves that exogenous ketones directly suppress ghrelin (the hunger hormone), reducing appetite by 50% and making fasting significantly easier.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.2205114. Patterson RE, et al. Intermittent fasting and human metabolic health. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015;115(8):1203-1212.
Summary: Comprehensive safety review confirming intermittent fasting is safe for most healthy adults, with minimal side effects when done correctly.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221287781500056415. de Cabo R, Mattson MP. Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging, and disease. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(26):2541-2551.
Summary: Landmark review in the New England Journal of Medicine summarizing decades of research on fasting’s benefits for weight loss, metabolic health, brain function, and longevity.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1905136