Intermittent Fasting vs Calorie Restriction- Is there a difference?
There is a form of diet that is primarily designed for utilizing autophagy called intermittent fasting. To do a full-calorie restriction diet is a hard choice.
Milos Pokimica
Written By: Milos Pokimica
Medically Reviewed by: Dr. Xiùying Wáng, M.D.
Updated June 9, 2023There is a form of diet that is not related to weight loss primarily. Even some bodybuilders appear to try it. It is a diet primarily designed for utilizing autophagy called intermittent fasting.
What they try to do is to limit the intake of calories by 4 to 8 hours a day. So the rest of the time there will be fasting to tap into this mode of healing. However, there will not cut on the calories they will be just consuming them for a restricted period.
Some studies show that this too can have beneficial effects. There is truth in the statement that meal frequency is not nearly as important as the quantity and quality of food consumed. Thus logically if we still eat all of our calories in the period of 4 hours and are active the rest of the time, it is still unlikely that we will burn all of our glycogen stores because we replenish them every day.
In that sense, intermitting fasting would not be able to tap into the same healing mechanism at the level of calorie restriction. If we eat less and go into calorie restriction, it does not matter because we will be in deficit no matter when we eat. It will be a good idea to put exercise on a regimen of intermittent fasting just before the end of the fast, to deplete the glycogen stores, or we can combine all three methods. Calorie restriction with intermittent fasting with physical activity.
To go around this, there is Alternate day fasting (ADF). It involves a 24-hour fast followed by a 24-hour non-fasting period. Then there are whole-day fasting cycles that specify various ratios of fasting to non-fasting days, such as the 5:2 diet. You eat for five days, then fast on water or vegetable juices for two. So far studies done on animal models have shown that fasting improves indicators of health like blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and inflammation.

Intermittent fasting in my personal view started as a convenient way to do a calorie-restricted diet. To do a full-calorie restriction diet is a hard choice. Most of the population will not do it. The intermittent fasting line is to go and fast 1 or 2 days a week and clean our cells, reset our metabolism to take control of our hunger cravings, and so on. That will help our body to go into autophagy and high HGH levels and will start the healing mechanisms.
However, there is another essential benefit of calorie restriction, and that is lowering the basal metabolic rate. If we have a car with a million horsepower, it will burn a gallon of fuel in a millisecond, but if we have a car that runs on one horsepower, it will go much longer. It is called efficiency. When you force yourself to become more efficient in burning energy you go longer.
Calorie restriction is not calorie restriction our entire life. It is the only restriction in the beginning period. Our physiology will adapt to hunger to some extent by becoming more efficient with the calories that it has. Basal metabolic rate has the ability to slow down, but only to some extent. Our body will enter the starvation response and will go through the physiological changes that reduce metabolism in response to a lacking of food. The human body has some level of ability to adapt and structure itself known as deprivation response (i.e., metabolic adaptation).
There was a study done on eight individuals living in isolation in Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 is an Earth Systems science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. It was initially designed to determine the viability of closed ecological systems to support human life in outer space. The first experiment was conducted on eight individuals for two years. After the experiment was finished, the metabolic rate of these eight isolated individuals was measured and compared with a control group that initially had similar physical characteristics. The starvation response managed to reduce the metabolic rate by 180 kcal on average in daily total energy expenditure.
If you eat regularly 2000 calories and you start to restrict the calories your metabolism slows down to 1800 calories on average. Then when you came back to eat these 1800 calories, it is not a restriction anymore. It is in a sense because you are at an artificially lowered metabolic rate so if you start overeating again your basal metabolic rate will go up, but if you stay at this level you will not starve and die. You can live in this new state. People have this kind of idea about the calorie restriction diet that you are restricted continuously. In a sense, you are because you operate at a lower metabolic rate, but you are not in the physical sense or you will eventually die. And that is the reason why calorie restriction prolongs life.
Slowing down metabolism means prolonging life through efficiency. Burning fuel means stress in the form of oxidative damage to the DNA that needs to be repaired.
Can you gain muscle on caloric restriction? Probably just some level of body recomposition. If you have some kilograms to lose then lowering by 400 calories can increase muscle and lower fat deposits at the same time if you do resistance training. But if you are already calorie-restricted at the optimal level then no, your body has already lowered your metabolism as much as it can. There is a calorie in calorie out equation based on the first law of thermodynamics. It might be possible on intermittent fasting cycles. Five days of resistance training than two days of aerobic training plus fasting.
One other thing. When we start building muscle our metabolism can slow down if we do not increase calories, it will adapt to some extent. We do not need to start overeating excessively just because we go to the gym. That will give you dirty bulk. One hundred grams of flesh have around 25 grams of protein and 150 calories, and you cannot grow at the rate of 100 grams of muscle mass a day. In my opinion, when we start resistance training, it would be wise to raise calorie consumption at the level of what is burned during the exercise plus a little more, at the top 200 calories more than that. Raising it higher is excess that goes into adipose tissue, basically the waste of energy that has to be burned at some point. Overeating with the excuse:” I go to the gym”, is not a good idea.
Conclusion:
- Without any pharmacological intervention, CR improves metabolic parameters, which will benefit especially pre-diabetic and insulin-resistant patients. Also increases longevity.
- IF without calorie restriction can improve health and cellular resistance to disease especially cancer, diabetes, and other DNA damage-induced conditions same as CR but without causing weight loss. This might be beneficial for individuals that want to preserve muscle mass.
The best option would be and you can do this also to combine both at the same time. If you want to go on a diet my recommendation is not just to cut calories but to limit the time period as well. This is what I do. In the obesity epidemic, if you do not incorporate these techniques into a regular regimen of life, the health risk correlations can have serious consequences.
References:
Passages selected from a book: Pokimica, Milos. Go Vegan? Review of Science Part 1. Kindle ed., Amazon, 2018.
- Mattson, Mark P et al. “Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes.” Ageing research reviews vol. 39 (2017): 46-58. doi:10.1016/j.arr.2016.10.005
- Barnosky, Adrienne R et al. “Intermittent fasting vs daily calorie restriction for type 2 diabetes prevention: a review of human findings.” Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine vol. 164,4 (2014): 302-11. doi:10.1016/j.trsl.2014.05.013
- Liu, Kai, et al. “Intermittent Fasting: What Questions Should We Be Asking?” Physiology & Behavior, vol. 218, Elsevier BV, May 2020, p. 112827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112827.
- Razavi, Roghaye et al. “The alternate-day fasting diet is a more effective approach than a calorie restriction diet on weight loss and hs-CRP levels.” International journal for vitamin and nutrition research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Vitamin- und Ernahrungsforschung. Journal international de vitaminologie et de nutrition vol. 91,3-4 (2021): 242-250. doi:10.1024/0300-9831/a000623
- Aksungar, F B et al. “Comparison of Intermittent Fasting Versus Caloric Restriction in Obese Subjects: A Two Year Follow-Up.” The journal of nutrition, health & aging vol. 21,6 (2017): 681-685. doi:10.1007/s12603-016-0786-y
Related Posts
Do you have any questions about nutrition and health?
I would love to hear from you and answer them in my next post. I appreciate your input and opinion and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I also invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more diet, nutrition, and health content. You can leave a comment there and connect with other health enthusiasts, share your tips and experiences, and get support and encouragement from our team and community.
I hope that this post was informative and enjoyable for you and that you are prepared to apply the insights you learned. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and family who might also benefit from it. You never know who might need some guidance and support on their health journey.
– You Might Also Like –

Learn About Nutrition
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Medical Disclaimer
GoVeganWay.com brings you reviews of the latest nutrition and health-related research. The information provided represents the personal opinion of the author and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH GoVeganWay.com
NEVER APPLY ANY LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR ANY CHANGES AT ALL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ IN GoVeganWay.com BEFORE CONSULTING LICENCED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In the event of a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. GoVeganWay.com does not recommend or endorse any specific groups, organizations, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned inside.
Editor Picks –
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Latest Articles –
Plant Based News
-
‘The 4 Healthy Plant-Based Meals I Rely On’
on March 29, 2025
-
Vegan Rice Cake Chocolate Bars
on March 28, 2025
-
Longevity Expert Says Healthy Diets Should Include Plenty Of Carbs
on March 28, 2025
-
Califia Farms Launches New Fruity Drinks Made With Coconut Cream
on March 28, 2025
-
Charcoal Spaghetti Carbonara With Vegan Egg Yolk
on March 28, 2025
-
Leading Doctor On Why The Carnivore Diet Is Bad For Health
on March 27, 2025
-
‘The 6-Step Plan That Helps Me Maintain A Balanced Diet’
on March 27, 2025
Top Health News — ScienceDaily
- New approach could treat anthrax beyond the ‘point of no return’on March 28, 2025
Researchers show that a cocktail of growth factors reversed would-be lethal cell damage in mice with anthrax, suggesting that this approach could be adapted for use in patients.
- AI meets oncology: New model personalizes bladder cancer treatmenton March 28, 2025
Leveraging the power of AI and machine learning technologies, researchers developed a more effective model for predicting how patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer will respond to chemotherapy. The model harnesses whole-slide tumor imaging data and gene expression analyses in a way that outperforms previous models using a single data type.
- PET imaging confirms direct involvement of dopamine in cognitive flexibilityon March 28, 2025
Scientists have confirmed a neurobiochemical link between dopamine and cognitive flexibility. PET imaging shows that the brain increases dopamine production when completing cognitively demanding tasks, and that the more dopamine released, the more efficiently the tasks are completed. Armed with this information, physicians may soon be able to develop more precise treatment strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
- Understanding the immune response to a persistent pathogenon March 28, 2025
Researchers show that the immune system can recognize and control the latent stage of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, a finding that can inform the study of latency in other infections of the nervous system.
- A genetic tree as a movie: Moving beyond the still portrait of ancestryon March 27, 2025
Researchers have created a way to see your family tree as a movie rather than a still portrait by tracing where your ancestors moved across the globe over time. The statistical method can also be used to model disease spread and studying how animals move through geographic regions.
- Compelling data point to a single, unknown respiratory virus as cause of Kawasaki diseaseon March 27, 2025
New research strongly suggests that Kawasaki disease is caused by a single respiratory virus that is yet to be identified. Findings contradict the theory that many different pathogens or toxins could cause this disease that can lead to serious cardiac complications in young children.
- The hidden spring in your stepon March 27, 2025
Researchers reveal the way our legs adapt to fast movements. When people hop at high speeds, key muscle fibers in the calf shorten rather than lengthen as forces increase, which they call ‘negative stiffness.’ This counterintuitive process helps the leg become stiffer, allowing for faster motion. The findings could improve training, rehabilitation, and even the design of prosthetic limbs or robotic exoskeletons.
PubMed, #vegan-diet –
- Effect of Vegan Diet During Greek-Orthodox Religious Fasting on Symptoms of Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactionon March 28, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: The results from this representative sample show that a substantial proportion of the Romanian population adheres to Greek-Orthodox fasting. However, in contrast to the a priori hypothesis, we did not have sufficient evidence that religious fasting is associated with the prevalence of DGBI, or with functional gastrointestinal symptoms.
- A vegan dietary pattern is associated with high prevalence of inadequate protein intake in older adults; a simulation studyon March 27, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Replacing animal-based protein sources with plant-based food products in older adults reduces both protein quantity and quality, albeit minimally in non-vegan plant-rich diets. In a vegan scenario, the risk of an inadequate protein intake is imminent.
- Do the Health Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet Increase with a Higher Proportion of Whole Plant-Based Foods?on March 26, 2025
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review aims to explore the potential health effects of increasing the proportion of whole plant-based foods within a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), summarize the available evidence, and provide recommendations for future research on this topic.
- Optimization of Spirulina-Enriched Vegan Cake Formulation Using Response Surface Methodologyon March 25, 2025
Vegan lifestyle is gaining momentum across the globe due to its environmental effects and health benefits. In parallel with the increasing diet trends, the demand for vegan bakery products is increasing. Since vegan bakery products generally have low protein and bioactive compound content, they have little nutritional contribution to the daily diet of vegan individuals. In light of this, a study was conducted to develop a vegan cake formulation enriched with Spirulina to improve the physical,…
- Plant-based diets and child growthon March 25, 2025
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems recommended a diet that is higher in plant-based food in 2019. Whilst plant-based diets have been followed in many regions of the world, the planetary concern and the published health benefits has increased the uptake of such diets. This review sets out to explore the impact on growth in children following a plant-based diet.
Random Posts –
Featured Posts –

Latest from PubMed, #plant-based diet –
- Effect of long-term Mediterranean versus low-fat diet on neutrophil count, and type 2 diabetes mellitus remission in patients with coronary heart disease: results from the CORDIOPREV studyby Hatim Boughanem on March 28, 2025
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that neutrophil count can help in identifying patients that are more likely to achieve T2DM remission following a Mediterranean diet, suggesting a role on insulin sensitivity and β-cell function. Further research holds promise for providing valuable insights into the pathophysiology of T2DM.
- Diversity of dietary protein patterns across Europe – Impact on nutritional quality and environmental sustainabilityby Merel C Daas on March 28, 2025
Transitioning from animal-based to plant-rich diets could potentially improve both human and planetary health, but a thorough understanding of the protein component in the diet is essential. This research aimed to identify dietary protein patterns in the European adult population and evaluate differences in nutritional quality and environmental sustainability. Individual-level food consumption data were obtained from 25 European countries (40,101 participants, 18-64 years), available from the…
- Acceptability of a Web-Based Health App (PortfolioDiet.app) to Translate a Nutrition Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease in High-Risk Adults: Mixed Methods Randomized Ancillary Pilot Studyby Meaghan E Kavanagh on March 28, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Although adherence was higher for the PortfolioDiet.app group, no difference in adherence was found between the groups in this small ancillary study. However, this study demonstrates that the PortfolioDiet.app is considered usable by high-risk adults and may reinforce dietitian advice to follow the Portfolio Diet when it is a part of a trial for CVD management.
- Update on cardiovascular prevention 2025by Harm Wienbergen on March 28, 2025
Despite an expensive healthcare system Germany performs poorly with respect to life-expectancy compared to other countries, for which cardiovascular diseases and deficits in cardiovascular prevention in particular are responsible. The basis of cardiovascular prevention is a healthy lifestyle with regular physical exercise, a predominantly plant-based diet, nonsmoking, good sleep and mental health. In many cases additional lipid-lowering, antidiabetic and antihypertensive medications are…
- Severe Vitamin B12 deficiency with complications in an elderly patient: a case study of pancytopenia and haemolysisby Mohamed Jayte on March 28, 2025
Severe vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to pancytopenia, haemolysis and various systemic manifestations. This case report discussed the case of a 66-year-old male patient who had adhered to a strict vegetarian diet for 5 years and presented with symptoms of fatigue, pallor and leg pain. Laboratory tests revealed severe pancytopenia (haemoglobin 4.8 g/dL, white cell count 2630/µL, platelets 112 000/mm³), macrocytic anaemia (mean cell volume 118 fL) and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (5480 […]
- Effect of Vegan Diet During Greek-Orthodox Religious Fasting on Symptoms of Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactionby Daniel Corneliu Leucuta on March 28, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: The results from this representative sample show that a substantial proportion of the Romanian population adheres to Greek-Orthodox fasting. However, in contrast to the a priori hypothesis, we did not have sufficient evidence that religious fasting is associated with the prevalence of DGBI, or with functional gastrointestinal symptoms.