The Fasting Protocol I Use to Target Visceral Fat

Summary

Dr. Rhonda Patrick describes intermittent fasting as a flexible tool—not a requirement or a form of starving herself. She often trains before eating because she feels it supports her body composition and morning focus, but adjusts based on how she feels.

Strategies and takeaways

• Listen to your body: Patrick sometimes eats before training if she feels she needs to, and eases up when she feels unwell. She emphasizes that fasted training is optional.
• Keep workouts appropriate to the fast: Most of her sessions last about an hour. She notes that fasted exercise may slightly reduce high-intensity performance, and longer sessions may be less efficient.
• Use fasting as one way to encourage a “metabolic switch”: She describes this as shifting from using carbohydrates toward using fatty acids and ketones. The timing varies, but she says liver glycogen may take roughly 11–12 hours to deplete on average, depending on food intake and exercise. Exercise itself can also promote this shift.
• Choose a sustainable eating window: Patrick usually eats between about 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., sometimes having two meals and sometimes three. She tries to stop eating around three hours before bed, while acknowledging that family and social plans sometimes interfere.
• Don’t force the schedule: Some days she fasts for less time or eats before training. Her approach is guided by how she feels and her goals, rather than rigidly following the clock.
• Consider the reason for fasting: Patrick says she values the cognitive clarity she experiences in the morning, as well as the body-composition changes she associates with fasted training. She also presents fasting as a way to limit calorie intake without counting calories.
• Avoid extremes: She cautions that combining lots of exercise with persistent hunger can create too much stress. People who train hard or for long periods may need to eat beforehand or otherwise adjust.
• Support muscle with training and adequate protein: She says strength training and sufficient protein during the eating window can help address concerns about muscle loss, though she notes that muscle gain may be lower than with more protein.
• Keep calorie balance in perspective: Patrick agrees that calorie restriction is key for weight loss; she views fasting as a useful tool, not a guarantee of weight loss on its own.

Patrick also discusses possible effects of ketones, including reduced oxidative stress and signaling related to brain function. She links beta-hydroxybutyrate with GABA and cognitive focus, while presenting her own experience as personal rather than a universal result. She cites a 5:2 fasting study and research on early time-restricted eating as examples of findings in this area.

Presenters and sources

• Dr. Rhonda Patrick — guest speaker
• Andrew Huberman — interviewer
• Dr. Mark Mattson — researcher mentioned in relation to metabolic switching and a 5:2 fasting study
• Courtney Peterson — researcher mentioned in relation to early time-restricted eating and blood pressure findings