Your body is incredible. It works constantly to keep you alive and functioning. Your hormones — chemical messengers that coordinate bodily functions by carrying signals through the blood to the organs, muscles, tissues, and cells — play a huge role in this. There are over 50 different hormones in the human body, and in the context of weight loss or gain, insulin is thought to be one of the most significant.

If losing body fat is your goal, slowing your metabolism is the last thing you want. Yet that very thing tends to happen when we cut calories to lose weight. (We know, sometimes it feels like the human body is quite obnoxious, but this is actually a primal survival response that makes sure we don't conk out in times when food is scarce.) So now you're wondering, does intermittent fasting slow metabolism, too?

If you're looking for a way to get swole, intermittent fasting may not be your first choice. It's not necessarily the most obvious nutrition method for building muscle mass. But it can be effective if you use it right. Curious? Let's dive into the ins and outs of intermittent fasting and muscle gain.

Intermittent fasting — which alternates fasting periods with an eating window — is a wonderfully flexible principle that you can customize for your needs, wants, and lifestyle. But if you're interested in intermittent fasting, you've probably felt like there are so many options that it's hard to decide which schedule to choose.

No matter what algorithms your search history is triggering, you probably can't go a few clicks through the internet without running into click-bait advertisements for ways to lose belly fat. From intense workouts and restrictive diets to holistic remedies or chemical-heavy supplements, every corner seems to cheer (loudly) for a different solution.

Intermittent fasting is an approach to eating that involves daily or weekly fasts (periods of time when you don't eat) and has been linked to benefits like weight loss, supporting our immune function, reducing inflammation, and even supporting gut health. You may have heard that you can determine your best intermittent fasting schedule by using your age.

Look around, and you'll notice immediately that people are different. Humans vary widely in their shapes and sizes, from the barely-five-foot-tall populations in Indonesia and Bolivia to the easily-six-foot-tall folks of places like the Netherlands and Montenegro. Watch the Olympics, and you'll see diverse body types excelling at different sports: tiny bodies flying through the air in gymnastics, long bodies slicing through the water in swimming, and thick bodies hurling heavy objects through the air.

Maybe you've found your one true pairing in intermittent fasting 16:8 and are ready to tie the knot. Maybe you're still window-shopping fasting schedules for one that fits your style. Or maybe you overheard someone talking about an eating routine that supposedly can support weight loss, reduce the risk of heart disease, and promote better blood sugar control, and your internet stalking of Does intermittent fasting work? dropped you here.

If you're someone living with diabetes, chances are you've experienced fasting ahead of a blood test. But not all fasting is created equal. Intermittent fasting involves a regular routine of timed eating windows and eating breaks. While the specifics and timing of this routine can vary, all intermittent fasting schedules focus on when you eat rather than what you eat.

If you're a guy who's having a rough time losing body fat, you're not alone. Whether it's a packed schedule, work, family, travel, getting older, or any number of other life demands, finding time for healthy habits can be hard. Plus, food tastes good.