Fasting and exercise are forms of hardship, and the principle in physiology states that the body will adapt to certain hardships to maintain a state of equilibrium. The hardships of fasting and exercise, however, not only permit the body to adapt, but to thrive.
The adaptation benefits of these hardships are enormous — as long as those hardships are applied in a reasonable manner. Meaning, the body will get leaner, grow stronger, detoxify itself, and even regenerate itself when under such stresses.
Now what's truly remarkable about fasting and exercise is that when the two hardships are combined, they increase the positive effects of each other. For example, you would expect there to be a fat-burning benefit to be had from both fasting and intense exercise, and you would be right, but when you combine the two, you experience an even more profound fat-burning effect.
In short, you can expect any single benefit of either fasting or exercise to be increased when you combine the two hardships, such as:
Fat loss (in scientific terms, increased lipolysis)
Increased lean muscle tissue (improved mTOR sensitivity)
Improved insulin sensitivity
Cellular cleansing and detoxification
Increased natural growth hormone
