What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is one of the world’s most popular health and fitness trends right now. People are not only using it to lose weight, but to improve their health and simplify their lifestyles. Intermittent fasting is not a diet but a pattern of eating or a lifestyle choice. It is the process which cycles between when you’re eating and when you’re fasting.
Intermittent fasting doesn’t tell you what to eat, but it tells you when to eat! This trend is on a new topic. It’s been around for centuries, dating back to human evolution, and people have fasted for spiritual reasons or religious reasons. Over time, more recently, this topic is gaining interest because of its effects on body, weight and reduction of body fat.
A recent study published found that participants that followed this style of eating pattern had a reduction in their risk of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other age-related risk.
How does fasting help weight loss?
During fasting, your body uses your own stored fat for energy. This happens because of lowered insulin levels, increased growth hormones, and increased norepinephrine in your body. All of these hormone changes cause your body to increase your metabolism, which overall can help with weight loss, body fat reduction, and increased muscle mass.
How do you do it?
Fasting is very flexible; you get to choose which days you fast and how many hours you want to fast. After 12 hours of fasting, your body goes into that fat burning state. Most people are going to take advantage of their natural sleep cycle. After dinner the night before, they’re going to stop eating around 6 pm and use that time to sleep to get their fasting started.
When you first get started with fasting, We recommend that you slowly work yourself up to that fasting interval that maybe you start by skipping breakfast the next morning and stretching it out every day, an extra hour or two, to see how long you can get that fast to last.
There are two popular methods of intermittent fasting:
- 16-8 Method
This is the most popular method today. The idea is that you will be fasting for 16 hours, and then eating during an 8-hour window throughout the day.
For example, your last meal of the day would be around 7:00 PM. After that you would stop eating and you’d have your sleep cycle going on. The next morning you’d wake up and you would push back your first meal of the day to be around 11:00 AM. So you would’ve completed a 16 hour fast. Then at 11:00 AM, you would start your eight hour window of eating. So during that eight hour time, you would get in all of your calories for the day, which is really important to make sure you’re not decreasing your calories during that time either. - Eat-Stop-Eat Method
This method is a 24-hour fast. So let’s say that you eat dinner at 7:00 PM. You would then fast all the next day until 7:00 PM the next day. And then at 7:00 PM, you would then eat again and consume your calories.
You have the choice to choose which method is best for you!
We recommend if you’re going to do the 16-8 method that you pick a couple of times a week, that works best for your schedule and start out just doing it 2-3 times a week. You do have the option of doing this method every day if that’s something that interests you!
However, with the Eat-Stop-Eat Method, it is only recommended that you do this 1-2 times per week because of the reduction of calorie intake.
Here are just a few additional tips that will help you along in the fasting process:
- You should make sure that you’re not reducing your calorie intake for the day and that during your eating window, you’re still getting the recommended amount of calories in.
- You should also be sure to drink plenty of water during fasting and note that it’s okay to have black coffee or black tea during those fasting times as well.
- Try following a lower carbohydrate diet, which just optimizes your body to burn more fat as well.
- It is not recommended to fast if you have a history of eating disorders, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding or people under the age of 18.
Intermittent fasting is not something that anyone needs to do, but it is an option for you if you’re looking for a way to lose weight, improve your health, or to reduce your body fat percentage.
At the end of the day, there’s no one size that fits all when it comes to nutrition. You should focus most on what works best for you, and to be sure to get the right amount of nutrients, exercise and drink plenty of water to deliver a healthy lifestyle. To kickstart your healthy lifestyle check out Foods That Burn Fat for some cool information surrounding diet and fat burning!
Disclaimer: When it comes to changing your diet you should always consult your doctor or a healthcare professional to make sure it’s right for you.