Intermittent Fasting For Beginner

Is It Hard To Start Intermittent Fasting?

      Some people find that fasting can help them lose weight quickly, and even help relieve the mental stress of always trying to figure out what to cook and eat.

If you've been contemplating whether this option is right for you, here's a basic beginner's guide to intermittent fasting full of useful information!

Intermittent fasting (IF) is currently one of the world's most popular health and wellness trends.

People use them to lose weight, improve their health and simplify their lifestyle.

Many studies suggest that it can have a powerful effect on your body and brain and may even help you live longer (1, 2, 3).

It is the ultimate beginner's guide to intermittent fasting.

Intermittent Fasting Definition

It is first important to understand what it is. Intermittent fasting is basically the same as the words sound: different times when you eat and when you don't.

Intermittent fasting is just a diet: It's not a diet plan, it's a conscious decision to intentionally skip meals. You will eat intermittently during a short window of time during the day and "fast" for the rest of the day.

For example, I usually eat my first meal at around 11am and eat free until 7pm. After 7pm, I purposely didn't eat until 11am the next day. Intermittent fasting is an effective way to correct the hormonal imbalances responsible for weight gain and obesity.

Fasting Options

There are many opinions about what you should or shouldn't eat between fasting periods. You should enjoy nutrient-dense, low-carb, unprocessed foods from whole food sources instead of a diet of burgers, fries, sweets, and sodas on your "off" days.

There are many different methods for intermittent fasting, but here are a few of the more popular methods that people tend to prefer:

Fasting 12 Hours a Day

The method of intermittent fasting is quite easy and simple. Many people who are just starting out tend to like this option, because portions of fasting can also occur at bedtime. Fasting all night is a great way to eliminate most of the fasting time, leaving very few "wake" hours to go without eating.

An example of a 12-hour fast is fasting between 7 p.m. – 7 a.m. So your meal time limit is 7pm, no more late night snacks.

18:6 Intermittent Fasting

This fasting plan is becoming more common. You fast for 18 hours every day, and eat in a 6 hour "window." The reason fasting has become so popular is because you get the benefits of fasting, but in reality, you just skip breakfast and give up all late night snacks.

Practically, it might look like this. Lunch time is 1 pm - 7 pm, and fasting outside of these hours.

5:2  Intermittent Fasting

On this fasting plan, you eat low-carb for 5 days a week, but for the other 2 days, you limit yourself to a) 500-600 calories OR b) very limited carbohydrates. It is up to you to monitor your calorie intake and how to spend it. (healthline.com)

Some people prefer to observe consecutive fasting days, such as Monday and Tuesday, while others prefer to space out the days of the week such as Monday and Thursday. But at the end of the day, it needs to be adjusted to your lifestyle and schedule.

One meal per day

As the name suggests, it's only one meal a day to enjoy. It is generally accepted that these foods should be nutrient-dense and based on the principles of healthy fats and low carbohydrates.

Eat – Stop Eating – Eat

In the fasting world, this is one that many may need to do. Literally, it is a pattern of fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week.

Working up to this option would be a good choice as it can be more difficult to do at first.

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

In order to understand how intermittent fasting works and how it affects the brain and body, it is important to study the difference between the eating state and the fasting state.

When we eat food, the body absorbs energy for immediate use and stores excess amounts in our liver and fat cells via a storage hormone called insulin. Since insulin increases when we are in this "eating state," the body cannot burn fat at the same time.

As soon as we stop eating, insulin levels start to drop, and the body starts burning stored energy for up to 24 hours, after which it will start burning fat during the "fasting state."

In a nutshell, our bodies are in a state of eating or fasting.

If we spend more time in the eating state than in the fasting state, we will gain weight. Conversely, if we spend more time in a fasting state than in a eating state, we will lose weight and burn fat.

Intermittent fasting is just a fancy term to describe spending more and more time in a fasted state.

Can You Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting?

Does intermittent fasting work? Studies have found a link between intermittent fasting and weight loss, but not many studies have proven that intermittent fasting is a better weight loss method than other diets. Intermittent fasting has similar weight loss results to a traditional calorie-restricted diet.

In some cases, even when intermittent fasting does cause weight loss, it is not the most sustainable diet. One randomized clinical trial of 100 metabolically healthy, obese adults found that those who fasted daily for one year lost only slightly more weight than those who ate a calorie-restricted diet daily. The difference in weight loss was so small that it was not considered clinically significant, and 38 percent of people in the alternative fasting group had difficulty sticking to the diet.

You can lose weight by dieting intermittent fasting, but you can also lose weight by watching what you eat. It is also worth pointing out that weight loss due to intermittent fasting is not guaranteed to last long. Some people may experience weight loss in the short term, but many people eventually gain it back.

And, most of the intermittent fasting studies have only been done on people who are obese. There is hardly any credible research showing that intermittent fasting is good for people of a healthy weight. If you're curious about intermittent fasting but don't want to lose a lot of weight, then this may not be the best diet for you.