If you’re looking to improve your over all health, maintain a lean physique, or shed some hard to lose pounds, than you might be a little bit more than interested in learning about intermittent fasting.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is simply setting up a window of time during the day that you allow yourself to eat, and a specific window of time that you are not allowed to eat. Most people will fast anywhere from 16-18 hours and allow themselves a 6-8 hour window that they can eat. For example, you allow yourself to eat from 12pm-8pm and than you stop eating from 8pm-12pm the next day. That would allow a 16 hour window of fasting and an 8 hour window of feeding. During your fasting window, it’s important to try and stay busy, keeping your mind active will help keep you from thinking about food or hunger. Over time it becomes much easier to fast without thinking of food the whole time!
During your feeding window, it’s very important to choose clean sources of food and absolutely avoid diving right into the junk food! Remember, we’re looking to improve ourselves and that means eating clean! Don’t over eat during your feeding window, try to continue on as you normally would. Try to eat normal sized meals and snacks, eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re satisfied.
Try intermittent fasting twice a week at first, spacing the days out will help you get accustom to fasting. Then if and when you feel comfortable you can bump up the amount of days you fast.
What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting?
- A leaner physique! Your body improves its ability to burn fat for energy. When you’re body is not supplied with food for 12+ hours, it begins to rely on fat for energy. It is learning how to burn stored body fat for energy.
- Improved insulin sensitivity and Blood Glucose Levels! Controlling insulin is paramount when looking to avoid and prevent disease such as diabetes. Intermittent fasting has a positive effect on improving your blood sugar and insulin sensitivity!
- Improved Cardiovascular Health! The University of Utah ran a study and found that people who fasted at least 1 time per month were 40% less likely to have clogged arteries than those who didn’t fast. After 3 weeks of intermittent fasting patents saw an increase in good HDL (good cholesterol) and a decrease in triglycerides (the bad cholesterol).
- Less likelihood of over eating! A shorter window of time in which you can eat can actually help prevent you from over eating or taking in an excess amount of calories! With less hours during the day to eat it’s much harder to take in too much food.
These are just a few of the benefits of intermittent fasting. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that our bodies actually run a little more efficiently and prevent certain diseases when we’re not in constantly fed state! After all, we evolved over thousands of years without a constant food source at our finger tips. Our paleolithic ancestors would have have periods of time where no food was available and a long walk, run and hunt was needed to score a big meal! Having an abundance of food around us all the time and an ever growing amount of processed, sugary, and unhealthy food has left most people overweight, overfed, and on the road to some serious problems. So what do you have to lose, give intermittent fasting a try and see for yourself just how much better you body feels.
- Tim
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I've been doing IF for 3 weeks now and I am gaining fat rather than losing. I just don;t get it.
ReplyDeleteHey Nequals,
DeleteIf you're gaining weight you may need to take a look at the rest of your diet. Intermittent fasting wont make you lose weight all by itself. You need a clean diet loaded with quality foods. Lots of veggies, fruit, nuts, fats, and real meats. Also, take a look at your training program. If you're new to strength training it's possible that you're adding muscle and gaining weight that way. Most likely however, if you're gaining weight it's because the rest of your diet isn't on point.
This smart Intermittent Fasting for weight loss is a natural way to eat. Humans used to eat in a very similar diet when they were forced to hunt for food. Some days something would be caught and they'd eat. Other days they wouldn't get anything and would be forced to fast. I think our body was designed to eat like this. This diet is actually quite simple to follow. You're going to be restricted in any way when it comes to food you end up eating. You can have what you want and as much as you feel like consuming. The only structure comes from the times you're allowed to eat and the times you have to fast. You have 24 hours for eating, Then you have 24 hours for fasting and the cycle continues like this. On average, you still eat the same amount of calories on average, so you're not starving yourself.
ReplyDeleteYep, it just makes sense to me as well. You don't even have to fast all that long, 16 hour to 18 hour fasts will do just fine!
Delete