How to Lose Weight with Intermittent Fasting?
Hello Everyone,
When it comes to weight loss, people get ready to use some of the weirdest ways. There is no doubt that obesity is one of the worst issues that affects every population regardless of age and gender. Some of the most dangerous diseases especially cardiovascular issues, high cholesterol issues, and diabetic issues are because of obesity. So many people talk about exercise, diet, crash diet courses and fast that it becomes confusing what method you should choose and which one will be affected. One of the most popular strategies of weight loss that has been suggested by doctors, researchers, and religious professionals is intermittent fasting. This kind of fasting is done by using various eating patterns and the fasting time is very small. Usually, short-term fasting is used with a small amount of food so that the body doesn’t lose energy. In some conditions, food is consumed in a small amount along with fasting whereas in other conditions there is no food involved. It all depends on the way fasting is done. Most people instantly know about the idea of intermittent fasting and they tie it to weight loss however, others feel it is a religious obligation. With a small amount of food, fewer calories, and an easy weight loss routine, you can easily customize the way you want to fast throughout. With the help of intermittent fasting, you will be able to lose weight and also improve your health condition, especially it is good for diabetes, cardiovascular health, reducing the blood cholesterol and blood sugar level.
With the help of this article, you will be able to know in detail about intermittent fasting and why it is considered such a good solution. Apart from this, we have listed down some easy tips that will help a beginner know in detail about this fasting method. Apart from this, we have also mentioned how you can use intermittent fasting in your lifestyle so that you can easily lose weight with the help of this method.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a simple eating pattern that has been used by a religious individual for several years. Within this eating pattern, you will be fasting for short time intervals and using just a few calories to keep your body energized. The food options are not specified so you can eat whatever you want. Intermittent fasting is not linked to what kind of food you should eat, instead, it just limits the time when you can consume food. This is not a diet but rather an eating pattern. One of the most common methods of fasting is the 16 hours fasting method where others like twice a week and complete the 24 hours fasting pattern according to their personal preference. Throughout human evolution, we have seen people fasting even ancient human hunters use this method. However it was not specifically for weight loss instead they just didn’t have enough food. In short, human health is much better with less food as compared to the excess amount of food. For healthy living, fasting from time to time is very important. Apart from this eating smaller portions at least 3-4 times a day at regular intervals is far better than skipping meals entirely. Most people like the idea of fasting because it helps in flushing the toxins from the body. The idea of fasting can be observed in various religions especially in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism.
6 Ways of Intermittent Fasting
For people who want to experience fast, there are six popular ways that you can use. Each fasting method has its significance and you can use it according to your convenience.
Alternate-Day Fasting
With this kind of fasting, you can eat whatever you want for one day, and the next day you have to rely on fasting. This is pretty difficult but it will help you stay occupied and you don’t have to wait for a long time to eat something that you want. Just one day of fasting can lead to the next day of a complete feast.
Warrior Diet
Warrior diet consists of a small portion of vegetables or fruit for the start of the day and then you fast for the whole day. By the end of the day, you can have a hearty meal as dinner however, for the whole day you need to fast.
The 16/8 Method
Within this method of fasting, you will have 16 hours of continuous fasting. For each day you will be restricting your food intake for at least 8 hours and you can either eat one meal within the 8 hours or at least two to three small meals depending on your personal choice.
Meal Skipping Fasting
Spontaneous meal skipping doesn’t require a schedule. You can skip a meal now and then just because you don’t want to eat something. This also means that if you don’t feel like eating or you don’t have something you like, you can simply skip eating.
The 5:2 Diet
The 5:2 diet helps you divide the seven days within a week to five and two days. Eventually, this division helps with 2 days of fasting where you just eat as little as 500 calories the whole day, and then you can eat normally for five days. This is a very diverse form of fasting and it has been in the popular British culture for a very long time.
24 Hour Fasting
This kind of eating pattern involves just 24 hours of complete fasting and then you can continue eating for the whole week. This means just one day fasting for the whole day and then 6 days of eating.
What to Do?
Once you have selected the kind of fasting plan that you like the most you can organize it according to your daily routine. With the help of intermittent fasting, you have to be very careful about the food you eat because a good amount of vitamins and minerals will be required to function properly. For the most part, you will have enough fats in your body that it will help you get through the day but vitamins and minerals need to be added to the diet to function properly.
Fasting will help you lose weight and it will also help you improve your hormonal imbalance. This is mainly because your body fat has stored energy. When you don’t eat, the body can use the stored energy and that will help you fuel your body. This changes the nervous activity and this impacts the crucial hormones as we
If we look at the impact of fasting on the hormonal level we will see that two of the main things will happen
Impact on Insulin
The insulin level will increase when you eat and it reduces when you don’t eat. The reduction in the insulin level is good for fat burning.
Impact on the Norepinephrine
Fasting also impacts the noradrenaline level in the body which means that it sends noradrenaline to the stored fat and it then breaks down into fatty acid and hence energy is extracted.
According to health professionals, the best technique for fasting is when you consume 5-6 meals a day with short fasting intervals and this will increase the fat-burning rate. The main thing is that when you eat something within the next 30 minutes your body’s metabolism rate increases and this increases the fat burning as well. This means that if you keep eating small portions, your body will keep burning fat at a high rate. If you are targeting body weight, the best method will be alternate day fasting and 24 hours fasting method.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, this kind of fasting is usually designed for weight loss and it works effectively well for some people. However, if you want to recommend it for all, that might not be the case because it doesn’t work well for others. People who have some kind of eating disorder or who like to binge eat junk food can benefit from intermittent fasting however, for people who have some medical issue, this might not be the best option. If you have decided that you want to use intermittent fasting for weight loss, you need to improve the diet quality first. Another important thing is that you cannot take this decision on your own and you must take help from a health professional. In this regard using a nutrition professional is helpful. Professionals will also tell you that if you are already prone to starvation or an eating disorder related to bulimia, they will instantly tell you to avoid it. Another important thing is that most people keep eating processed food that is not good for their health and they later try intermittent fasting just to help their body retain a healthy amount of food. In this condition, you have just consumed junk calories that will not benefit you. This can cause serious damage to your gut health. With the help of a health professional, you will be able to not only understand this but you will also be able to control your food intake.