First thing to know: intermittent fasting is not a diet.
It is a timed approach to eating. Unlike a dietary plan that restricts the amount of calories taken in a day, intermittent fasting does not specify what foods a person should eat or avoid. It may have some health benefits, including weight loss, but is not for everyone.
Intermittent fasting involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting. At first, people may find it difficult to eat during a short window of time. Let’s see the best way to try this technique.
1 – Identify personal goals
If you start and intermittent fasting ‘diet’ you need to have a goal in mind. It may be to lose weight, improve overall health, or improve metabolic health. A person’s ultimate goal will help them determine the most suitable fasting method and work out how many calories and nutrients they need to consume.
2 – Pick the method
There are four potential methods that a person may try when fasting:
- Eat Stop Eat
- Warrior Diet
- Leangains
- Alternate Day Fasting
Warrior Diet
It’s the most extreme fasting method. Ori Hofmekler is the creator of the Warrior Diet, which entails eating very little for 20 hours each day. A person fasting in this way consumes all their typical food intake in the remaining 4 hours.
Leangains
Unlike Eat Stop Eat and the Warrior Diet, fasting for Leangains involves much shorter periods.
For example, males who choose the Leangains method will fast for 16 hours and then eat what they want for the remaining 8 hours of the day. Females fast for 14 hours and eat what they want for the remaining 10 hours of the day.
Eat Stop Eat
It involves eating nothing for 24 hours twice a week. It does not matter what days a person fasts or even when they begin. The only restriction is fasting must last for 24 hours and on non-consecutive days.
Alternate Day Fasting, 5:2 method
Some people fast on alternate days to improve blood sugar, cholesterol, and weight loss. A person on the 5:2 method eats 500 to 600 calories on two non-consecutive days each week.
Not all calories are the same. Although these fasting methods do not set restrictions on how many calories a person should consume when fasting, it is essential to consider the nutritional value of the food.
Fasting has several effects on a person’s body. These effects include:
- Reducing levels of insulin, which makes it easier for the body to use stored fat.
- Lowering blood sugars, blood pressure, and inflammation levels.
- Changing the expression of certain genes, which helps the body protect itself from disease as well as promoting longevity.
- Dramatically increases human growth hormone, or HGH, which helps the body utilize body fat and grow muscle.