Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss

The use of intermittent fasting as a strategy for weight loss is one that is both powerful and effective. Let’s speak about how it operates and the reasons why it’s so successful, shall we?

When many individuals hear the word “fasting,” thoughts of famine instantly pop into their heads, and they immediately begin to worry about their health. Things like pushing your body into famine mode and having an impact on your metabolism are included in this category.

Although I think that when it lasts for more than a day or two, you could make the claim that it is equivalent to starving, fasting is not the same thing. Some people choose to go without food for five days, ten days, or even thirty days at a time.

But that is not the topic that we are discussing at this time.

The topic of discussion for today is intermittent fasting. It is completely healthy, risk-free, and does not endure for more than twenty-four hours at a time. You will not, therefore, perish from starvation.

The following topics will be discussed:

What exactly does it mean to fast only sometimes?
The reasons why it causes individuals to be perplexed
Here are five compelling arguments for using intermittent fasting as a tool for weight loss
Things that you should be wary of
A basic protocol you can implement

Let’s get started…

What exactly does it mean to “fast” intermittently?

The practice of not eating for set amounts of time at regular intervals is known as intermittent fasting. There are two primary variants of the diet that have gained popularity among a variety of people:

16/8 Method

Martin Berkhan’s The Leangains Protocol is the book in question. This is by far the most common approach to fasting.

In this form of the diet, you abstain from food for 16 consecutive hours of the day while eating normally for the remaining 8 hours.

It is not as terrifying as it sounds. I promise.

The majority of individuals, like myself, will simply miss one meal and ensure that their other two meals are consumed within the allotted window of eight hours. Therefore, if I had dinner last night at seven o’clock, I wouldn’t eat again until eleven o’clock this morning.

You are free to continue to consume black coffee, tea, or water throughout this period because these beverages do not contain any calories. Additionally, the use of zero-calorie Coke or any other artificial sweetener is not permitted in this context.

Using the 24-Hour Method

Protocol for Eating, Stopping, and Starting Again by Brad Pilon. This is the second most common approach that people take.

In this approach, you will abstain from eating and drinking for a full day.

Therefore, if you had dinner at 7 o’clock the night before, you wouldn’t eat again until 7 o’clock the night after that the next day.

A good number of individuals have the misconception that in order to successfully complete this procedure, they need to abstain from eating for an entire day. And while this is technically true, it does not mean that you are required to go “sun-up to sun-down” without eating, which is something that I find to be much more challenging.

Why Some People Have So Much Confusion Regarding Fasting

First things first, let’s address the most obvious problem. One of the most common misunderstandings regarding nutrition and the process of losing weight is as follows:

To speed up my metabolism, would it not be more beneficial for me to consume six smaller meals each day? Doesn’t fasting cause my body to go into starvation mode, causing it to hoard calories, and lead to weight gain?

Not at all, not even close, and not even once

The idea that eating six meals a day will speed up one’s metabolism is not supported by a single piece of research. It was an urban legend that was kept alive by studies that lacked correlation and were carried out a VERY long time ago.

Because I am aware that some of you may have a hard time believing this, here are some fundamental pieces of evidence:

Using data from 36 separate research, Examine.com debunks the widespread belief that eating six meals a day is optimal for your metabolism.

There was found to be NO difference in the amount of energy expended between nibbling and feasting, according to the findings of one of the largest meta-analyses ever undertaken on eating frequency.

There was no difference in the amount of calories burned between the two groups of participants in these two independent investigations despite the fact that the meal frequency of the participants varied.

The irony is that there is scientific evidence demonstrating that missing meals and engaging in intermittent fasting (i.e. not eating for a period of time) can increase the rate at which fat is burned.

However, I will say this much. It is dependent on your physical make-up as well as what YOU find to be effective.

If you discover that eating only three times a day causes you to overeat, you should consider increasing the number of meals you have each day to six if this helps you consume less calories overall. Or if it prevents you from binge eating, then that’s definitely a good thing!

Although not everyone can benefit from it, you should definitely give fasting a shot if you haven’t done so already. However, in the end, you should pay attention to your body.

Here Are Five Good Reasons to Give Intermittent Fasting a Try If You Want to Lose Weight

Increased Capacity to Burn Fat and Boost Metabolism

It has been demonstrated that doing intermittent fasting can increase natural metabolism by between 4 and 13% while one is fasting.

In addition to this, studies have shown that people lose a substantial amount of weight around their waists, which results in the loss of potentially hazardous belly fat.

It is essential to point out that although fasting can be of assistance in this regard, in order to achieve the best possible outcomes, you will also need to make some adjustments to the foods you eat.

Reduce your caloric intake to a more natural level.

The concept here is that you are skipping a meal or meals throughout your fasting phase. The aim is NOT to eat so much food when you end your fast that you might as well have eaten two meals anyhow.

If you skip a meal or meals and then purposefully consume a normal-sized portion when you stop your fast, you will naturally eat fewer calories.

People who perform intermittent fasting have been observed to shed 3-8% more fat than those on regular calorie restriction diets

They have also been demonstrated to have an easier difficulty keeping to their diets. I truly believe this one as it makes me a lot more careful of what I do eat when my fasting time is finished.

It demands discipline and that discipline often continues over into your follow-up meal (and you should allow it) (and you should let it).

Positively Affects Key Weight Loss Hormones

Intermittent fasting for weight loss is highly successful at optimizing hormonal responses.

Improves insulin sensitivity – Insulin is the key hormone secreted when people eat. By enhancing insulin sensitivity with fasting, you will naturally lower resting insulin levels. These decreased levels of insulin facilitate fat burning.
Boosts human growth hormone (HGH) — Fasting has been shown to enhance HGH by 2000%, which benefits in fat burning as well as muscle tissue growth.
Normalizing leptin – Leptin is the major weight loss hormone responsible for alerting you to stop eating and to go exercise. While most people have chronically low leptin levels, leptin becomes restored during a fast.
Helps with cellular discharge – Intermittent fasting also helps the body remove waste material from the cells by boosting autophagy.

These favorable alterations in the body’s hormonal environment boost weight loss pace and results.

Keeps you from losing your hard-earned muscle

If you are interested in losing weight, you should make lean muscle tissue a priority for yourself. This is due to the fact that the amount of lean muscle tissue present on the body determines the amount of calories that are burned while the body is at rest.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to be significantly more effective than traditional methods of reducing caloric intake in terms of assisting the body in maintaining a healthy level of lean muscle tissue.

It makes life easier in general

The pursuit of health and the practice of simplicity go hand in hand. The simplest things, like a banana or a piece of lean chicken breast, are frequently the ones that are the healthiest.

These everyday items are among the healthiest options available, and maintaining a healthy diet should not be complicated. It is considerably easier to maintain a balanced diet if you eat only two or three major meals rather than the standard six meals and three snacks each day.

When it comes to dieting, the more options you have to choose from and the more ways there are to cut corners, the more probable it is that you will use up a lot of your willpower just making judgments.

When it comes to serious weight loss, we prefer strict diets, which is one of the main reasons why our well-known weight loss program, the 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge, is so successful.

By skipping meals at regular intervals, you can eliminate more than half of the day’s opportunities to make good choices.

Okay, now that we’ve discussed a few of the benefits that may be gained by using intermittent fasting for weight loss, let’s have a look at some critical considerations that should not be overlooked.

What You Need to Watch Out For When Trying to Lose Weight Through Intermittent Fasting

Even though intermittent fasting has many positive effects on health, it is not a panacea, and it cannot help you lose weight by itself. If you want to lose weight, you need to combine it with other weight loss strategies. If you want to see any benefits, you absolutely have to combine it with a good diet.

When beginning your journey to a healthier weight with the help of intermittent fasting, keep the following in mind.

Being bored is the cause of 99 percent of all snacking, not being hungry

One of the best things about fasting is that it brings to your attention how much mindless eating you do throughout the day, particularly during a fast that lasts for twenty-four hours.

The number of times you feel the want to leave what you’re doing, get off the sofa, and head to the kitchen to check out what’s in the fridge or the pantry just because. Or, simply because it is a certain time of the day, the thought of preparing a snack crosses your mind.

Consuming food turns into a routine. Either because it’s the normal time or because we’re too bored to do anything else, we eat. It’s not because our stomachs are genuinely growling.

And the worst part about it is that in addition to making us miserable, it also brings us pleasure. When we start eating, whether it’s a meal or a snack, our bodies receive a shot of dopamine. Therefore, we are conditioning our brains to derive pleasure from it, despite the fact that we do not require it.

You are able to break out of this vicious loop and become more aware of the foods you eat and the times you consume them when you fast.

Don’t Binge Eat Just Because You Starved Yourself

Calories still important. They have never ceased to be significant.

It does not imply that you are required to start counting them or that you should start doing so. On the other, if you are fasting and you skip a meal, you are reducing the number of calories you take in over the course of the day, which makes tracking calories less important.

However, it is possible that you will still feel somewhat hungry while you are fasting; therefore, it is extremely crucial that you do not use fasting as an excuse to overeat.

It is fine to eat a little larger lunch in order to refuel, but you should not neglect the calories you are consuming. Prepare a delicious and nutritious lunch for yourself by combining veggies high in fiber with lean proteins. On the side, perhaps a tiny piece of some complex carbohydrates that are good for you.

Allow Your Body the Opportunity to Adapt.

Adjustment can be a necessary part of the process of making significant alterations to one’s diet or way of life. Don’t give up after only one attempt at it. Allow your body some time to readjust before worrying about it.

The hormone ghrelin is responsible for sending signals to your brain telling you that you are hungry. It can take a week to get adjusted to intermittent fasting if the typical M-O consists of eating six meals a day, the largest of which is eaten in the morning. to give your hormones enough time to catch up with the changes that are taking place.

Your overly dramatic brain may be telling you that you are starving to death, and if you think about food during every second of your fast, you are going to give credibility to the drama queen in your brain.

Don’t be concerned. Hunger will ultimately disappear as a result of Ghrelin’s ability to adjust to the new eating pattern. You’ll adjust.

How to Get Started with Intermittent Fasting in Order to Lose Weight

Because skipping breakfast is typically the simplest meal of the day to do, it is the one that we suggest you begin with.

If you want to lose weight, try missing breakfast and having one meal at 11 a.m. and another at 7 p.m. instead.

It is acceptable to have food at any time during the day, however meals should not be consumed before 11 am or after 7 pm. It is acceptable to modify this 8-hour window in accordance with your requirements so long as the duration of your eating period does not exceed 8 hours.

During this fast, you are permitted to drink water, as well as the following:

Coffee served black
Tea (no cream or sugar) (no cream or sugar)
Water (try suppressing your hunger with the help of apple cider vinegar by adding some to your water).
Cucumber or lemon juice in your water.

That sums it up nicely. During your fasting phase, you won’t consume any calories.

Keeping yourself busy while you are fasting is one of the most important things you can do at this time. Avoid being bored at all costs otherwise you’ll start to think about food and convince yourself that you’re hungry when you’re really just fooling yourself.

After you have finished your fast, you should immediately eat a large, healthy meal consisting of lean protein and vegetables. Some suggestions:

Salad topped with grilled chicken
Omelet stuffed with assorted vegetables
Salmon and veggies

Give this at least a week of your time and see how it makes you feel. Always keep in mind the reason you are engaging in this activity:

By taking a vacation, you are doing your body and hormones a favor that they truly appreciate.

At the end of the fast, your body will be able to absorb a much higher percentage of the nutrients from the food that you eat. Consuming a large quantity of low-carb vegetables is sure to leave you feeling pretty darn wonderful.

And don’t forget to keep your awareness focused on how you are feeling throughout this procedure. Permit it to assist you in developing better eating habits and to serve as a helpful reminder that we do not require a continuous supply of food that is never-ending in order to feel good and maintain our health.