The Basics of the Intermittent Fasting Diet

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Weight loss is a matter of great concern for everyone. We know that obesity-related illnesses are incredibly prevalent nowadays. More attention has been placed on how to lose weight quickly and easily. This is mainly due to the fact that more and more people are getting to know and experience the benefits of maintaining a healthy body weight. Unfortunately, there are so many fads that come with weight loss, some of them promising almost instant results. Well, most of them are unhealthy practices that may lead to negative effects on your well-being. Intermittent fasting is one of the few weight loss strategies that are healthy and have been proven to work effectively.

So, what does intermittent fasting refer to? As its name suggests, intermittent fasting refers to a pattern of eating that entails rescheduling your meal times so as to get the best results out of them. It is not a diet and it doesn’t change whatever you are eating; so there is no chance of suffering from cravings. It may involve fasting for 16 to 20 hours and leaving the rest hours of the day to feeding. This eating pattern, unlike most weight loss fads that encourage you to cut your calorie intake to almost nothing, encourages one to take in optimal amounts of calories so as to help in retaining good weight and shedding off bad weight.

How Does the Intermittent Fasting Diet Help With Weight Loss?

For weight loss to occur, there should be a calorie deficit created within the body. Intermittent fasting aims at creating a calorie deficit without you having to starve to death. In fact, this eating routine encourages intake of normal levels of calories during your eating hours. There are 3 popular methods that are classified under intermittent fasting.

• The 16/8 method which is the most popular and includes a 16-hour starving period and an 8-hour feeding period.
• The Eat Stop Eat plan which includes eating normally for 24 hours and fasting for the next 24 hours. You need to keep alternating these fasting and eating periods. It was started by Brad Pilon. See our Eat Stop Eat review for more information on this protocol.
• The 5:2 Diet which involves eating only 500-600 calories on 2 days of the week and eating normally on the other 5 days.

During the intermittent fasting routine, you should be careful not to compensate for the fasting periods by eating more during the eating periods. By so doing, your calorie intake will be reduced hence calling for burning of excess body fat to produce energy leading to loss of weight and also belly fat.

Our bodies are built in such a way that hormonal changes occur whenever the body detects a change in in body functioning or processes. A change in metabolism patterns will lead to a change in the secretion of insulin, HGH and Noradrenaline hormones. When fasting, Insulin decreases dramatically hence facilitating the burning of the fat stored within the body. The level of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) takes an upward surge up to as much as 5-fold hence aiding in fat loss and gaining of muscles. Norepinephrine, also known as Noradrenaline is directed to the fat cells by the nervous system, breaking the body fat into fatty acids that can be easily burned to produce energy. This, in the long run, ensures that during the fasting period, most of the excess energy stored in the form of fats is converted to usable energy (calories) and burned up leading to weight loss, muscle gain and loss of belly fat.

It is important to note that the body doesn’t get completely into a fasted state once you stop eating. Digestion and absorption of food into the body usually takes 3 to 5 hours from the time you begin eating, during which the body is said to be in the fed state. At this stage, it is quite hard for the body to burn fat as it already has enough energy from the food you just ate. The 16 to 24 hour fasting period allows the body between 13 to 19 hours of being in the fasted state where the body will make use of the hormones above to break down the excess body fat into calories hence burning it up leading to loss in body weight. With this, you will enjoy the benefits of weight loss, including reduced risk of heart diseases, cancers, stress and anxiety, a stronger and leaner body and improved general well-being.

As simple as it looks and feels, intermittent fasting is beneficial in a myriad of ways. It simplifies life by a great deal and it also has better weight loss results as compared to dieting. It is safer than dieting and taking slimming pills and with it, you can easily incorporate your workout routine. Intermittent fasting is believed to reduce the risk of cancers and lengthen one’s lifespan. Though, for most people, starting out on this intermittent fasting routine is usually challenging, especially during the first week. By drinking plenty of water, scheduling your fasting hours to be overnight, having a positive attitude, incorporating consistent exercise and keeping your other daily schedules constant will help a great deal in keeping up with this newly found routine. Intermittent fasting really works weight loss miracles without side effects. Though, it is important to discuss the intermittent fasting routine with your doctor if you suffer from diabetes, heart disease or other health conditions such as pregnancy.

Interested in getting started with intermittent fasting? Take a look at Eat Stop Eat, which is one of the most popular guides online to help people get started with safe, quick weight loss via intermittent fasting.