So you want to try intermittent fasting. You’ve heard it can help you lose weight and live longer, but you’re not sure how it works. Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.
In short, intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating where you cycle between periods of fasting and eating.
There are many different ways to practice intermittent fasting, but the most popular is 16/8 intermittent fasting.
In this post, I’ll cover the basics of intermittent fasting, give you a few examples of schedules to follow, and share tips for reducing the discomfort of fasting.
What Is 16/8 Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is a style of dieting that cycles between eating and fasting. It’s a practice where you alternate periods of eating and fasting throughout the day.
You may think that a typical person has to adhere to a rigid set of rules to maintain this type of diet, but it’s completely up to you. As long as you’re following a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet or the Paleo diet, you can implement intermittent fasting as long as you stick to a set of rules.
Intermittent fasting isn’t limited to the number of days per week. In fact, you can still eat all meals and snacks within the confines of your framework. To understand how to incorporate intermittent fasting into your daily routine, you first need to know about the various types of intermittent fasting.
Most people practice intermittent fasting by fasting for 16 hours and eating in an 8-hour window. Intermittent fasting might sound scary or too difficult. But once you start practicing it, it will feel like second nature.
How Does 16/8 Intermittent Fasting Work?
Intermittent fasting cycles through two different eating patterns. Intermittent Fasting can be explained as eating for only 16 hours each day, then fasting for the other 16. This pattern of eating varies depending on which fast is being used, but in general, you’ll eat during the 8 hours of the “fasting” phase, and then all day during the “feeding” phase. Intermittent Fasting is a lifestyle change that is supposed to help your body shed belly fat, bring your body back to the healthiest weight for your frame, and reduce the risk of several chronic diseases. (1)
Benefits of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
If you’re looking for a way to lose weight, you might be interested in intermittent fasting. It’s a trend that many successful personal trainers and other health professionals are beginning to embrace. For some people, intermittent fasting has become a popular way to stick to a healthy diet, even when life is unpredictable. (2)
The benefits of the 16/8 intermittent fasting cycle are wide-ranging. Some are health-related, and others are simply practical. Here are the most important things to know about 16/8 intermittent fasting benefits:
- It’s a way to maintain weight loss. One of the biggest benefits of 16/8 intermittent fasting is the way it allows you to maintain weight loss. When you eat more and eat less at each meal, you’re keeping your caloric needs below what you’re burning at the gym. By eating less and exercising more, you’re burning more calories than you’re taking in.
- It’s a way to build lean muscle. An additional benefit to fasting 16/8 is the way it stimulates muscle growth. (3)
How to Start 16/8 Intermittent Fasting?
The process of creating and then maintaining a 16/8 intermittent fasting routine is extremely simple. The good news is that it doesn’t require fancy equipment, lots of time, or anything out of the ordinary. That means that everyone can jump on board. The bad news is that there’s not all that much guidance available on how to do this.
After all, how often do we get to skip breakfast, and still lose weight? If you’re like most people, the answer is never. 16/8 Intermittent Fasting Basics, For the most part, 16/8 intermittent fasting revolves around two meals.
The first is breakfast or the first meal. The second meal is the last meal. When does the first meal occurs depends on a couple of factors: If you eat dinner with family or friends, you’ll skip the first meal.
Other Benefits Of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting And Weight Loss
As the name implies, intermittent fasting can be used to help you lose weight or burn fat. On the one hand, intermittent fasting can help you reach your goal by forcing you to fast between two meals. On the other hand, it can also help you lose weight by curbing your appetite throughout the day.
Intermittent fasting isn’t a perfect strategy for losing weight, and it isn’t something to base your weight loss diet on. This 16/8 intermittent fasting guide is designed to help you get started with intermittent fasting, but don’t take our word for it: The science behind 16/8 fasting Intermittent fasting is a type of calorie restriction strategy. When you eat for an extended period of time, your body burns stored fat as an energy source. (4)
Intermittent Fasting And Longevity
Intermittent fasting is thought to improve the health of your heart, blood vessels, immune system, brain, liver, and bones. (5) I make no claims to be an expert on intermittent fasting, and although many studies have shown promising results, no one “scientifically proven” that it is truly beneficial. On the other hand, a lot of people have tried it and found that it can help them lose weight and get healthier in many different ways.
Intermittent Fasting And Gut
Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but it does have some benefits when it comes to digestion and gut health. The 16/8 intermittent fasting plan consists of one normal feeding window of 16 hours and another of 8 hours. A 16/8 pattern of eating makes it a natural way to lose weight, and as many of the studies show, the benefit you get from intermittent fasting can be more than what you would get from a diet.
The eating window for the 16/8 Intermittent Fasting Complete Guide is the following: Start the day by fasting for 16 hours (8 am-6 pm) Have breakfast within one hour of waking up. It is important that it is a complex carbohydrate and nutrient-rich meal. Have a small lunch within an hour of waking up.
Intermittent Fasting And Circadian Rhythm
I’m going to define the two terms we’re going to be covering in this guide: (6)
- Circadian rhythm: The actual 24-hour, seven-day clock you have.
- Intermittent fasting: The pattern of when you choose to eat. Understanding the reasons why you should practice intermittent fasting is key to achieving the best results possible. This is a multi-part guide that explores the reasons and why you should start intermittent fasting, the benefits of intermittent fasting, and when to do it. To help you understand why we recommend you consider intermittent fasting and to better prepare you for the transition into this healthier lifestyle, I’ll briefly cover why we do what we do. Who is using intermittent fasting?
Any Side Effects of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting?
I do not take this kind of approach lightly. There are side effects to this lifestyle, but the benefits outweigh the risks. The two biggest risks are: (7, 8)
- Worsening high blood pressure: The 16/8 fasting cycle is an extremely dangerous approach to life-threatening high blood pressure. This is because, when you skip meals, you use your body as a “fuel tank.” You are not giving your body the fuel it needs to be fully functional, and without food, your body starts to shut down.
- Worsening or gaining weight: As I have been recommending that my clients do intermittent fasting for years, many of them find that they have become overweight. These people often forget that intermittent fasting is not a diet, but a lifestyle.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
You are allowed to eat anything that you want, including during intermittent fasting periods. But you are only allowed to eat until you reach your desired weight and eat no more.
During intermittent fasting, your main goal is to lose weight and to achieve or maintain the weight that you want, so you don’t want to starve yourself. The best way to lose weight and reach your weight goal is to do the 16/8 method. However, intermittent fasting is generally beneficial because it is less psychologically punishing than just dieting.
Short answer: no. Long answer: The short answer is that you can’t use 16/8 intermittent fasting to get into ketosis. Although all mammals and many plants eat by a 24-hour day/night schedule, they also vary from one another. Some have 24 hours of fasting, some have 24 hours of feeding, and some have a period of fasting at least 24 hours out of every 24-hour period. We, humans, are no exception. We eat by an 8-12 hour day/night cycle, sometimes more often. We have eight periods of fasting, roughly at 24-hour intervals, before our next feeding. Now, those eight periods are not evenly spaced. They are not 16/8. But in general, 8-12 hour fasting periods are common, and we’ll use that to describe what we do.
Bottom Line
How to Fasting Effectively If you’re already following the above intermittent fasting approach, then there are some important tweaks that you should make to your diet plan. Be sure to eat sufficient calories throughout the day. You should always have half a lemon with your dinner. You should eat several small meals each day. I personally eat 3 meals per day, but that could change in the long term.
