How Intermittent Fasting Can Help You Lose Weight
There are many different ways to lose weight.
One strategy that has become popular in recent years is called intermittent fasting .
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that involves regular, short-term fasts or periods of minimal or no food consumption.
Most people understand intermittent fasting as a weight loss intervention. Fasting for short periods of time helps people eat fewer calories, which may result in weight loss over time .
However, intermittent fasting may also help modify risk factors for health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels 30002-0/fulltextâ rel=ânofollowâ> 2,
There are several different intermittent fasting methods. The most popular ones include:
- the 16:8 method
- alternate-day fasting
All methods can be effective, but figuring out which one works best depends on the individual.
To help you choose the method that fits your lifestyle, heres a breakdown of the pros and cons of each.
Reduced Insulin Levels Make The Body Use Stored Fat
Promoting lower insulin levels in your body not only helps protect against diabetes but also helps your body burn fat easier. Instead of relying on the blood sugar or glucose levels for energy, less insulin means that your metabolism burns fat for fuel.
Fasting for 18 hours with a short eating window is proven to lower insulin, reduce insulin resistance, and reverse diabetes naturally. Because of the weight loss associated with fasting, and the healthier diet it includes, insulin in the body lowers to optimal levels.
Dofasting And Weight Loss
Losing weight is undoubtedly possible with intermittent fasting.
It works to improve your metabolic health, aid the digestive system, and reduce your overall calorie intake. Less time to eat in a day means fewer calories consumed. These factors promote fat burning, leading to weight loss.
However, changing your usual routine to a scheduled eating period and fasting period is tough. Keeping track of what and when you eat requires calorie counting to ensure youre getting enough calories without consuming too many.
The DoFasting app is an exceptionally handy tool. It helps you lose weight with a custom eating plan that counts daily calories.
It also includes recipes to ensure you eat healthy foods and maintain a balanced diet during your eating periods.
Everyone needs a little assistance on their healthy journey. Make DoFasting your PA for the best weight loss results.
Don’t Miss: Best Intermittent Fasting For Over 40
Fasting Makes You Lose More Weight
People often fast through daily eating windows or diets such as the 5:2 diet in a bid to lose weight, but there’s nothing superior about it, other than it might help someone stick to a calorie deficit.
“When calorie intake is equated, fasting does not promote more weight loss,” Mockler said. “You can spread your total daily calories out however works best for you and still see great results.”
How Long Does It Take To See Results From 1: 6 Intermittent Fasting
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, it can take 2-4 weeks for your body to get used to intermittent fasting.
After that, you can expect to see intermittent fasting results in the range of 3-8% weight lost over 8-12 weeks.
Thus, intermittent fasting is similar to other weight loss approaches that restrict calories.
However, if you compare alternate day and 18/6 intermittent fasting results were smaller for time-restricted fasting.
Here, 18:6 fasting results were in the 3-4% range after 8-12 weeks.
Thus, fasting 18 hours a day for a month may not be long enough.
Furthermore, it also appears to take about 1-2 months for improvements in heart health and blood sugars to show up.
Thus, if you dont like your 18:6 fasting results for one month, keep going for another month or two.
That way youre more likely to reach that intermittent fasting 18/6 before and after shot youre looking for.
Don’t Miss: What Is Fasting Blood Glucose
The Larger The Assortment The More Difficult It Is To Choose
Due to the skyrocketing popularity of healthy lifestyle, fitness, and weight loss, the media swarms with hundreds of various methods of toning up and shedding pounds. For those whose goal is to trim a couple of inches, the choice of a correct nutritional and workout plan becomes more difficult with the appearance of each new popular diet. As you know, each person has a different body type and requires a different approach to losing weight or packing on muscle. And such a great number of fad diets only confuses people and may even lead to health damage. If you are one of those people, who are sick of extreme calorie restrictions and unreasonable food limitations, then perhaps intermittent fasting, the 18:6 intermittent fasting, in particular, is exactly what you have been looking for.
Hour Fast/ : 8 Hour Fast/ : 6 Hour Fast
This is the widely used method in weight loss programs. You can fast either for 14hours, 16hours, or 18hours. So you can continue eating the rest of the hours to complete the daily nutritional demand. The beginners can start the program with overnight 12-hour fasting.
When your body gets adapted to fasting, you can change it to 14-hour then to 16 or 18hour fasting. So your body will have enough time to switch metabolism.
While continuing the intermittent fasting, make sure to calculate the daily energy requirement. The calorie intake for the day must not exceed the daily energy expenditure. If not, there is no use in fasting.
Read Also: What To Eat On Intermittent Fasting Diet
You May Like: How Do You Do Intermittent Fasting 16 8
The Benefits Of 1: 6 Intermittent Fasting
Over time, the benefits of intermittent fastingwhether youre doing 18:6, 16:8, or another planmay be far-reaching and varied, including, potentially:
- Reduced cravings
- Lower risk of disease
The benefits of an 18:6 fast are attained a little faster than some of the other types of fasting, says nephrologist Jason Fung, M.D., a world-leading expert on intermittent fasting and low-carb diets and author of The Obesity Code. 18:6 fasting is a more intense fast, so it can produce longer and greater results.
The idea is simply to give more time in the fasting state, says Fung. Just like 18:6 is more advanced than a 16:8 or a 14:10 fast, Its easier to implement into a regular day and gives structure to the eating schedule.
18:6 intermittent fasting can prevent, treat, or reverse , says Bowden, who is a weight-loss expert and creator of Meta-Fast.com. In my opinion, insulin resistance is the biggest metabolic pandemic of our time. 88 percent of Americans have some degree of it and it underlies every major chronic disease, including all the co-morbidities for covid-19, says Bowden.
She Tweaked Her Plan For Special Occasions
Over the holidays, Etienne-Mesubi continued with intermittent fasting but gave herself an expanded eating window of six or eight hours. We were celebrating, and I have no regret and no guilt for extending my window, she says. Even though I allowed myself extended time to eat, I didnt go crazy. I still enjoyed myself and my time with my family and kids. It was so freeing to know if I want to eat longer I can, and if I dont feel like eating anymore Im going to stop, she says.
Recommended Reading: What Can You Drink During Fasting
How To Do 1: 6 Intermittent Fasting
As mentioned, intermittent fasting 18/6 is one of the time-restricted eating methods of intermittent fasting.
It involves splitting up each 24-hour day into an 18-hour continuous fast and a 6-hour open window where you can eat.
You can schedule these hours any way you see fit.
Most people practice intermittent fasting by extending the overnight fast as long as possible such that they dont have their first meal or snack of the day until at least mid-day or early afternoon.
Then, you are free to eat or drink your calories until a certain time in the evening, or potentially right up until bedtime, depending on the number of hours for your fast, your preferences, and when you break your fast.
With 18:6 intermittent fasting, you might wait until noon to have your first meal of the day and then finish your last meal by 6 PM.
The 18/6 intermittent fasting pattern is more aggressive than the more common 16/8 pattern in that your eating window is quite restrictive.
Therefore, although many people who do intermittent fasting start their eating widow at 12 PM, you might want to wait until 1 PM, or even 2 PM, with 18:6 intermittent fasting.
There are no time-bound rules, so you should consider what eating schedule works best for you based on the time of day that you wake up and go to bed.
Choose Your Best Protocol
Krystal began her intermittent fasting journey about a year ago, and she experimented with various protocols until she found the right protocol.
I alternate what kind of fasting I do. Sometimes I stick with a traditional 16:8 fasting period, other times I will do a longer time frame, she says. My longest fast was five days.
Though five days might seem a bit overwhelming to a beginner, Krystal urges readers to find whats best for them. For her journey, Krystal admits, I read a lot about the health benefits of fasting, plus with following a ketogenic diet fasting came naturally as my hunger levels decreased.
Don’t Miss: When Will I Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting
Potential Downsides Of 1: 6 Intermittent Fasting
There are also potential drawbacks of the prolonged 18-hour fast with 18:6 intermittent fasting.
Some people report feelings of hunger, headaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, low energy, and moodiness.
Intermittent fasting 18/6 can also interfere with good sleep if you go to bed hungry because you started your eating time early in the day.
Depending on how you time your workouts relative to your eating and fasting windows, intermittent fasting can also decrease athletic performance.
Endurance activities and high-intensity workouts can be very difficult to perform in the fasted state.
Furthermore, if you wait until after your eating window has ended for the day to exercise, your recovery can be compromised because you will not be able to refuel after working out.
Finally, some people find that they are triggered to binge eat once their eating window opens up.
You Are Not Eating Enough Food
Though it might sound counterproductive, you need to eat well during your eating window.
Intermittent fasting does not mean starvation and you can continue with your normal diet.
When you are not getting enough calories during your eating window, chances are that you will eat a whole lot more during your next window. That is because of the uncontrollable hunger that you will feel.
Also, starving yourself might cause your body to store more fat long-term. Your body notices that you are going for extended periods with little or no food and to ensure that you have a reliable energy source during such periods, your body stores the extra food you eat as fat.
So, instead of burning energy from your meals, your body begins to conserve energy.
Calorie counting could help you ensure you are getting sufficient fuel for your days activities.
Read Also: Best Electrolyte Supplement For Fasting
Recommended Reading: What Is Normal Fasting Glucose Range
How Fast Can You Lose Weight On Intermittent Fasting 1: 6
A persons weight loss pace depends on lots of factors and varies individually. Technically, the more calories you reduce, the faster you shed pounds. However, that is not always the case. Drastic calorie restriction may cause your body to enter the surviving mode, where you may stop burning fat and start burning muscles instead while packing on energy in the form of fat. Experts recommend losing 1-2 pounds a week . Such a weight loss pace is the safest and the most sustainable.
Lowers The Risk Of Type Ii Diabetes
Since being overweight and obese are two of the main risk factors for developing type II diabetes, intermittent fasting could have an effect on diabetes prevention due to its weight loss effects. It can also potentially influence other factors linked to an increased risk of diabetes. A 2014 study showed that intermittent fasting can lower blood glucose and insulin levels in people at risk of diabetes .
Read Also: Body Type Test For Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting 18/: The Complete Guide
There is a near-endless smorgasbord of popular diets these days, and the list seems to be ever-expanding. Theres the Mediterranean diet, the keto diet, vegan or plant-based diets, the paleo, and the DASH diet, to name just a few.
Although the specific characteristics that define and differentiate each one of these popular diets vary, what they share is that most fad diets are defined by what you can or cannot eat.
Intermittent fasting is another approach to eating and can be considered a popular diet, but rather than being defined by what you can and cannot eat, intermittent fasting is defined by when you can and cannot eat.
The intermittent fasting 18/6 approach is one of the most common ways that people practice intermittent fasting. Its a specific iteration of intermittent fasting that involves an 18-hour fast and a short, 6-hour eating window.
In this guide, we will discuss the pros and cons of the 18/6 intermittent fasting diet and how to follow the intermittent fasting 18/6 diet.
We will discuss:
- What Is Intermittent Fasting 18/6?
- How to Do 18:6 Intermittent Fasting
- What Can You Eat With Intermittent Fasting 18/6?
- Benefits of 18/6 Intermittent Fasting
- Potential Drawbacks of Intermittent Fasting 18/6
- Tips for 18 6 Intermittent Fasting
Lets get started!
Benefits Of : 6 Intermittent Fasting
Spending 18 hours fasting can be challenging, but many people experience better digestion with the 6-hour eating window. Eating less often reduces the bloat and indigestion you may feel if you eat too frequently.
An 18-hour intermittent fasting schedule may also improve your sleep. Most 18:6 fasters end their meals within a 6-hour window between 6:30 7:30 pm, rather than eating right before sleeping.
Of course, the number one benefit of intermittent fasting for most people is weight loss. Here are some added benefits to 18:6 intermittent fasting:
- Proven and effective weight loss strategy
- May help reduce inflammation
- May help balance blood sugar levels
- Heightens energy levels
If you are looking to slim down, an 18:6 intermittent fast might be the right choice for you. Before you start a new program, you should always consult with your doctor first. The first few days or weeks of intermittent fasting can be difficult. But once your body adjusts, intermittent fasting should become easier.
Recommended Reading: Intermittent Fasting Diet Plan 16/8 Free
Safety And Side Effects
Hunger is the main side effect of intermittent fasting.
You may also feel weak and your brain may not perform as well as youre used to.
This may only be temporary, as it can take some time for your body to adapt to the new meal schedule.
If you have a medical condition, you should consult with your doctor before trying intermittent fasting.
This is particularly important if you:
- Have a history of eating disorders.
- Are a woman who is trying to conceive.
- Are a woman with a history of amenorrhea.
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding.
All that being said, intermittent fasting has an outstanding safety profile. There is nothing dangerous about not eating for a while if youre healthy and well-nourished overall.
SUMMARY
The most common side effect of intermittent fasting is hunger. People with certain medical conditions should not fast without consulting with a doctor first.
Here are answers to the most common questions about intermittent fasting.
What Is : 6 Fasting
So, what exactly is 18:6 intermittent fasting? Lets take a look at the numbers first. This particular eating window results in a fasting period of 18 hours and an eating window of 6 hours. Depending on when you start eating, you could be eating from 12 PM to 6 PM every day and fasting for the rest of that 24-hour period.
This is a particularly strict and rigid form of fasting. There are other fasting schedules that are much more fluid. For example, the 16:8 fasting schedule is quite the same, with 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating. If youre new to fasting, you might find the 16:8 schedule more accessible while youre getting used to not eating.
If youre looking for a great place to get started, we recommend DoFasting, an intermittent fasting app that helps you create personalized fasting schedules and track how many calories youre getting. Plus, it offers tips and tricks to keeping a full stomach and even offers recipes to fill your 6-hour eating window.
Don’t Miss: How Much Time For Intermittent Fasting
Sugar Prevents Weight Loss
Sugar may not be nutritious or particularly satiating , but you don’t have to avoid it entirely.
“If our total calories are in check, having a food that contains sugar won’t prevent weight loss,” Mockler said. “Make sure you’re getting enough fiber in your day, and don’t feel guilty for having a delicious treat now and then.”
You Are Eating The Wrong Type Of Food
Many other diets come with a list of foods that you can and cannot eat. However, that is not how intermittent fasting works.
Intermittent fasting lets you eat anything you would like within a specific eating window.
Because intermittent fasting does not restrict your diet, it is easy to slip right into unhealthy feeding habits. Binging on unhealthy processed foods even if it is only in your eating window could be responsible for your slow results.
Stuffing too many calories during your eating periods is also counterproductive.
During your intermittent fast, consider changing your meal plan. Toss out the unhealthy processed food and switch to healthier options. Think of foods like whole grains that are rich in dietary fiber.
Furthermore, sugary foods could send your blood sugar levels through the roof and contribute to reduced insulin sensitivity.
Staying away from sugary foods protects you from sugar highs and the sugar crash that results after. It also helps keep your blood sugar within the normal range.
Dont Miss: How Many Meals During Intermittent Fasting
Also Check: What Not To Eat During Intermittent Fasting
