Intermittent Fasting Is Useful When We Gain The Most Weight
Weight gain occurs gradually over years or decades.
The amount we gain in a year isnt consistent though it spikes sharply over the Thanksgiving and Christmas break.
In fact, research shows the period from mid-November to mid-January is responsible for around 50% of weight gained in a 12-month period .
Therefore minimizing Christmas weight gain each year will go a long way on the scales.
Problem is following a restrictive diet during the festive period means you have to track calories, macronutrients or miss out on all the good things. And nobody is going to do that.
However, what does work is alternating periods of eating lots with periods of eating very little a.k.a. intermittent fasting.
If you know lunch at your in-laws will be epic, skip breakfast entirely, and even consider just a light dinner the night before.
Alternatively, choose to miss a meal or two the day after feasting, that way you dont have to miss out on any of your favorite treats.
Summary: Most weight is gained around the Christmas holiday period. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that minimizes your excess calorie intake yet allows you to enjoy festive feasts without restrictions.
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How To Get Started With Intermittent Fasting
There are several types of intermittent fasting you can follow:
- The 16/8 or Leangains Method: Fast for 16 hours per day and eat in the remaining 8-hour window. Most people will skip breakfast and eat from 1pm to 9pm for example.
- The 5:2 Diet: Eat normally for 5 days of the week, but only eat up to 600 calories on the other two days.
- Eat-Stop-Eat or Spontaneous Fasting: Fast for a 12 or 24 hour period multiple times per week. There is no real schedule for this one.
- Alternate Day Fasting: Fast for one day and eat normally the next day. Continue to alternate days of fasting and normal eating.
You can view a more detailed description of each type here.
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It May Increase Human Growth Hormone
Intermittent fasting can encourage fat burn and protect lean muscle in an alternative wayby raising your levels of human growth hormone .
Levels start to decline in our twenties or thirties, leading to dry skin, thinning hair, increased belly fat and wrinkles, says Kellyann Petrucci, M.S., a naturopathic doctor and author of Dr. Kellyanns Bone Broth Diet. Research shows that HGH may help decrease body fat and improve lean muscle mass.
She points to 2011 research from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, which found that HGH increased an average of 1,300% in women and nearly 2,000% in men during a 24-hour fastRoutine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart, study suggests. Intermountain Medical Center. Accessed 6/21/2021. . When fasting causes hunger or stress, the body responds by releasing more cholesterolthe researchers notedencouraging it to burn fat instead of glucose as fuel and decreasing the number of fat cells in the body.
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Lessons Learned From 1 Year Of Intermittent Fasting
1. The biggest barrier is your own mind.
Implementing this diet is pretty simple, you just don’t eat when you wake up. Then you eat and lunch and go about your day. At least, that’s how I do it.
But there is a mental barrier to get over. If I don’t eat will I not be able to think? Will I faint? Will I feel sick? What will it be like? These are all thoughts that went through my mind before I started.
What ended up happening? Nothing. Life went on just fine.
Thinking you need to eat every 3 hours or six meals a day or always have breakfast or whatever it is that youre convinced you have to do to survive is all mental. You believe it because you were told it, not because you actually tried it.
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed that separates successful people from unsuccessful ones in life it’s not just the ability to think differently, but the ability to act differently as well.
2. Losing weight is easy.
When you eat less frequently you tend to eat less overall. As a result, most people who try intermittent fasting end up cutting weight. You might plan big meals, but consistently eating them is difficult in practice.
Most people lose weight while intermittent fasting because when they cut out meals, they don’t make up for it with bigger meal sizes.
3. Building muscle is quite possible .
I have managed to gain weight while intermittent fasting , but only because I have focused on eating a lot during my feeding period.
5. For best results, cycle what you eat.
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Is Intermittent Fasting Suitable For Everyone
Dr. Arnaud Cocaul: Actually, no. Some people will find it easy not to eat for 16 hours, while others will quickly have attacks of the munchies, or even suffer from vertigo or nausea. In the latter case, it is important to heed your body and not overdo it, or at least to limit the amount of time you spend on the diet.
People who have a more or less normal weight should be especially careful. Fasting can pave the way for all sorts of eating disorders. There are less radical options to try: just eating more slowly, for example, is one of these.
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Why You Regain Weight After Fasting
If you fast for 12, 14, or 16 hours, your weight rebound probably wont be super substantial. These intermittent fasts arent long enough to cause significant water loss. .
Longer fasts of 24 hours or more will provoke greater water loss and therefore greater weight rebound. In this article, Im talking mostly about fasts of this length.
When you break a fast, your body restocks your liver and muscles with glycogen. Since glycogen is mostly water weight, that can easily add a few quick pounds of water.
This weight rebound is normal and healthy, but theres at least one trick to minimize it. Ill talk about it soon.
You also regain non-water weight after a fast. The food has to go somewhere, after all.
So how can you prevent your refeed from becoming body fat?
Does Collagen Help To Reduce Weight
Not directly, no.
Collagen is a protein. It is not a weight loss product. If you are planning on losing weight, overloading on protein probably isnt the way to do it.
Overloading on protein is how you get to see those rapid muscle gains.
That being said, there is some evidence that the consumption of collagen will reduce your hunger.
This means that you are going to have less of a desire to eat an overwhelming number of calories.
Obviously, the less food that you are consuming, the less weight you will gain. If you are burning off more calories than you consume, then you will end up losing weight.
Another study did indicate that some types of collagen may help to burn off fat a little bit quicker.
However, the research into that is still at a very preliminary stage and, from what we know so far, the gains are only going to be small.
It certainly wouldnt be enough to consider adding more collagen to your diet purely for weight loss purposes.
Obviously, this doesnt mean that you should avoid taking collagen supplements if you are overweight.
Collagen will benefit you in a whole host of different ways. It isnt going to cause you to gain weight, but it also isnt going to be the method to help you to lose weight, but it can help you to increase your muscle mass.
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How Long Is It Safe To Fast
If you are new to fast, limit your fast periods to 24 hours or fewer and keep a snack on hand in case you get sick. If you become ill or worry about your health, stop drinking and eating as soon as you feel better. Fasting can also help you lose weight.
In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, researchers found that people who fasted for 12 weeks lost more weight than those who did not fast. The study also showed that fasting was more effective than other weight loss strategies, such as diet and exercise, in reducing body fat.
I Tried Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss And Ended Up Gaining Weight Instead
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Perhaps, this relentless experimentation is also what lands me and my health into trouble sometimes. Well, thats what happened when I decided to give intermittent fasting a try.
Basically, it involves eating only during a few hours of the day and fasting for the rest of the hours . Now, the fasting window can range anywhere
from 12 to 16 to even 24 hours depending on the type of intermittent fasting that you decide to try out.
Also, read: Considering taking up intermittent fasting? Take this quiz before you dive in
Now, karwachauth is enough of a torture for me. So, obviously, I ruled out the 24-hour fasting window option as soon as I got to know about it and settled for an 18-hour long fasting window that started from 8:00 pm till 2:00 p.m.
The next day, I broke my fast with a huge glass of water, fruits, and cold coffeetaken at an interval of 30 minutes and followed by a hearty 400-calorie lunch, a light evening snack, along with a 400-calorie dinner later in the day.
Why did I decide to give this diet a try, you wonder?If youre a staunch believer/follower of intermittent fasting, pardon me for referring to it as a diet instead of a lifestyle. But, intermittent fasting went out of my life too quickly. Its totally not my style. Hence, for me, it remains a DIET that I tried and ended up regretting.
Anyway, lets get to the point, shall we?
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Youre Not Maintaining Good Lifestyle Habits
What you eat and dont eat ultimately becomes an important piece of your health care puzzle. Just as important: Getting at least eight hours of stellar sleep nightly, managing stress levels, maintaining a healthy social and spiritual life, and consuming the right foods to support your fasting efforts and cultivate amazing health. When you maintain other good habits, youll find fasting becomes easier and creates more lasting benefits.
Of course, no plan works for everyone, including fasting. If youre interested, give it a fair try: Commit to at least 30 days of fasting before you ultimately decide whether it works for you.
Does Intermittent Fasting Cause Weight Gain
The answer is no. When we start fasting, it reduces insulin level and profoundly burns fats as an energy source. Therefore, you must lose weight while following intermittent fasting. But do you also feel the same while doing fasting? If yes, then you must be doing it in the wrong way. Let see how it works on your body function.
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Youre Not Following Your Plan As Instructed
Following an intermittent fasting plan can be difficult for some dieters as they arent used to going long periods of time without eating, says Smith. So if you keep cheating your plan week to week or cutting corners, it probably isn’t going to yield the weight-loss benefits you were hoping. So, you may want to reconsider whether IF is right for you and your lifestyle.
How to fix it: Choose an intermittent fasting plan that best matches your lifestyle and can be followed for longer periods of time, says Smith.
Why Did I Gain Weight On Intermittent Fasting
First of all, gaining weight is always a possibility. Fasting is an excellent method, but its not that easy.
And, like everything in life, it needs practice, motivation, planning, and patience.
You will have some good days and some bad days. So, stop being so hard on yourself.
We have said it over and over, but it is crucial: Fasting is a lifestyle.
If you have been applying fasting methods for a while, and you cant see the results, you are probably doing something wrong.
The first thing to keep in mind is that in addition to following the fasting method, you must have an established, well-balanced diet.
This diet should be rich in protein, such as fish, legumes, and vegetables. This way, you will avoid losing muscle mass.
You need to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. And you should avoid eating fat. Only those known as good fats. Like dried fruit and avocado.
You must have an exercise routine besides doing cardio exercises the truth is that its more important that you do strength workouts.
You should do routines using your own bodys weight, with additional weights, or using machines.
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Intermittent Fasting Who Should Benefit From It
Nowadays, many of us are interested in taking care of our bodies, thoughtfully considering the exercises we do, and the food we eat.
Its not only for a matter of vanity and appearance, but its for our health for the well-being of our body and mind.
Many entertainment personalities practice it, such as Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé, Ben Affleck, and Hugh Jackman. And, they all ensure the effectiveness of this method.
Although, its great popularity began on social networks, many experts ensure that this method can bring a lot of benefits for the body when used in moderation.
First, we must let you know that some people have this method contraindicated. In those cases, it could be dangerous.
Pregnant or nursing mothers, people with chronic diseases, eating or metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and some other health conditions, should not be doing fasting.
Its also not recommended for children or the elderly.
The fasting method or intermittent fasting is used, especially among athletes, as a dieting method.
But mostly, its a lifestyle. And as in every lifestyle, you must know what it is, before actually adopting it.
So, lets start at the beginning.
Not Getting Enough Electrolytes
Along with water, electrolytes tend to get lost in the process of fasting as well. This can increase cravings for starchy, salty foods, such as potato chips or popcorn. These highly starchy foods can cause a massive spike in the storing hormone insulin and work against weight loss goals. Utilizing Celtic Sea Salt or a high quality electrolyte replacement during the fasted state can help to balance electrolyte levels.
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Adding Extra Calories To Your Beverages
During your fasting window, you only want to drink plain water and calorie-free beverages.
Once you add sugar, honey, creamer to your coffee or tea, you have broken your fast.
And those calories would add to what you eventually eat when you break.
Of which you broke your fast the moment you drank that creamy coffee.
When Should I Exercise
When Varady and her colleagues conducted a study that combined alternate day fasting and exercise, they allowed the participants to pick whether they wanted to exercise on a feasting or fasting day, and found there was no strong preference one way or the other. But the researchers were surprised the dieters actually reported feeling more energetic on fasting days.
That being said, exercise before you eat because people get hungry about half an hour after they finish working out and may find it too hard to stick to their plan if they cant eat anything at all afterwards, Varady noted.
If youre on the 16:8 plan, exercise before or during your eating window. If youre doing alternate day fasting and are exercising on your 500-calorie day, save food for after your exercise session.
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How Can I Suppress Hunger During Intermittent Fasting
- Eat high-fiber foods, such as nuts, beans, fruits and vegetables and high-protein foods, including meat, fish, tofu or nuts, during your eating window, Varady advised. Chewing high-fiber gummies can also help.
- Drink lots of water. People tend to think they’re hungry, when they are really just thirsty, she said.
- Go for black coffee or tea, or cinnamon or licorice herbal teas. These beverages may have appetite-suppressing effects, Varady noted.
- Watch less TV. I know this sounds strange, but while you are watching TV, you are bombarded with dozens of ads for food. This can make you feel hungry, when in actuality, you are not hungry at all, she said.
Remember, being “a little hungry” is the best thing that can happen to you, wrote Madelyn Fernstrom, health and nutrition editor at NBC News, calling it a “true mind-body connection” that helps you recognize fullness.
Restricting Certain Nutrients Like Protein May Also Have Different Effects On Women Compared To Men
In general, women tend to eat less protein than men.13 And usually, women who fast will eat even less protein .
Thats a problem because protein provides amino acids, which are critical for the reproduction process.
If amino acids get too low, it can negatively affect both your estrogen receptors and a hormone called insulin-like growth factor .14 Both are needed to thicken the lining of the uterus during the menstrual cycle. If the uterus lining doesnt thicken, an egg cant implant, and pregnancy cant occur.
Hence, low protein-diets can reduce fertility.
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You Are Not Consuming Enough Calories On Non
When you dont consume an adequate amount of calories on non-fasting days, your body may conserve the energy you consume, rather than burning it, says Smith.
How to fix it: Make a meal plan for yourself for non-fasting days. Make a suitable meal plan for non-fasting periods that includes balanced meals consisting of at least 300 to 500 calories per meal. This way, you take out the guesswork and can ensure that you don’t skimp on cals for yourself.
