How Does It Differ From The 1: 8 Method
This plan may sound very similar to the 16:8 intermittent fast with just a smaller feeding window, however, it is actually very different to execute. Heres why:
How To Do Intermittent Fasting: Step
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So you finally realized that breakfast is just a regular option, not healthiest, the best, a must meal in your life. Well, glad you did. The fasting trend started just a few years ago and it is proven to have many health benefits. This intermittent fasting step by step beginners guide will make fasting easier for you because its not really easy.
Should I Try Intermittent Fasting
Now that were through a lot of the science stuff, lets get into the reality of the situation: why should you consider Intermittent Fasting?
#1) Because it can work for your goals. Although we know that not all calories are created equal, caloric restriction plays a central role in weight loss.
When you fast, you are also making it easier to restrict your total caloric intake over the course of the week, which can lead to consistent weight loss and maintenance.
#2) Because it simplifies your day. Rather than having to prepare, pack, eat, and time your meals every 2-3 hours, you simply skip a meal or two and only worry about eating food in your eating window.
Its one less decision you have to make every day.
It could allow you to enjoy bigger portioned meals and STILL eat fewer calories on average.
#3) It requires less time . Rather than having to prepare or purchase three to six meals a day, you only need to prepare two meals.
Instead of stopping what youre doing six times a day to eat, you simply only have to stop to eat twice. Rather than having to do the dishes six times, you only have to do them twice.
Rather than having to purchase six meals a day, you only need to purchase two.
#4) It promotes stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion, two keys for weight loss and muscle gain. Intermittent fasting helps you create a double whammy for weight loss and building a solid physique.
#6) Plus, Wolverine does it:
#7) Boy George is a fasting fan :
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Before You Get Started
If you’re looking for a simple, doable way to practice fasting, I get it. It shouldn’t have to be hard. Get my FREE email course below that shows you the easier way.
What Happens When You Start Intermittent Fasting May Depend On Which Method You Follow
There’s no single way to try intermittent fasting. While most people take the 16/8 approach of eating for eight hours a day and fasting for 16 hours, others do it differently. Alternate-day fasting involves eating normally one day and eating nothing or very little the next day. And, the 5:2 approach calls for eating normally five days per week, then eating 500 to 600 calories the remaining two, non-consecutive days, Healthline revealed.
“If you want to give IF a try, be prepared to figure out what works best for you,” registered dietitian Anna Taylor told the Cleveland Clinic. “It might take some trial and error first.” Cleveland Clinic explained that ultimately, any benefits of intermittent fasting are due to eating fewer calories overall. If you’re hoping to lose weight or improve your health, choose whatever type of intermittent fasting helps you eat less overall without feeling too hungry or lethargic.
Also Check: Do You Have To Diet With Intermittent Fasting
My Initial Fasting Experience
Knowing the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting for women, I was eager to give it a try. Unfortunately, I failed MISERABLY at my first attempt. Lets just say I did NOT experience increased energy and clear-mindedness.
The first day I under-ate and couldnt sleep for hunger pangs. The next day, tired and cranky, I overate with the veracity of a starved animal. Thats when my hunger and hormone roller coaster began. And after one full week of this, I had to quit.
As a physician I wondered if other women had experienced something similar. And when I searched the internet, I discovered that, across message boards, blogs and online communities, women were complaining about intermittent fasting and its effect on their hormones. In fact, there was scientific literature that supported all of our experiences.
Related: The Warrior Diet: Reviews, Meal Plan, Pros & Cons
Bachelors Student In Public Health
May 8, 2019
Are you intrigued by intermittent fasting? Thinking of trying it?
Intermittent fastingor periodic abstinence from food and/or drinkcan take many forms, from the number of fasting days to which days you restrict calories to the recommended amount of calories you cut from your diet.1
Some of intermittent fastings proposed benefits include weight loss, improved metabolic health, diabetes prevention, and increased longevity.
Intermittent fasting has been proven safe and effective, and some of its proposed benefits include weight loss, improved metabolic health, diabetes prevention, and increased longevity.1,2 However, intermittent fasting can be difficult, and it is not recommended for certain groups, such as those with advanced diabetes, pregnant women, and individuals who have a history of eating disorders.1,2 It is important to know which options might work best for you as a beginner and to consult with your provider if you are or might be in one of the groups for whom fasting is not recommended.
Also Check: Which Intermittent Fasting Should I Do
Best Hacks For Sticking With A Whole Food Diet
Here are some tips to help you stick with a whole food diet and develop this lifestyle.
1. Practice Batch Cooking
Especially in the beginning, if youve been used to eating more convenience-based or packaged foods, youre likely to feel like you spend the majority of your life in the kitchen. So, Id suggest getting your cookbooks out and planning around five things to make per week. If you make double, or even triple portions depending on your household, youll have enough quantity to last several meals.
For example, his could be homemade granola. Make it once, and thats breakfast sorted for a week. Whole food diet ingredients like oats, quinoa, buckwheat, nuts, and seeds are all delicious, and great nutritional resources to keep you feeling full until lunchtime.
I also love to make big stews, sauces, and curries that can happily be reheated and added throughout the course of a few days.
2. Make Your Own Convenience Foods
Sticking to a new way of eating can be really difficult, especially for your willpower. So, its very important to make it as easy as possible for yourself.
Pre-chop. Pre-chop. Pre-chop.
Try Sticking To The Following Foods On The 1: 8 Diet:
- Whole grains: Ones like rice, oats, barley, wholegrain pasta and quinoa will keep you fuller for longer.
- Protein: Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds will keep you full.
- Fruit: Apples, bananas, berries, oranges and pears will offer good vitamin sustenance.
- Vegetables: Broccoli and leafy greens are especially good for making sure youre eating enough fibre.
- Healthy fats: Olive oil, coconut oil, avocados.
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Day 2 Delay Breakfast
Good morning! You just did a 12-hour fast.
Your last meal was at 7 PM last night, and its now 7 AM. Thats 12 hours. You didnt eat for half a day. Youve balancedeating and fasting to a ratio of 50:50 12 hours of eating and 12 hours of fasting. This is a good thing.
That wasnt so hard, was it? All you had to do was stop eating after dinner. Time flies when youre sleeping!
But now its the morning rush. You need to get out of the house asap or youll be late. So you eat as fast as you can or grab something on the go to eat in the car. But why?
| Delay breakfast today. Eat it when its convenient. Have water, coffee, or tea instead.
Theres nothing extreme about delaying your first meal of the day until its convenient. Like after youve arrived at the office or the kids have been dropped off to school instead of amidst the mad morning rush.
After you get to work, settle in. Check your email, look at your calendar, plan your day. You dont have to sneak in breakfast before or have breakfast while youre doing all this.
- 10 AM. Its time to enjoy your breakfast without the chaos.
- 12 noon. Lunch time. Youre probably not hungry because you just ate. The clock says its lunch time but your body doesnt say so. Its okay to wait to eat until you feel hungry again.
- 2 PM. Youre hungry now, have a nice lunch.
Eat dinner at 7 PM.
Build up on the prior steps: Dont eat after dinner, delay breakfast until 10 AM.
You Are Not Eating Enough Protein
If you find that your meals cannot carry you across your fasting period to your next eating window, then you might need to adjust your diet.
Consider including more lean protein in your diet. It does not matter the type of protein, vegan and animal protein, all are fine.
Proteins can help keep you full till your next meal. Furthermore, if you are exercising during this period, proteins are important for building your muscles and protecting your bone health.
Your meals should have healthy fats, carbs, leafy greens, and proteins.
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Intermittent Fasting 16/8 For One Month
My favorite method of Intermittent Fasting is using the 16/8 principle. This means youre going to fast for 16 straight hours and then follow that up with an 8-hour feeding window.
Its great to start your Intermittent Fasting journey using the 16/8 method because its going to be much more sustainable to complete over your first month. Many people who try to do more than end up burning out quickly and give in to the hunger pains that can come with fasting.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting works great too because you can still eat dinner. One of the biggest problems people have found with Intermittent Fasting is its hard to skip dinner at night. Most people like having dinner with their family or friends and enjoy relaxing with a meal after a long day.
So using the 16/8 method of Intermittent Fasting will allow you to still eat dinner so that means youre going to skip breakfast the next day. This is going to be much easier on your lifestyle as most people are busy in the mornings. Work, school, kids, etc. will keep most people busy in the morning so skipping breakfast isnt that big of a deal.
Just make sure you provide your body with nutrients during your fast such as ketones from Keto Elevate, lots of water, black coffee, green tea, and even some zero-calorie sparkling waters. These will help to curb some of the hunger pains that can come with fasting especially if you arent already used to it.
What Are The Side Effects Of Intermittent Fasting
The main side effect of intermittent fasting is hunger. As we mentioned before, an extreme approach can cause homronal problems especially in women.
Fasting is not for everyone.
Pregnant women, someone with an eating disordered, people who are stress or dont sleep well will not do well with this pattern of eating.
Also Check: What Can I Eat For Fasting
Intermittent Fasting 20/4 Aka Warrior Diet
How: Fast for 20 h and Eat for 4h
In contrast to other methods, while following the 20/4 Intermittent Fasting Schedule, you are allowed to eat some raw fruits and vegetables, and some lean protein during the 20 hr fast period.
This fasting schedule is based on the idea that our ancestors spent their days hunting and gathering and would then feast at night. Therefore the 4-hour eating window shall be in the evening and you should follow a special order of eating specific food groups: starting with vegetables, proteins and fat, and eating carbs only if you are still hungry.
To read more about this type of fasting take a look at The Warrior Diet: All About Intermittent Fasting 20/4.
Keto And Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
For most beginners, getting started with intermittent fasting can help with fat loss, disease prevention and thereby increase longevity. And all that comes with minimal side effects.
If youve ever eaten dinner, slept in, and not eaten until lunch the next day, then youve fasted using the 16/8 schedule before.
You may even know people who are simply not hungry in the morning and instinctively do 16/8 intermittent fasting resulting in excellent fitness. After unlearning to be hungry in the morning, most beginners achieve the best results in intermittent fasting with 16/8.
In addition, the method is flexible and saves time. Nonetheless, you need to keep in mind that intermittent fasting is just an eating pattern and not a complete solution to your diet.
Hence, regardless of which intermittent fasting method you choose, you will get better results with a low-carb diet.
Therefore, more and more people report that a ketogenic diet works wonders for intermittent fasting for a good reason.
Because both fasting and the keto diet are based on reducing insulin, emptying carbohydrate stores, and burning fat through ketosis, they are ideal matches.
since you dont have to spend hours burning your stored carbs first.
Used correctly, intermittent fasting and ketogenic diets can have a massive impact on health and weight loss.
Also Check: What Can I Eat During Intermittent Fasting
Can Other Diets Also Be Whole Food Diets
Heres where it gets confusingyes, other diets can also be whole food diets. Eating a whole food diet is a lifestyle choice, but many other diets can exist within a whole foods construct. So, diets like the MIND Diet and Mediterranean Diet are also whole food diets.
For example, here are the foods involved in the MIND Diet:
- Green, leafy vegetables five times a week
- Five or more different colored fruits and vegetables every day.
- Berries five times a week
- Five or more servings of nuts a week
- Olive oil five times a week
- Whole grains five times a week
- Oily fish twice a week or take an algae-based omega-3 supplement
- Legumes and pulses five times a week
- White meat/mix of plant-based proteins twice a week
- No more than one glass of wine a day
- One or two coffee or tea a day max
- Two liters of water a day
Thats pretty much a whole food diet, right? As long as any meat or plant-based proteins are as unprocessed as possible, then it can be a whole food diet.
Other diets, like a vegan diet, for instance, could be whole food diets or not. It really depends if processed foods are included. Some food substitutes are really heavily processed, so its important to read labels really carefully. But its only some, not all.
Is It Ok To Skip Breakfast
Yes, Varady said. The notion that omitting a morning meal is bad for your waistline likely began with studies sponsored by cereal companies, and most of that research looked at the effects of breakfast skipping on cognition in children, she noted: Im not sure how that all got translated to body weight.
Recommended Reading: How To Lose Weight Fast While Intermittent Fasting
How Much Weight Can You Lose From Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is not a quick weight loss fix. It might take your body a few weeks to start shedding the extra pounds.
Do not expect to drop up to 20 pounds within your first week of intermittent fasting.
Like many diets, you need to remain consistent and make lifestyle changes to get results.
It might take a few weeks for you to drop your first pound from intermittent fasting. However, once you start, you can expect to lose about a pound each week. Some people can lose up to 10 pounds each month.
Therefore, your body type will determine your results.
How To Start & How To Do Intermittent Fasting
One of the reasons I personally think Intermittent Fasting really took over is because of how easy it is to start it.
Literally, the only thing you should really decide before you start is which Intermittent Fasting schedule type you are planning to follow.
And before you make this decision, it is important to understand the various types of Intermittent Fasting. Thats how you will find the one that works the best for you and fits your unique lifestyle.
For your convenience, here are the most popular Intermittent Fasting Schedules.
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