How Does The 1: 8 Diet Work
The 16:8 diet works on an hourly basis. So each day you can eat within an 8 hour time frame and fast for the remaining 16 hours. The best part? You dont have to restrict your calories when eating during the 8 hour window. As long as you eat healthily in your 8 hour time frame, youll see the weight drop off.
Experts say that the 16.8 diet restricted schedule gives our bodies the chance to process the nutrients stored in foods and burns away calories. Plus, you wont go hungry like you do on those two fasting days on the 5:2 either.
As Tom Jenane, nutrition and fitness expert explains, The 16:8 diet is a brilliant form of intermittent fasting that has proven results in a number of cases.
Jennifer Aniston is a famous fan of intermittent fasting.
As well as Jennifer Aniston, other Hollywood names who have seen success after following the 16:8 diet include Hugh Jackman, who reportedly used the diet to get in shape for his Wolverine films and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt.
All Kinds Of Vegetables
A diet rich in vegetables and fruits can help lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, lower the risk of eye and digestive problems, and positively affect blood sugar levels, which can help keep appetite in check .
There are starchy and non-starchy vegetables:
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Thinking About Your Activity Level
Finally, last but not least, you need to think about your activity level. Those who are more active throughout the day are going to be burning up more calories total, so this needs to be considered. If you’re working a desk job, you’ll hardly burn any further calories, while if you’re on your feet all day long, you’ll be burning up far more.
Use this as a guideline.
Multiple by:
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The Bottom Line On How To Do Intermittent Fasting
Theres no single solution on how to do intermittent fasting for everyone, but just about any healthy person can benefit from the practice.
Those who are intimidated by stricter fasting methods might try skipping meals first, then moving into a 16:8 fast. If you find these beneficial, move on to an alternate-day fast where youll consume 500 calories on fasting days. Finally, try a full 24-hour fast one day per week.
Intermittent fasting is generally safe to do as often as youd like. Just make sure youre eating enough food in between and eating whole foods. And lastly, dont be afraid to experiment to find what works best for you.
May Help With Inflammation
Some types of intermittent fasting have been associated with a decrease in chronic inflammation . While this research did not involve the intermittent fasting 20/4 method, you may still reap the same benefits. Excess inflammation can lead to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, bowel disorders, and more.
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Accounting For The Thermic Effect Of Food
Next, you need to account for the thermic effect of food. This is essentially the calories that your body burns simply because you ate. Since protein has the highest thermic effect, meaning you burn off the most calories to break it down, and youre using a higher protein intake while on this diet plan, that means that youll need to use a slightly higher value here.
To account for this, take the number you got in the first part and multiply by 1.2. This adds digestion onto things.
Are There Any Side Effects Of Intermittent Fasting 20/4
Yes, there are. Some downsides of participating in a fasting eating plan include:
- May lead to a binge-eating disorder This is a serious eating disorder in which you frequently consume unusually large amounts of food and feel unable to stop eating. Fasting has been linked to the increase in the onset of binge-eating .
- May lead to nutrient deficiencies Since you are eating during a very small window, you are unlikely to consume the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Nutrient deficiencies that can lead to anemia, fatigue, weakness, poor eye health and immunity, short term memory loss, diarrhea, dementia, and skin disorders, muscle loss, osteoporosis, and depression .
- It has no basis in science As we mentioned above, this diet was developed by an ex-military guy who based all his findings from his experience during active duty. He is neither a scientist, nutritionist, nor a dietitian. On the other hand, most of the benefits mentioned have been linked to fasting in general or other forms of intermittent fasting and not the 20/4 method.
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Do You Even Need Cardio When Intermittent Fasting
IF is a great way to control your eating tendencies. Unfortunately, I have always been a binge eater, and, for me, having a small eating window is an effective way of helping me keep within my appropriate daily calorie intake.
At the same time, I enjoy knowing that I am benefiting in many other ways from the extended fast each day.
Fasting for 13 or more hours per day has a ton of benefits aside from weight loss. These include giving your digestive system a rest, cleansing virtually all your cells through autophagy, and possibly even extending life!
Although an active lifestyle will certainly help, you can still lose weight by intermittent fasting alone, without exercise. The point is, not only will doing some cardio speed up your results tremendously, the added benefits of the exercise for your heart and lungs, muscles and bones, as well as your brain and mood, add up to something that you really should do for yourself. So keep fasting, but get some cardio in there at the right time.
Top 6 Questions About Intermittent Fasting
1) Wont I get really hungry if I start skipping meals?
As explained above, this can be a result of the habits you have built for your body. If you are constantly eating or always eat the same time of day, your body can actually learn to prepare itself for food by beginning the process of insulin production and preparation for food.
After a brief adjustment period, your body can adapt to the fact that its only eating a few times a day. The more overweight you are, and the more often you eat, the more of an initial struggle this might be.
Remember, your bodys physical and cognitive abilities most likley wont be diminished as a result of short term fasting.
2) Where will I get my energy for my workouts? Wont I be exhausted and not be able to complete my workouts if fasting?
This was a major concern of mine as well, but the research says otherwise: Training with limited carbohydrate availability can stimulate adaptations in muscle cells to facilitate energy production via fat oxidation.
In other words, when you train in a fasted state, your body can get better at burning fat for energy when there are no carbs to pull from!
Ill share some of my experiences, now doing heavy strength training for 3 years in a fasted state:
Here I am pulling 420 lbs. at 172 BW after a 16 hour fast:
A post shared by Steve Kamb on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST
LeanGains digs into various options here, but here is really what you need to know:
4) Wont fasting cause muscle loss?
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What Is 20/4 Intermittent Fasting
Successful weight management is based on counting calories. If your goal is to slim down, you need to reduce your caloric intake and create a caloric deficit if you want to bulk up, you need to make sure that you eat a calorie surplus and if you simply want to maintain your current weight, you continue following your regular diet. But what if you dont like counting calories? Is there a diet that can help you reach your weight goals without having to track the energy contents of your every meal? Luckily, there is! The so-called diet in question is known as intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that has been widely accepted by many people trying to lose weight. Of all the different methods to do it, intermittent fasting 20/4 is one of the stricter versions. What are some intermittent fasting 20/4 benefits? Is intermittent fasting 20/4 everyday healthy and sustainable long-term? Read on to find out this and more.
The intermittent fasting 20/4 method is also known as The Warrior Diet. This diet was created in 2001 by Ori Hofmekler, an Israeli Special Forces member turned health and fitness author. It is important to note that the warrior diet is not based on science but rather a deduction of Oris experiences while he worked in the military .
Also, some supporters of this eating pattern claim that humans are natural nocturnal eaters and that eating at night allows the body to gain nutrients in line with its circadian rhythms .
How To Do Intermittent Fasting: 4 Fasting Schedules To Try
Whether youre new to keto or have been doing it for a while, you may be wondering how to do intermittent fasting. At one point, the health and wellness industry advised eating 5-6 small meals per day for optimal metabolism. The claim was that smaller meals lead to weight loss, while a fasted state puts the body into starvation mode, causing it to hold on to calories.
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What People Are Saying About 2 Meal Day And The Results They Have Achieved
Ultimately, however great a method is in principle, its effectiveness will always be judged by its results. To date, there are over 20,000 people following the 2 Meal Day lifestyle and many of them have made progress that they proclaimed they did not believe was possible before starting. This is not just in terms of weight loss, people are benefiting from increased and more stable energy levels, better overall relationships with food, increased mental clarity and mood and some anecdotal experiences have also boasted healthier hair and nails and even improvements in skin conditions such as psoriasis!
Here are just a few of the things that people have had to say about 2 Meal Day:
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Your Body On Intermittent Fasting
Fasting isnt new. Humans have been doing it for ages, often as part of cultural celebrations or religious observances, such as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. We also fast for medical reasons, before certain tests and procedures.
While different types of fasting have different rules, intermittent fasts typically follow the same basic principles: Restrict your calorie intake during some periods and eat normally at other times. Like any diet, this decreases your overall calorie countbut it promotes weight loss in another way, too.
Heres how it works: Whenever you eat, you get energy from the glucose in your food. Insulin, the hormone produced in the pancreas, helps deliver glucose to your bodys cells. There, glucose is either used immediately for energy or stockpiled to access later.
When you do not ingest carbohydrates or any sort of energy, your body immediately reduces insulin production, says Dr. Ergin. If your insulin levels drop far enough, your body uses the stored glucose in your cells for energy. Once those are gone, it starts feasting on fat. This helps you slim down.
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How Much Weight Can You Lose On 1: 8 Diet
To lose weight on the 16:8 diet, its important to match the fasting with healthy eating and exercise. If done so correctly, theres a typical weight loss of around seven to 11 pounds over a ten week period. This is according to a review of 40 different studies published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrincology who found that on average, someone weighing just over 90kg would lose 5% of their total body weight in the ten week period.
A 2018 study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Healthy Eating revealed that the 16:8 diet plan can help people lose weight, without having to count calories as the 8-hour fast produces the same kind of calorific restriction and weight loss.
However, whether theres a distinct weight loss advantage achieved on the 16:8 diet compared to other diets remains to be seen. Some studies have demonstrated that theres almost no difference between people who do intermittent fasting compared those who count calories and cut back on unhealthy food.
Getting Started With Intermittent Fasting: Next Steps
Intermittent fasting can potentially have some very positive benefits for somebody trying to lose weight or gain lean body mass.
Men and women will tend to have different results, just like each individual person will have different results. The ONLY way to find out is through a conversation with your doctor and self-experimentation.
There are multiple ways to do an Intermittent Fasting Plan:
- Fast and feast regularly: Fast for a certain number of hours, then consume all calories within a certain number of hours.
- Eat normally, then fast 1-2x a week: Consume your normal meals every day, then pick one or two days a week where you fast for 24 hours. Eat your last meal Sunday night, and then dont eat again until dinner the following day.
- Fast occasionally: probably the easiest method for the person who wants to do the least amount of work. Simply skip a meal whenever its convenient. On the road? Skip breakfast. Busy day at work? Skip lunch. Eat poorly all day Saturday? Make your first meal of the day dinner on Sunday.
After that, get started! Take photos, step on the scale, and track your progress for the next month.
See how your body responds.
See how your physique changes. See how your workouts change.
And then decide if its something you want to keep doing!
4 years later, I have no plans on going back to eating breakfast. Sorry General Mills and Dr. Kellogg!
If youre worried about all of this stuff, or arent sure when to eat and stop eating, try out our new app!
-Steve
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How Long Does Intermittent Fasting Take To Work
How long does intermittent fasting take to work?
Its a very common question asked by weight loss enthusiasts.
In my opinion, intermittent fasting is hands down the best method of weight loss. Its efficacy when it comes to specifically targeting body fat and burning it for energy is unparalleled.
And if you just started intermittent fasting or youre looking into intermittent fasting because you see all these amazing results that people are posting.
You might be wondering, how long does intermittent fasting take to work?
And I can really only speak for myself and the results of my students. And theyre all pretty good.
Personally, it took me 8 weeks to completely transform my body. In the grand scheme of things, thats not a long period of time. And Ive been able to maintain my results ever since.
So I traded 8 weeks during my initial weight loss transformation, and Ive been able to maintain it for 8 years and counting. Pretty good deal if you ask me.
You can also see the results of all my students here.
I always like to say that its not about the weight you lose, but about the life you gain.
So how long does intermittent fasting take to work? Im going to go over that in further detail in this video.
Here’s What You’ll Learn:
Does Intermittent Fasting Have Different Effects On Men And Women
The quick answer is: yes, Intermittent Fasting can affect men and women differently.
Anecdotally, we have many women in our online coaching program that swear by Intermittent Fasting, while others have had adverse effects.
Lets dig into the science and studies.
A recent PubMed summary concluded thatfasting can be prescribed as a safe medical intervention as well as a lifestyle regimen which can improve womens health in many folds .
Now, in that extract, many of the studies cited are focused on specifically calorie restriction , and they also say that future studies should address this gap by designing medically supervised fasting techniques to extract better evidence.
Digging into the PubMed Archives brought me to the following conclusions :
One small study resulted in the following: Glucose response to a meal was slightly impaired in women after 3 weeks of treatment, but insulin response was unchanged. Men had no change in glucose response and a significant reduction in insulin response.
Another small study studied the effects on their menstrual cycles after a 72 hour fast which is significantly longer than any fast recommended in this article: in spite of profound metabolic changes, a 72-hour fast during the follicular phase does not affect the menstrual cycle of normal cycling women..
Precision Nutrition a great resource recommends not attempting Intermittent Fasting as a woman if:
- youre pregnant
- you dont sleep well
- youre new to diet and exercise
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However, more recent research reveals the exact opposite that there are several benefits of intermittent fasting, which is the practice of going extended periods without food. A fasting diet may boost metabolism, improve insulin sensitivity, and help transition your body into a fat-burning state.
Intermittent fasting works similar to a ketogenic diet, depriving your body of glucose to transition to a fat-burning state. Fasting has many health benefits, including weight loss, fat loss, and balanced blood sugar and insulin levels. It might also prevent Alzheimers and chronic diseases, reverse insulin resistance, and lead to a longer lifespan.
Many proponents of fasting say that mentally, fasting is easier to handle than calorie restriction or calorie counting. Intermittent fasting is extremely popular among those following low-carb diets like keto because it helps generate ketones and induce a state of ketosis, which can help you burn fat.
There are multiple approaches to fasting. Youll learn how to do intermittent fasting several different ways, and how it can benefit you based on your goals, lifestyle, and activity level.
