How To Intermittent Fasting 16 8

How Does Fasting Work

When fed, the primary energy source in the body is glucose , which signals insulin secretion.

When fasting, the sugar levels drop, which causes insulin to drop as well. This signals starvation mode and causes the cells to utilize their storage of fatty acids . So what does this mean? The fed-fast cycle forces your body to use up its fat storage, and that is why numerous studies on intermittent fasting showed some degree of weight loss and fat mass loss .

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.

Intermittent Fasting: 2 People Try 1: 8 Method For 1 Month

Youve probably heard of intermittent fasting, the diet plan where you don’t eat for periods of time. It sounds like torture to most, but a lot of people have experienced weight-loss success thanks to this method.

There are a few ways to try it, one of the most popular is the 16:8 regimen: 16 hours of fasting with an 8-hour period where you can eat. Intermittent fasting, or IF, has been linked to multiple health benefits, including reduced inflammation in the brain and reduced blood pressure. Though experts warn that it could encourage binge eating and extreme dieting.

So what is like to actually try it? TODAY asked two NBC Universal employees to document their journeys on intermittent fasting for a whole month.

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What Can You Eat On The 1: 8 Diet

This diet isnt suggesting you cram all the food you can into 8 hours. You need to make sure youre eating a balance of fat busting and health boosting foods. Experts have suggest making sure you get a balance of lean meat, eggs, dairy, vegetables, nuts and beans each day.

Make sure to eat a balanced diet.

Tom said, Many people fail the 16:8 diet by packing in too many calories into the 8 hour period, often trying to get some in before the 8 hours ends. You should still be following a strict diet with a complete nutritional breakdown, to ensure you are consuming a targeted number of calories, not to mention macro nutrients and ensuring youre not consuming too much sugar.

Examples Of Different Intermittent Fasting Schedules

If youre considering giving fasting a shot, there are a few different options for working it into your lifestyle.

Daily Intermittent Fasting

Most of the time, I follow the Leangains model of intermittent fasting, which uses a 16hour fast followed by an 8hour eating period. This model of daily intermittent fasting was popularized by Martin Berkhan of Leangains.com, which is where the name originated.

It doesn’t matter when you start your 8hour eating period. You can start at 8am and stop at 4pm. Or you start at 2pm and stop at 10pm. Do whatever works for you. I tend to find that eating around 1pm and 8pm works well because those times allow me to eat lunch and dinner with friends and family. Breakfast is typically a meal that I eat on my own, so skipping it isn’t a big deal.

Because daily intermittent fasting is done every day it becomes very easy to get into the habit of eating on this schedule. Right now, you’re probably eating around the same time every day without thinking about it. Well, with daily intermittent fasting it’s the same thing, you just learn to not eat at certain times, which is remarkably easy.

Weekly Intermittent Fasting

One of the best ways to get started with intermittent fasting is to do it once per week or once per month. The occasional fast has been shown to lead to many of the benefits of fasting we’ve already talked about, so even if you don’t use it to cut down on calories consistently there are still many other health benefits of fasting.

Also Check: How To Use Fasting For Weight Loss

Making It Work For You

For some people, aspects of intermittent fasting may be a great way to control how many calories you consume.

• If you often find yourself mindlessly overeating in the evening, setting an eight-hour window to eat within may help stop this happening. Make a point of not eating after dinner and waiting until the next day to eat again. If you follow the 16:8, for example, that would be eating dinner at 6pm and waiting until 10am the next day to eat again.
• If you find it hard to cut out complete food groups or certain favourites, the 5:2 diet means you can still enjoy these on your normal eating days .
• During normal eating periods, make sure you eat a healthy, balanced diet dont just overeat on junk food.

Popular Ways To Do Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting has recently become a health trend. Devotees claim it can cause weight loss, improve metabolic health, and maybe even extend life span.

Every method can be effective, but figuring out which one works best depends on the individual.

Several methods of this eating pattern exist. But before embarking on an intermittent fast or deciding how often to fast, you should speak with a healthcare professional.

Here are 6 popular ways to do intermittent fasting.

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What Are The Benefits Of 1: 8 Intermittent Fasting

You’ve already seen how easy it is to follow this routine, along with how flexible and sustainable it is going forward for virtually any lifestyle.

Looking at the eating schedules, it’s also relatively convenient and cost-efficient because it reduces the amount of time and money you’ll need to put into cooking and preparing your food every week. Eat less, spend less!

As for the health benefits, studies have shown that 16:8 Intermittent Fasting can result in the following improvements to your body:

How Often Can You Do Intermittent Fasting

This also up to you. There are no set rules on how often you can do intermittent fasting for. You can have an initial phase where you hit your goals after a couple of weeks. Then have a break for say 3 months and eat the routine way for the 3 months.

Then, re-start intermittent fasting again for another 3 months, have a break for 3 months and do the same thing again.

You can use a 2 month ON, 2 months OFF model, 4 months ON, 4 months OFF . Do this repeatedly. No rigid rules about how often you can fast intermittently.

If the question is about how often to fast during the week, it would depend on the IF plan you adopt. The 5:2 requires you to fast 2 days a week . Alternate day fasting is as the name suggests, every other day.

The 2 days you fast in the 5:2 plan are not actually a total fast. It only requires you to hold back on your calories to 500 Calories for those 2 days.

The true 24-hour fast may require you to do this twice or three times a week, if you can handle that frequency.

If you cant, even one day a week is okay until you get comfortable with it and you can then try 2 days a week.

Even one day a week is certainly better than what you are currently doing. It will still work. Its just going to take longer.

So, if you want to know how many weeks to do intermittent fasting, all I can say is theres no one size fits all approach.

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How Much Weight Can You Lose On The 16/8 Diet

If youre fasting 16 hours a day its important to match fasting with healthy eating and exercise. If you follow this, there is a typical weight loss of around 7 to 11 pounds over a ten-week period.

According to a review published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, someone weighing just over 90 kg would lose 5% of their total body weight in the ten-week period.

On the other hand, some studies have demonstrated that theres no difference between people who do intermittent fasting compared to those who count calories and cut back.

16/8 intermittent fasting method can help you to lose weight, but you must know that losing weight is not something that comes by following one diet or not eating some kind of food. To lose weight you should change your lifestyle.

Changing what you eat, more exercise, less stress. It is not so simple, but yes 16/8 fasting can definitely help you with your weight loss goals.

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Is Fasting 16 Hours A Day Healthy

Forms of intermittent fasting like the 16:8 diet rely on the concept that fasting reduces oxidative stress on the body, which can decrease inflammation and the risk of chronic diseases.

Its also theorized that fasting gives your vital organs, digestive and absorptive hormones, and metabolic functions a break, according to a recent study published in Cell Metabolism. Since our bodies secrete insulin to help our cells absorb sugar, fasting is linked to reducing our susceptibility to insulin resistance over time.

However, research has also linked fasting to increases in LDL cholesterol . Intermittent fasting can make you feel dizzy and nauseated and cause periods of low-blood sugar and dehydration. Despite the fact that most 16:8 enthusiasts drink water during fasting periods, it may not be enough .

I also have a much deeper concern about the disordered eating behaviors that may arise from intermittent fasting. Research shows that fasting for a period of time followed by a limited window for eating primes you to overeat. It’s a cycle that can be difficult to get out of because it impairs our body’s natural hunger cues and metabolism. Restricted eating may also lead to an increased risk of depression and anxiety.

Recommended Dosage Active Amounts Other Details

Simply allocate a 16-hour window in the day that you will abstain from calories completely. Many choose their window to be from around 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. the following day, but its just as possible to eat earlier in the day and stop eating earlier.

In fact, insulin sensitivity tends to be better in the morning, so having an early eating window may be preferable for some people, although many opt to eat later in the day because its more conducive with social eating. Adherence to these protocols is typically easier for people who have familial support, and for some the practice becomes easier with time.

Generally speaking, water, tea, seltzer, and coffee are considered permissible to eat during the fasting window. While other things such as chewing gum, exogenous ketones, MCT oil, supplements, apple cider vinegar, and artificial sweeteners are hotly debated, a good rule of thumb is that if the product has more than 5-10 kcal then it should be avoided until the fasting window ends.

Its simple: dont consume anything except for water, coffee, or tea for 16 continuous hours, and then eat freely for the remaining 8 hours.

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Drink Your Way Out Of The Fasting Window

I find this the most clever trick I learned to sustain long fasting periods that go up to 72 hours.

While you play fasting, you need to master your drinking game. I came to learn these tricks to keep your stomach and brain busy during the first days of longer fasting until you get used to it.

• Always have something there to drink.
• Drink something between 2 and 3 liters of water a day.
• Spice up your natural water with a sparkling one or with a lemon slice and mint.
• Rediscover tea. Find about all different kinds of tea options in the market.
• Discover different tricks to make your black coffee taste better sprinkles of cinnamon, iced coffee, Himalayan salt. A pro-tip: fasting is an excellent chance to reduce your caffeine intake. So try going down to 2 cups maximum a day.

What Are The Benefits Of 1: 8

Following a 16:8 time-restricted eating protocol seems to be a viable tool for reducing body weight and body fat, with and without caloric restriction. Some studies have found that 16:8 can preferentially reduce fat mass while sparing muscle, but further research is still required to confirm this. At worst, this limited evidence suggests this protocol can be about as effective as standard dieting, and potentially psychologically easier for some people.

16:8 time-restricted eating can be psychologically easier than other types of dietary restriction. It may have some unique metabolic benefits, but those findings arent as clear.

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Isnt Fasting The Same As Reducing Calories

No, not necessarily. Fasting can reduce the time you spend eating and primarily addresses the question of when to eat.62 Calorie reduction addresses the question of what and how much to eat. They are separate issues and should not be confused with each other.

Fasting may reduce calories but its benefits extend far beyond that.63Learn more

How To Get Started 16/8 Intermittent Fasting

16/8 intermittent fasting is simple, safe, and surprisingly easy to get started with.

Just pick an 8-hour feeding window, eat 1-3 nourishing meals within that window, and abstain from anything except coffee and water the rest of the time.

The most popular 8-hour window is 12 pm to 8 pm. That said, 16/8 fasting is highly flexible.

You can structure it around your work schedule, workout schedule, or family time. You can eat from 12-8 on weekdays and switch things up to 8-4 or 2-10 on the weekends.

Others opt to eat between 9 am and 5 pm, which allows them to have a more standard breakfast, lunch, and early dinner. This type of circadian eating is thought to be good for digestion.

IF becomes even easier if you already skip breakfast. Youll just need to refrain from snacking or drinking calorie-containing beverages outside of your preferred 8-hour window.

Most people find that their body adjusts to 16/8 fasting within a few days, after which the fast becomes surprisingly hunger-free.

Filling up on superfoods during your eating window can boost satiety enough to make your daily fast even easier. Consider including a nice balance of animal-based fats and proteins in each meal.

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How To Avoid High Stress Hormones

Avoiding the cortisol increase that accompanies fasting can be done by many of the same things we mentioned above.

Drinking coffee with some clean-burning MCT oil or coconut oil mixed in may well be enough to help your body transition with a minimum of stress.

Partaking in gentle activities, like swimming or yoga, may also get your mind off of food and your body into fat-burning mode.

Drinks To Avoid While Fasting

It is always good to avoid drinks with sugar and artificial sweeteners. There isnt a rule that says you cant drink soda, juice, or milkshake during your eating window, but when it comes to your fasting period there are some drinks that you must avoid.

During your fasting time you should avoid:

• Diet soda
• Juice
• Coconut water
• Alcohol

Two main things that you need to remember for drinks while fasting is to make sure you are drinking enough fluids and to avoid drinks that contain calories.

Caloric drinks like juices, smoothies, diet soda can be consumed during your eating window, but if you can it is best to stick to water, tea, coffee, or mineral water.

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Hoda Kotb Explains How She’s Doing Intermittent Fasting

My only trouble was really on the weekends, when I’m making breakfast for my kids. And my husband likes to eat breakfast, so that’s where it became a problem for me, she said.

As a result, Muskal found that avoiding the kitchen while her family ate breakfast was easier.

I felt like I didn’t want to be in the kitchen in the morning. So I sort of lost that time with them, she admitted.

Intermittent Fasting And Working Out

Fasting and exercise dont always mix because theyre both stressors. In this chapter, well dig into what science tells us about intermittent fasting and exercise, how to balance your workout schedule with your fasting schedule, and when to do low intensity, high intensity, and active recovery workouts.

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