Intermittent Fasting Without Keto: Why It Works
Many people turn to intermittent fasting and the keto diet for weight loss. Why? Because these two methods are much more sustainable than calorie restriction long-term, but can you benefit from intermittent fasting without eating keto, or do you need to do both to achieve the best results? Find out in todays blog post.
Recommended Reading: Can You Drink While Intermittent Fasting
How Intermittent Fasting Works
Intermittent fasting is the method of cycling between periods of fasting and eating. When you increase the time between mealswhat is known as a fasting windowyou force your body to rely on stored fuel for energy. Burning that stored fuel can help your body manage weight, stabilize blood sugar, and improve metabolism, among other benefits. Read more about.
While there can be benefits and the science behind IF is growing, it is still a somewhat controversial approach and is not recommended for those with eating disorders or those who are pregnant or nursing. As with starting any new diet or exercise routine, consult with your doctor or healthcare provider for guidance on whether intermittent fasting is right for you.
Day Carb Cycling Meal Plan: 1200
$39.99
28 Days of on Target, Easy to Follow Meals so you can:
Lose Weight
Learn Macros
Burn Fat
Theres evidence that low-carb diets and carb cycling can help women, when done right, especially those in perimenopause or menopause, to achieve weight loss goals, improved blood sugar control, better quality sleep and reduced menopause symptoms like hot flashes or night sweats.
Jumpstart your metabolism with carb cycling! This 4 week meal plan is what every person starting carb cycling needs for success. Put together by a licensed dietician and approved by me! Carb cycling is one of the methods that helped me shed over 30 lbs in just a few months AND keep it off! See whats included
You May Like: Which Intermittent Fasting Is Best For Weight Loss
Keto Guide To Intermittent Fasting
Updated Oct 4th, 2021 Written by Craig Clarke
Intermittent fasting has become an immensely popular dieting strategy. Although it may seem like another diet fad, there are several reasons why skipping meals can be so helpful for many of us.
The first is that intermittent fasting can help you bust through weight loss plateaus. Down to those last couple of pounds, or been stuck at the same number for weeks? Give this a try.
The other reasons are for the sheer health benefits of fasting. Better metabolic adaptions, improved muscle growth and synthesis, and improved responses to post workout meals when you work out. Even longer life spans have been shown in worms yeah, I know its only worms, but still!
Its also shown to boost mental clarity and give more focus during the day.
And this is just a brief overview of what the research on fasting has found. For an in-depth look at the benefits of intermittent fasting, you can head over to the more scientific post I did on it over here.
On the other hand, If you are looking for a meal plan, shopping list, and other practical strategies thatll help you experience the benefits of the keto diet and fasting at the same time, continue reading below.
Too Much High Impact Exercise
Everybody knows exercise and incorporating a lot of movement in your routine is very beneficial for our health and generally highly recommended. But too much exercise, especially if they are high-impact, can actually cause more oxidative stress and inflammation.
A much better idea is to go for low-impact exercises that are restorative. Some examples would be pilates or yoga that focuses on breathing, giving an overall sense of calm.
You can check out my video for Flow Yoga with instructor Henry Richardson, to get inspired in your workout routine.
Read Also: How To Eat On Intermittent Fasting
This Can Be A Very Low
Keeping your carb count near 20 reduces your calorie consumption too. Carb-heavy foods are some of the most calorie-dense foods we eat, mainly because we eat a lot of them. If you cut carbs, you dramatically reduce your possible calorie intake.
Some days, I struggled to get over 1,200 calories. For my goal of 1,800 calories, I fell short almost every day. That’s enough of a calorie deficit to produce weight loss, even without the low-carb count.
Keto Can Fuel And Protect Fasting
Studies show that intermittent fasting can increase the production of stem cells in the intestines, muscles, and brain. At the same time, IF preserves the ability for stem cells to regenerate independently in the long term.
Yet ending a fast with sugary processed foods can lead to precancerous lesions and increased cancerous activityespecially in the intestines and liver.
Combining intermittent fasting with a high-fat, low-carb keto diet fertilizes the fresh crop of new cells with energy-packed ketones, while protecting them from the damage wrought by carbs and insulin.
Recommended Reading: Why Does Intermittent Fasting Work For Weight Loss
Intermittent Fasting And A Low
Low-carb practitioners might notice the intermittent fasting stage of ketosis arrives quicker when paired with reduced carbohydrates.
Because your body breaks down fat cells during ketosis, its one of the best methods to lose weight and fat permanently. And, combining a low-carb keto diet with intermittent fasting is a way to achieve ketosis even faster.
In particular, this is because your body retains less glucose from carbs for energy, and as such, must burn fat instead entering ketosis and boosting your metabolism with the production of ketones.
Why Do People Practice Carb Cycling
Intelligently mapping your carbohydrate intake against your training schedule is a great way to promote weight loss or muscle gain. Its a very subjective and goal-oriented diet, and people tend to go into it with these two objectives in mind.
The link between carb consumption and weight regulation is well established . Controlling the amount of carbs your body turns to for energy is a very efficient way to burn fat, build muscle, and lose weight. Hence the popularity of keto and other low carb diets.
However, certain carbs are good for you. Theyre also delicious. Carb cycling is a way of enjoying the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet on certain days while reaping the rewards of eating the right kind of carbs on other days.
Recommended Reading: Do I Have To Diet While Intermittent Fasting
Why Combining Intermittent Fasting With Keto Has Become Popular For Weight Loss
Doing keto or IF can help with weight loss in the short term, though each diet is very restrictive, so they certainly arent for everyone.
But how about combining them? Could two be better than one?
First, in some experts view, it does make sense to pair the two approaches. The keto diet increases levels of ketones in the body during times of fasting, ketones are also increased. The brain will rely less on glucose for energy when in a state of nutritional ketosis. Therefore, the transition into a fasted state during the day eventually becomes seamless after eating low-carb or ketogenic for a few weeks, says Dominic DAgostino, PhD, associate professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa and founder of KetoNutrition.org.
This is a strategy that practitioners counsel patients on at the Cleveland Clinics Functional Ketogenics Program. Adding intermittent fasting can take things up to the next level, says the Clinics Logan Kwasnicka, a certified physician assistant at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. That next level may be overcoming a weight loss plateau, as people may eat fewer calories when doing IF. It can also be a natural progression from a keto diet for those who feel satiated eating so much fat and arent bothered by shrinking their eating window.
RELATED: 8 Steps Beginners Should Take Before Trying the Keto Diet
Colorbond Raised Garden Beds
2. Intermediate Diet Plan: This plan incorporates intermittentfasting and is similar to what Terry Crews does – by eating all your calories within a 6-8 window. 3. Advanced Diet Plan: In this plan, you will also go 1-2 days per week where you only eat once per day. Serve alongside some of your favorite veggies roasted in coconut oil for a quick and easy meal to end your intermittentfasting. Ingredients: 250 grams of tuna or other fish of your choice. Two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice … With this weekly intermittentfastingplan, you will be eating only between 12 pm and 8 pm for 12 hours of fasting.
7-Day Intermittent Fasting Keto Meal Plan. Ok, as I promised, you can download a free 7-Day Intermittent Fasting Keto Meal Plan pdf file. You will be fasting for 16 hours each day, which means you wonât be having breakfast. You can have lunch around noon, dinner around 7 pm, and a snack around 3 pm if you are hungry and need more calories.
Read Also: How Many Hours Can You Eat During Intermittent Fasting
Additional Tips For Intermittent Fasting
- Strive for 12-16 calorie-free hours.
- Avoid snacking between meals and at night to let your body burn fat between meals.
- Stay active throughout the day to help build muscle.
- Drink water or a calorie-free electrolyte beverage during fasting times to help you stay hydrated and reduce cravings and hunger.
- If coffee or tea is part of your normal routine, you can consume them during your fasting period.
- Dont binge after fasting, eat to satiety, but dont overdo it.
- Ride out the hunger periods, they will pass!
Learn more healthy tips, find inspiration and motivation, and connect with our online community when you start your Atkins journey today. For more information on intermittent fast, check out our intro to intermittent fasting and these Atkins-approved IF meal plans.
1 Before starting IF, consult with your doctor or healthcare provider for guidance on whether IF is right for you.
Benefits Of Keto Diet
With its soaring popularity, keto has received a lot of attention from researchers. Though the science is still coming out, clinical studies have already found that keto can provide numerous benefits including:
- Improved blood lipid levels.
- Make meals more satiating, reducing cravings for processed and high-carb foods
- Regulates inflammation and increases immunity
- Helps your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins .
- Protects the glycocalyx the membrane that covers the surface of every cell, responsible for overall health, and is easily damaged by sugar intake.
You May Like: The Best Fasting For Weight Loss
What To Eat During Intermittent Fasting
A popular misconception is that you can allow yourself to eat anything while doing Intermittent Fasting, including fast food, sugary and highly processed dishes. If your goal is to lose weight, improve productivity and simply get healthier, it is essential to stick to healthy meals.
This means eating whole foods and avoiding the usual suspects such as sugar, processed foods, empty carbs, etc.
The type of diet you choose is up to you as long it is balanced and fits your lifestyle. For many, Keto Diet has proven to be a great supplement to Intermittent Fasting, as it may help you burn more fat.
If you are still not sure how to implement a new healthier diet to support your Intermittent Fasting goals and make your Intermittent Fasting journey easier?
Great news together with a professional dietitian, we have prepared a balanced 21-Day Intermittent Fasting meal plan . You can choose meal plans based on your gender, age, physical activity and diet .
Should You Skip Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Thats what conventional wisdom says, anyway.
The validity of this wisdom depends on a few factors, including your goals. If your goal is weight loss, breakfast might not be helping.
For example, one review of the literature found that the addition of breakfast probably doesnt aid in weight loss efforts. Another study, however, found that women who skipped breakfast had higher cortisol and blood pressure than breakfast eaters.
Why this effect? Possibly because breakfast can enhance the circadian rhythm, our 24-hour wake-sleep cycle. Eating in the AM hours helps stimulate melatonin production at night to support restful sleep, which carries over into every aspect of health.
The bottom line is that skipping breakfast works for some people, but not others. Youll have to experiment.
Don’t Miss: Is Fasting Good For Health
When I Got Home From My Trip I Started Researching Nutrition And Macros
I bought a food scale and began tracking every single thing I was eating into MyFitnessPal. Id tried a strict keto diet a few years before but found it was too limiting for me to stick with long-term. Im humanI like fruit and decadent meals, and I love chips and salsa. I knew I needed to follow an eating plan that had more flexibility.
So, I decided to start messing with my macro ratios. I found if I could slowly start reducing my carb intake, healthy eating felt more manageable. I started by cutting obvious carbs like rice, pasta, and bread. Then, I began being more wary of my sugar intake, as well as that of other high-carb foods.
Why Low Carb And Fasting Work Well Together
Video | Insulin and Fat Storage | Food Choices | Low Carb + Fasting Advantage
Following a low-carb diet puts your body in a hormonal state that favors fat burning. Intermittent fasting also puts your body in a hormonal state that favors fat burning. When you combine the two, you give body fat a one-two punch and accelerate your results. In this post, I explain how it works.
Dont Miss: How Much Can You Lose On Intermittent Fasting
Also Check: What Is 18 6 Fasting
Keto Diet Vs Intermittent Fasting
The main difference between the keto diet and intermittent fasting is that the keto diet or ketogenic diet means having food that has low carbs and a high fat count. On the other hand, intermittent fasting means eating food at a specific interval time or not eating fold at all and fasting.
A keto diet is a type of diet plan or practice followed by people who consume low carb levels. These carbs include sugar, soda, white bread, pastries, etc. The entire diet plan is based on the process of ketosis that takes place in the human body.
Intermittent fasting is one of the worlds most popular trends that are followed by people mainly for weight loss. This trend includes consuming food at alternate intervals of time. One has to do fasting at decided intervals of time and has to eat food in the decided time itself. Many studies have concluded that intermittent fasting helps in weight loss, and it also helps in improving metabolic health.
Recommended Reading: What Is Intermittent Fasting To Lose Weight
Intermittent Fasting Carb Cycle Featured Diet
If you follow me on social media, you know that I keep my body photo shoot ready at all times. I stand just over 6 feet tall and weigh around 215 pounds with 4%-5% body fat. I maintain that year round despite being on the road almost as many days as Im home. Most people are shocked that Im able to maintain all my muscle mass and stay so lean while living in hotels, eating at restaurants and making my way around the globe via planes, trains and automobiles.
But I have a secret. Its my diet. Yet its not really a diet. Its a lifestyle.
I call it Intermittent Fasting Carb Cycle. It allows me to live on the road and stay shredded to the bone without much effort and with very few dietary restrictions.
Thing is, Im a big time foodie. I love donuts, among other delicious and not-so healthy foods. My IF Carb Cycle diet allows me to eat most foods, within reason, and of course, within a certain time. Some weeks, I may have donuts three days or more!
Obviously, theres no true way to eat whatever you want, whenever you want it, and still achieve impressive physique and fitness results. But you can get pretty close with just a little bit of discipline. And my IF Carb Cycle is just the discipline you need.
What is IF?
The Science of Intermittent Fasting
IF Convenience
If science-backed benefits on your health, physique and performance arent compelling enough, consider this practical selling point of IF: convenience.
Hunger and Perspective
IF Meets Carb Cycling
You May Like: Can You Take Vitamins While Intermittent Fasting
The Benefits Of Pairing Keto Plus Intermittent Fasting
Now that you can see the similarities between keto and intermittent fasting, youre probably wondering, What happens when I combine these two metabolic powerhouses?
All the benefits of IF are increased if you also pay attention to what you eat during the eating window, explains Bowden.
Keto is known to accomplish many of the same goals goals so adhering to a keto way of eating during your eating window is a terrific way to accelerate your results, Bowden says. Heres what you might experience:
Also Check: What Fasting Plan Is Best For Me
If You Need To Lose Weight A Diet That Focuses Mainly On When You Eat May Be A Good Way To Shed Pounds And Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
Anyone whos tried different weight-lossdiets is probably familiar with their pitfalls. Low-calorie diets often leave you tired, hungry, and cranky. Low-carb or keto diets can cause cravings and constipation. Low-fat diets are also tough to follow and, contrary to popular belief, they do not seem to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Another diet trend, intermittent fasting, takes a different approach. Rather than limiting what you eat, this diet limits when you eat . For some people, that change may be easier to manage, says Dr. Eric Rimm, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Short-term studies suggest that people stick to intermittent fasting diets as well as or better than they do to other diets. And according to a 2019 review article in the journal Nutrients, intermittent fasting promotes weight loss and may reduce risk factors linked to heart disease, including diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy blood lipid levels, and inflammation.
However, we dont have much evidence about how well this diet works over the long term, says Dr. Rimm, noting that there are just two long-term studies of intermittent fasting, each lasting a year. Nor are there large populations of people whove followed this eating pattern for years. Thats in contrast to two other diets linked to a healthy heart and healthy body size the Mediterranean diet and a vegetarian diet.
Also Check: Glucose Test When Pregnant Fasting
Don’t Miss: What Times To Eat For Intermittent Fasting
