Why When You Eat Matters According To Scientific Research
In a study published in Obesity Journal, researchers randomized 93 overweight and obese women into two groups who ate the same foods. One group ate half their 1,400 daily calories for breakfast. The other group ate half their calories for dinner. While both groups lost weight, compared with the nighttime calorie group, the morning calorie group lost more weight, reduced their waist circumference by more, and lowered their fasting glucose and insulin levels by more.
Timing is everything when it comes to eating, Peeke says. We now realize that we spent so much time studying how much we eat, we never paid enough attention to when we eat.
RELATED: How Do You Tell the Difference Between Good and Bad Carbohydrates?
How Many Days Should You Do I/f
There are no set days as to the number of days you should do intermittent fasting.
As far as I know, a zero diet cant be prolonged for more than 40 days. But intermittent fasting can last longer because there will be few days in the week where you will be eating.
So, that is totally dependent on you and to what extent are you seeing results and how well are you feeling about it.
Related Post ==> How I Lost 22Lbs In 7 Days With Water Fasting.
Intermittent Fasting Can Help Weight Loss
IF makes intuitive sense. The food we eat is broken down by enzymes in our gut and eventually ends up as molecules in our bloodstream. Carbohydrates, particularly sugars and refined grains , are quickly broken down into sugar, which our cells use for energy. If our cells dont use it all, we store it in our fat cells as, well, fat. But sugar can only enter our cells with insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas. Insulin brings sugar into the fat cells and keeps it there.
Between meals, as long as we dont snack, our insulin levels will go down and our fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy. We lose weight if we let our insulin levels go down. The entire idea of IF is to allow the insulin levels to go down far enough and for long enough that we burn off our fat.
Also Check: How Much Weight Can You Lose In 2 Weeks Fasting
Reason : Restricting Calories During Your Eating Window
It seems counterintuitive, but you can sabotage your weight loss by restricting your calories on intermittent fasting.
One of the big problems that some people have when they start IF is they continue to cut back on calories during their eating window.
They figure that this must make intermittent fasting even more effective.
But it doesnt. You need to listen to your body and eat nutritious foods during your eating window until you feel full.
Start tuning into your bodys signals. Your body will tell you when youve had enough food.
Eating until Im satisfied during my eating window is one of my favorite things about intermittent fasting. I never have to count calories, or points or other metrics.
BUT.if you are having a hard time feeling your bodys signals and you cant really tell if youve had enough food, I recommend using a calorie calculator to determine approximately how many calories you should be eating.
You may need to track your calories for a few days if you discover you arent eating enough.
After a few days, your body will get used to your new way of eating and you will intuitively eat as much as you need during your eating window.
To make sure youre not undereating , figure out how many daily calories you should be eating using a calorie calculator and make sure youre eating enough healthy nutrient-dense foods during your eating window.
When Does The Body Oxidize Fat During Fasting
As your intermittent fast progresses, its possible for fat oxidation to occur. This is when your body consumes fuel, especially during athletic pursuits. The fat becomes energy without the need for intermittent fasting. Instead, its all about your level of physical activity.
You can trigger fat oxidation during a fast, too, just that its not always necessary. According to a 2004 study in the journal Nutrition, exercise intensity and duration are important determinants of fat oxidation.
If your intensity of exercise hits an oxygen consumption rate of 59 to 64 percent as an athlete, your fat oxidation is maximized. Even an oxygen consumption rate of 47 to 52 percent should be okay for the general population.
The journal also notes that fat oxidation happens more with certain exercises than others, such as running and endurance training instead of cycling.
What about when youre fasting? Nutrition says this: Ingestion of carbohydrate in the hours before or on commencement of exercise reduces the rate of fat oxidation significantly compared with fasted conditions, whereas fasting longer than 6 h optimizes fat oxidation.
In other words, avoid carbohydrates, since theyre a source of glucose. Also, it takes six hours or more of consistent fasting to maximize the effectiveness of fat oxidation.
Don’t Miss: How To Do Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
Which Intermittent Fasting Is Best For Weight Loss
It would probably be The Warrior Diet .A 20-hour fast is considered to be one of the oldest and most effective methods of fasting. It allows you to eat small portions of certain food types at dinner. During that dinner period, you should also work out. This fasting method provides amazing results, though it is really hard to follow such an extreme eating regime for a longer period of time.The most popular fasting method would be 16:8. Its easy to follow and results can be amazing as well.
What Is 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
The practice of 16/8 intermittent fasting involves limiting your intake of foods and calorie-containing beverages to a set window of 8 hours per day. You abstain from food for the remaining 16 hours, though youre still allowed to drink water and other no-calorie beverages, like plain coffee or tea.
You can repeat this cycle as frequently as youd like from just once or twice per week to every day, depending on your preference.
The popularity of this fasting method has grown widely among those looking to lose weight and burn fat. 16/8 intermittent fasting is also believed to improve blood sugar control and enhance longevity.
While other diets often set strict rules, 16/8 intermittent fasting is easy to follow and may provide measurable results with minimal disruption to your diet. Its generally considered less restrictive and more flexible than many other diets and works with most lifestyles.
Summary
With 16/8 intermittent fasting, you restrict your food intake to an 8-hour window and fast for the remaining 16 hours. This practice may support weight loss, improve blood sugar, and increase longevity.
It is simple, safe, and sustainable to do 16/8 intermittent fasting.
Also Check: What To Do When Fasting For God
What Is Intermittent Fasting And Why Would You Do It
Intermittent fasting is not a diet, it’s a pattern of eating. It’s a way of scheduling your meals so that you get the most out of them. Intermittent fasting doesnt change what you eat, it changes when you eat.
Why is it worthwhile to change when youre eating?
Well, most notably, its a great way to get lean without going on a crazy diet or cutting your calories down to nothing. In fact, most of the time you’ll try to keep your calories the same when you start intermittent fasting. Additionally, intermittent fasting is a good way to keep muscle mass on while getting lean.
With all that said, the main reason people try intermittent fasting is to lose fat. We’ll talk about how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss in a moment.
Perhaps most importantly, intermittent fasting is one of the simplest strategies we have for taking bad weight off while keeping good weight on because it requires very little behavior change. This is a very good thing because it means intermittent fasting falls into the category of simple enough that you’ll actually do it, but meaningful enough that it will actually make a difference.
Move Your Exercise Routine
Alright, you already have an exercise routine that you follow. You have no reason to change the way you train, its a perfect fit for you. Then why not try and move when you exercise?
A study was conducted to look at the effect of time of day on performance, hormonal, and metabolic response. The participants where amateur cyclists of an average age of 31.
They either performed a 1000 m TT at 8 am or 6 pm. The time of day massively affected insulin, cortisol, norepinephrine, and testosterone concentration. They were all way higher in the morning.
This resulted in more mobilized fat, increased release of fatty acids in the morning, and, overall, more fat burning.
You might think you have to train in the morning to burn fat, but evening workouts also have advantages. The optimal body temperature of strength training is around 4 pm to 9 pm.
And during this time window, your body will actually be at his higher temperature. This will improve joint mobility, glucose metabolism, and muscular blood flow, which will improve muscle activation.
Were simply stronger when our bodys core temparature peaks.
In my complete guide on muscle building and fasting, I mentioned that you should ideally work out right before breaking a fast.
When you fast, youll increase insulin sensitivity. When you break the fast, insulin levels will peak. Insulin is a key hormone to muscle growth, by activating certain anabolic pathways such as mTor and promoting muscle growth through IGF-1.
Read Also: Will Fasting Get Rid Of Belly Fat
Make The Calories Count
Not all calories are the same. Although these fasting methods do not set restrictions on how many calories a person should consume when fasting, it is essential to consider the nutritional value of the food.
In general, a person should aim to consume nutrient-dense food, or food with a high number of nutrients per calorie. Though a person may not have to abandon junk food entirely, they should still practice moderation and focus on more healthful options to gain the most benefits.
Fasting has several effects on a persons body. These effects include:
- Reducing levels of insulin, which makes it easier for the body to use stored fat.
- Lowering blood sugars, blood pressure, and inflammation levels.
- Changing the expression of certain genes, which helps the body protect itself from disease as well as promoting longevity.
- Dramatically increases human growth hormone, or HGH, which helps the body utilize body fat and grow muscle.
- The body activates a healing process doctors call autophagy, which essentially means that the body digests or recycles old or damaged cell components.
Fasting dates back to ancient humans who often went hours or days between meals as obtaining food was difficult. The human body adapted to this style of eating, allowing extended periods to pass between food intake times.
Research also shows fasting to be beneficial for the management of metabolic syndrome and diabetes,
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work
There are several different ways to do intermittent fasting, but they are all based on choosing regular time periods to eat and fast. For instance, you might try eating only during an eight-hour period each day and fast for the remainder. Or you might choose to eat only one meal a day two days a week. There are many different intermittent fasting schedules.
Mattson says that after hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar stores and starts burning fat. He refers to this as metabolic switching.
Intermittent fasting contrasts with the normal eating pattern for most Americans, who eat throughout their waking hours, Mattson says. If someone is eating three meals a day, plus snacks, and theyre not exercising, then every time they eat, theyre running on those calories and not burning their fat stores.
Intermittent fasting works by prolonging the period when your body has burned through the calories consumed during your last meal and begins burning fat.
Read Also: What Type Of Intermittent Fasting Is Best For Me
How Does Intermittent Fasting Help You Lose Weight
Shorter eating windows is what make intermittent fasting an effective weight loss aid. Since youre eating in a smaller window of time, this can help you reduce your calorie intake if you dont overcompensate by eating more than needed. Eating fewer calories is what could ultimately help you lose weight over time.
What Is Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is an effective way to burn fat, lose weight, and improve health. However, it is not a diet.
Rather, its a way of eating that tells you when to eat, not what to eat.
With IF, there is no calorie counting or carb counting.
Instead of dietary limitations, intermittent fasting places limits on your eating time.
It gives you a specific window of time to eat and fast.
Its pretty much an eating schedule with a fasting period integrated.
Read Also: Does Intermittent Fasting Help With Weight Loss
Stoking The Fire For Long
Weight loss is a top priority health goal for many of us. While intermittent fasting or nutrient restriction is often an effective way of achieving weight loss, there are other lifestyle factors that are key to maintaining your metabolic health long-term. These include things like exercise, adequate sleep and stress management.
You can help your body accelerate and maintain weight loss and your broader health with the following lifestyle interventions that complement fasting.
1. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
2. Exercise. While exercise is often not in and of itself a sufficient intervention for achieving weight loss, it health impacts go far beyond weight. Physical activity and structured exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight and prevent metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Exercise preserves your bone strength and cognitive function as you age. It also makes your body and brain better able to handle stress with adaptation responses such as increased production of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory factors. You can effectively improve your heart health and prevent chronic diseases including obesity with 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity. National recommendations for physical activity also include two days per week muscle-strengthening activity.
3. Maintain a balanced diet.
4. Avoid added sugars. and other simple carbohydrates
+ Ways To Break A Weight
A plateau doesnt only occur with weight loss, it will happen in many other aspects of your body , simply because your body adapts. After a few months of intermittent fasting, you might reach a plateau and feel unable to lose more weight, but there are many ways to break a weight loss plateau.
To break a plateau on intermittent fasting, you need to stress your body, just like you would stress your muscles when working out. It has adapted to your eating pattern and diet. Its not all about eating less or less often, sometimes eating more, getting carbs, taking a break in intermittent fasting, can have a huge effect on a plateau.
But first, what exactly happens in your body when you reach a plateau and are there effects specific to intermittent fasting that you should take into account?
Also Check: How Intermittent Fasting Burns Fat
If You’re Not Losing Weight While On This Diet Plan You May Be Making One Of These Common Errors Said Nutritionist Preety Tyagi
Intermittent fasting is fast becoming one of the most common weight-loss strategies. This diet plan is unique in that it does not limit ones food choices and mainly focuses on what and when you eat. Some studies have even shown it to be a healthy way to lose weight and belly fat. It is believed to also help enhance metabolic health and extend lifespan in addition to weight loss.
However, it has not worked for some people. This may be because they are not adhering to the basic measures correctly, said Preety Tyagi, lead health coach, nutritionist, and founder of MY22BMI.
Below, she lists some such basic measures:
Not eating efficient portions
You are not considering portion sizes. That means you may be fasting for long intervals but when you start eating, you consume food without considering portion sizes. That wont work in your favour, especially when you are trying to lose weight. It may even spoil your metabolic rate. So, stick to small portion sizes when you eat.
Consuming high-calorie food
What Is The 1: 8 Diet
The 16:8 diet is a type of intermittent fasting where you break each day into two parts a 16 hour stretch and an 8 hour period. For 16 hours every day, you consume nothing but water, coffee, tea and other unsweetened drinks. Then for the other eight hours of the day, you can eat all your meals and snacks.
The 16 hour stretch sounds like a long time, but if youre getting enough sleep, you should be asleep for about half of that time.
Sports Scientist Harry Aitken tells GoodtoKnow, Intermittent fasting is a dietary technique in which all food is consumed within a relatively small window of time. Fasting is going for a significant period of time without eating, and intermittent fasting simply brings in a small window of time where you are able to eat.
Intermittent fasting has been popularised and studies have gone on to confirm that it leads to weight loss and fat loss.
The 16:8 diet stems from the book 8 Hour Diet by author David Zinczenko and editor-in-chief of Mens Health Peter Moore, who suggested that a longer fasting time between eating gives the body the time it needs to process the food and burn away extra fat.
Also Check: Does Intermittent Fasting Work To Lose Weight
