One of the best ways for anyone to lose weight is to do intermittent fasting. With intermittent fasting, you won’t shock your body like you would when you go on a crash diet, but you’ll also eat less. You’ll still be able to eat, but you won’t be eating as much as before.
If you’re interested in weight loss with intermittent fasting, then here are a few tips to get you started:
What Intermittent Fasting Is and How It Works
Now, just to give you an idea, intermittent fasting is when you choose which meals to fast or skip. For instance, you can skip breakfast and eat other meals. This is just one of the methods you can use to intermittent fast. We’ll mention more of the methods later on.
That said, you might be wondering how this can help you lose weight. Well, as mentioned, you’ll eat less calories, so obviously you won’t add more excess fat to your body. Other than that, intermittent fasting can help you control hormones that aid in weight loss. First off, less eating means lower levels of insulin in the body. If you have lower levels of insulin, you can lose weight faster. The less you eat, the more human growth hormones you produce which can help in weight loss.
The Three Techniques to Weight Loss With Intermittent Fasting
Typically, there are three techniques to weight loss with intermittent fasting. These are the 5:2 diet method, the 16/8 method, and the eat stop eat method. Let’s go through them one by one:
- 5:2 Diet
The first type is known as the 5:2 diet. Basically, the 5:2 diet is the ratio of how much you should eat in a period of time. The 5:2 diet suggests that you should eat 500 calories for 2 days in one week while the other 5 days is a normal diet. Now, this fasting method is the best if you have a hard time breaking into diets. It’s pretty easy because you only need to fast 2 times a week.
- 16/8 Method
The 16/8 is a little more difficult than the 5:2 diet. Basically, this one suggests that you skip breakfast every day and start eating at 12 pm and 8 pm. So, you’ll pretty much follow the same meal schedule as before but without breakfast. You can take some juice in the morning if you need something in your stomach.
- Eat Stop Eat Method
This fasting method is a bit difficult to do but still possible if you have the discipline and the willpower. To do this method, you just need to do two 24 hour fasts each week. This means that you will be skipping meals for a whole 24 hours twice a week. You can decide what days you’ll want to fast.
Now that you know the methods, all you have to do is choose which one suits you best.
Extra Tips to Intermittent Fasting
Before you begin your intermittent fasting journey, here are a few extra tips you may want to take note of:
- Eat a Balanced Meal
When we say a balanced meal, this means the right amount of fruits, veggies, meat, poultry, and other healthy things in the food pyramid. Make sure you eat all the healthy foods that your body needs and avoid sugar as well as processed food.
- Set a Time Period
The best way to know if intermittent fasting works for you is to set a time period for your intermittent fasting. For instance, you may want to intermittent fast for 2 months first to see the results. Religiously follow your diet plan for 2 whole months, so you can monitor the results.
- Create a Meal Schedule
Based on which method you choose, you need to have a meal schedule. It’ll be good if you can print one out indicating what times of the day you’ll eat and what foods you’re allowed to consume.
Conclusion
Weight loss with Intermittent fasting is definitely not an easy task. There will be times in the future wherein you’ll be tempted to break your diet. If you really want results though, you’re going to have to be very disciplined so that you can be consistent. Eventually, it will all be worth it once you reach your desired weight.
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