Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss
Table of Contents
What is intermittent fasting for weight loss?
During an intermittent fast for weight loss you force your body to use fat storage as a source of energy. After hours of not eating your body will have used all the energy in the blood and will break down fat as source of energy. Intermittent fasting allows your body to recover from food digestion and alleviates your intestinal and renal functions.
How does intermittent fasting work?
There are several different ways to do intermittent fasting for weight loss, 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 weight loss schedules.
Metabolic switching happens when hours pass after you last meal. The body has exhausted its sugar stores and starts burning fat. (1)
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 they’re not exercising, then every time they eat, they’re running on those calories and not burning their fat stores.
How to start an intermittent fast?
The daily intermittent fasting approach restricts daily eating to one 6-8 hour period each day. You can begin losing weight with intermittent fasting gradually by consuming all your meals between 9am and 5pm. It usually takes two to four weeks to create an intermittent fasting habit. Once this becomes a habit you can lose weight with intermittent fasting by reducing your fasting another hour to 9am and 4pm. Repeat this process until you find a balanced lifestyle for the long term that you can adapt to achieve sustained weight loss through intermittent fasting.
Longer periods without food, such as 24, 36, 48 and 72-hour fasting periods, are not necessarily better and may cause you to store more fat.
Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss Testimonial
MealPro customer Will lost 40lbs of body fat and gained 5lbs of lean muscle thanks to intermittent fasting for weight loss, calorie-counted meal prep delivered, and a training regiment. See Will’s before and after intermittent fasting for weight loss photo below:
For his intermittent fasting weight loss testimonial Will talks about having one MealPro meal per day, usually between 12pm and 2pm. He has one cheat day per week, when he indulges and does not feel bad about it. If he knows he will be with friends say on Saturday, he will make that his cheat day.
It wasn’t just like getting protein at the expense of taste and having a bunch of filler ingredients. They are cooking it fresh and shipping it out. When you want to create a habit, you need to make sure you enjoy what you are eating. My favorite is the chicken tenders: healthy, not fried and the mashed potato and corn feels like an indulgence meal but it’s healthy. It was as easy as eating one MealPro meal per day. I order 18 meals every 21 days.
What can I eat while intermittent fasting for weight loss?
Pack your feeding times with high protein meals and good, nutritious foods. The mediterranean diet is a good blueprint for what to consume. Pick complex, unrefined carbohydrates such as whole grains, leafy greens, healthy fats and lean protein.
During the times when you’re not eating, zero-calorie beverages such as black coffee and tea are permitted. Make sure you drink water to prevent dehydration effects on your body.
Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss and Other Benefits
In addition to intermittent fasting being great for weight loss there are a plethora of other health benefits associated with the lifestyle choice:
Obesity. In animal studies, intermittent fasting prevented obesity. And in six brief studies, obese adult humans lost weight through intermittent fasting. See how William lost 40lbs on intermittent fasting and meal prep
Physical performance. Young men who fasted for 16 hours showed fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. Mice who were fed on alternate days showed better endurance in running.
Heart health. In addition to losing weight on intermittent fasting you can also experience improved blood pressure and resting heart rates as well as other heart-related measurements. See further benefits when eating nutritious, vitamin-rich meals that affect the heart.
Intermittent fasting decreased the risk of diabetes. Diabetes is insulin resistance that has a correlation to obesity (2). And since intermittent fasting can cause weight loss it will also reduces the chance that your body builds up insulin-resistance, therefore reducing the risk for diabetes or pre-diabetes blood sugar glucose levels.
Other intermittent fasting benefits include better thinking and memory. Studies discovered that intermittent fasting boosts working memory in animals and verbal memory in adult humans.
Who is intermittent fasting for?
Some people try intermitting fasting for weight management, and others use the method to address chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, high cholesterol or inflammatory arthritis. But intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone.
Williams stresses that before you try intermittent fasting (or any diet), you should check in with your primary care practitioner first. Some people should steer clear of trying intermittent fasting:
Children and teens under age 18.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
People with diabetes or blood sugar problems.
Those with a history of eating disorders.
Keep in mind that intermittent fasting may have different effects on different people. Talk to your doctor if you start experiencing unusual anxiety, headaches, nausea or other symptoms after you start intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting for weight loss article sources:
1. Hopkins Medicine
Chris Park is a board-certified sports nutritionist, registered dietitian and former college rugby player. Chris loves strength training and pushing his body to the limit, which comes in handy when working with professional athletes and designing their nutritional needs. Chris also enjoys helping others by writing about nutrition.