How Intermittent Fasting Helps You For Weight Loss

Intermittent fasting is now a good trend for weight loss worldwide.

It is an easy way of weight loss and there is no fancy diet required. 

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

People have become more health-conscious nowadays and they have started taking health seriously, which is a real good thing isn’t it?

When you think about weight loss, the first thing you get in your mind is dieting. You start dieting with great enthusiasm and after a few days get bored with boiling, and then repeat without spicy food. 

Intermittent fasting is way more different from normal dieting. It’s normal fasting like you are offered to fast for your religion. It’s been working out for decades.

You can have everything with managing your calorie count in a limited eating period.

Types Of Intermittent Fasting

1. 16/8 Method
2. The 5:2 diet
3. Eat stop eat
4. Alternate day fasting
5. The warrior diet
6. Spontaneous meal skipping

16/8 Method – This method is more effective and easy, so most people prefer this method over the other five. 

In this method, you have to fast for 16 hours and the eating window is 8 hours. Suppose you have dinner at 8 in the evening, you have to skip your breakfast and eat your food at 12 mid-day.

During the fasting window, you can drink lots of water. You can drink coffee, black or green tea. But once the fasting window is over, you have to eat healthy food first.

The 5:2 Diet – In a 5:2 diet, you can eat a normal diet for 5 days in a week and for the remaining 2 days, you have to restrict your calorie intake.

So, on the remaining two days women can take 500 calories per day while men can take up to 600 calories. That means women can divide their diet of 250 calories into two small meals and men can divide it into 300 calories into two small meals.

Eat stop eat – This method includes 24 hours of fasting twice a week.

That may be, you can fast from one-day dinner to next day dinner, or one day breakfast to next day breakfast. 

In the fasting time, you can have coffee, black or green tea, or any no-calorie beverages. And remember to eat a normal diet during your eating days.

Most people avoid this method, as they find difficulty in fasting for 24 hours. If you want to start this method, go gradually from the 16/8 method.

Alternate day fasting – In this method, you have to fast every alternate day. 

This is not a beneficial method for weight loss, as per research. If you are a beginner this method is not suitable for you.

The warrior diet – As per the name it suggests warriors. In ancient times when they went to war, they used to follow this diet.

In this method, you can eat small amounts of raw vegetables and fruits in the day hours and during the night you can take a full diet. 

This is the easiest way of fasting and most preferable by beginners.

Spontaneous meal skipping – In this method you don’t need to follow any specific structure or time of intermittent fasting. 

You can skip any meal if you are not hungry, or if you are tired of cooking or busy at your work or maybe traveling and you didn’t find your favorite food.

But remember to eat a healthy diet during your eating window period.

Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

When you fast, lots of changes take place in your body. During fasting, your body uses stored fat, when you start feeling hungry and helps you to reduce the fat levels and initiate weight loss.

During fasting, the level of Human Growth Hormone increases. This helps to muscle gain and weight loss.

Insulin levels in the body drop down during fasting. And this is the time when stored fat in the body is used to maintain insulin levels.

So, along with increasing Growth hormone and reducing insulin, the body increases the growth of noradrenaline (Norepinephrine) hormone, which helps to burn body fat. And increases your metabolic rate. 

Also, intermittent fasting helps to protect you from diseases by working with your genes.

When you fast, your cells start a cellular repair process. In this process, cells remove old, dysfunctional protein from inside cells.

Conclusion

• Intermittent fasting is the most useful weight-loss method.

• You can choose the best method which you are comfortable with.

• If you are having other diseases like diabetes, hypertension, any hormonal disorders or genetic diseases consult your doctor before starting intermittent fasting.

• Drink lots of water during your fasting window. And take a healthy diet during your eating window period.

• Exercise along with fasting will benefit you more.