So, you have friends that are talking about intermittent fasting and you’re like what the heck is that?  Isn’t breakfast the most important meal of the day?  What are the benefits of Intermittent Fasting? 

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent Fasting is periods of eating and fasting allowing digestive rest between meals to use more fat for fuel.

These periods are often timed and can range from 4-5 hours between lunch and dinner to extended fasting for 5-7 days, and beyond.

Intermittent Fasting has gained popularity over the last few years because it has been recognized for its ability to aid in fat loss (*).

What are the most common intermittent fasting methods?

There are many time periods you could use as your fasting schedule, the most popular is a 16 hr fast with an 8 hr eating window.  This is most often referred to as a 16-8 intermittent fast.  It simply starts and the end of your eating window in the evening, say, 8 pm and go until 12 pm the next day.

16-8 fast, is a great starting point for most men. Women may find that starting with a 12 hr fast is a little easier and work up to the 16 hrs fasted.  Every person is going to differ as far as what feels good for your body as you start your intermittent fasting journey.

Other types of fasting include:

12:12  Is a great place to start your fasting journey if you’ve never done this before.  Simply stop eating at 8 pm and don’t eat again until 8 am.  If you have tried intermittent fasting in the past and the 16:8 just seemed too hard this is a perfect place to start.  You can add 1 hr per week to your fasting window until you reach the 16 hrs fasted mark.

20:4 Fasting schedule is great if you still want to have 2 meals a day but just in a shorter window.  This fast would begin after dinner, say 8 pm and go until 4 pm the next day.  You then have that 4 hours to simply eat and then the window closes again at 8 pm.

23:1 Is often referred to as one meal a day or OMAD.  With this schedule, you will fast for 23 hrs per day with a 1 hr eating window.  When following a keto lifestyle I find this schedule works great once you’re fat-adapted mostly because you’re just not hungry.

5:2 5 days of eating normally each week broken up by 2 24 hr alternating day fasts on non-consecutive days.  This schedule gives you more flexibility regarding which days you might fast BUT does require 2 full days of fasting each week.

What are the benefits of Intermittent Fasting?

Fasting can obviously have a profound impact on helping you reach your fat loss goals but it also has many other benefits.  Fasting is something that has been practiced since ancient times and even today as part of religious practices.

In recent history, it has been confused with starvation which is not the same.  Starvation is involuntary and can lead to death.  With intermittent fasting, you choose to abstain from food for a fixed period of time, though food is readily available. (*)

What are some of the benefits of fasting include:

• Prevention of Alzheimer’s disease (potentially)
• Longer life (potential)
• Activation of cellular cleansing (potential) by stimulating autophagy (a discovery that was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in medicine) (*)
• Reduction of inflammation (*)
• Improved mental clarity and concentration (*)
• Weight and body fat loss (*;*)
• Lowered blood insulin and sugar levels (*)
• Reversal of type 2 diabetes (*)
• Increased energy(*)
• Improved fat burning (*)
• Increased growth hormone (*)
• Lowered blood cholesterol

If you would like to learn more about how to implement intermittent fasting into your existing diet, I would like to invite you to join our FREE community at Fat Fueled Life where you will get ALL the tips for Intermittent Fasting for Beginners.  Here you will learn everything you need to know to start adding fasting to your everyday life and feel amazing.