The hard and fast life of ours has made us so busy these days that it has become necessary to be healthy and fit, and we can gain it by adopting Intermittent Fasting. It has turned into a trend that claims to help :

• Weight Loss
• Improve metabolic health
• Extend lifespan
• Protect against diseases

 

Intermittent fasting is a phenomenon that involves the alternating cycles of fasting and eating, and suggests which food to eat and which ones to omit. It can continue for days and weeks. Here, you can skip your breakfast and have a wholesome meal during lunch.

What is Intermittent Fasting? Does It Help In Weight Loss?

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that revolves around eating and fasting. It never specifies which food you should eat. Traditionally, it cannot be claimed as a diet, but in reality, it is a diet or, say, a specific kind of eating pattern.

The most common and easy intermittent fasting pattern either involves a strict 16 hours of fasting every day or 24 hours of fasting twice a week, and you can choose any one of them as per your body capacity.

If you look back, you can see that for ages, humankind, either in the name of tradition or in the name of religion like Buddhism or Jainism, has strictly practised fasting. To learn more about it, you can refer to this article on Fasting. Along with this, intermittent fasting can contribute mainly to weight loss as it:

• Reduces your calorie intake
• Changes your hormonal level
• Enhances easy accessibility to your body’s stored fat
• Helps cells initiate repair processes and change the expression of genes

The 7 Most Popular Ways Of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a dietary approach that regulates a plan of fasting periods while indulging in eating at every interval. We are still stuck in the traditional dieting method to lose weight. Still, science has already taken us too far where other approaches like intermittent fasting have started coming to the forefront.

 

If you are not much of a workout or physical activity person but aspire to lose weight, you should try and attempt the seven most popular ways of intermittent fasting to gain visible results within some weeks :

1. General Fasting

It is a mainstream yet well-known approach where you can eat measured calorie food for five consecutive days. Still, it would help if you stuck to a restricted diet for the other two days where women should intake 500 calories, whereas men can have 600 calories.

2. Overnight Fasting

It is probably the simplest eating pattern where you are supposed to fast for 12 hours a day, and you can spend this time sleeping or working. This eating pattern can facilitate you with some mild cellular benefits.

3. Interval Eating

This approach is a flexible one where you don’t have to restrict yourself to any strict diet or extreme eating pattern. If you jump from a regular diet to a severe eating pattern or diet, your body can face health issues. So avoid that; it’s better to turn your towards interval eating – a smooth and enjoyable one where you are allowed to eat small portions of low-calorie food every interval.

4. Time-Restricted Fasting

It can give you the option to choose your own eating window where you are expected to fast for nearly 14-16 hours. This eating pattern can help you maximize fat cell metabolism and efficiently optimize insulin functions.

5. Whole day of Eating

This eating pattern is challenging, where you are expected to fast for the entire day. The next day, you can go back to eating the whole day as usual. Still, this complex and rigorous approach can lead to certain disadvantages, such as:

• Minimum nutritional intake
• Unbearable food cravings
• Disturbance in sleep
• Mind block

6. Fasting At Every Alternative Day

It has already been researched that alternative day fasting is effective, and has already helped many obese adults lose weight. While practising this alternate day fasting, many have realized that after a certain period, their cravings for food lessen and their hunger starts decreasing as well. Their mind and body also starts feeling calm and composed in their days of fasting

7. Fasting At Your Chosen Day

This eating pattern provides a sense of thrill and adventure to you, like which day you should choose for fasting? Will you be able to practice this hard eating pattern judiciously? It has already been proven that skipping meals hardly lowers the BMI. To know more about body mass index (BMI), you can refer to the article on Body Mass Index.

Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

For decades, intermittent fasting has been proving itself for being beneficial to many, especially those individuals trying for a long time to maintain a standard diet or lose weight without going to the gym and in between their busy schedules. Moreover, this eating pattern can even protect you from many ailments like high blood sugar, pressure, uric acids and others.

The following are some of the benefits of intermittent fasting:

• Reduced blood pressure
• Weight loss
• Lower Cholesterol
• Minimizes stroke risk
• Proper brain function
• Reduced inflammation
• Protection from cancer
• A rise in cell counts
• Insulin resistance in check
• Low risk of cardiovascular issues
• Long lifespan
• Better sleep quality

Is Intermittent Fasting Safe? Precautions You Must Take

Research shows excellent results about intermittent fasting where it has been proved that it is 100% safe for implementation and is not at all harmful for any individual of any age or gender. Instead, it showed incredible results that are realistic, sustainable, and quite effective for weight loss and other diseases.

This eating pattern is less risky and more appealing to people. Those who are struggling with diabetes but want to achieve a significant result in weight loss cannot go through this process as a diabetic patient is supposed to eat a meal at every interval, and they are not permitted to fast. So, there are exceptional cases like these for whom intermittent fasting is not safe; otherwise, it is safe for millions of people who are into this.

Precautions to be Taken During Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting has started gaining popularity worldwide, as it is easy to implement and is connected to an array of potential health benefits. However, it can turn out to be quite perilous if proper care or some precautions are not taken during fasting.

 

• Keep a short time span between fasting points
• Eat small portions on fasting days
• Stay hydrated
• Walk and meditate
• Do not consume a large breakfast
• Do not fast when you are not well
• Eat sufficient protein
• Eat plenty of nutritious foods during non-fasting days
• Intake supplements
• Maintain mild physical activity

Who Should Avoid Fasting?

Though Intermittent Fasting has proved its effectiveness worldwide, still it cannot be recommended to some due to their medical history, and they are:

• Women who are trying to conceive
• Women who are pregnant
• Underweight individuals
• Individuals who have eating disorders
• Individuals with low blood pressure
• Old adults
• Adolescents
• Diabetic patients

Bottom Line

Intermittent fasting is a great way to start a life which is free of crazy diets and extreme workouts. It is both reliable and safe to practice as it won’t affect your health. Last but not least, it is a convenient ritual for those who are always stuck in a busy schedule and can contribute significantly less time towards their physical fitness.

FAQs

1. How do you do intermittent fasting?

There are some definite ways to do intermittent fasting at home or your workspace, which primarily involves skipping meals or restricting your daily diet.

2. Can you drink during intermittent fasting?

Drinking is permissible during intermittent fasting, but the drinks should be less than 50 calories, and it has been researched that coffee and tea won’t generally create many problems.

3. How long does it take for intermittent fasting to work?

Many researchers have suggested that intermittent fasting can show results within a span of two to four weeks. By then, your body will get accustomed to intermittent fasting that minimizes food cravings and hunger.

4. How much weight can you lose during intermittent fasting?

It has been estimated that intermittent fasting can help you with weight loss at a rate of approximately 0.55 to 1.65 pounds (0.25 to 0.75 kg) per week, and it can also be said that intermittent fasting can help you to reduce body weight by 3-8% over 3-24 weeks.

5. Can intermittent fasting be harmful?

Yes. Sometimes, it can be harmful to those who are already suffering from pre-morbidity like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, as fasting can enhance your cortisol level and make you stressed and weak.

6. Is intermittent fasting safe for the long term?

Intermittent fasting can cause changes to the body, and so there are slight risks involved in it, but you have to take care of the precautions, and during non-fasting days, you are expected to eat healthy and nutritious food.

7. Is intermittent fasting healthy?

Intermittent fasting is healthy because after skipping meals, you get to eat nutrient filled wholesome meals, which are effective for your proper body functioning and physical fitness.

8. Which type of intermittent fasting is safe?

Fasting at every alternative day or twice a week ritual of intermittent fasting can prove to be effective in helping weight loss as it can even let you maintain your regular diet like before.

9. What is not allowed during intermittent fasting?

During intermittent Fasting, you can have low-calorie foods in some amounts or supplements, along with some daily beverages like tea, coffee, juice.

10. How long should you do intermittent fasting?

It is not wise to extend your fasting for more than 14 to 16 hours a day and restrict your eating window for that long as it can create adverse effects on your health.