Have you heard of this new exciting approach to fat loss, better health and longevity?
It’s called intermittent fasting!!
OK, maybe it’s not new at all but it may be new to you and worth trying on for size.
Here are 8 tips to make your fasting experience a huge success.
WHAT IS INTERMITTENT FASTING (IF)?
Without making it complicated, IF consists of periods during which you would consume food combined with periods during which you would abstain from eating.
Simple….and easy for some, but not so easy for others.
The periods without food can range from a few hours to a couple days predicated by your goals, will power and a myriad of other important factors such as stress, work schedule, pregnancy, & sleep.
WHO IS IT FOR?
Once you’ve become aware of IF and begun contemplating a test run, the next question to answer will be “is it for me?”
The primary reason people switch to IF is to shed some extra body fat more quickly than they’ve been able to currently.
Since IF comes along with a restricted eating window, in general, people do lose some body fat as they are consuming less calories.
If your goal is the opposite, specially adding lean muscle mass, it can be more difficult for the same reason… eating more food in less time is challenging and IF probably isn’t for you.
There may be some longevity or other health benefits to fasting, but the jury is still out on those.
The one area that seems to be fairly solid is maintaining weight loss. It makes sense that consuming one or two less meals every day will be a convenient way to keep a leaner body mass over time.
HOW DO YOU DO IT?
There’s plenty of ways to start testing out IF.
12 / 12 – don’t eat for 12 hours followed by all food consumption compressed in the following 12-hour window.
16 / 8 – no food for 16 hours, 8 hour eating window.
5 / 2 – 5 days of normal eating and 2 days of restricted calorie intake.
Alternate days – alternate between eating normal and 24-hour fasting.
Weekly 24 – one day per week fast for 24 hours.
Skip meals – simply skip some meals with no set schedule.
MAKE YOUR FASTING EXPERIENCE A SUCCESS
There are some great online resources (add resources) to help you go deeper into IF but here’s a short list of tips to help optimize your experience.
- Start small.
- Avoid the minutia. Focus on the principle.
- Give it time.
- Don’t make drastic changes.
- Move and be active.
- Avoid ending a fast with a feast.
- Stay hydrated.
- When you do eat, make it count.
Intermittent fasting may not be the perfect plan for everyone but for most, it is worth testing out.
Unless you’re currently under very elevated stress levels, pregnant or breastfeeding, there’s likely no reason you can’t find out for yourself if IF will be a big hit or a miss.
Are you already trying IF? What’s working for you? What have your challenges been?