When you think about fasting, what comes to mind? The odds are good that your thoughts turn to days on end without food. The truth is that you don’t have to go for days without eating to reap the rewards that come with fasting. You don’t even have to go a full 24 hours without meals.
You’re Already Fasting
What if I told you that you’re already fasting every single day? Unless you spend all day every day eating, and all night eating as well, you’re already spending some time fasting during each 24-hour cycle. It’s true that you’re not embarking on an extended fast, but you are alternating between “fed” and “fasted” states. In essence, you spend all night fasting and you don’t break that fast until you consume your first calories the following day.
Most of us have tens of thousands of calories stored away in the form of body fat. While we aren’t able to survive long without water, we can easily live off our fat stores for weeks (and in some cases months) on end. There are some amazing true stories that illustrate our capacity to fast for extended periods of time. In 1965, one morbidly obese man spent more than a year fasting.12 He successfully reduced his weight from just over 456 pounds to a far healthier weight of 180 pounds. Doctors administered electrolytes and other supplements throughout the process, which by the way, was nothing like today’s intermittent fasting protocols, but which goes to show that fasting does work!
Even during short fasts, the body dips into its fat supplies to fuel essential processes. So long as we do not eat more calories than we burn, that fat will not come back. And, if we eat at a slight deficit (more calories out than in) then we’ll lose weight over time. I’ll get into some ways to speed the weight loss process soon. First, let’s take a look at some of the benefits that come with intermittent fasting.
Benefits of Fasting
People have turned to fasting for thousands of years. Sometimes it has been used as a test of willpower or as a way to show spiritual commitment. But more often, fasting has been used as a method for healing the body. Although it seems counterintuitive, abstaining from food lets the digestive system shut down for a period of time and take care of some important repairs. The endocrine system gets to take a break during fasting, too.
Ancient healers including Hippocrates and Plutarch promoted fasting; so did philosophers Plato and Aristotle. These ancients did not stumble upon fasting by accident. Instead, they observed animals and birds, noting that these creatures had a tendency to abstain from food when they were sick. We humans are the same – when we are seriously ill, we lose our appetites and turn up our noses at our favorite foods.
Entire books have been written about intermittent fasting and its benefits, which are numerous. Here are a few more prominent reasons why you should consider trying this tactic for yourself.
Intermittent fasting can help you look and feel younger, but how does this work? The answer lies with the rate at which cells regenerate themselves. Some of the healing benefits associated with fasting can be attributed to a normal physical process called autophagy, in which your body’s cells create membranes tasked with the job of hunting for bits of diseased, worn out, or dead cells. During autophagy, these dying and dead cells are consumed or “recycled.” New cells are created as a result, and our bodies’ aging processes slow down. This has a beneficial effect not only on your appearance, but also on your body’s internal systems.
Weight loss is another benefit that accompanies intermittent fasting, so long as participants do not gorge themselves during “eating” hours. You’ll get the best results when you pair intermittent fasting with a sensible eating plan that provides you with sufficient calories and high-quality nutrition. Once accustomed to eating on a different schedule, most people find that weight loss feels effortless even though they continue to enjoy many of their favorite foods. That’s why this way of eating is sometimes discussed in terms of time, with slogans such as “delay, don’t deny.”
Among the most exciting (and best researched) benefits of intermittent fasting is the reduced risk for chronic disease,13 particularly those chronic diseases that tend to go hand in hand with obesity. By sticking to an intermittent fasting protocol, you may be able to reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and illnesses in which inflammation plays a role. Ongoing studies reveal that intermittent fasting shows great promise in improving outcomes for patients suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other age-related disorders.14
Not only does intermittent fasting promote healing, it’s also a tool you can use to feel sharper and more energetic throughout the day. If you think about the last time you enjoyed a huge meal, and then consider the way your brain behaved, it’s likely that you felt lethargic, unmotivated, and maybe even sleepy. This happens because the digestive system needs more blood to do its work, and blood flow that normally goes to the brain goes to the digestive organs. The result is something most of us are familiar with: Food coma!
The last benefit we’ll cover is your time. How much time do you spend preparing and eating food during the day? The odds are good that it’s a lot! People who opt for intermittent fasting tend to reclaim plenty of time for themselves, which they use for everything from fun hobbies to exercise to extra napping. How you’ll use the time you gain is completely up to you!
How to Get Started, plus Easy Hacks to Lose Weight Even Faster
The trick with intermittent fasting is this: Extend the amount of time you go between your last meal of one day and the first meal of the next.
Your body is probably accustomed to receiving food on a set schedule and deviating from that schedule is probably going to cause some intense hunger pangs. I know that you’re probably eager to get started and watch those pounds melt away, but it’s really important to set yourself up for success.
That’s why it’s important for you to start slowly. Choose a fasting pattern that you’d like to begin with – 16:8 is by far the easiest, so it’s what I always recommend to beginners. Start by deciding on an eating window that works well for your schedule. Many people opt to have their first meal at noon, and they stop eating sometime around 8 p.m. It’s up to you to decide when to eat, though. Any time frame that works for your schedule will also work with this protocol.
Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of jumping in right away. Instead, give yourself a week or so to gradually extend the amount of time between the last meal of one day and the first meal of the next day. This means that if you normally eat breakfast at 6 a.m., you will want to wait until about 7 and continue extending that time frame out over the course of the next several days until you are eating your first meal at noon. Your body will figure out that starvation (the involuntary lack of food) isn’t happening, and that it will receive nutrition on a new schedule.
Once you have successfully spent some time with the 16:8 method, you might decide that you want to narrow your eating window even further by trimming an hour or two off the front or back until you’re closer to 20:4 (fasting for 20 hours, eating for four). This gives you less time to consume your daily calories, making it even harder to overeat, particularly when you’re sticking with healthy choices most of the time.
Eventually, you may find yourself eating one meal a day. Also known as OMAD or Eat Stop Eat, this method restricts your intake one meal per 24-hour cycle. Some people are very strict with timing, while others let social occasions and other factors play a role in when they eat or stick to OMAD just on weekdays. Some take it to the next level by skipping food for about 48 hours once or twice per week.
It takes time to build your way to a one meal per day regimen, but when you do, you’ll find that you can keep losing weight, even though you’re enjoying just about any meal you want to.
Intermittent Fasting Hacks to Lose Weight Faster
If you want to lose weight faster while intermittent fasting, here are a few tactics to try.
- Don’t break your fast with items that cause blood sugar to spike. Go for nutritious, low-sugar items such as nuts, avocados, or vegetables. Skip high-carbohydrate items (including high-carb dairy options) since these cause blood sugar to increase. Once you have broken your fast this way, go ahead and have whatever you were planning to eat. Your body will digest everything gradually and you’ll be less likely to go into a food coma.
- Try going low-carb. You can easily choose a standard low carb or ketogenic diet to follow while intermittent fasting, but this can lead to some serious cravings. I find that a vegan keto plan that allows for plenty of whole, plant-based foods helps me feel satisfied and keeps the fat burning process going. You can also do chicken, fish, and other meats, along with lots of vegetables and some fruits, if you’re not interested in going totally plant based. Either way, focusing on quality nutrition while omitting high-carb choices is an excellent way to put your fat-burning engine in overdrive no matter which eating window you choose.
- Work out in a fasted state. Once you’ve become accustomed to eating your daily calories within a specific window of time, you can start doing your workout before you eat. This means your body is dipping even deeper into its fat reserves, so you lose weight faster. You have to pay close attention to the way you feel here, and you have to be well-hydrated. Also, it’s a good idea to start out slowly and get your body accustomed to working out with only fat for fuel. Once you’re used to this process, you’ll find it isn’t at all difficult.
- Consider strength training. No, you don’t have to become a bodybuilder, but strength training encourages your body to move any extra calories into muscle cells instead of stashing those extra calories in fat cells. This is a great way to speed up weight loss and change your body composition for the better.
Whether you try these hacks or not, intermittent fasting will provide you with weight loss and additional health benefits. You’ll get even more out of the process when the majority of your daily intake consists of high-quality, nutritious food. Over time, your physique, your mood, and your overall health is likely to improve.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1274154/
And my doctors always tell me to eat at least 3 times a day…