What is intermittent fasting?
What is the intermittent fasting system and how much weight does it lose?
Many diets focus on what we eat and what goes into our bodies, but intermittent fasting depends on when we eat.
With intermittent fasting, eating only at a set time, for a certain number of hours each day, or eating only one meal a few days a week, can help your body burn fat, and scientific evidence suggests some health benefits as well.
To understand how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss, we first need to understand the difference between a feeding state and a fasting state.
Your body is in a nutritious state when it digests and absorbs food. Typically, the trophic state begins when you start eating and lasts for 3 to 5 hours, as your body digests and absorbs the food you ate.
When you are in a state of nutrition, it is very difficult for your body to burn fat because your insulin levels are high. After this period, your body goes into what is known as a post-absorption state, and the post-absorption state continues until 8 to 12 hours after your last meal, ie When you enter a fasting state, it is easier for you to burn fat in a fasting state because your insulin levels are low.
When you are in the fasting state, your body can burn fats that are inaccessible during the feeding state, since we do not enter the fasting state until 12 hours after the last meal, it is rare for our bodies to be in this fat-burning state.
This is one reason why many people who start intermittent fasting lose fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often they exercise.
Fasting puts your body in a fat-burning state that you rarely reach during your normal eating schedule.
Intermittent fasting eating schedule
If you’re considering trying fasting, there are several different options to fit your lifestyle.
daily intermittent fasting
Most of the time, follow the intermittent fasting model which uses a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour eating period.
It doesn’t matter when your 8-hour eating period begins, you can start at 8 a.m. and stop at 4 p.m., or start at 2 p.m. and stop at At 10 pm, this is what is known as the 16/8 system, which is the world’s most popular intermittent fasting system.
Since daily intermittent fasting is done every day, it becomes very easy to get used to eating according to this schedule, with intermittent fasting you eat every day around the same time, you just learn not to eat at certain times, which is very easy.
Weekly intermittent fasting
One of the best ways to start intermittent fasting is to do it once a week or once a month.
Occasional fasting has been shown to lead to many of the benefits of fasting, so even if you don’t use it to consistently cut calories, there are still many other health benefits of fasting.
In this example, Monday lunch is your last meal of the day, then you fast until lunch on Tuesday.
This schedule has the advantage of allowing you to eat every day of the week while still reaping the benefits of fasting for 24 hours, nor does it help you lose weight.
So if you are looking to gain weight or maintain your weight, this is a great option.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of fasting for 24 hours is to break the mental barrier of fasting, if you have not fasted before, completing your first fast helps you realize that you will not die if you do not eat for one day
Intermittent day fasting
Alternate day intermittent fasting involves longer fasting periods on alternating days throughout the week.
For example, you will eat dinner on Monday night and then not eat again until Tuesday evening, however, you can eat all day on Wednesday and then start the 24-hour fasting cycle again after dinner on Wednesday evening, this allows you to have long fasting periods based on Consistent with eating at least one meal every day of the week.
This type of intermittent fasting seems to be used a lot in research studies, but it is not very popular in the world. Certainly, no one decides to fast an entire day of their own accord.
The benefit of alternate day intermittent fasting is that it gives you more time in the fasting state, and in theory, this increases the benefits of fasting.
intermittent fasting meals
Intermittent fasting does not depend on a specific type of food or specific meals per day, but the basis of it is to regulate the time in which you eat.
The 16/8 intermittent fasting plan does not specify which foods to eat and avoid.
It is helpful to focus on healthy eating and limit or avoid junk foods.
Eating too many unhealthy foods can lead to weight gain and disease.
A balanced diet mainly focuses on:
Fruits and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, or canned.
Whole grains including quinoa, brown rice, oats, and barley.
Lean protein sources, such as poultry, fish, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, low-fat cheese, and eggs.
Healthy fats from fatty fish, olives, olive oil, coconut, avocado, nuts, and seeds.
Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are rich in fiber, so they can help keep a person feeling full and satisfied. Healthy fats and proteins can also contribute to a feeling of fullness.
Drinks can play a role in feeling full for those who follow the 16/8 diet, and drinking water regularly throughout the day can help reduce calorie intake, because people often mistake thirst for hunger.
The 16/8 diet plan allows for the consumption of zero-calorie beverages – such as water, unsweetened tea, and coffee – during the 16-month fasting period.
For an hour, it is important to drink fluids regularly to avoid dehydration.
Tips for following intermittent fasting
People may find it easier to stick to the 16/8 diet when they follow these tips:
Drinking cinnamon herbal tea while fasting, may suppress appetite.
Drink water regularly throughout the day.
Minimize watching television and the Internet, to reduce exposure to images of food, which may stimulate feelings of hunger.
Exercising right before or during the eating window, as exercise can lead to hunger.
Practice mindful eating when eating meals.
intermittent fasting mistakes
Despite its multiple benefits, there are some errors in following the intermittent fasting system, which leads to risks and side effects for people, because it is not suitable for everyone, so you should consult your doctor first if you suffer from any chronic diseases before starting to follow the system.
Possible side effects and risks include:
Hunger, weakness, and fatigue in the early stages of the system.
Overeating or eating unhealthy foods during the 8 hours due to excessive hunger.
Heartburn or reflux due to overeating.
Intermittent fasting may be less beneficial for women than men, and some animal research suggests that intermittent fasting can negatively affect a woman’s fertility.
The regimen may not be suitable for those with a history of depression and anxiety, as some research suggests that short-term calorie restriction may alleviate depression but chronic calorie restriction can have the opposite effect.
Intermittent fasting is not appropriate for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to conceive.
As for the wrong practices practiced by a person who follows the intermittent fasting system, they are as follows:
1- Excessive eating during the permitted period
The intermittent fasting diet depends on stopping eating for a specific period during the day, and this does not mean overeating during the allowed period, but rather the number of calories that enter the body must be reduced daily to achieve the desired result in losing weight.
To achieve this, it is advised to know the number of calories that the body needs, and to adhere to their quantity during the hours during which food is allowed, as it is necessary to monitor food and choose healthy and important elements for the body.
2- Not focusing on the quality of food
Although intermittent fasting is based on eating time, this does not mean eating any items that can cause weight gain, such as fast food and fried foods that will not help in losing weight.
Focus on eating foods rich in healthy nutrients such as lean protein, high-fiber carbohydrates, healthy fats, vegetables, and fruits, and limit your intake of harmful foods.
3- Neglecting to drink water
It is not possible to promote fat burning in any diet without taking care of drinking a large amount of water because water increases the metabolism in the body, and the various parts of the body perform their functions correctly, and drinking water prevents confusion between hunger and thirst.
It is recommended to drink a lot of water throughout the day, and choose vegetables and fruits that contain water when eating snacks such as cucumber, celery, watermelon, and orange.
4- Follow a strict diet
If you eat fewer calories than the body needs, the feeling of hunger will increase, and bone mass will decrease instead of fat, which is undesirable.
5- Excessive caffeine intake
Caffeine can reduce hunger and boost energy levels if consumed in moderation, but excessive intake of caffeinated beverages can contribute to weight gain over time.
This is because a lot of caffeine may raise blood sugar levels, which reduces insulin sensitivity, and thus increases the possibility of fat storage in the body.
6- Not following a healthy lifestyle
Dieting alone is not the magic solution to losing weight, but some other factors interfere in increasing the rates of burning, such as getting a good amount of sleep, controlling stress levels, and paying attention to exercise.
Thus, not following a healthy lifestyle can negatively affect weight loss even with a healthy diet.
intermittent fasting diet
Intermittent fasting does not depend on weight loss specifically like other diets, but its main task is to get rid of the accumulated fat and not the kilograms, since fats pose a threat to the health of the body and make us more vulnerable to chronic diseases, and then the state of continuing intermittent fasting, After two months, you will find that your weight has reached a stable state.
Do not lose hope, because your persistence means that you will get rid of fat.
Intermittent fasting benefits
Of course, losing weight and fat is great, but this is not the only benefit of intermittent fasting. There are some other health benefits, including the following:
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Intermittent fasting makes your day easier
Intermittent fasting provides additional simplicity in your life, as it reduces the time you prepare food and think about the meals you need to prepare, plus it gives you the time to prepare meals in a way that is perfect and enjoyable for you.
It makes you enjoy eating the daily meals that you set for yourself based on the committed method of intermittent fasting, as well as feeling comfortable in your stomach, due to not eating many meals, a cup of water or a cup of tea free of diabetes, at the time of fasting, does not affect your stomach Or your colon too much.
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Intermittent fasting helps you live longer.
Scientists have long known that calorie restriction is a way to extend your life, and it makes sense that when you’re starving, your body finds ways to extend your life.
Intermittent fasting activates many of the same mechanisms to extend life as calorie restriction, in other words, you will get the benefits of enjoying a longer life without the suffering of hunger.
Back in 1945, it was discovered that intermittent fasting extended life in mice, and more recently, this study found that alternative daytime intermittent fasting led to a longer lifespan.
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Intermittent fasting may reduce the risk of cancer.
This is a topic of debate because not a lot of research and experiments have been done on the relationship between cancer and fasting, but tentatively, this study of 10 cancer patients suggests that the side effects of chemotherapy may be reduced by fasting before treatment.
This finding also supports another study that used alternate day fasting with cancer patients, concluding that fasting before chemotherapy would lead to better cure rates and lower mortality.
This comprehensive analysis of several studies on fasting and disease concluded that fasting appears to reduce not only the risk of cancer but also cardiovascular disease.
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Intermittent fasting is much easier than dieting
The reason most diets fail isn’t that we switch to the wrong foods, it’s because we don’t follow the diet in the long run. It’s not a nutrition problem, it’s a behavior change problem.
This is where intermittent fasting comes in because it’s remarkably easy to implement once you get over the idea that you need to eat all the time.
For example, this study found that intermittent fasting was an effective weight loss strategy in obese adults, concluding that “people adapt quickly” to the intermittent fasting routine.
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Intermittent fasting helps lose weight and fat
Eating during a specific period can help people reduce the number of calories they consume, and it may also help increase metabolism.
A 2017 study suggests that intermittent fasting increases weight and fat loss in obese, normal-calorie men, and research from 2016 suggests that men who followed a 16:8 approach for 8 weeks during resistance training showed a reduction in mass. fat, and participants maintained their muscle mass the entire time.
In contrast, a 2017 study found very little difference in weight loss among participants who practiced intermittent fasting in the form of alternate-day fasting rather than 16:8 fasting, and who reduced total calories.
The dropout rate was also higher among those in the intermittent fasting group.
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Intermittent fasting and diabetes
A 2014 review suggests that intermittent fasting shows promise as an alternative to traditional calorie restriction for reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and weight loss in people who are overweight or obese.
Another study from 2018 suggests that in addition to losing weight, eating for 8 hours may help reduce blood pressure in obese adults.
Other studies suggest that intermittent fasting reduces fasting glucose by 3-6% in people with prediabetes, although it does not affect healthy individuals.
Fasting insulin 11-57% after 3 to 24 weeks of intermittent fasting.
Time-restricted fasting, such as the 16:8 method, may protect learning and memory, and slow brain disease, and a 2017 annual review notes that animal research indicates that this type of fasting reduces the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer
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