
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting:
- Intermittent fasting, or IF, is a way of eating that cycles between short periods of time where you eat nothing (fasting) and longer periods of time where you can eat whatever you want (feeding).
- There are many ways to do intermittent fasting, and most people who practice it have their own reasons for choosing the schedule that works best for them.
- For instance, some people opt to eat all of their meals within an 8-hour period; others use 16 hours as their fasting window and eat only from noon to 8pm or midnight until 4pm.
1) Ramadan fasting
For Muslims, Ramadan is a month of fasting (no food or water from sunrise to sunset) and intensive prayer, done during daylight hours every day. According to Islamic belief, fasting strengthens self-control and religious commitment.
It’s a time when Muslim families and friends break their daily routines in order to focus on spiritual health and well-being; unlike many other forms of fasting, however, Ramadan is not intended as a way of losing weight.
By performing intermittent fasts during Ramadan , Muslims show that they can live without food or drink for an extended period in order to focus on God.
The length of each day’s fast is determined by individual choice; Muslims typically break their fast after sunset if they haven’t eaten since sunrise.
2) The Warrior Diet
The Warrior Diet was invented by Ori Hofmekler, who is an author, a holistic nutritionist and a former Israeli commando.
On his diet plan, you only consume fruits in a specific window of time each day and during that period of time you can eat as much as you want.
The rest of your daily calories are consumed between one other meal. During those meals you can eat as much meat as you like but also fruit and vegetables.
3) Leangains method
Leangains is a 16/8 fasting method. 16/8 means you eat all your daily calories in an 8-hour window and fast for 16 hours of each day.
So you might start eating at 1 p.m., stop eating at 9 p.m., and then not eat again until 1 p.m. The next day, you would do it all over again—eat from 1p.m.-9p.m., and fast until 1p.m.
This cycle continues throughout your week, with one full day off per week where you can eat whatever you want. On that cheat day, many people will go out to dinner or order takeout or hit up their favorite restaurants for lunch or brunch with friends.
This is when they’ll also have their biggest meal of the week (or month). Some people choose to exercise on their cheat days as well because they feel like it gives them more energy and helps them burn more fat during their workouts.
However, some experts say that exercising while fasting may be too much stress on your body and should be avoided if possible because of how difficult it could make recovery post-workout.
4) Eat Stop Eat
According to a review published in February 2013, there are five reputable ways of doing intermittent fasting. Eat Stop Eat is probably one of them. (Eat Stop Eat involves eating normally for five days a week and consuming 500 calories or less on two non-consecutive days per week.)
Another option, which involves using a 24-hour fast once or twice per week and then eating normally for an additional day or two each week, also works well for many people.
There’s some debate about whether or not an every-other-day fasting schedule offers any benefits beyond those of standard daily calorie restriction.
5) Alternate Day Fasting (ADF)
Alternate day fasting, also called 24-hour or one meal a day fasting, is exactly what it sounds like: eating all of your daily calories in one sitting and fasting for 24 hours before doing it again.
The practice isn’t exactly new—you may have even done something similar during Ramadan—but intermittent fasting (IF) has been getting some attention in recent years as a way to lose weight quickly.
But what is IF? Is it right for you? And how can you get started doing it? Check out these six things that make IF so popular, and find out how long you should fast each day.
6) The 5:2 diet
Many people fast on two days of the week and then eat normally on five days of their week. This is a great way to improve insulin sensitivity and make sure you’re getting enough micronutrients.
If you want something more structured, The 5:2 diet, created by Dr. Michael Mosley, includes guidelines for one day a week of fasting, plus regular exercise and healthy eating recommendations all around. If you like having a guide with structure, Mosley’s book might be worth checking out as well.
7) Eat-Stop-Eat (EtSEvents in 2018)
In a 24-hour window, you eat normally for 18 hours. The other six hours (usually starting at dinnertime), you limit your eating to 200 calories or less.
This is a popular method of intermittent fasting in which people eat only two meals per day. Each 24-hour cycle can be used as many times as desired. It’s also important to note that no snacking is allowed between meals.
This popular form of IF has been practiced by both men and women since it was introduced in 2009, with positive results (including weight loss) reported by most participants who do it right.
8) Time Restricted Feeding (TRF) with an early dinner at 4pm.
For people who are actively working out, TRF with an early dinner at 4pm seems to be a good strategy. It not only helps you get your workouts in and eat more time-efficiently, but it also might prevent overindulging after 8pm.
Most people find that eating from around noon until 8pm gives them plenty of energy for workouts and activity before ending their fasts earlier. Eat well and stay healthy!
Some people find another great way to make intermittent fasting easier is by doing longer 16/8 or 20/4 fasts. One benefit of these approaches is that they help reduce bingeing later on in meals, because so much food has already been consumed by then.
The longer fasting periods also tend to help beat sugar cravings. The problem with these methods is that many people can’t easily pull away from work during these hours or even know what late night snacks will keep them going without packing on extra calories or fat—both no-no’s when trying to lose weight!
9) Alternate Day Modified Fast (ADMF) where the fasting day includes two meals of 800 calories each.
People who follow an ADMF fast eat normally on a certain day of every week, then they eat 800 calories (or less) each day during their fasting days.
The most common version of ADMF has people fasting Monday through Friday, eating regularly on Saturday and Sunday.
Some intermittent fasters switch their eating days with their fasting days so that each week consists of two regular-calorie days and one 800-calorie fast day; these are called alternate-day modified fasts.
There is also a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule in which people consume only 25 percent of their typical calorie intake for eight hours (usually from dinner until bedtime) on both their fasting and eating days. This plan is especially useful for busy professionals with unpredictable schedules.