Intermittent Fasting is an alternative to counting macros. While you won’t learn what you are eating, it does work for weight loss and can be a good place to start for many. It is very simple to do with very few rules so it can be ideal for beginners. I strongly suggest you learn about counting macros down the road.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fast is as it sounds, timed interval fasting. During a set time you can’t eat anything, while during another set time you can eat whatever you want.
For example from 11am to 2pm you can eat whatever you want. From 2pm to 11am won’t eat anything. The following is solely an example. I’ll teach you how to set up intermittent fasting in this article in the next section.
Why Does It Work?
The most obvious reason it works is you will naturally consume fewer calories but it works for many more reasons besides that.
Counting numbers and planning meals ahead of time lets face it, it’s a hassle. Especially in a world in which we never feel like we have enough time on our hands. So, you are less likely to mess up intermittent fasting. If anything, you may find yourself having extra time as a result of intermittent fasting I know I did when I used to do it.
A more science-based reason it helps us shrink our stomach. When we overly engorge on food to the point, we feel bloated we are stretching the stomach walls out making it that much larger as a result we won’t feel full and eat more. Intermittent fasting has the opposite effect it shrinks our stomach over time making us satiated with less food. A person that gets the surgery to their stomach cut out, they naturally eat less until they end up stretching it out all over again.
For a more in depth understanding how our stomach shrink and expand you can read the sited article (1)
Take Advantage of Our Sleep Window:
At this point you are thinking this sounds like a diet I want to try. Start things off slowly, it never ends up working for people that go extreme right away. Simply stop eating a hour before bed and a hour after you wake up. You can add an additional hour every week to this
Example:
Your schedule has you asleep at 12am and awaking at 8am.
First Week: 11pm-9am No eating during this timeframe (If all goes well and you want to add another hour feel free to do so)
Second Week: 10pm-10am You will not eat (Repeat process)
Third Week: 9pm-11am you will not eat
Fourth Week: 8pm-12pm You will not eat
Non-fasting Time! Eat A Balanced Meal
To make the fasting phases easier, eat a balanced meal. Consume all vital macros. A lot of times people will fall short on the protein side of the macro spectrum with a limited window to eat.
At this point a protein shake would be a great recommendation, you can check out my article here protein shakes I recommend:
https://alphaflexfitness.com/protein-powders-so-many-choices/
Water:
Drink water during fasting times. Water has no calories. When you are hungry a lot of the time, dehydrated.
Sited Article
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