According to recent researches on the health and fitness of the body, it has been discovered that fasting has a lot of benefits. Fasting is one way to go to keep one’s organs and body working properly. Some researchers believe that 16 hours of fasting is good, while others believe that 14 hours of fasting is more than enough. Along with other health benefits, intermittent fasting schedules help in weight loss and are suitable for most people.
What is an intermittent fasting schedule?
One thing to be kept in mind is that an intermittent fasting schedule is not a diet. It is a scheduled approach to eating. The best part about the intermittent fasting schedule is that it does not specify or restrict foods a person should have or avoid. Therefore, it is not concerned with where the calories come from as in other diet plans.
For intermittent fasting, a person is required to eat and fast in intervals. It means to eat during a specific time frame each day or on alternate days and fast during the rest of the time.
Different procedures for intermittent fasting:
There are several methods of intermittent fasting that can be chosen. However, it takes some figuring out to find out which one works best for an individual. Every technique can be useful, and this schedule can be according to your plan.
The following are some methods of intermittent fasting.
- The 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule:
The 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule involves fasting for 14 to 16 hours daily while eating only during an 8 to 10-hour time frame. It is up to the person to eat two, three, or even more meals in that time frame. This is a straightforward method, as the fasting time frame can be after having an early dinner and skipping breakfast the next morning.
It is recommended that women fast for only 14 to 15 hours as it is beneficial for them to keep shorter fasts. This method is more comfortable for those who skip breakfast; however, it would take will power and time to get used to people hungry in the morning.
One crucial point is to eat healthy foods during the eating time frame.
- The 5:2 regime:
The 5:2 diet is one diet that has not enough supporters. As in this diet, a person eats typically for five days of the week while restricting their calorie intake for the remaining two days. They could be any two days of the week, like Mondays and Thursdays, etc. it is recommended that the calorie intake for women be 500 calories while i00 calories per day for men.
- Eat stop eat diet:
This method requires a person to fast for 24 hours once or twice a week. Hence for a full day (24 hours), you are not needed to eat anything. One can fast from breakfast to breakfast or from 7 pm on Monday from 7 pm on Tuesday. This is how this diet works.
This is a difficult diet to follow, as fasting for a full 24-hour period is relatively tricky.
- Alternate day fasting:
As the name suggests, you are required to fast every other day in this technique of fasting. However, there are many different versions of this method. Some versions allow about 500 calorie intake. As this is not an easy diet to follow, fasting full time on alternate days is not recommended to beginners.
- The warrior diet:
This is a type of diet that incorporates an intermittent fasting schedule. Essentially, this diet requires an individual to fast all day and eat a big meal at night, usually in between a 4-hour time frame. This involves eating small portions of raw vegetables and fruits throughout the day and eating one whole meal at night.
- Spontaneous meal skipping:
The human body is majestic and mysterious; it is well equipped in many ways and can even handle long periods of famine. Therefore, missing a meal or two will not activate starvation mode or prove to be fatal.
By merely skipping meals from time to time is another way of fasting. Therefore, if you are not hungry, you might want to consider skipping a meal from time to time.
How to start intermittent fasting?
After knowing all the types of intermittent fasting, next is the step to motivate yourself to start. It takes courage, but it is necessary if you want to step into a healthier lifestyle. Following are the steps on how you can begin:
- Firstly, you need to identify what your goals are. What are you willing to do to achieve them? Set achievable goals.
- Then you should choose a method of intermittent fasting, that according to you, is appropriate for you.
- Make sure you have a calorie chart figured out. How many calories to take.
- Remember to make a plan before embarking on any journey. The same is the case with intermittent fasting. Make a meal plan before starting
The bottom line is that an intermittent fasting schedule is the weight loss technique that either works for most people. However, intermittent fasting is not recommended for someone who has an eating disorder. One more thing to be kept in mind is that the diet should be of nutritional quality.
