Is Intermittent Fasting Right for Me?

If you’re plugged into the health and fitness community, you may have noticed that there’s a lot of buzz about Intermittent Fasting (I.F.). What is it? Does it help with weight loss? How does it work? Isn’t it bad for you to skip meals? If you have questions, then I have some facts that might help you decide if this method of eating is right for you or worth giving a try.

What happens when we fast?

When you eat a meal, your body processes that food over the next several hours. Because it has this readily-available, easy to burn energy from what you just ate, your body will use that as energy rather than stored fat. During the fasting window, your body doesn’t have recently eaten calories to use as energy, so it pulls from fat stored instead. Intermittent fasting can teach your body to use food more efficiently and burn fat as fuel when deprived of new calories. The most common form of I.F. is fasting for 16 hours and eating within an 8-hour window.intermittent fasting

The biggest concern most people have with I.F. is that it will lead to lower energy, focus, and feeling ravenous during the fasting period. While the initial switch from eating frequently to intermittent fasting may be a shock to your system initially, the body adapts to this new pattern after several days. If you normally eat every three hours, your body will get hungry after about three hours. Once you retrain your body to not expect food as frequently, these side-effects are minimized.

What to eat during the “feast.”

It’s important to understand that I.F. doesn’t mean you can skip breakfast and then eat 4,000 calories of candy bars for lunch and dinner. It is still vitally important to eat whole, minimally processed foods such as fruits, veggies, healthy carbs, healthy fats, and lean proteins.

If your goal is weight loss, you still need to consume fewer calories than you burn every day to lose weight. The important thing is that with intermittent fasting, you’re eating fewer calories than normal because you’re skipping a meal every day, which could lead to weight loss. If you get light headed, make sure you are consuming enough water. If you notice a significant drop in performance, make sure you are eating enough calories (especially fats and protein) during your feasting window.

It’s up to you to listen to your body and see how making these adjustments change your body. Intermittent fasting may help you lose weight, increase insulin sensitivity, and boost growth hormone secretion which are all good things. But remember, it’s only one factor among many that will determine your body composition and overall health. If you’re going to try this, I recommend easing into it. Focus on eating whole foods and drinking plenty of water, and experiment with it for a week or two to see if it works for you.

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