Does fasting help weight loss? You bet! There are a lot of fad diets out there, but intermittent fasting for weight loss is not one of them. It's been around for a long time, and it works in a big way if done correctly.
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One of the nice things about intermittent fasting for weight loss is that you don't have to count calories. It's so simple. Also, you don't have to buy any special foods that can be hard to find or expensive.
Recent studies have shown that those who practice intermittent fasting not only lose weight, but also are healthier. There is also strong evidence that they live longer. Living longer in a miserable state is not my cup of tea, but if I can live longer in a healthy state...why not? This is a great way to lose weight and enjoy it at the same time.
So in answer to the question, "Does fasting help weight loss?" the answer is "absolutely yes," but there are a lot more benefits to it than I have just mentioned.
What Is An Intermittent Fasting Diet?
This type of diet is about the simplest and most pleasurable you can find. You don't have to change the type of foods you eat, so you still enjoy all your favorite meals. That means you can still eat all the foods you love.
The only thing that changes in this diet is that you occasionally don't eat anything for a short period of time. You eat what you love and want, then you stop and fast for a short period, then you eat what you want for several days again. That's simple, and, believe it or not, it gets easier and more enjoyable the longer you do it.
Now when I say you eat what you want, I am not talking about eating a dozen donuts for breakfast and three orders of Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner. If you eat reasonably during your eating days, you will lose weight. How?
Your fasting days cause such a great calorie deficit that you can enjoy what you love on your eating days and still lose weight. I think this is more of a stay-fit-and-trim lifestyle than a diet, but whatever you call it, it works for weight loss.
When people ask, "does fasting help weight loss" and "is it really a natural thing to do" my response is that intermittent fasting is the most natural way to lose and control weight on the planet. For thousands of years, when food was not so readily available, people would hunt, then eat, and then fast while hunting again. They were forced into a natural program of intermittent fasting.
Of course they didn't have the health and weight problems we have today. Actually, it seems that we were created to live off of our fat for periods of time from the beginning. While you are living off of fat from fasting, you are losing weight. It's that simple.
But it must be done right.
There's a new trend in how we eat, or possibly I should say how often we eat. It's popularity is due to the fact that it helps people lose weight without having to deal with the effects of real hunger. It also helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases, like diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
What is this new trend? "Intermittent fasting" or IF is the name of this game.
Intermittent fasting is really nothing new. In fact, IF goes way back to our original ancestors. It is an eating strategy imprinted in our DNA, because our ancestors practiced a reduced eating schedule. They literally had no choice in the matter. They simply did not have the kind of frequency and ease of access to food we have now.
Our Eating Window -
This new strategy towards eating is not just about skipping meals. It's about spending as much time as possible in the fasted state.
The best way to define any type of fasting is to think of it as simply a change in eating patterns. In the case of IF, in place of three square meals in a day, or eating a handful of smaller meals throughout the day, there is a window of time when we're allowed to eat. This could take the form of a few hours a day, or the fasting window could represent certain days of the week. During that time, we can eat whatever we want - within reason of course.
Spacing out our "eating window," allows our mind to get in tune with our body so we can understand what real hunger really feels like.
IF is not about starving. Fasting does not mean starving, but it isn't a diet either. The literal definition is:
"to abstain from food and drink during a specific period of time."
IF is about eating two meals in a day rather than three (or multiples) during which you introduce a 16 hour fasting period. You can choose either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner, and it's proving to be a powerful approach to eating.
The Western world spends little to no time in a fasted state. True hunger is something we should only experience every 16-24 hours, not every four hours as we are accustomed to. For most, there is a constant grazing from dusk to dawn, and even into the late night for some people.
IF won't work for anyone whose diet centers around processed foods like chips. Fasting requires us to stick to a mostly whole food diet, rich in vegetables, lean proteins, healthy carbohydrates and fats in order to experience the best and quickest benefits of IF. The two meals chosen for the day need to be packed full of nutrition and completely balanced.
It is estimated that one out of every two people in today's modern world is obese or overweight and millions are dying from complications that stem from this truth. IF helps to manage body weight and is a powerful tool in the life extension arena as well.
Unless you snack late into the night, you likely incorporate a form of IF in your schedule already, fasting for approximately 12 hours daily. However, current research shows that some benefits of IF require longer periods of 14/10 fasting fasting to be realized, as many as 20-24 hours depending on activity levels.
The proposed benefits of IF in animals and humans reads like a laundry list of "look better," "feel better," and "live longer"...
Having a window of limited eating is much less difficult to pull off then restricting calories. IF is truly one of the simplest strategies for taking fat weight off and keeping good weight (muscle tissue) and requires very little change in behavior.
Slowing the aging process, boosting energy levels and rebooting the immune system are all benefits gained when you incorporate IF into your eating schedule.
So, what are you waiting for? Decide which two meals you want to enjoy going forward and choose the richest, nutrient dense foods to enjoy during that period. If you follow this protocol, and combine it with challenging strength training exercises, I promise you will see positive changes in your body and in the way you feel.