When you see intermittent fasting, you may be afraid because the first time I saw it, I was so scared that I couldn't close my mouth because since we were young, we have been taught to eat three meals a day or a small amount of this concept of multiple meals. On the Internet, they make it sound scary, like if you eat less than one meal, you will have muscle atrophy, like if you don't eat three meals regularly, you will have a nervous breakdown or something.
It is not that three meals a day is not good, but that two meals a day is also very good, I believe that I say this is still a lot of people will think that skipping a meal is not eaten, it will be very hurtful to the body!
So please read this quote: “Skipping a meal is giving your body time to recover.”
My personal is fat loss period will certainly with intermittent fasting because this way is particularly suitable for me, the only difficulty is that I have to lie because every time I lie to Grandpa that I have eaten dinner, I have not eaten, today we have to help you to answer the most common myths, and the implementation of intermittent fasting on the common problems, then we will give him to see down.
Introduction to Intermittent Fasting
Many nutritional researches trace back to our ancestors, the primitive people. At that time, they had to hunt and collect food. Sometimes, the day was very bad, no hunting animals, and there were no noodles to eat. You can only starve, and this diet about 20 years ago began to rise, research found that there are many benefits to the body, so in recent years, more and more popular, ordinary people can use this diet to make the body healthier, but also can maintain the figure, fitness will also use the Indirect fasting is also utilized by fitness enthusiasts for fat loss.
Principle of Intermittent Fasting
Here, we only talk about weight loss, generally speaking, after eating a meal, the body needs 7-10 hours to consume the stored liver sugar, that is to say, 7-10 hours before the body will use a lot of body fat, so three meals a day, only sleep will have the opportunity to burn fat. Indirect fasting is the use of a long period without food to increase the body's fat-burning time.
Advantages of Intermittent Fasting
I've roughly categorized the benefits into seven categories here:
- Blood: lowers insulin and leptin.
- Liver: Increases insulin sensitivity, reduces insulin-like growth factor, aids in ketogenesis.
- Gastrointestinal: reduces inflammation, reduces energy absorption, reduces cell proliferation.
- Brain: reduces inflammation, improves functioning, enhances nervous system, improves stress resistance.
- Heart: reduces heart rate at rest, lowers blood pressure, and improves stress resistance.
- Lipids: promote lipolysis, reduce inflammation, lower leptin, raise lipocalin
- Muscle: Increase insulin sensitivity, improve efficiency, and reduce inflammation.
Disadvantages of Intermittent Fasting
- Sometimes, you will be hungry at the beginning (Taiwanese breakfast is so delicious that it is hard to resist). But you need to know whether you are really hungry or just hungry.
- In the beginning, you will have less energy, but later on, after you get used to it, it will be helpful for retraining.
- Sometimes I don't want to eat dinner, but my family and friends invite me to dinner (if you don't have friends, you don't have to worry about this).
In 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study on intermittent fasting, which found that young people who fasted for 16 hours a day for two months of resistance training effectively lost fat and maintained muscle mass at the same time. In addition, intermittent fasting is helpful for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's/Parkinson's)
For those who want to try fasting but don't know how to implement it, experts suggest that you can start with “14/10 (fasting/eating) five days a week”.
Choose the intermittent fasting method that suits you best
Everyone has different meal times and work and rest schedules, so choose the method that suits you best
1. Daily fasting method (Leangains)
Only eat once a day (you can eat several meals), and fast the rest of the time (including sleeping time)
2. 8/16 fasting method
Eat for 8 hours a day and fast for 16 hours (for example, eat from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
3. 6/18 fasting method, 4/20 fasting method
Six hours a day, or four hours of eating. (For example, 12 noon to 6 pm). You can also do 7/17 fasting and 5/19 fasting, but people usually say that even numbers sound better.
5:2 fasting method
Five days a week, eat normally. On the other two days, either skip a meal or eat a small meal (small portion).
Personal comment: It's not actually that difficult. I choose not to eat on the busiest days. Some people choose to eat a small meal on the fasting day of 5/2 fasting, but I think it will whet your appetite and make you even hungrier. A small meal = about 500 calories, which is roughly the same as an average dinner.
Alternate-day fasting
Eat normally one day and skip the next day.
Frequently asked questions about intermittent fasting.
What can I eat during the fasting period?
Black coffee, tea, or water without sugar or milk, basically anything with no calories. However, you should be careful with zero-calorie drinks or things with artificial sweeteners because some people's bodies will have an insulin response when they eat them. Then high-protein powders, soy milk, milk, and so on are all out! For people with really low body fat, BCAA can be drunk around the time of exercise but not at other times.
What can I eat during the eating period?
Eating indiscriminately will lead to weight gain. It is recommended that you combine fasting with other dietary methods during the weight-loss period.
What should I do if I get hungry during the fasting period?
People may feel very hungry and uncomfortable during fasting, and they may feel weak, as if skipping a meal will reduce their life expectancy. Therefore, they dare not try it and feel that they cannot do it. But it's not that exaggerated. I, who get hungry so easily, can do it very easily. You just need to eat the right foods and gradually extend the fasting period, keep yourself busy, and you'll get used to it in the end. You should also know that hunger comes in waves, so when you first start feeling hungry, you can drink some tea. If you're still really hungry after 30 minutes, then start eating slowly.
Do you need to count calories on a fasting diet?
If it's a 16/8 fasting diet, it's usually safer to count calories. If the fasting period is extended, it's usually not necessary. Just eat slowly and chew thoroughly until you feel 80-90% full.
Does intermittent fasting cause muscle loss?
Muscle loss is a common side effect of weight loss. However, intermittent fasting causes less muscle loss than other weight loss methods. A study comparing intermittent fasting with calorie restriction found that intermittent fasting is similar to calorie restriction in terms of
Does intermittent fasting cause muscle loss?
Muscle loss is a common side effect of weight loss. However, intermittent fasting causes less muscle loss than other weight loss methods. A study comparing intermittent fasting with calorie restriction found that intermittent fasting is similar to calorie restriction in terms of muscle retention.
Another study concluded that when the daily protein intake is 0.9g/kg, the amount of muscle lost is the same for both weight loss methods. However, when the daily protein intake is 1.2g/kg, the intermittent fasting method is more likely to maintain muscle mass because during fasting, the levels of adrenaline, growth hormone, autophagic effect, etc., increase. Therefore, as the saying goes, fasting will not cause muscle loss.
Does intermittent fasting slow down metabolism?
Metabolism will inevitably slow down when losing weight, but as we can see again from the following research summary, intermittent fasting and calorie restriction for weight loss, both have the same metabolism when eating again. However, the study shows that on the first day of fasting, you will increase adrenaline secretion, fatty acid recycling, glucose regeneration, and sympathetic nervous system function. Therefore, the metabolism will not only not decrease but will increase by more than 5%.
Therefore, short-term fasting will speed up metabolism. These two points should put everyone's doubts to rest.
What if I feel unwell during the fasting period?
Usually, you won't feel unwell, but if you do, 80% of the time, it's because your blood sodium level is too low. So you can take a little salt in your mouth, and generally speaking, it will improve immediately. But if you still feel very unwell, just eat something.
Does fasting have to be done every day?
Not necessarily, but the longer you go without food, the more effective it is. Fasting every day for 18/6 is more effective than fasting only two days a week.
How much protein should I eat during intermittent fasting?
For 18/6 fasting, it is recommended that you still eat 2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight (or see the recommendations in my video for more details). If you eat one meal a day, you can enjoy the muscle-preserving effect of fasting that I just mentioned at the beginning, but I still recommend that you eat at least 1.6g of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Personal advice
Don't be limited by traditional ideas. Many people criticize it as only suitable for a short period, but in fact, this indirect fasting method is flexible. On an ordinary day, you can use the 16 /8 intermittent fasting method. If you have a big meal, you can just have a small meal or even skip it the next day. I recommend that everyone starts with 16/8 because it's really simple: just eat breakfast later and dinner earlier and drink plenty of water. If you get used to it and want to pursue better results, try 18/6.
One very important point is to find things to do because if you have nothing to do, you will want to find something to eat. I hope this article on intermittent fasting is helpful to everyone, so let's take a break and write some more.