What is Intermittent fasting?
To begin with Intermittent Fasting is not a diet. Intermittent fasting is a protocol that splits your day into two different windows, an eating window, and a fasting window. Intermittent fasting ( from here on abbreviated as IF), does not dictate you caloric intake or your macro/micro nutrients spread, it only asks for you to eat during certain periods. Generally the eating window during IF is placed after your workouts when your body is in most need of nutrients, and the fasting window begins when you sleep. These windows can be changed depending on your goals and schedule making IF very flexible.
Won’t I be starving myself?
Many people are hesitant to try IF because they are under the false assumption that it is a method of starvation. IF is not starvation, at the end of your 24 hour cycle you will still get your required caloric needs for the day. It is only in recent history that food has become very abundant, 200 years ago the average humans diet would have consisted of much fewer calories than it does today. We can thank our supermarkets for allowing us to enjoy the foods we want when we want, but we must not forget that the human body is a very complex machine. The body is designed to be able to go on for days without food, people have been documented to go on for 3 weeks without food. It becomes clear that fasting for a couple of hours a day will not have any adverse effects on the body.
What are the benefits of IF?
When your body is in a fasted state there are many benefits that can be experienced, many of these are hormonal benefits which can help accelerate your fat loss given that you are in a caloric deficit. Some of these benefits are;
- Low and stable insulin levels that allow the body to be in a fat burning environment.
- Increase in sympathetic nervous system activity allowing for increased growth hormone production
- Reduced oxidative stress slowing the ageing process
- Increased mitochondria energy efficiency
IF allows for your body to spend its energy on cleansing and repair instead of always having to process food during your waking hours. Many people have also experienced greater levels of concentration during the fasted hours.
How many hours should I fast?
Typically it would be wise to start out with a 16-8 window, which means 16 hours fasted with an 8 hour eating window. I recommend you ease into this regiment by perhaps only starting with a 12 hour fast until you are comfortable with 16 hours. It usually takes a week or so before your body has adapted to this new way of eating, after the first week fasting is fairly easy. Once you are comfortable with 16 hours I would experiment with 18-24 hours, you should not be fasting for more than 24 hours. The 24 hour fast is a useful tool for fat loss that should be used sparingly, this fast is best used after huge cheat days or cheat meals. If you are having trouble losing fat you have many variables that you can leverage for instance you can:
- Increase the fasted window
- Decrease your daily calories
- Increase you activity
With some practice you will find the best balance that you will need in order to maintain steady fat loss.
Can I drink water during IF?
You can drink water, black coffee, or anything that does not have calories. If you exercise during your fasted period feel free to have protein shakes with water. Do not go out and have a 3 piece feed from KFC during your fast, save it for the eating window you will survive.
Who uses IF?
Many people have documented their success with IF all over the internet, do a quick google search and you will see its effectiveness. I personally have managed to drop a lot of fat with IF. Celebrities such as Hugh Jackman and various fitness you-tubers such as Big Brandon Carter, The Hodge Twins, and Kinobody have all recommended IF. Remember that many people do not talk about IF because they can’t sell it to you, it doesn’t require you to purchase anything. Try IF for yourself for a solid 2 months and I promise you will see incredible changes.