Intermittent fasting is a sort of life choice that can reap great health benefits for those participating. There are a number of different methods to this kind of fasting which can be used. They all present great possibilities to not only lose weight but benefit other aspects of your health as well.
Weight Loss
Weight loss is the most common and well-known reason for intermittent fasting. The fasting causes you to eat less meals overall, resulting in the lowering of your calorie intake, thus, causing you to lose weight.
Hormones that affect weight loss are also boosted during intermittent fasting, causing you to lose weight more efficiently. These hormones can increase your metabolic rate by up to 14%!!!
This fasting method can become ineffective, however, if the subject begins to eat massive amounts of food during their eating periods. This counteracts the intentions of reducing calorie intake and renders the method useless.
A study done in 2014 showed that this kind of eating pattern can cause 3-8% weight loss in 3-24 weeks.
Other Factors
Insulin Reduction: When you begin the fasting process, your insulin levels drop dramatically. This reduction makes your stored body fat more accessible, resulting in additional weight loss.
Heart Health: Intermittent fasting may reduce “bad” cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin resistance, all of which can be causes of heart disease.
Some users of intermittent fasting have reported great increases in their energy levels, as well as many other positive side effects such as increased memory, better moods, better muscle gain during workouts, decreased inflammation, and even anti-aging results!
How is it done?
While there are a number of different fasting methods, the underlying goal is for you to fast starting out at 12 hours each day, while taking in your typical daily calories in the remaining 12 hours. During the fasting period, you are allowed to drink things such as water, coffee, tea, sparkling water, or anything which does not contain glucose, since this would throw off the process.
Your liver acts as a sort of self-cleaning oven. If you give it a break from food for at least 12 hours each day, it can clean itself out! From 12 hours, you can gradually increase to 16,18, 24 or more hours.
Intermittent fasting is a wonderful tactic to attempt to lose weight and positively increase other aspects of your health in a rather simple, non-costly manner.