Intermittent fasting is on everyone’s lips today. Various celebs claim this method to be their salvation when they need to lose weight in a rapid mode.

Yet, have you ever tried intermittent fasting? Was it truly effective for your weight-losing goals? Let’s consider this eating principle and decide whether it suits you.

The Essence of Intermittent Fasting: How It Works?

Most diets are focused on the choice of meals to maintain balance and control calorie intake. Intermittent fasting is quite a different dietary concept which focuses on eating only during specific periods. At the same time, intermittent fasting is quite diverse in its terms as it offers various periods for eating and starving. For example, the most popular intermittent fasting types are as follows:

  • 6/12 with 6 hours devoted to eating and 12 hours of abstaining from food.
  • 8/16 with 8 hours of eating per day and abstaining for 16 hours.
  • 12/12 with 12 hours of eating and 12 hours of abstaining
  • Eating one meal a couple of days a week.
  • The 5/2 weekly plan is designed to eat 5 days a week and limit your food consumption in the rest 2 days to a single low-calorie meal.

In any case, the effectiveness of intermittent fasting can be reached only if you maintain it consistently and strictly adhere to a chosen schedule. Besides, you shouldn’t break the rules. During the periods of abstinence, only fresh water and zero-calorie beverages are allowed. No snacks, no fruits or vegetables to have a bite are allowed.

At the same time, numerous benefits are forecasted for intermittent fasting appreciators.

  • Weight loss in a long-lasting perspective
  • Decrease of insulin and sugar levels in blood.
  • Reduction of bad cholesterol levels.
  • Metabolism boost.
  • Better concentration and brain activity
  • Higher insulin resistance.
  • Higher stress tolerance and productivity
  • Skin and hair improvements.
  • Better sleep.

The Scientific Opinion on Intermittent Fasting Efficiency

Intermittent fasting remains a scientific focus for a long time. Some research trials claim it has a beneficial impact as a weight loss approach for adults with obesity and overweight. According to the Harvard Medical School overview of intermittent fasting research, this method can be effective when you follow it in the circadian rhythm fasting way. Thus, you select eating periods according to your circadian rhythms.

In general, scientists associate the efficiency of IF with the following features of this eating principle:

  • Reducing calorie intake due to fewer snack times.
  • A thoughtful approach to eating is developed when a person controls their eating periods.
  • If your eating periods follow natural circadian rhythms, you eat healthier and do not overeat.
Intermittent Fasting

Who Should Avoid Intermittent Fasting

At once, intermittent fasting is not a magic peel. It works great in the following cases:

  1. you select a proper IF plan which fits your current weight and calorie needs of your body.
  2. you have no health issues which can be contraindications for intermittent fasting.
  3. you are content with your well-being when you maintain a chosen IF plan.
  4. you combine intermittent fasting with regular physical activities.
  5. you have no sleep disorders or bad sleep issues.

Besides, there is a range of common contraindications for intermittent fasting principles. So this method shouldn’t be used for:

  • people with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) as it can lead to compulsive overeating during eating periods.
  • pregnant and lactating women. IF cannot maintain the need for nutrients pregnant and lactating persons have.
  • children. Due to faster metabolism, children need to take meals and snacks more often than adults, and the idea of intermittent fasting doesn’t suit them.
  • seniors with digestive tract disorders. Seniors sometimes have difficulty getting nutrients and enough calories due to loss of smell and taste, digestive issues, and lack of hunger signals. Adding another factor that can reduce nutrient intake may not be the best idea.
  • people with type 1 diabetes due to possible unsafe hypoglycemia issues.
  • you simply feel bad when you maintain IF regularly. Each body is unique and has its unique requirements. Some people can spend days without any meals and have no energy lack, fatigue, or concentration decrease. Others may feel a lack of energy if they have no regular meals three or four times a day. If you are of the last type, intermittent fasting doesn’t suit you.

How to Adjust Intermittent Fasting to Meet Your Body’s Needs

In any case, if you want to try intermittent fasting for your healthy eating lifestyle, it is better to start with the strategy development.

  • Decide on a comfortable eating plan. As IF provides multiple ways of planning, you need to consider in advance your daily schedule and your circadian rhythms to choose the time gap for eating comfortably. For example, if you work until 8 p.m. and you have your breakfast early in the morning, you can design your eating plan to start daily from 9 p.m. and last until 7 a.m. Thus, you get a 10/14 plan with 2 regular meals to be included.
  • Do not go crazy during your eating hours. IF doesn’t have restrictions for what you can eat or drink, yet, you shouldn’t overeat. Just stop when you feel the first signs of satiety. Deciding on healthy meals is also essential. Eating pizza and semi-processed food all the time won’t be profitable for your body, even if you set the strictest eating plan. Some experts say that the best weight-loss strategy for intermittent fasting is to combine its principles with the Mediterranean diet.
  • Drinking enough water is a must. Especially during the food abstinence periods.
  • If you combine the IF principles, with intensive workouts, you can add to your menu some caffeine before training and protein shakes with dextrose or with creatine after it.

As you can see, intermittent fasting is not a magic peel that solves your weight issues. Yet, you can make it your eating habit by combining it with healthy meals and portion control. The main threat intermittent fasting provides is that you can easily overeat when you take meals only at certain periods. Besides, this dietary method doesn’t suit various health conditions, so if you feel bad when maintaining it, it is better to decide on another dietary practice to remain healthy, active, and enjoy your well-being.