If you are looking to lose weight fast there are many different ways you can rely on. The one of many ways that has become popular in recent years is intermittent fasting. Fasting for short periods helps people lower their calorie intake and also optimize some hormones in your body which are linked to weight control.

Many nutrition experts are saying that intermittent fasting is the way of future for losing weight and many new books and articles are being published daily on this topic. After reading this article you will know everything about intermittent fasting and you will be able to implement into your diet and experience the benefits in a very short time.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

From its name you probably figured it out by now; intermittent fasting is a weight loss strategy where you fast for a set period of time during the day. While fasting you can consume no calorie drinks like tea, coffee without sugar and water.

The more time you put in intermittent fasting everyday, the better results you will get. You can choose when to do these fasts, but as we said before to more often you do, the better for yourself.

Getting Started With Intermittent Fasting

Following this weight loss plan is very simple. First of all you have to choose a period of time during the day that you will fast. This should be between 16-20 hours. Don’t worry about carbohydrates or counting calories. It’s best to choose a set period of time to conduct your fast. Many people we’ve talked to, they fast from 8 o’clock at night to 4 the following afternoon. Then they have theirs first meal of the day and have snack a few hours later, once 8 o’clock comes back its back to fasting.

From experience with intermittent fasting, it’s the best to start with a 16 hours fast for the first 2 weeks. If you are feeling comfortable with this schedule, you can increase the amount of time you spend fasting. Add 30 minutes to each fast until you get to fast for 20 hours at a time.

It is optional if you want to fast every day in the beginning. You may be feeling more comfortable at the start by breaking in slowly with 2-3 fasts a week. After you are adjusted to this fasting add more days with the same style of eating.

Tips To Make Intermittent Fasting Easier

Drink a lot of water during your fast. You could slip a little lemon or lime juice to your water to help yourself to get rid of any cravings you are having. You can consume tea, coffee or any other free-calorie beverages. After being on this diet plan for a few weeks you will find out that intermittent fasting will keep you away from craving sugar.

One type of free-calorie drinks that must be avoided are diet sodas and other beverages that use artificial sweeteners. Many researches have proven that the can actually stimulate your appetite like a drink that has high amount of sugar and cause you to overeat.

Take in a little caffeine if you can handle in the morning and early afternoon. Many studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee will actually make intermittent fasting easier to fast since it’s good for restraining your appetite. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t go on massive amounts because it may lead to feeling a little weird.

Cur or bring to minimum foods that are rich in processed carbohydrates and sugars. Focus on foods that have high amount of protein like beef, pork, fish, and carbohydrates from vegetables and healthy fats from foods like avocados, fish and olive oil.

Don’t overfill ate your first meal. The first meal after your fast should be the amount of food you normally eat. Binging will only make you feel terrible and decrease the benefits you get from the fast.

How Intermittent Fasting Will Help You Lose Weight

The first benefit if you are eating this way is that when you are fasting, your body will be required to use its stored body fat for energy. Burning calories like this, instead of from the food you are consuming through the day will help you lose weight faster. Also a great benefit of intermittent fasting is that it can help optimize the release of the key fat burning hormones in your system. This is especially important for the two most important hormones: insulin and HGH (human growth hormone).

HGH plays a huge role in turning ON your bodies fat burning hormones so it gets the calories you need to work from stored body fat. Many researches show that fasting can increase your growth hormone by 2,000% in men and 1,300% in women.

The effect of intermittent fasting on insulin is just as impressive and more important. Keeping your insulin levels at low and steady rate is the key to lose excess fat and keep it off. Many diets that are rich in processed carbohydrates and simple sugars have the opposite effect. They will make your insulin levels to raise fast and then crash every time you consume one of these foods. Playing your insulin levels like this can lead to development to chronic health problems. But if you use intermittent fasting, there is no such problem as this. By doing this diet for 14 days in many studies is shown that this will help you balance your insulin levels and also will help your body to stay in fat burning state.

Also a great weight loss benefit of this diet is that hunger pangs and cravings you were normally experiencing through the day will be drastically reduced if not eliminated.

How Much Weight You Will Lose?

This usually depends on how often and long your fasts, what you eat afterward and other factors.

If you decide to fast for 16-20 hours a day, then it is safe to say that you will lose 2-3 pounds of fat every week. Losing this much of weight every week is awesome, losing weight with this kind of diet means that you never have to count calories or prepare several meals a day.

Workout While Fasting

Doing the right type of exercise while fasting will help you lose weight even faster and will help you to build muscle! The best workouts to do during fasting for weight loss are 2-4 intense strength training on weekly basis. Set a goal of doing 3-4 total body exercises per workout with a little rest. By working out like this not only will help you to build muscle and look better but it will help you to burn more calories during and after your workout!

Is Fasting Safe?

Many people are asking this question, so as long you are healthy, aren’t taking medications and also not pregnant, fasting is safe. Like all diets you should visit your healthy counselor before starting an intermittent fasting. It is recommended not to start this type of diet if you are stressed. This diet can be a little stress-including at first, so if you are having a stressed period it’s not a good idea to start one because your stress levels can go higher.

Supplements You Could Include To Make Fasting Easier

As any other weight loss plan, it’s not a bad idea to take a few nutritional supplements to ensure you meet your daily requirements. This means to include once or twice multi-vitamin, vitamin D and fish oil on daily basis. Also many researches shows that by taking 10 grams of branch chain amino acids before and after your workout will help you a lot. They will give a huge boost of energy when you workout and they will reduce the pain in post-workout muscle.

Conclusion

After reading this article about intermittent fasting you should know that this kind of diet will help you lose weight fast in a safe way without putting too much effort.