Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting
Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting
Hello Beginners!
Welcome to Life and smallthings!
I get numerous questions daily on Intermittent Fasting - How to start,
what to eat, what to do?
What is IF?
Intermittent Fasting means you fast few hours
in a day so that your body gets enough time to perform activities for its
wellness and burn the fat that has accumulated over years.
When you keep feeding your body, it JUST digests/burns the food the
whole day meaning your fat is safely stored inside your body 😑
In your Fasting period, your body after digesting the day's meal starts targeting fat that's in its vicinity! Being loyal to you it gets suited up and goes to burn that accumulated fat , once the fats are burned it starts looking around for issues that your body is dealing with right now, it then starts to repair and heal your body.<
When you start eating on your fast period, your body starts to digest
the food you sent in and stops burning fat!! 😑So who is the culprit here? Yes You! Me! Us! 😃
Keep this in mind every time you eat on your fasting window – You are
feeding your body and hindering its process to burn fat!
Types of Fasting
1) 12 : 12 or 14: 10
Fast 12 hrs and eat 12 hrs / fast 14hrs and eat 10hrs
This is the basic fasting period that is recommended for pregnant women,
breastfeeding mothers, diabetic or people with any other health issues.
In this window your body begins to recognize IF as a lifestyle and tries
to adapt.
2) 16:8
You fast 16hrs and eat 8hrs.
This is the beginner fast, where you are trying to change your regular
food intake into a restricted period. The initial days of 16:8 are hectic as
you are trying to break the chains of continuous eating.
The normal timings would be:
10am – Breakfast
2pm – Lunch
5pm – Dinner/ eve snacks
6pm – Start fasting
You can change the 16hr fasting window according to your daily routines,
but make sure it’s a complete 16hr fast.
3) 18: 6
You fast 18hrs eat 6hrs
This is the next level in Fasting, where you have got control over your
timings and mind and can extend from 16hrs to 18hrs.
The normal timings would be:
10am – Breakfast
1pm – Healthy snacks
3pm – Lunch
4pm – Start fasting
These timings can be changed according to your routines.
4) 20 :4
You fast 20hrs eat 4hrs
This is the next level in fasting to 18hrs, here you have complete
control over your mind and body.
The normal timings would be:
11am – Breakfast
1pm – Healthy snacks
2pm – Lunch
3pm – Start fasting
These timings can be changed according to your routines.
5) OMAD (23:1)
One meal a day (OMAD) is basically having all the nutritious food
combined into a single meal - mostly a mid -day meal ( around 2-3pm). This meal
should contain 1500-2000 calories , an intake that is required for a average
woman per day.
These timings can be changed according to your routines.
6. 24hr fast
You fast a complete day
This is one of the toughest fast, where you test your body and mind to
push to stay in fasting for a day, consuming only water, green tea or black
coffee.
This is recommended once a week for reaping the full benefits of
fasting!
You take less calories on alternate days
8. Eat - Stop- Eat
You Fast completely on Alternate days
9. 36hr/ 48hrs/72hrs
Extended fasts
IMPORTANT TO READ
I have listed out the fasting types as a step by step process meaning
they have to be followed step by step! 😊
You complete 16hrs, 18hrs, 20hrs, 23hrs and then OMAD.
I am highlighting the 'step by step' because jumping directly into OMAD
or 24hr fast without beginning with a 16hr is not recommended at all!! You
might see temporary results but will end up with extreme health issues, hair
loss, dizziness, immunity drop!! 😐
You have been in a routine eating 3 times a day – from morning, noon,
night, snacks, junks for almost 20, 30, 40, 50yrs of your life!!! So jumping
directly to OMAD or 24hr fast will flip your body making it confused to decide
on what to do- this is dangerous!
Your body is your best friend , don’t make her/him confused!!
Once you have successfully sustained in each fasting step, you move to
next! Train your body to get used to that process then move to next. Once you
reach 24hr fast you can go about mixing up fasting window- like do 16hrs again
for 3days , then 20hrs for two days, likewise.
By now your body understands what your intention is and will be able to
support and cooperate with you to work towards a common goal! Think on a long
term basis, if you are going to do everything quickly , end up losing weight
and get unhealthy, gain weight again in 2-3months!! What do we achieve here??
Nothing! Just stress 😐
The key is to align your mind and body, so work with both together!! 😊
Happy IFing!
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