Intermittent Fasting: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Fasting is an ancient practice that is often associated with religions over the ages. Fasting gives our body time to rest and heal.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is today one of the most popular fitness and health trends in the world.

People use it to lose weight, improve health and make their lifestyles simpler.

Studies show that it can have potent effects on your body and brain and may even help increase longevity.

Here, is the ultimate beginners guide for beginners to intermittent fasting.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you follow a cycle of feeding and fasting.

It doesn't say what foods to eat but WHEN you should eat them.

There are several different intermittent fasting methods, all dividing the day or week into eating times and fasting periods.

Every day, most of the people are already fasting while they sleep. By extending this fast a little bit longer you can easily do intermittent fasting.

It can be done by skipping breakfast or eating your first meal at noon and your last meal by 8 pm.

If you are someone whole wakes up early in the morning, then you can shift this window as per your preference.

By doing this, ideally, you are fasting for 16 hours a day, and that is the 16/8 method of intermittent fasting.

You may think now that its difficult to do but many people have reported feeling better and more energetic during the fast. Hunger can be an issue in the beginning but give your body some time to get used to the change. After all, it takes some time to build a habit and get accustomed to it.

Methods of Intermittent Fasting

Different methods of intermittent fasting require splitting the day or week into eating and fasting periods.

During the periods of fasting, you either eat very little or nothing at all.

Here are the most popular methods:

1. The 16/8 Method: or Leangains protocol involves skipping breakfast or eating your first meal at noon and your last meal by 8 pm. If you are someone whole wakes up early in the morning, then you can shift this window as per your preference. By doing this, ideally, you are fasting for 16 hours a day, and that is 16/8 method of intermittent fasting.
2. The 19/5 Method: 19/5 Fasting limits the eating period to five hours, just a little more. This method allows 2 meals a day.
3. The 5:2 Diet: On two non-consecutive days of the week you consume only 500–600 calories but normally eat the other 5 days.
4. Alternate Day Fasting (ADF): Many people fast more than once a week for 24–36 hours, in a practice, called alternate-day fasting. Under this system, people are fasting every other day, so their diet is unrestricted on eating days. The eating period is most usually 24 hours, meaning that people eat a small dinner on fasting days just before bedtime.

If you are a beginner, don’t worry start at your own pace and listen to your body.

How IF Affects Your Body: Cells and Hormones

When you fast, your body undergoes several changes at cellular and hormonal levels. Your body adjusts the hormone levels to increase the accessibility of stored body fat.

Also, your cells initiate important processes of repairing and change gene expression.

Here is a list of changes that occur in your body when you fast:

•  Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Skyrocket growth hormone levels, rising as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for fat loss and muscle development.
• Insulin: The sensitivity to insulin improves, and insulin levels drop dramatically. Lower insulin levels improve the accessibility of stored body fat.
• Cellular repair: Cellular repair processes are initiated by your cells when fasted. This includes autophagy, in which cells digest and extract old and damaged proteins that form within cells.
• Gene expression: Gene function changes related to longevity and disease defense.

These changes are responsible for the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Powerful Tool for Weight Loss

People are opting for intermittent fasting mainly for weight loss. As you are eating fewer meals, intermittent fasting automatically results in reduced calorie intake.

As mentioned above, due to the changes in hormonal level it facilitates weight loss.

This increases the release of the fat-burning hormone norepinephrine (noradrenaline) in addition to reducing insulin and rising growth hormone levels.

Studies have shown that due to the changes in hormone level, short term fasting may increase your metabolic rate by 3.6-14%.

However, the key explanation for their popularity is that intermittent fasting lets you consume fewer total calories. If you binge during eating cycles and eat huge quantities, you may not lose any weight at all.

The Science and Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting (IF)

Studies have shown that it can have powerful benefits to your body and brain for weight control and health. It can also help you carry on living longer.

Here are the main benefits of intermittent fasting:

•  Weight Loss: intermittent fasting, as described above, will help you lose weight and fat in your belly without consciously restricting calories
•  Resistance to Insulin: intermittent fasting can minimize insulin resistance, decrease blood sugar by 3–6 percent, and fasting insulin levels by 20–31 percent, which will protect against type 2 diabetes.
•  Heart Health: Intermittent fasting can reduce "bad" LDL cholesterol, triglycerides in the blood, inflammatory markers, blood sugar, and insulin resistance — all risk factors for heart disease.
•  Cancer: Research on animals indicate intermittent fasting can prevent cancer.
•  Brain Health: Intermittent fasting increases brain hormone BDNF which can help in the growth of new nerve cells. This can also help prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Safety Measures

If you have a medical condition, then consult with your doctor before trying intermittent fasting.

•   Have diabetes or irregular blood sugar level.
•   Have low blood pressure.
•   Taking medications.
•   Are underweight (You must read - 20 Best Healthy Foods to Gain Weight)
•  A woman who is trying to conceive. (You must read - Diet and Nutrition Tips for Women)
•  A woman with a history of amenorrhea.
•  Are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Intermittent fasting has an excellent safety profile. If you are healthy and well-nourished overall there is nothing dangerous about not eating for a while.

Take Away!!

Should You Try it?

Intermittent fasting is a lifestyle strategy to improve your health. Eating real food, exercising, and taking an adequate amount of sleep are some of the most important factors to consider.

If in the beginning, you are facing issues, then try for 1-day fasting and other day eating normally, or you can also increase the eating window to 14/10 (14 hours of fasting and 10 hours of eating.

Listen to your body and try it once... if it works for you then great!

For some people intermittent fasting is perfect. The only way you can find out which party you belong to is to try it once.

If you feel good at fasting and consider it a healthy way to eat, it can be a very useful tool for weight loss and health improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What can I have during the fast?

You can have water, coffee, tea, or any other zero caloric beverages. Make sure to avoid sugar!

Q2. Is it safe to workout in a fasted state?

Yes, Absolutely! When in a fasted state, the body naturally raises the growth hormone. This growth hormone increase helps protect your muscles from muscle breakdown while at a fasted state. Plus, during your fasted workout, your body is in a fat-burning condition, ensuring you get even more fat-burning benefits from the workout!

Q3. Will fasting cause muscle loss?

All methods of weight loss can cause muscle loss which is why lifting weights and keeping your protein intake high is crucial.

Q4. Will fasting slow down metabolism?

No… Studies have shown that short-term fast may actually lead to boosting your metabolism.

Q5. Isn’t it unhealthy to skip breakfast?

No. If you ensure the rest of the day you eat healthy food, then the practice is perfectly healthy.