The Basics Of Intermittent Fasting

Many of you have heard of intermittent fasting, but for some it’s a new term. In this article I’ll cover the basics of intermittent fasting and will explain to you its basic concept.

Intermittent fasting isn’t really a diet, but a lifestyle. Intermittent fasting breaks your daily nutrition into cycles – you don’t eat anything for a set amount of time during the day and consume your daily norm of calories during the other part of the day. Some people fast for 18 hours, some for 16, some for 20. If you’re a starter, I’d recommend fasting for 16 hours, as 8 hours (24-16=8) is enough to have 2-3 big meals and you won’t have to not eat at all for a really long time, considering that out of the 16 hours you fast you should sleep for 6-8, so you don’t have to keep yourself from eating for a long time.

Intermittent fasting is usually used for fat loss, although some people try using it to gain muscle mass. Naturally, if you want to start intermittent fasting to lose fat you need to be in a caloric deficit.

This kind of eating lifestyle surely has its pros. For a busy person, or for someone who hates eating low-calorie meals while being in a caloric deficit, this is amazing, as you can eat huge high calorie meals just in lower quantities, maximum 3 meals a day ( 2 most of the the time), so that you can reach your calorie goal of the day and neither go too low in calories, nor too high. It's also suitable both for men and women.

Intermittent fasting also has its cons depending on how your organism reacts to it. Personally I haven’t tried intermittent fasting for a long period of time, so considering that I’m not a doctor I can’t tell you if it can affect you in a bad way if you use it for a substantial amount of time. That’s why I recommend doing research and consulting a doctor before starting intermittent fasting and if it affects you positively, it’s a great way to help your body lose that nasty excess fat and eat huge meals even when you’re at a deficit!