You might have heard many people speak about the intermittent fasting diet. It has been in trend for quite some time now and claims to help you lose weight, improve the metabolic level, and expand lifespan.
Intermittent fasting is a type of weight loss and fitness diet where you don’t eat for a large span of time. People usually have one or two meals a day which has a gap of many hours and it helps them lose weight.
Popular types of intermittent fasting diet
Since the diet type is so popular, many people have tried different types of intermittent fasting. All of these can be effective for people depending on what suits them and their body type. Find out which diet will suit you among the top six given below:
1. Fasting for 16 hours
Of all the diets on this list, the intermittent fasting diet plan 16/8 is the most popular one. In this diet type, you don’t eat anything for 14-16 hours and restrict eating to 8-10 hours only.
During the span of time, you can eat, you can break meals into 2 to 3 times. The diet is known as Leangains protocol and was popularized by Martin Berkhan.
This type of fasting can be easy for you if you don’t have anything after dinner and skip breakfast. Suppose you finish the last meal at 8 pm and don’t eat till 12 in the afternoon the next day. This makes you fast for 16 hours between the meals.
Women are recommended to fast for 14 hours, as they do better with shorter fasts. Men can fast for 16 hours maximum.
This intermittent fasting for weight loss diet can be tough for people who need to have their breakfast early. However, you are allowed to drink water, coffee, non-caloric beverages, during the fast and that helps you curb hunger pangs.
It is essential to have only healthy food during the eating window. It will not work if you have junk for eight hours and don’t eat anything for the rest of the day.
The 16/8 intermittent fasting meal plan example is similar to the Ramadan diet that you can try any time you want, especially during the auspicious occasion.
2. The 5:2 diet
You will see quick intermittent fasting benefits if you do the 5:2 diet plan where you eat normally for five days and restrict calories to 500 to 600 for two days. This form of diet is called Fast Diet and was popularized by Michael Mosley.
Women can have 500 calories on their fasting day, while men can have 600. You shouldn’t do this for two consecutive days. For example, you can choose Monday and Thursday and restrict eating to two meals of 250 or 300 calories each.
3. Eat stop eat diet
Although this type of intermittent fasting diet can be tough to most, you can give it a try. It needs you to skip meals for 24 hours, two times a week. Brad Pilon popularized this form of diet type where he urged people to fast from dinner to dinner.
If you want to try, you can have dinner at 7 on Monday and then again have dinner on Tuesday at 7 pm, and no meals in-between. You can also do this for breakfast and lunch – the results will be the same. You need to have lots of water during the fasting day and can also have coffee and non-caloric beverages.
People doing this for weight loss must note that they need to eat sufficiently during normal eating days. If you find this tough to start with, you should try the 16/8 methods.
4. Fasting alternate days
Alternate day fasting means eating one day and not eating on the other. But there are many versions to this. Some people are allowed to have 500 calories during their fasting days.
Full day fasting will be very exhausting, especially for beginners or active people. Going to bed hungry for days every week will weaken the body and cannot be done for a long time.
5. Warrior Diet
This diet was popularized by Ori Hofmekler and involves eating a small portion of raw veggies and fruits during the day. It also includes a huge meal at night. (blueapplechiropractic.com) So, you don’t eat anything during the day but have a big dinner four hours before going to bed.
The Warrior Diet is one of the famous diet types under intermittent fasting. It integrates food choices like the paleo diet, unprocessed food, whole food, and more.
6. Skipping meals
There are people who don’t follow a proper intermittent fasting diet plan that ensure definitive results. They just skip meals every time they don’t feel hungry or can do without food.
It is actually a myth that people need to eat something every two hours. It is just a different type of diet that works for people who workout heavily.
Our bodies can handle a long period of hunger, so if you don’t feel hungry, you can actually skip the next meal you’re about to have. If can be any of the meals you want to skip. Just make sure you stay hydrated and eat healthy whenever you eat meals.
Is intermittent fasting diet good for you?
You must know that intermittent fasting diets are only for people who are obese or overweight. Even people with normal BMI can try this but they need to maintain it well and make sure it doesn’t harm them. People who are diabetic, underweight, expecting or breastfeeding cannot try this kind of diet.
We recommend you to get a doctor’s consultation done to know what will suit you best and what you should eat. There are many people getting credible results from this method of diet, but there are side effects too. You can feel nauseous, you might not get enough nutrition you need, and so on. People who aren’t sure of their medical condition or take medicines might not be allowed to try this kind of diet too.
You need to find out if this works for you or else try something that suits your body type. People shouldn’t treat intermittent fasting as a shortcut to lose weight as it involves not eating for prolonged periods. It takes efforts, will, and a lot of care to get results and maintain it.
