To get started, intermittent fasting isn’t a diet but a way of eating or an eating pattern. This way of losing weight ensures that you eat within a specific period of time and fast for the remaining hours of the day. Scientifically, fasting for a good number of hours between meals improves the overall metabolism, helps to lose a few kilos, and boosts longevity. The strategy is fairly simple, wherein you follow phases of eating and not eating.

Benefits

• This idea of fasting lets you go without food for a certain period of time without craving for junk and snacks.
• You have a better control over your body, mind, and hunger pangs.
• This lifestyle change lets you test your limits and with increasing hours of fasting, your body gets used to a certain rhythm to help you lose weight by improving the energy levels.
• You may initially find this to be extremely daunting, but you can start with this intermittent fasting method by following the bulletproof diet, wherein you eat nothing after dinner till lunch, except for a bulletproof coffee in the breakfast.
• Don’t make excuses to eat carbs and sweets. You can eat all possible healthy food, protein, fibre-rich food, fruits, and may be one portion of carbs to maintain a standard weight.

In intermittent fasting, you are essentially allowing your body to naturally burn fat, which is difficult for the body to do when food is consumed on a regular basis as and when energy is required. You must follow the timeline protocol to help you burn fat and lose weight, and you will, eventually, be cutting down on substantial calorie intake. This way of eating also improves the cell functioning of the body and helps to eliminate any damaged and unwanted cells.

Ideally, intermittent fasting can keep you miles away from cancer-related diseases. You can either try alternate-day fasting, whole-day fasting, or time-bound fasting. If you are a frequent eater, you can start this plan with 5 to 7 hours of fasting. Slowly and steadily, you can increase your fasting periods to 10, 11, and 14 hours.

Another intermittent fasting method requires the consumption of 500-600 calories on any 2 consecutive days within a week and eat normal for the next 5 days; this is the 5:2 method. For beginners, this is a good way to kick-start intermittent fasting as it gives the leverage to eat normally for 5 days. As this plan progresses, the body will get adjusted to the intake of fewer calories and will increase the release of the fat-burning hormone.

This is definitely a powerful weight loss plan where you are just controlling the timelines, but it is important to consult a dietitian and a nutritionist before planning to follow it. This is because prolonged periods of any diet and fasting can be equally difficult and tiring. If you can keep up to this challenge, it has a lot of overall benefits, both physically and mentally.