We’ve covered the four ‘health’ fads of 2019 that can be bad for you, but here is one that could be good for you! Millions of people make New Year’s resolutions to get fit, lose weight, or eat better. But oftentimes people bite off more than they can chew (pun intended) and set themselves up for failure. There is one simple way to boost your weight loss goals, however, that you may actually stick to – intermittent fasting.
Intermittent Fasting
Rather than try to overhaul your entire diet overnight, which most likely won’t work, you can quickly cut calories through intermittent fasting. By doing what is known as metabolic switching, your liver will expend its energy stores in about 10 – 12 hours and then start using fat. This can’t happen when we’re continually eating. So, the key here is to give your body enough time to move over to fat reserves for energy.
Is 12 Hours Really Necessary?
Some may feel going half a day without eating sounds uncomfortable. But, when you think about it, you already fast for 1/3 of the day while you’re sleeping. That is why the first meal is called ‘breakfast’ – because you’re breaking your fast. So, by merely delaying this meal by a few hours a couple of days a week, you’re already on your way! While this may feel uncomfortable at first, your body will adjust within a few weeks. Just like training a muscle at the gym, you’re training your body to operate on this new schedule.
How Should I Fast?
Fasting is not safe for children, the elderly, or people who already have low body weight. So make sure you’re healthy enough to adjust your eating in this way. One of the easiest ways to begin intermittent fasting is to limit the window of time you allow yourself food. You can start by eating within a 10-hour window for the first month, and reduce the widow to 8 hours in the next month. Another option is to choose one day a week where you have only one meal of no more than 1,000 calories and expand that to two days for the next month.
