We all know that there are a large number of benefits of intermittent fasting. It helps you lose weight and keep the body fit. For weight loss, you need to be attentive to the calorie intake. This article brings you the top tips for intermittent fasting. It also throws light on the health benefits of intermittent fasting for beginners.
Difference between wanting and needing to eat
It would be best if you ate when your stomach makes a growling sound because it needs food at that time. You also need to question if the hunger is actual hunger or boredom. If it is boredom, distract yourself and indulge in another work. Untimely eating an unnecessary calorie intake disturb the insulin levels in your body. To reduce appetite, you may have peppermint or warm mint tea, but eat if you’re feeling weak. Have food full of nutrients so that you do not feel hungry very often. Healthy fats like avocado, coconut, nut butter, or olive oils and having proteins in at least one meal a day will leave you feeling satisfied.
Stay Hydrated
You may have tea, coffee, and water, even if you are doing intermittent fasting to stay hydrated. During fasting, your body needs a lot of liquids. You can have 2-3 liters of water or other liquids in a day. It will benefit you in the long term. You will also lose weight through calorie restriction and good liquid consumption.
Avoid Overeating
If you are breaking your fast, it should not mean that you can eat anything at any time. You cannot feast after breaking your fast. Eating too much will make you uncomfortable and bloated. You will also be destroying your own goals set for weight loss. Overeating may increase the amount of fat you have. Be sure to take note of your calorie intake after intermittent fasting to know how much you can have on your plate.
Break Your Fast Steadily
When you practice intermittent fasting for some time, you must know the right system for breaking your fast. The body becomes a vacuum that wants anything in front of it. Gulping every kind of food afterward does not help. You should chew the food accurately and eat breakfast slowly. Eating slow makes your brain feel you have had enough. So, the problem of overeating fades away. It will allow your digestive system to digest every meal a day properly. Your body may end up gaining more weight if you gulp down your meals.
Your Body Speaks To You! Listen.
You should always check any symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, irritability, anxiety, headache, or finding it hard to concentrate. Breaking your fast is the best thing to do if you experience any of these. These symptoms might signify that the body is starving and needs some nutrition. Feeling colder than usual and feeling more tired than you do every day are signs that you need at least one meal a day.
You may feel hungry and weak during intermittent fasting, so break your fast and have some food. Initially, you may try keeping a fast for a few days a week. If it is okay for you, you can choose a fasting window for yourself discussed in the next section, but if it isn’t acceptable for you to do intermittent fasting, there are other ways to lose weight. Health is always more important.
Adjust Your Fasting Window
You should adjust your fasting window according to your lifestyle. Whichever method fits you well, you can continue that. It is suggested that if you wake up early, your eating window can be from 10 am to 6 pm. After that, your fasting window can be from six in the evening to 1o in the morning. One benefit of intermittent fasting is that you can schedule it yourself.
The second option is to eat breakfast later in the day and enhance the strength of fasting. For a natural eleven-hour fasting window, you may shut your kitchen down around nine at night and not eat before eight in the morning. While you sleep, you do not eat anything, so the sleeping time is your fasting window. This is an easier way to adjust to fasting. Once you get in the habit of consumption after intervals, you can also opt for the fast of 16 hours.
Become Comfortable With Your New Eating Plan
It can be very tempting to get into a new eating method, but it can be a difficult process. Initially, you should do intermittent fasting for 2-3 days a week. You can even alternate day fasting because that can help you get into a habit of intermittent fasting. With time, you can increase the number of days. It would be best if you went slow with it instead of jumping right in. Dieticians say that jumping in causes more discomfort and hunger increases.
Have Balanced Meals
It is good to have a mix of fiber, protein, carbs, and healthy fats to lose weight and have a balanced, healthy lifestyle. This method of having balanced meals will help in weight loss and will reduce excessive hunger during intermittent fasting. You may have a small sweet potato, chicken for protein, and spinach (sautéed with olive oil and garlic).
Eat fruits with a low glycemic-index because they are easy to absorb, digest, and metabolize in your body. While there are several benefits of intermittent fasting, skipping breakfast may not be appropriate for some people. Adjust when to eat breakfast according to your lifestyle. You should also check the insulin levels in your body because that will avoid more cravings for meals.
Eat Stop Eat
Eat Stop Eat is among the most famous ways of intermittent fasting when you fast for twenty-four hours, for one or two days a week. It is believed that this fasting window of one day helps in weight loss. Eat Stop Eat aids in calorie restriction, and metabolic functioning favors you to lose weight. Fasting is also a way of relaxing. You can add in light exercise and yoga on the day of intermittent fasting. To distract yourself from the Eat Stop Eat process, you can watch a movie or finish some paperwork.
Benefits of intermittent fasting
There are several benefits of fasting. You may opt for alternate day fasting or fasting for a few days a week. Here are some of the health benefits:
- Balance in calorie intake also prevents cancer.
- It balances the insulin levels in the body. This helps in burning fat and aids in weight loss.
- The cells of your body are repaired when you do not eat for a period of time.
- All the waste material from the cells and the body is removed, and you feel light.
- Your belly fat will reduce, and you will lose weight. The inflammation and oxidative stress in your body will also diminish.
- If you are having any heart disease or are likely to have it in the future because of your lifestyle, intermittent fasting is an excellent way of curing any heart disease and staying fit.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting can be a challenge, but the results are worth the struggle. Make sure you listen to the signs of your body while fasting and take it slow at first if you are new to it.
