Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting

05 Feb Lose Weight With Intermittent Fasting

It has been a while that Intermittent fasting has been on the block and many trainers, nutritionists and dietitians across the globe are going gaga over it. They say if you want to lose weight do Intermittent Fasting.

Intermittent fasting is a simple method of abstaining from food after sunset. You might ask what is new in that, we do not eat after sunset at all, well if that is the case ” Good for you”. But in these days of Netflix, Amazon Prime and other related distractions, it is difficult to wind up your day before 11.00 pm. Wouldn’t you be hungry if you sleep at 11.00 pm and eat around 6.00 pm? Thus,starts the episode of binge eating and eating more than what your body actually requires.

When there is binge eating, the satiety signal which your body gives your brain gets dissolved in the exciting part of the Netflix original or any TV Serial, and we don’t feel full, hence overeat.

Important aspects which we need to look into while doing intermittent fasting to lose weight.

Circadian Clock:

Human body is a wonder. It has a biochemical oscillator which synchronizes with TIME. This circadian rhythm helps to determine our sleep pattern and controls the production of Melatonin – sleep hormone. As per circadian rhythm, we all should slow down around sun set, dim the lights around 8.00 and sleep by 9.00 approximately. Body starts producing Melatonin around 7.00 pm and we keep working past that time, interrupting the nature of the body, confuses the body, hence most of us do not get proper sleep. Improper sleep leads to hunger pangs and we tend to lead ourselves to the refrigerator in search of food late night hampering the weight loss. Intermittent Fasting is nothing but honoring our circadian or biological clock and eating well before sunset ( yes, it has a twist for our convenience too)

Type of Intermittent Fasts:

There are many type of fasts, namely 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating window where you can either skip breakfast or skip dinner, 14 hours of fasting and 10 hours of eating window. The good part about Intermittent fasting is that it is flexible. Adjusting it around your most hungry time and following it is the key for weight loss. There are many other types of IF too, like OMAD ( One meal a day) or fasting 2 days in a row etc. But I personally feel that those types are for advance fasting practitioners. If we need to get the hang of Intermittent fasting, the first thing needs to be done is to know which are the timings that you are hungry. So getting in touch with body requirements is the foremost important aspect of IF.

How it helps Weight Loss:

• Your food intake gets a window with IF. That means that meals and snacks are to be eaten at a specific time which naturally reduces the amount of food you consume, thus creating a calorie deficit much required for the weight loss.
• The insulin spike when we have food is reduced and hence the blood sugar is managed well. Decreased insulin level may help fat burning thus aiding the weight loss
• It is also said that IF helps retain the muscle mass, which is not the case with only calories restricted diet.

There are umpteen theories, before and after pictures on various platforms in favor of intermittent fasting to lose weight but before going there we should check out what our ancestors say? Fasting has been there for many generations in all religions which mainly tells you to get in touch with your body and know whether you truly need that much food?

They say ” Fasting of the body is the food for soul”. Well, here is to some soul searching… 🙂

Here are some facts of intermittent fasting

https://www.the5ammommy.com/intermittent-fasting-facts/