Everyone has heard the saying “Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, and eat dinner like a pauper.” However, there’s a new fitness trend that’s turning this old advice right on its head. Through intermittent fasting, people are actually skipping breakfast to lose weight and live healthy lives.

Fascinated? We were, too. Here’s what we’ve learned about intermittent fasting.

We take a look at what intermittent fasting is, how it works, why you should consider it, and how you can go on an intermittent fasting program.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

First off, this isn’t a diet. It’s an eating pattern.

If you go on an intermittent fast, you eat for 8 hours a day, and abstain from any food during the remaining 16. These cycles of eating and fasting help with weight loss, metabolism rates, and may even help protect you against illness.

The great news, and why a lot of people prefer intermittent fasting: you only watch when you eat, not what you eat.How Does It Work?

With the 16/8 system, you will be eating a little more at each meal. However, you will end up consuming fewer calories than when you eat as usual, because you eat fewer meals now.

Contrary to popular opinion, your body is designed to survive an intermittent fasting regimen, and easily. When you eat regularly, your body constantly has a source of energy: the food you eat. When you go on an intermittent fasting regimen, your body needs another source of energy: the fat stored in it.

When you work out in the ‘fasting state’, your body craves fuel, and uses your fat reserves. That’s a win!

Another way this works (warning: we’re getting a little scientific here) is that fasting deprives you of glycogen, a starch stored within your body. This makes you more sensitive to insulin, means that most of the food you eat will be burnt as energy or stored in muscles. You won’t be adding more fat to your body.

 

Why Try Intermittent Fasting?

We’ve already addressed this, so here are the highlights: improved metabolism, weight loss, improved muscle growth, and no more overeating.

Okay, So How Do I Go On An Intermittent Fast?

You can start with a 12/12 fasting-feasting schedule, where you eat all your meals for a day in a 12-hour window. Then, progress to 14 hours, and then 16 hours, of fasting.

The results will speak for themselves!

References:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-intermittent-fasting

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide