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Intermittent fasting for fat loss
If you’re here to find out about intermittent fasting for fat loss, you’re in the right place ! How does it work ? And how do you do it ? What else can you do alongside it for best results ? This is what we’ll be covering today. So strap in and start taking notes, because this will be eye-opening !
Don’t forget to share and comment if you find anything useful here. We always love interacting with you guys !
So what is intermittent fasting, and how does it work ?
Also called IF, intermittent fasting is one of the best things to do when you want to drop some pounds fast. We need a bit of nutrition info here to show you why. So the body needs nutrients to survive, and the major groups are carbohydrates, fats, and protein.
Your body breaks them down into glucose when you consume them, which them gives your body energy and thus calories. This is all much more complicated, but that’s the extra-shortened version.
So in general people need somewhere between 6 to 12 hours to completely use up the calories from one meal. Which means that if for the total of 24 hours in a day, you’ve eaten more calories than you’ve burned then you’re gonna have some extra pounds pretty fast.
There’s another part that’s important, on how much damage 100 calories of carbs do vs 100 calories of protein, but we’ll touch on that in an upcoming video for meal planning.
So how does IF come into play here ?
Well, if you only eat in small portions, and only during certain periods of the day(keeping in mind the hour you woke up at) you’re starting the glycolysis process. That’s your body starting to use up the extra glucose for energy. So basically, you’re making your body use its emergency fuel, in a controlled and safe way.
Timing your fasting
Like we said above, most people fall into the 6-12 hour range, so that means you can eat within a 6 hour window, then fast for another 6 and so on. But what we recommend, and what we think beings the most help in weight loss, is the 6/18 way.
That means that you fast for 18 hours –I know, it sounds extreme, but bear with us — and then for the other 6 hours have small, controlled meals.
What’s the benefit here ?
- The longer you can keep the fasting process, the longer the glucose burns. So, if you can go past the hours necessary for your body in particular, then you’re doing it even better.
- Do remember to keep the meals relatively small. Your stomach will be smaller since not ingesting any food, so your meals must be smaller. They also need to be small so you keep the glucose levels in check.
- You’ll get leaner by just using nutrition, and it’s easy to learn
- You won’t need to worry about cooking as much. I know it helped in our case.
Other alternatives to the 18/6 could be fasting every other day, or picking just one day of the week for a 24 hour fast, or maybe even getting a shorter fasting window(like 14 hours of fasting, 10 hours in which to eat, or any other combination).
Whatever you choose, and we recommend the 18/6 method, make sure you keep well hydrated and always know what your next meal will be. Don’t get surprised by family road trips with stops for fries or pancakes. Stay true to what you’re trying to do !
Intermittent fasting meal plan
So here’s an example for a couple of days. This is for an 18/6 IF, but you can adapt it to whatever you choose to do. There are all low/zero carbohydrate, only good for meal 1 and 2 !!!
- 8 oz salad w/ 4.5 oz grilled chicken
- 13-14 oz soup with some croutons(no more than a handful)
- 4-5 oz salmon w/ 8 oz broccoli+cauliflower
- grilled veggies 8 oz w/ shrimp 4-5 oz
- cauliflower puree 8 oz w/grilled veggies 5-6 oz
- 12-13 oz bean salad w/fresh veggies and cubed cheese
These are meals you can use to guide yourself by. You can totally try some other kinds of foods, that’s fine, as long as you cut carbs. Not the easiest, but we’re not here for easy, we’re here for results, right ?
As for the final meal, or the last meal before your start fasting, we recommend something lighter.
- 4 oz yogurt w/ 1 cup protein shake
- smaller serving of soup, like 8-10 oz
- 10 oz salad, just veggies and maybe tofu/cheese
- a handful of nuts and seeds, these always help
Keep in mind that during fasting your stomach will ask for food, but you’re here to be strong, okay ? You’re not to give in, and undo what you’ve done so far. Drink plenty of water and unsweetened tea to quiet your stomach. It will learn very fast when to ask for food, and when not to.
Can you work out during fasting periods ?
For the hardcore peeps out there, let’s cover working out during fasting. Should you even ? If yes, then how much ?
Well, I’ll give you our example. Back in January 2018 Dragos and I went on a 9 day cleanse. The first 2 days were 18/6 fasting, and they were fairly difficult. But we still worked out, even on the fasting days.
It’s true, we were a bit dizzy and irritated – those can be side effects, but they go away fast. But we weren’t terribly brought down by the workouts. And I’ll tell you why.
Normally, if you burn calories when you’re already on an empty tank you’d just drop dead on the couch once you get home and still have to continue fasting. Again, timing is key here. We finished our workouts about an hour before we broke the fast, so when we did end up eating we wouldn’t jump the food.
And we got great results, but also keep in mind that you need serious dedication and willpower in order to pull this off right, so get yourself some tangible objectives — like a dress to keep trying on, or something to reward yourself with — and always check with them.
So you can totally work out during your fasting periods or days, even a 24h fast, but time it right. Make sure it’s about an hour before you eat, and get some rest afterwards. Hydrate thoroughly and keep in mind that you maybe won’t be able to do your workout at 100% capacity.
Using some extra help
You’d think staying away from cardio would be a good idea, but since we’re trying to push ourselves very far, 10 minutes should be okay. However if you don’t feel right, get off the treadmill and just do some crunches.
If you’re looking to get more help, beyond just fasting and working out, consider using a waist trimmer. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a type of elastic band that helps you sweat in a specific part of your body. As the name calls it, using it on your waist will help shape and tone it faster, because it speeds up the weight loss process.
It’s not a replacement for dieting, or for exercise. It’s meant to help you achieve better results. Here’s me wearing one. If you’re wondering who ‘me’ is, I’m Alexandra from FIT Couple.
You can get your own waist trimmer here. It’s an amazon link, I am an affiliate, and I do get a small commission from your order. But that’s not why I’m leaving that link there. I’m leaving it there because I know it helped me a lot in keeping a flat stomach and I use it half the time I’m at the gym.
Intermittent fasting for fat loss – yes, it works !
Now, you know what IF is, how to do intermittent fasting for fat loss, got some meal ideas, and a few workout tips. We hope it’s going to help you at least as much as it helped us both keep our respective weights, and our clients.
If you liked this article, and found it helpful, then check out these other topics.
Our advice and experience with losing weight as a couple.
Or maybe our article on how to lose lower belly fat ?
We hope this has been helpful to you, as well as the articles to come. Stay healthy !
