Flexible Intermittent Fasting Schedules For Weight Loss – By Experts

Including flexible intermittent fasting in your routine is the diet trend of the movement. Celebrities like Jenna Jameson, Vanessa Hudgens, and Halle Berry swear by intermittent fasting. And with tons of people associating it with keto meal plans, there’s a good chance you know someone who does.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a type of nutritional plan that includes periods of meals and fasting. You can only consume  water, coffee, and tea during the fasting. Typically, the periods you can eat are whatever you want, which is why the plan works for many people. It’s simple, and you can customize the schedule to suit your needs.

That being said, IF is NOT for everyone. As WH earlierly reported, intermittent fasting can be a strict diet if you’re the type of person who likes to snack and is hungry when you can’t. It is also not a good idea for someone with a history of eating disorders.

Nonetheless, it may be worth it for people who want to lose weight and balance fasting with their lifestyle. FI has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, delay markers of aging, support your immune system, and improve your skin, sleep, and focus.

It can also be a great way to practice mindful eating habits, that is, when you are wondering whether you are starving before you eat, out of habit, or out of boredom. There various fasting plans you can follow to experiment with the schedule that works best for you, says Amanda Baker Lemein, registered nutritionist and WH counselor.

Of course, begs the question: is there any intermittent fasting that is best for weight loss? Six of the most famous SI approaches you to come across online and on social media that people are using to lose weight and current research Says about them. Potential benefits from each. The best effective diet is the one you can stick to, so the IF program that seems the coolest to follow is probably your best bet.

1. The 16: 8 diet

The 16: 8 method of intermittent fasting involves fasting 16 hours a day and limiting the daily eating window to eight hours. For most people, this schedule means not eating after dinner and skipping breakfast. You can eat between noon and eight pm.

How does the 16: 8 weight-loss method work? It might work, research shows (very limited). In a recent study published in the journal, Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 23 overweight men and women followed the 16: 8 diet for 12 weeks.

Comparing to a group who eat regularly and not within a set time frame, those who followed the 16: 8 diet ate 350 fewer calories per day, lost a modest amount of weight (about 3% of their body weight, on average), and decreased their body weight and blood pressure. Still, it’s important to note that this was a small study, and few others have specifically studied the 16: 8 diet, so it’s hard to say that following the 16: 8 diet is a sure-fire way of losing weight.

Interestingly, following this diet can help control appetite (counterintuitive, right?). A study in the journal Obesity showed that people who ate only during a six-hour window were less hungry than the control group compared to a regular meal plan. Both groups consumed the same volume of calories.

2. The 5: 2 method

To follow the 5: 2 diet, you typically eat five days a week and reduce your regular daily caloric intake to 20% for the other two. Women should consume around 500 calories on fasting days, men around 600.

This method resulted in greater weight and fat loss than daily calorie restriction in a 2017 study by the International Journal of Obesity. Again, human research is limited, making it challenging to draw important conclusions from a promising study.

3. Alternate day fasting

As the name suggests, this diet fasts every other day. Several versions of this plan allow around 500 calories on fasting days, and others encourage people to eat even fewer or almost no calories on fasting days.

Many existing studies of the health benefits of intermittent fasting have used some versions of this particular diet. Athough most of the research focused on weight loss has been inconclusive.

4. Eat-Stop-Eat Diet

This method of intermittent fasting involves a complete 24-hour fast once or twice a week. For example, you can take dinner at 6 pm. Then fasting until 6 pm. The next day, and you would do it once or twice a week but not immediately.

There is currently no research on this particular method of IF. But due to the reduction in calories, it is likely to result in weight loss if it is a fasting plan that you agree. (Of course, keep in mind that not eating for 24 hours can be quite difficult)

5. The 14:10 diet

This method is similar to the 16: 8 method. But involves fasting for a 14-hour window and eating for 10 hours. Sticking to 16:8 is a bit easier. Flexible Intermittent Because you have a longer feeding window, but it can be less effective at losing weight.

Because Lent is short and pretty much follows the way people already eat. It can be difficult for some people to achieve a calorie deficit using this diet. Iit could be a great way to familiarize yourself with IF if you’re new to IF. And if you want to see how you’re doing when you have some time to eat and can’t just snack when the mood is felt.

6. The warrior diet

This diet is very different from others in that most meals are taken at night. Fitness author Ori Hofmekler invented the Warrior Diet. The goal is to eat only small portions of raw fruits and vegetables during the day. And then have a heavy meal in the evening within 4 hours. There is no specific research on the warrior diet, but since “fasting” periods always allow you to eat something. It may be more convenient for some people.

Still, the period of time in which you can ingest heavier foods is concise, and the diet also emphasizes paleo foods. So it’s more stringent than other forms of FI. As with other SI methods, if you can achieve a calorie deficit with this diet, it can lead to weight loss.

Which intermittent fasting program is the best for weight loss? Whichever one you cling to, TBH.

In short, the one that is easiest for you to follow. “It’s about sustainability for the individual,” Lemein says. “If any of these diets work well for you, your lifestyle, and your preferences, you are likely to be successful. Otherwise, you probably won’t see the results you want because the sustainability article isn’t there. “This means you need to select a diet that best matches all of the lifestyle factors. It would be best to consider your family dynamics, work schedule, living situation, commute time, and travel commitments, Lemein notes.

However, it should be noted that the 16:8 diet seems to be the most workable for many people who like IF. The 16:8 method also scores with avoiding overeating at night, which can often be a significant obstacle when losing weight. If you stick to an eight hour meal window in daylight, your metabolism is working the way it should you refuel during the day (when you are most active). And stop eating to rest and recover at night, according to a 2017 article in Nutrition Reviews.

Any weight loss you experience with IF is likely because your ingesting fewer calories, not necessarily from eating, explains Lemein. And you can eat less and lose weight without fasting. An example of this is a meta analysis published in the JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports in 2018. So unless fasting makes your diet easier, there is no reason to choose IF over other diets.

The bottom line: all intermittent fasting programs can result in weight loss if you stick to them consistently, and the 16: 8 method is possibly the easiest way to follow an IF diet.