Fat loss and muscle gain
Fasting has been an integral part of our culture from the very beginning. Whether it is for religious practices or cultural customs. Now the age-old tradition has made a comeback in the form of Intermittent Fasting.
It is gaining global exposure at a rapid speed. Especially among celebrities such as Halle Berry, Jenna Jameson, Jennifer Garner, Stassi Schroeder, and Vanessa Hudgens, to name a few. They are touting it as their go-to eating approach that has helped them fat loss and muscle gain.
So does intermittent fasting work for fat loss and muscle gain, or is it another fad? Let us find out!
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting(IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It does not specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them. Hence, it is not similar to a diet plan in the typical sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern or a way of living.
Most types of this dietary pattern focus on limiting your meals and snacks to a specific time window. Typically between 6 and 8 hours of the day. For example, 16/8 IF involves restricting food intake to just 8 hours per day and abstaining from eating during the remaining 16 hours. Other types include fasting for 24 hours once or twice per week or significantly cutting calorie intake a few days per week but eating normally during the others.
Just in case you keep on craving for food, then you can go through My Top 5 Tips on How Can You Manage Food Cravings
Intermittent Fasting Methods
There are several different ways of doing IF. All of which involve splitting the day or week into eating and fasting periods. During the fasting periods, you eat either very little or nothing at all.
These are the most popular methods:
- The 16/8 method: Also called the Lean-gains protocol. It involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between. It is the most popular, sustainable, and easy method to follow.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week. For example, by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
- The 5:2 diet: With this method, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week. However eat normally the other five days.
By reducing your calorie intake, all of these methods should cause fat loss and muscle gain with right exercise. But remember, as long as you do not compensate by eating much more during the eating periods.
Does it work for weight/ Fat loss and Muscle Gain?
Several studies show that intermittent fasting may boost fat loss and muscle gain via several mechanisms.
Restricting your meals and snacks to a strict time window may naturally decrease your calorie intake. This might aid fat loss and muscle gain with right exercise. According to one research, it may reduce body weight by up to 8%. And decrease body fat by up to 16% over 3–12 weeks.
Intermittent fasting may also increase levels of norepinephrine, a hormone, and neurotransmitter that can boost your metabolism. Thus increase calorie burning throughout the day. Furthermore, this eating pattern may reduce levels of insulin, a hormone involved in blood sugar management. Decreased levels can bump up fat burning to promote fat loss and muscle gain.
Some research even shows that intermittent fasting can help your body retain muscle mass more effectively than calorie restriction, which may increase its appeal.
Other Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting may:
- Improve heart health. It decreases the levels of total and LDL (bad) cholesterol. As well as decrease in triglycerides, all of which are risk factors for heart disease.
- Support blood sugar control. A small study in 10 people with type 2 diabetes noted that intermittent fasting helped significantly decrease blood sugar levels.
- A decrease in inflammation. Several studies have found that this eating pattern may reduce specific blood markers of inflammation.
- Increase longevity. Although research in humans is lacking, some animal studies suggest that intermittent fasting may boost your lifespan. And yeah, slow signs of aging too.
- Protect brain function. Studies in mice reveal that this dietary pattern may improve brain function and combat conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
- Increase the human growth hormone. Intermittent fasting may naturally increase levels of human growth hormone (HGH), which can help improve body composition and metabolism.
The Bottom Line
Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. For individuals who have struggled to lose weight, this is another tool to have in their toolkit. In the end, it is about a person’s lifestyle and the choices they make. They have to weigh the options and decide, “What’s going to work for me?”
Furthermore, people who are brittle diabetic, those with a history of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and pregnant or breastfeeding women should not attempt fasting unless they are under the close supervision of a doctor.
Intermittent fasting can also be difficult initially! However, as your body adjusts to a new way of consuming foods, the diet gets easier. The overall idea is to be more aware of what and when you are eating. It gives you limits and boundaries that many of my clients find helpful.
Should You Try It for Fat Loss and Muscle Gain?
Intermittent fasting is not something that anyone needs to do. A simple lifestyle strategy can improve your health. And eating real food, exercising, taking care of your sleep, and following a proper diet plan are still the most important factors to focus on.
If you don’t like the idea of fasting and would like to be healthier from within, then you can simply contact us at ‘Its Healthy Moms’. We will provide you with a customized balanced healthy diet and lifestyle plan that will fit your personal goals. WhatsApp us at +91-93847-76238 or visit our website www.itshealthymoms.com to know more about ‘Fat loss diet plans for female’.
At Its Healthy Moms, we have helped many people to be more fitter by losing fat, managing thyroid, reversing their PCOD and PCOS just by changing their eating pattern and guiding them to make lifestyle changes just right for them.
You can be one of them too.
Weight/ Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
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