Are you hesitant to jump into intermittent fasting to lose weight (burn belly fat) or improve your health? This complete guide will allow you to answer the many questions that beginners are asking themselves.
I will first reassure you by telling you that yes, fasting can really help you lose weight, get flat abs and improve your health, you have chosen the right method.
To put the odds on your side and make a successful change in your life, I’m going to share with you the key points you need to know before you start.
Before starting I introduce myself, I am Kyrillos from Egypt. I am 30 years old and I am passionate about nutrition and health in general.
I have used the intermittent fasting to overcome obesity and improve my health. Since 2017 it has become my way of life. I sincerely believe that intermittent fasting is a method that can help the majority of the population. That is why I do my best to share the knowledge I have gained on the subject with a year of research and experience.
Fasting is normal For all!
Many people who fast will advise you not to tell those around you at first, why?
Simply because he’ll think you’re crazy! And will try to talk you out of it. They will be sincere, but unfortunately ignorant on the subject. It can even come from highly educated people who think they know everything about nutrition. I don’t know everything about nutrition, but I know fasting well and I will explain here, why fasting is a normal and natural thing, which will improve your health and not an aberration which will weaken you.
This will give you concrete and scientific arguments that will allow you to reassure your loved ones if you want to talk about your fast with them.
The first concrete argument is that fasting is practiced by more than a billion people each year, fasting is an ancestral practice, all the major religions integrate periods of fasting in their practices and this for several millennia.
Our body is able to adapt to extreme situations, for example, with a little training you can adapt and survive at an altitude of 5000 meters while you have lived all your life close to the daisies. Our body is able to adapt to the depletion of oxygen caused by altitude, it will even become more efficient in its use.
With regard to food, we also have a phenomenal capacity for adaptation, which unfortunately serves us in our modern society of abundant food.
Let me explain:
we do not need to go back long in history to find periods when men do not have access to abundant food on a permanent basis. It is even enough to go to certain regions of the world where famine still strikes today. It is therefore essential for the survival of our species to be able to face long periods of famine, it is for this reason that we mainly store fat, we also store plenty of other nutrients. And we use this fat when food is scarce.
The fat in our body is therefore a fuel intended for periods of lack and a way of not “wasting” what we eat in excess. People who gain fat very easily have some kind of genetic advantage, for survival, which turns into a handicap when food is abundantly present.
Food abundance
Our ancestors had to deal cyclically with periods of feast and periods of famine. During the Second World War, the European population experienced a period of famine in places. During this period the death rate linked to heart problems fell sharply in Norway, for example.
We cannot make a direct link with fasting, but I give this example to say that in certain cases, the lack of food can be beneficial for health.
The problem is that today’s food is always available and available everywhere and without any special effort. This situation, within the framework of a Western diet, obliges our bodies to constantly remain in a state of storage, never having the opportunity to get rid of the accumulated fat. While we have the ability to easily switch between the storage and de-storage mode when the metabolism is working properly.
Why use fasting to lose weight?
The short answer is that it works, on top of that fasting has many health benefits.
The first highly successful diet book was William Banting’s 1875 book “Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public”. Obesity has always existed and it can be said that it is increasing as fast as the diet pound count. The subject is therefore not new and there are thousands of methods, more or less effective, to lose weight and burn tummy fat.
So, why should beginners choose intermittent fasting?
To sell their dung, some media consider fasting a “modern and simple diet” whose day is like others, then it’s gone. Here’s why fasting is becoming increasingly popular. Over the past 30 years, numerous scientific studies have proven its benefits and superiority over low-calorie diets.
It’s better than a diet
1- Spares the muscles
When you want to lose weight you should know that it is theoretically impossible to lose weight without losing muscle. The best you can do is: minimize muscle loss to optimize fat loss. Sports, nutrition, and fasting can help you do this. This study compares the weight loss of fasting versus low calorie diets. Fasting allows you to lose so much weight, but it preserves your muscles better, which means that you lose more fat.
Fasting boosts the production of growth hormone essential for muscle development, so it is a very good way to speed up muscle mass gain.
2- It decreases hunger
Another point that really distinguishes fasting from diets is its effect on hunger and cravings. Personally, as the beginners, I was very hungry for the first week of my intermittent fasting, but in the past days I have noticed that it is a transient sensation and decreases with days.It has been proven time and again that diets increase the feeling of hunger, it is linked to the impact on two hormones that regulate the feeling of hunger and fullness: leptin and ghrelin. I will explain to you how fasting has a much better impact on these hormones and therefore will make you lose weight while reducing your hunger.
3- The impact on Leptin
Leptin is a hormone produced by our fat, it regulates our metabolism and tells our brain to stop eating, it is the hormone of satiety. Leptin decreases drastically after a low calorie diet. The amount of leptin in the blood is regulated in the long term by the amount of fat in our body, the more we have, the more leptin we have. Therefore, if we lose our guy we have less leptin, it causes increased hunger.
This also applies to the fat that is lacking in fasting. However, fasting counteracts this effect with spikes in leptin triggered by breaking the fast. In fact, leptin is also regulated in the short term by the quantities of food that we eat. The young intermittent allows to have high peaks of leptin when breaking the fast. This allows you to counterbalance its decline the rest of the day. This is not the case with a hypocaloric diet, our body is permanently with a lower leptin, which increases the feeling of hunger.
4- The impact on Ghrelin
Ghrelin is the other hormone that regulates hunger, it is secreted by the brain, stomach and intestines. This scientific study shows that it is generally secreted before the meals that we usually take. It is as if it is preparing our body to eat or reminding us that it is soon time to eat. However, with fasting ghrelin gradually decreases. So you will be less and less hungry before your usual meals. Ghrelin levels vary depending on the level of insulin in the body. The drop in insulin level during the young could explain the drop in ghrelin.
5- Habit-related hunger
Beyond the impact of Ghrelin, in concrete terms, I noticed that hunger manifests itself at the same times as when I ate “normally”. At 11 a.m., at noon, around 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. After two weeks of fasting only the hunger of noon and 7 p.m. manifested itself. In addition, by drinking a glass of lukewarm water or herbal tea, the feeling of hunger disappears.
Fasting will allow you to decondition yourself in a way. It really is a liberation. Today, after several months of intermittent fasting for beginners I feel a real liberation from hunger and food.
6- Improved insulin sensitivity
The first factor that will determine whether you store fat or not is the level of insulin in your blood. Contrary to what all diet gurus say, the calorie count is only secondary.
For example, people with type 1 diabetes may eat 5,000k calories per day, but they will not store fat because they have little or no insulin in their blood.
Conversely, obese or overweight people have the opposite problem. The cause of obesity is an insulin level in the blood that is too high. Some people have the impression that they are putting on weight just by looking at a pain au chocolat, this is not far from the reality. We are not equal when it comes to weight gain and insulin is the main cause.
Fasting is the most effective and long-lasting method of tackling this chronic rise in insulin and restoring insulin sensitivity.
Over time and with constantly high insulin levels, our cells lose their sensitivity to this hormone and this sets off a vicious cycle called insulin resistance. Our pancreas produces more insulin and so on. During this time our fat cells continue to be insulin sensitive and therefore continue to store more and more fat.
So if an obese person consumes 100 grams of sugar, their insulin will rise higher and they will store more fat than a metabolically normal person. It is a real hormonal injustice that is at the root of obesity. The consequence is that an obese person needs to consume more calories than a non-obese person in order to have the same number of calories immediately “available” to the body.
7- It is practical and economical
When we fast we eat less often we free up a lot of time that we usually spent cooking and eating.
The other practical aspect is its simplicity. The rules are simple. It is enough to eat nothing, nor to drink caloric drinks, for more than 12 hours.
Doctor Jason Fung has tried a lot to help his diabetic patients with changes in their eating habits. However, very few patients are ready to embrace a new lifestyle, especially older patients. With the fast he sees a much better adoption and implementation of the habit by the patients. It is easier because it does not ask them to change the food they eat, but simply the times of the meals. It seems a lot easier to adopt and follow in the long run. Dr. Fung has helped hundreds of patients recover from type 2 diabetes.
However, if you have diabetes and want to fast, you should seek advice from your doctor, he will probably adjust your treatment downwards to avoid hypoglycemia, as fasting naturally lowers your blood sugar level.
8- Autophagy
In 2016 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to a Japanese researcher who demonstrated the interest of autophagy, a mechanism possible only during fasting. Autophagy allows our body to recycle what is unnecessary and damaged in our cells. The young allows you to activate a real makeover for your body.
The popularity of the fast grew at the same rate as the scientific publications which validated its interest.
9- High blood pressure
One of the easiest and most effective ways to lower blood pressure is to fast. Several scientific studies validate this point.
10- Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor BDNF
Until the 90s, we still thought that the brain of an adult person was unable to regenerate and develop, we now know that this is false, our brain is “plastic” (Neuroplasticity) until the last moment. One of the factors that promotes its plasticity is BDNF. Mental degeneration is one of the epidemics affecting our society today, more and more people are affected by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Fasting helps slow the onset of these diseases. It boosts the production of BDNF, an essential factor for cell renewal in the brain.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is the act of not eating for a period of 12 to 24 hours. During this period, you eat nothing and drink only water. Other drinks are also allowed, like coffee or tea without sugar, but technically this is no longer a fast.
The different types of intermittent fasting
There are different ways to apply intermittent fasting for beginners, I am talking about the most famous here.
1- The lean gains method (4 p.m. / 8 a.m.)
The method, by Martin Berkhan, was originally developed to optimize muscle gain by weight training and by practicing intermittent fasting for beginners. This is probably the most popular method today, it is the method that I use and recommend you to try. It consists of fasting for 16 hours and being able to eat for 8 hours. For that, it is enough not to eat breakfast. For example, you finish dinner at 8 p.m., you fast until the next day at least 12 hours. Nothing prevents you from fasting more, if you wish.
2- The combatant diet
This method, invented by Ori Hofmekler is older, but very close to the Lean Gains method. However, there is no need to define a fasting and nutrition window here. You have to follow your instincts. The idea is to eat little or no food in the morning and at noon, then eat a big meal in the evening. Ori recommends physical activity during the “fast” period. This method is not technically a fast because it allows you to consume a few foods in small quantities during the day, for example a banana.
3- The OMAD method (one meal a day) one meal a day
This method is the strictest of the intermittent fasting methods, the hardest to follow in my opinion. It consists of taking only one meal a day, a large meal. The objective of this method is to extend the fasting period as much as possible in a day. If you take an hour to eat the big meal, your fasting period lasts 23 hours.
4- The 5: 2 method
This method was developed by Dr. Michael Mosley, it is largely thanks to his documentary on fasting “eat, fast and live longer” that I tested intermittent fasting. The method is spread over the week. It breaks down into 5 days of normal food and 2 days of fasting. On fasting days you are only entitled to a mini meal of 500 kcal (a large salad).
Fasting
This method is a francophone initiative. It is the combination of Thursday and fasting, and it was initiated by a French doctor.
It consists of one fasting day per week, preferably Thursday. You fast 24 hours or more. For example, you no longer eat after your Wednesday dinner until breakfast on Friday morning. It represents a fast of around 36 hours. Or you fast until dinner on Thursday for a 24 hour fast. To renew every week.
How to prepare for intermittent fasting to facilitate it for beginners?
We are not going to lie to each other here, fasting is not easy, you will shit at first. But as with everything in life, the good things are always on the other side of the effort.
I had the bad idea to launch myself like a barbarian into the fast, let me explain: I went from a standard diet of three to four meals a day and a lot of sweet stuff in all that, at 8 p.m. fast by days and almost more added sugar. My body literally panicked.
I will give you here some advice that will allow you to prepare your body, gradually for fasting, so that the transition is smooth. All of these tips go in the same direction, getting your body used to using fat for energy. By doing this, your body will naturally start burning your belly fat when you step up your fast. The transition will last two weeks, but you can adapt these periods to the pace that suits you. For example, instead of two periods of one week you can do two periods of 10 days. If you feel like you’re really going to have a hard time, for example, extending this adjustment period will help you a lot.
First week
You only need to do one thing for the first week. In fact, you have to stop doing one thing: eat breakfast. Why? two simple reasons:
1- Continue the night fast: in fact every night we fast while we sleep. For example, if you stop eating in the evening at 9 p.m. and then the next day you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., you are already fasting 10 a.m. without any particular effort. The goal of skipping breakfast is to extend this fasting period from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. fasting. So in our example, if your last meal ends at 9 p.m., just add 4 p.m. to know when you’re going to eat the next day. 9 p.m. + 4 p.m. = 1 p.m. the next day. I want to clarify here that nothing prevents you from having lunch at noon, 11 a.m. or later at 2 p.m. if that suits you best. You really have to appropriate this method and adapt it to your lifestyle, you will increase your chances of success in the long term.
2- The other benefit of skipping breakfast is that you will naturally consume less sugar throughout your day: The classic French breakfast is packed with sugar. Bread, cereal, jam and milk are very sweet and will increase your insulin in the morning. So continuing the overnight fast has a big additional positive effect that will allow you to burn fat and heal your metabolism.
During this first week your body will gradually develop the habit of using your fat as a source of energy and it will produce more and more ketone bodies so that your brain works optimally even without eating.
Second week
During this second week you will continue to not eat breakfast, but you will also apply two points that will help you a lot to stabilize your sugar level throughout the day and keep it at a relatively low level.
1- We stop added sugars
This point is important. If you are about to start intermittent fasting to burn belly fat, your weight, your shape and/or your health are not optimal. The added sugars are largely responsible for this situation. You have to realize it and internalize it.
It’s inevitably hard to tell yourself that you will have to stop sugar in order to be in good health. So many good things contain sugar: chocolate, cakes, ice cream… it’s almost impossible to avoid added sugars. Instead of thinking in terms of deprivation, you have to tell yourself that from now on you will become demanding and you will only eat the things that are really worth the effort. For example a birthday cake, an exceptional pastry that you do not come across often. The goal is to get added sugar out of your daily life so that it becomes exceptional in every sense of the word. Let’s be honest, the majority of the sweet things we eat aren’t exceptional, so reserve this little treat for some exceptions that are worth it.
2- Even the sweetener, sugar and aspartame
During the entire preparation period and during the fasting periods, it is strongly recommended not to consume sweeteners. Even if they are of natural origin. Here’s why:
Sweeteners stimulate your body the same way sugar does, on a hormonal level. As your mouth feels the sweet taste, your pancreas will produce insulin so that your body can regulate your blood sugar level. However, a high insulin level literally blocks the use of fat as a source of energy and therefore stops your weight loss. Since you haven’t consumed any sugar your blood sugar level will drop and this will cause hunger at best and hypoglycemia at worst.
3- We cut off starchy foods poor in nutrients for lunch
The other point that will help beginners to start intermittent fasting smoothly is to stop nutrient-poor starches at lunchtime: bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, quinoa, wheat, spelled, other seeds and all that is necessary. Flour base. Not only do these starchy foods hardly provide you with micronutrients, but they also have the unfortunate tendency to boost your blood sugar level and at the same time your insulin.
The recommended starches are legumes such as chickpeas, beans, lentils. Sweet potato, squash. These starches provide more nutrients than others, contain less sugar and are absorbed more slowly because they are high in fiber.
The goal here is to remove starches that are likely to cause your insulin to vary too much after your lunch. This will have the effect of reducing your cravings, helping you to stay in “destocking” mode of fat and optimize your use of fat as fuel.
Do I have to adopt all of these changes in order to fast?
Obviously, no! These are tips that will really help you make the transition better. If you say to yourself, “I just want to fast and changing my eating habits is out of the question” then it’s not the right time to introduce all these changes, that’s okay. You can very well just fast without changing your habits. Fasting is already a healthy habit that you plan to introduce into your life. It’s better to make a change than to feel overwhelmed by all the things we’re supposed to do, like eating healthy or exercising. Once you have adopted the fast and feel comfortable with it, you can try to introduce a new habit that will improve your health.
How to avoid the inconvenience of fasting?
I will be sincere with you, fasting is difficult at times. Especially at the beginning. Hunger tends to decrease over time, but some side effects can appear.
People react differently to lack of food. We are all different and the difficulties you will encounter while fasting are probably different from the ones I have experienced.
To avoid the hardships that I experienced during the fast, I offer you here some simple solutions, I think they will help you prevent the inconveniences associated with the fast.
1- Cramps
I have systematically had cramps in my feet, at night when I was fasting at the beginning, it quickly got me drunk. So I took the time to understand the origin of this problem and to test several things to prevent cramps.
Cramps are caused by an electrolyte imbalance in the muscles. In general, this reflects a lack of magnesium and potassium and sometimes sodium.
I often talk about insulin in this guide, this hormone is really very important. It also influences our ability to retain electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium. When the insulin level is low, which is the case with fasting, the kidneys retain much less minerals. We therefore find ourselves eliminating many more minerals in our urine than when insulin is higher. If you’re starting the fast, here’s how to avoid cramps:
The solutions:
It is enough to take half a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt every morning. To be diluted in a glass of water. You can also take additional minerals in the form of capsules during your meals. It is strongly recommended to supplement with magnesium, because more than ¾ of French people are deficient, so if you adopt intermittent fasting you risk worsening this deficiency. High magnesium deficiencies can cause serious problems such as heart rhythm disturbances, so don’t risk it, take your supplements.
2- The constipation
It is a little embarrassing to broach this subject, but it is really essential. Constipation can manifest itself with fasting, it is not systematic, but when it does, it can complicate your task and erode your motivation. Constipation in normal times can be caused by many factors, but if it is triggered only by adopting fasting without further lifestyle changes, it signals the same thing as cramps: a lack of minerals.
Another counterintuitive point that can cause constipation when fasting is overconsumption of water and other drinks. Indeed to fight against hunger you will probably drink a lot of water, and as explained above your kidneys do not retain minerals, suddenly you will empty yourself of your minerals because you drink too much water. Your body will try to recover as much minerals as possible from your digestive system and this can lead to constipation.
The solutions:
As for cramps, half a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt every morning. I also advise you to increase your consumption of vegetables, which are rich in fiber, however you should not do it abruptly, as this can make constipation worse. Finally, I advise you to season your dishes well with olive oil or butter, it helps to lubricate the digestive system.
You should drink between 1 and 2 liters of water per day, preferably spread over the day. It is also necessary to drink regularly, strongly mineralized waters such as Vichy, St Yor and Hépar. If constipation persists, you can take Forlax.
3- Headaches
The majority of people who start fasting experience this problem. It is difficult to identify the cause of headaches, but usually by following the tips below they will go away quickly.
Before you start fasting, your brain is fueled by sugar. After a few days of fasting, your body will produce ketones. These will largely replace the sugar in your brain. The good news is that ketones are a much cleaner source of energy than sugar. So either be patient during this period of a few days or your body adapts to your new way of life.
The solutions:
If you don’t drink a lot, do it! You should drink at least 1.5l of water and other herbal teas per day. However, to avoid cramps and constipation, I advise you not to drink more than 2.5 liters.
The other point that should not be overlooked is sleep. Brain cleansing takes place in the evening, while lying down only. So to properly eliminate waste from your brain, sleep more than 6 hours, and make sure you go to bed before midnight.
4- Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. The normal sugar level is between 0.63 g and 1.1 g per liter of blood. What you need to know is that you can have symptoms of hypoglycemia (weakness, seizure, loss of consciousness) while still having normal blood sugar levels. Why?
This happens especially if you have significant variations over a short period. If, for example, your sugar level after a meal drops from 1.5 g to 0.9 g quickly, you may have symptoms of hypoglycemia while your blood sugar is normal. The sharp spikes in blood sugar are caused by sugars and, to a lesser extent, proteins. Large drops in blood sugar are caused by a high production of insulin. The two are necessarily linked. How to avoid strong variations in blood sugar?
The solutions
The solution is simple and breaks down into two points:
Limit added sugars and low nutrient carbohydrates such as bread, paws, rice, and potatoes. These carbohydrates don’t get you much in terms of nutrients, and they quickly turn into sugar in your blood. You should know that in our blood we must have at most the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar. A bowl of rice contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar, inevitably, your blood sugar will increase and your insulin will also increase and you will experience a strong variation in blood sugar.
Increase good fats. Indeed, fats have a zero glycemic index, so they have no negative impact on blood sugar. So season your vegetables with olive oil, butter. Including fat will generally lower the glycemic index of your meal. The absolute must not do is continue to eat large amounts of carbohydrate and increase the amount of fat.
Finally, I must remember that you have to do your best to eliminate refined sugars from your diet. Refined sugars are actually the most likely to cause your blood sugar to drop significantly.
5- Deficiencies
This is one of the things that frightens loved ones the most when someone embarks on a fast. To reassure my wife, I took multivitamins for over a month to assure her that I didn’t lack anything.
This fear is legitimate, because if during your fast you have a diet poor in micronutrients, which is the case in our modern diet, you will probably be deficient. In the short term the impacts are often invisible, because our body will draw on its stocks, but in the long term this can cause serious health problems.
The solutions
The best and cheapest solution is to eat real foods rich in nutrients, especially vegetables. We are told every day that we should eat five fruits and vegetables a day. This is really the minimum in my humble opinion.
Our generation eats less fruit and vegetables than that of our parents and we are surprised that our health is deteriorating visibly. Fruits and vegetables are really very beneficial for our health. They provide us with the majority of the micronutrients we need.
To be sure I’m getting enough, I always take care to build my meals around vegetables. I fill my plate with vegetables, I add a portion of protein and sometimes a few starches.
Another habit that will also keep you from being deficient in micronutrients is to incorporate organ meats into your diet, I am talking about the liver, heart, kidneys, brain and kidneys.
These pieces are undoubtedly the richest in micronutrients. I must admit that this habit is the most difficult for me to implement. I never liked the taste of abas forever. Sometimes, when the situation is right, I order offal dishes in restaurants.
French cuisine is full of a wide variety of offal-based recipes. In her book Deep Nutrition, Catherine Shanahan tells us that the best things to do in terms of nutrition is to take inspiration from these traditional recipes that highlight these unfortunately forgotten pieces of meat.
Finally, if the two solutions that I propose to you are not easy to implement in your life. You should take any multi-vitamin of your choice.
Frequently asked Questions
Is intermittent fasting dangerous for beginners health?
In this guide we are talking about intermittent fasting, it is a fast for less than 24 hours. This type of fast is not harmful to health and can be practiced by anyone in good health. However, I want to talk about the following cases where it is necessary to apply certain precautions:
1- Diabetics: all people with type 1 or 2 diabetes must consult their doctors before embarking on the fast. Fasting naturally induces a drop in blood sugar, combined with medical treatment, the drop in blood sugar can be too great. Your doctor should adapt the treatment accordingly.
2- Undernourished people: People who have a low body mass index, i.e. Below 20 should not fast. Indeed, our fat rate in the body needs to be at a certain level to be healthy, neither too high nor too low. This is why thinness is not recommended more than obesity.
3- Pregnant and breastfeeding women: A pregnant woman needs a lot of nutrients to develop a healthy baby. Many pregnant women are deficient in certain nutrients at the start, so do not take the risk of creating additional deficiencies with fasting. It is the same for the nursing woman. It is best not to fast during this time.
Can beginners eat or drink anything during the fasting period?
It all depends on why you are doing your fast and what type of fast you are doing. I wrote this guide for beginners people who want to have flat stomach with intermittent fasting. As part of this goal, I recommend that you do not eat anything during the fasting period. As for drinks, you can drink water (still, sparkling…), black coffee, tea and herbal teas. All these drinks must be without sugar, without sweeteners and without milk or without vegetable milk. Only water to brew your drink.
I read that breakfast is the most important meal isn’t it risky to skip it?
Breakfast as we know it is a recent invention. The majority of French people only took coffee with milk and a Tartine with butter, to put it simply, for breakfast. The breakfast myth is linked to scientific studies which show that people who skip breakfast may experience attention drops in the morning. If you are not used to fasting, your body will actually lack sugar at first, because it is dependent on this source of energy. However, once you have fasted your body produces ketones that will fuel your brain optimally. It will increase your focus and clarity.
The other benefit of skipping breakfast is that you eat less added sugar. Indeed, for breakfast, the French eat a lot of sugar: cereals, bread, jam, nutella, chocolate drink, sweet yoghurt…
In general, breakfast is not a healthy meal at all and only contributes very little.
Can beginners skip dinner instead of breakfast for intermittent fasting?
Yes, on one condition, eat a salty breakfast. The great thing about intermittent fasting for beginners is that you can tailor it to your lifestyle. Do you mind skipping dinner less than breakfast? No problem. However, it is important not to consume added sugar. I repeat this many times because it is a key point. If you skip dinner for a sweet breakfast, your fast may be counterproductive. In fact, if you eat at 4 p.m. then you don’t eat anything until 7 a.m. the next day, your insulin will drop well after these 15 hours of fasting. A classic sweet breakfast can raise your insulin way too much. You will cause too much variation in your insulin and your blood sugar level. It will make you hungry quickly.
How Much Weight Will I Lose?
The miracle method does not exist. If you fast regularly, you will have results and fast. At the beginning you will lose a lot, but it is mostly water. Then you will lose slowly. Depending on your starting weight, the average loss will vary from 250 grams to 2kg per week depending on the person. Yes, it is a big fork, but we are all different.
What not to do is draw conclusions after a week of intermittent fasting. For some people it takes at least two weeks of adaptation for the body to be able to easily burn fat and use sugars or fats interchangeably. I therefore advise you to test the young intermittent for at least 3 weeks. If you followed the preparation tips above, you will see results immediately. Otherwise be patient. If after 3 weeks you don’t see any results, you need to change the way you fast. Either, you lengthen the fasting period, you can lengthen it up to 22 hours of fasting per day easily. If you haven’t, cut out added sugars and low-nutrient carbohydrates such as paws, bread, wheat, and potatoes. You will see the results.
Conclusion
One of my favorite quotes, I don’t understand who it is, “I’ve had loads of issues in my life and most people ne’er happen.” there’s no purpose in asking too several questions. Facilitate yourself! What Happened To Lose If you have got any considerations or misconceptions concerning intermittent fasting, the most effective thanks to resolve or make sure them is to check them out for yourself. If you’ve browsed negative testimonials about fasting, don’t let it discourage you. Everybody has this expertise otherwise – there is no guarantee that it’ll suit you, however, there is an honest probability that it will change your life for the better.
If you have any questions you can send them to me by email or leave a comment.
