Intermittent Fasting: How and Why it Works

Want that summer body before summer is over? Here is an easy, hassle-free way of doing just that! You may have heard people talking over the last few years about a new kind of diet. Rather than changing what you eat, it changes when you eat. And why is that important? Simply because choosing not to eat for over twelve hours puts your body into a fasted state, meaning it will begin to burn fat as your insulin levels will be low enough to allow your body to do so. This is not a diet for everybody; if you are used to shift work and eating at varying times in the day due to certain schedules, this may not be right for you, as you will not have the consistency to make the diet effective. However, if you are somebody with set working hours each week, a busy lifestyle and often find it hard to schedule meals, this diet is perfect for you. You can intermittent fast in either one of two ways. The easiest way is to change your eating pattern for every day, that way you don’t have to worry about what day it is, or changing on different days. This system works whereby you choose an eight-to-ten hour time frame from your day within which you eat your normal amount of food.

An average week of intermittent fasting

For example, if you begin eating at 11.30am, you can have a breakfast snack such as fruit and yoghurt, a blueberry muffin or something similar so you are still gaining breakfast nutrients. Then, at 1.00/2.00pm, you can have a normal sized lunch which will be regular food that you would eat e.g. a sandwich, piece of fruit, chocolate bar. Most fasters prefer to eat more protein-based foods for their lunchtime meal, and opt to eat the majority of their carbohydrates in the evenings. Others do prefer to spread their carbohydrates and proteins based on their fitness regime as well though, so carbohydrates are often recommended a few hours before or after a workout depending on your goals. For most of us, however, we just want a lovely flat stomach for the bikini season. If this is what you are after, then simply attempt to eat your usual calorie intake (1500-2000 per day) within the eight-to-ten hour period. After twelve hours of not eating, your body should enter the fasted state and begin to burn fat at a much quicker rate than normal. With this in mind, sticking to a normal calorie allowance is important, as well as not using it as an excuse to binge-eat junk food for eight hours straight, as your body simply needs to enter the fasted state under your normal calorie intake in order for the fat burning to be effective.

Sophie Eminson

What is the best way to decide if this is right for you? Try it! Start with a few days a week and build up to doing it every day. You can even factor in a regular ‘cheat’ day where you can eat at any time in the day.