What is Intermittent Fasting? - The Ultimate Beginner Guide

The intermittent fasting diet plan is very popular recently, where cycling is involved during eating periods. Fans claim that it can reduce weight, reversal of type 2 diabetes, improve metabolic health, and even can help prolong life. It can provide significant health benefits as well as save you time and money if done properly.

However, if you have any confusion about intermittent diet plans or don't understand how to start then you are in the right place, this guide of mine is for you because here I will provide a beginner's friendly intermittent diet plan.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting irregularly is an act of fasting where the eating pattern is involved in the form of cycles between meals in a single day, week, or other prescribed period of time.

In common parlance, this means controlling when you eat and when you don't. This is called a fasting window when you do not take any food or drink (except water) and the rest is called an eating window.

Intermittent Fasting Diet Plan: Methods to Follow

Before you start a diet plan you should really decide which intermittent fasting schedule you want to follow. Each method may work, but it is up to the individual to decide which one works best.

Different methods of this type of eating exist but you should talk to your healthcare professional before embarking intermittent fasting diet plan.

However, here are 6 popular methods to do intermittent fasting for your consideration.

1. 16/8 method

This method involves fasting for about 16 hours per day and limiting the daily eating window to about 8 hours. Within this eating window, you can take two, three, or more meals. Fitness expert Martin Berkhan became popular with this method and it is also known as Leangains protocol.

It is up to you to decide which 16 hours in 24 hours you will stop eating yourself. You can choose the eating window from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, noon to 8 p.m, or any other schedule.

During the fasting period, you can drink water, coffee (without milk and sugar), and other zero-calorie drinks that help reduce the feeling of hunger.

2. 5:2 diet/ Fast Diet

On a 5:2 diet you usually eat what you eat 5 days a week and limit your calorie intake to 500-600 for 2 days a week.

This diet was popularized by the British journalist Michael Mosley and is also called the Fast Diet. On fasting days, women are advised to eat 500 calories and men 600.

For example, you can usually eat every day of the week except Mondays and Thursdays, and for these 2 days, women can eat 2 small meals of 250 calories. Men can eat 300 calories each. This diet has been shown to be effective in helping weight loss.

3. Eat Stop Eat

The Eat Stop Eat diet Plan involves fasting 24 hours once or twice a week. Over the years it became quite popular and the method was popularized by fitness expert Brad Pilon. Fasting from one dinner to the next is equivalent to fasting the whole 24 hours of fasting.

For example, if you finish dinner at 7 pm on any day of the week and do not eat anything until 7 pm the next day, you will end up fasting for a full 24 hours. Again, you can make a schedule according to your wishes, such as breakfast to breakfast.

You can have water, coffee, and other zero-calorie drinks in this fasting, but without any solid foods.

4. Alternate-day fasting

Fasting on an alternate day is done every other day and it has been versioned in different ways. Some of these allow about 500 calories on fasting days.

A full fast every other day looks a lot harder so it is not recommended for the newer.

5. The Warrior Diet

The Warrior Diet Plan involves eating small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables during the day and one huge meal at night. it was familiarized by fitness expert Ori Hofmekler.

Basically, you fast all day and have a feast in the 4-hour meal window at night. This diet is one of the first popular diets to include intermittent fasting.

6. Spontaneous meal skipping

To take advantage of this diet you will not need to follow structural intermittent fasting plans as this diet only includes avoiding food from time to time. For example, when you do not feel hungry or do not have time to cook and feed.

For example, if you are not really hungry in the morning, you can skip breakfast and eat only a healthy lunch and dinner. You can also take it at other times of the day.

Beginner’s friendly sample intermittent fasting diet plan

If you are a beginner, just start feasting from 8 am to 6 pm. This is a great way to get started. Here you will find the opportunity to eat every meal as well as some snacks. The plan is to fast for 14 hours over a 24-hour period.

• Breakfast: Green Smoothie at 8 a.m.

Ingredients: 1 avocado, 1 cup coconut milk, 1 small handful of blueberries, 1 cup spinach, kale or chard, and 1 tablespoon chia seeds.

Ingredients: ½ pound ground grass-fed beef liver and grass-fed beef, ½ teaspoon garlic powder and cumin powder, Sea salt and pepper to taste, and desired cooking oil.

Ingredients: ½ cup coconut cream, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, and 2 tablespoons almond butter.

Ingredients: 1 pound salmon, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, and tablespoons ghee, and finely diced 4 cloves garlic.

Benefits of Intermittent fasting diet plan

The most obvious benefit of intermittent fasting is weight loss. However, there are many other potential benefits that are as follows:

• Can help to lose weight and body fat.
• Helps to increase fat burning.
• Perhaps it can help improve mental clarity and concentration.
• Lowers blood insulin and sugar levels.
• Probably the opposite of type 2 diabetes.
• Perhaps it can help increase strength.
• Growth hormone may increase, at least in the short term.
• May cause the development of cholesterol profile in the blood
• Probably helpful for long life.
• Probably helps reduce inflammation.

Bottom Line

It is true that the Intermittent fasting diet plan has many benefits and it acts as a weight-loss tool that works for some people but not for everyone. It is not recommended for those who have an eating disorder or are at risk. This can be a potential problem for people with underlying health conditions.

You should consult with your healthcare professional before embarking on an intermittent fast journey. If you decide to fast from time to time, you need to look at the quality of your diet and refrain from eating over-processed foods. In this way, you can be expected to improve your health.