Intermittent Fasting Guide for Beginners: Benefits and Methods

You all must have fasted at some point in your life. It may be either by choice or by chance. In most religions, fasting is a common tradition that devotees observe to honour their God. It can last for a day or go up to a month. Although it started out as a custom in the early days, currently, the health and fitness community is adopting it as one of the most effective ways to healthy living.

By default, sleeping is the best way to do intermittent fasting, as there is a significant gap of 8-12 hours where you do not consume any food. But, it does not work for all people. Simply skipping meals is not the answer to weight loss. You need to understand how to schedule your meals to satiate your hunger and provide the benefits of fasting.

Intermittent Fasting Meaning - What Is It?

Intermittent fasting is an eating habit wherein you fast for a longer interval and consume food in shorter intervals. This fasting period, where you do not consume any food, offers several health benefits, the most important being weight loss. There are different ways you can control your intermittent fasting diet, which we will discuss in detail later on.

This traditional method has gained immense popularity amongst fitness enthusiasts as it is easy to follow, provides quicker results, and is also extremely effective.

How Intermittent Fasting Affects Your Body?

Regular fasting provides you with several health benefits by making certain changes on the molecular and cellular levels. They are: intermittentFasting

Firstly, it boosts your metabolism and alters your hormone production, leading to higher HGH (Human Growth Hormones) and lower Insulin production.
Secondly, it targets your stored body fat and helps reduce it by making it more accessible.
Thirdly, the fasting period promotes cell repair and cell regeneration, a necessary process to manage your body and its organs.

Intermittent Fasting Methods

The intermittent fasting techniques vary on the duration of the fasting period vs the food intake period. By following a daily or weekly fasting schedule, you can choose any of the following ways to start your diet:

Fasting for 12 Hours a Day

In this method, you fast for 12 hours at a stretch and then give yourself a window of 12 hours to consume balanced meals at regular intervals. You can consume sugarless beverages during this period.

Fasting for 16 Hours (16:8 Method)

The most effective intermittent fasting method is 16:8. Under this, you avoid eating any solid food for 16 hours and consume balanced meals within the remaining 8 hours. The intermittent fasting rules for this method are pretty simple. You just need to skip breakfast and have your lunch and dinner as usual. However, make sure that you keep track of your calorie intake and do not overeat.

Fasting for 2 Days a Week (5:2 Diet)

In this technique, you are free to eat your regular meals on 5 days of the week, while on the other two, you consume minimum calories.

Alternate-Day Fasting

The alternate day fasting is not practised by many people as it is difficult to track and also not sustainable in the long run. However, it is highly effective for shorter durations.

Weekly 24-Hour Fast (Eat-Stop-Eat Diet)

The weekly 24-hour fast, also known as the Eat-Stop-Eat diet, requires you to fast for an entire day. You can choose to do this once or twice a week.

20:4 Intermittent Fasting

Another way of intermittent fasting is to maintain a gap of 20 hours and consume 2 meals in a short duration of 4 hours. However, make sure that these meals do not overpower your daily calorie requirement, or this method will not be effective for weight loss.

What Health Benefits Does Intermittent Fasting Offer?

Helps with Weight Loss: The major reason people follow intermittent fasting is to reduce weight quickly and with minimal effort. This practice does not involve any workout or diet but focuses more on managing your eating patterns.
Detoxifies Your Body: Gradually, it helps remove harmful toxins from your body by repairing your cells and improving gut health.
Improves Heart and Brain Health: Fasting is known to considerably improve your heart and brain health by reducing cholesterol levels and promoting the growth of new nerve cells.
Provides Anti-Ageing Benefits: Some studies have also shown that regular fasting can increase your life expectancy and keep you healthy for a longer time.

Who Should Be Cautious or Avoid Intermittent Fasting?

While intermittent fasting is beneficial for weight loss and overall health, you should consider your existing health condition before adopting this practice. In some cases, it can do more harm than good and lead to certain complications.

Women should be careful when choosing to fast intermittently. In some cases, healthy women have experienced the absence of menstruation (amenorrhea), while in others, it has led to an increase in fatigue, dizziness, and insulin levels.
If you are pregnant or are currently breastfeeding your baby, you should consult a physician first and clear your dietary choices with them.
If you have pre-existing medical conditions like diabetes, low blood pressure, or any eating disorder, then you should avoid intermittent fasting as it can disrupt your hormone levels.
When you are taking any medication, you should ideally check with your doctor if you should fast for longer durations.
If you are underweight, then opting to remain hungry for a long duration can lead to dizziness, fatigue, and lightheadedness.

Safety and Side Effects

There are no major side effects when doing intermittent fasting for beginners. However, you need to be careful of your medical conditions and your current physical health. Be aware of your body’s needs. Try to understand when your hunger is beyond your control, and your body requires some sort of energy. In such cases, you should progress gradually and continue taking beverages in between to adjust your calorie intake.

Final Thoughts - Fast or Feast?

By now, you have a fair idea of what intermittent fasting is, what are the ways to do it, how it benefits your body and what precautions you should take. The next step for you is to assess your physical wellness levels and analyse if your body requires fasting. Then, you can figure out which is the ideal way to go about it.

To do so, you should consider choosing a guided approach to maintaining consistency in your routines. At Habuild, we focus on supporting you in your journey towards wellness by constantly guiding and educating you on the correct processes and practices.

Know more about our wellness programs and how they can help you live a healthy and holistic life.