Fasting has numerous health benefits; it helps curb the cravings and follow a meal plan that helps lose fat. If you often find yourself munching up on unhealthy snacks because why not? Then you need to try a 12 hour-long fast.
You can fast during the day or at night. But there will be no eating during the fast. To fats at night, eat dinner before 7 pm and don’t eat breakfast or anything else before 7 am.
This will help the body burn its fat reservoirs because you won’t be consuming food to supply the body with energy. You can also exercise before sleep or after waking up to aid the body in shedding fats.
A 12 hour fast during the day can be tougher than a night fast but, it can stop you from eating most of the unhealthy snacks. During the 24 hours, you would only be eating dinner and breakfast which means no lunch and snacking in between. For a 12 hour fast, wake up early in the morning and eat a healthy breakfast. Because you will be fasting for 12 hours, you can eat a large portion.
Add meat, eggs, fresh fruits, and vegetables to your breakfast. Finish the breakfast before 7 am and wait till 7 pm for the next meal. You won’t lose your body muscle because you will be eating a healthy diet but the reduction in caloric intake will result in loss of body fat.
The 5:2 diet requires that you eat normally for 5 days while restricting your calorie intake to 500-600 calories for the remaining 2 days of the week. Women should aim for consuming 500 calories, while men can eat up to 600 calories.
The 2 fasting days don’t necessarily have to be consecutive. For example, you can fast on Mondays and Fridays.
The method allows an 8-10 hour “eating window” and involves fasting for about 14-16 hours a day. The only difficult thing about intermittent fasting is not eating, because the methods are pretty straightforward. With the 16/8 method, you’ll need to fast post dinner for 16 hours. Which means you’ll need to skip breakfast the next morning.
Women are recommended to fast for a slightly shorter duration of 14-15 hours since they seem to be doing better that way. If you love yourself a good breakfast, this method could take some time to get used to. However, you can still have noncaloric beverages like water and coffee during your fast if that helps control your hunger pangs.
Intermittent fasting, when you're first starting out, can leave you feeling weak and discouraged, so it can be extremely tempting to just give up and order a pizza. A great way to curb that is to plan your meals in advance and prep them out ahead of time.
When prepping your meals, make sure you're giving your body the nutrition it needs. While 20 oreos may to some be a full meal, and while that's probably enough to last you through the whole day, it won't give your body the nutrition it needs and will leave you feeling weak.
While you don't have to track calories exactly, try reducing your carb intake and increasing your protein and vegetable intake. Making sure you're getting enough protein and fiber is key - they will keep you regular, and feeling full and nourished.
Skipping one meal a day means you either stop eating your lunch or dinner. Breakfast is the first meal in the morning that provides your body with the energy to start the day. Therefore, skipping breakfast is not a great idea, because you may feel light-headed and low on energy.
Skipping dinner or lunch can considerably cut down calories. It is a more natural and easier way to lose fats because you may not even feel much hungry and easily wait until the next mealtime.
Any diet change can be very difficult to stick to. Try downloading a fasting app, such as fastic, to keep an exact log of the time since you've last eaten, and how much longer you have to go. Having this reminder is helpful for a lot of people for sticking to their goals, and even the act of downloading the app and logging your fasts help you to build habits that will get you closer to that goal.
If you enable push notifications, the app will also give you reminders and encouragements that can help you push on throughout the day.