Intermittent Fasting 101 – Setting the Record Straight

In this article you will be provided with an intermittent fasting 101. You will learn what intermittent fasting is and what it isn’t and other important facts. There appears to be a lot of misinformation about intermittent fasting so this article is to set the record straight.

Intermittent fasting has grown in popularity very quickly because it gets results. It is important that you know what to expect so you will see the most important aspects about it in this article. You want to get good results with it as well so use this information to your advantage.

Intermittent Fasting explained
A lot of people get nervous when they see the word “fasting.” This conjures up all kinds of negativity in their minds. Maybe they have heard of monks going without food for weeks on end. How can they possibly do that?

Well, intermittent fasting is nowhere near as severe as that. You are already fasting when you sleep at night. There are also large chunks of time during your waking hours that you don’t eat or think about eating. When you start with intermittent fasting you will just reorganize these chunks of time when you fast.

You enter into a cyclical pattern of eating and not eating. There is a period of time when you will eat followed by a period of time that you don’t eat. It really is as simple as that. It will take you a while to get used to this new routine but after a short while it should become second nature to you.

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You must decide on an Eating Window
Your eating window is the most important part of your intermittent fasting journey. This is the period of time when you can eat. So if you decide to start intermittent fasting using the 8:16 method (a very good choice) it means that each day you will eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours (8 of those hours you will be sleeping).

Fasting Window Rules
Your fasting window is the time that you must not eat. With some intermittent fasting methods you are allowed to eat small meals that do not exceed 500 calories. But with most methods you must not consume any calories at all.

It is critical that you abide by the rules of the fasting window and do not consume any calories. You can drink water and consume any other beverage that does not contain any calories such as herbal tea and zero calorie sodas

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Intermittent Fasting triggers Ketosis
The weight loss occurs during intermittent fasting through a body process called “ketosis.” This occurs when the body does not have any food to use as energy. If all the food you have eaten has been digested then with ketosis your body will look to your fat stores as an energy source.

The longer that you fast, the more that ketosis will work to raid your fat stores. In time you will lose weight as your fat stores start to diminish. Other diets use the power of ketosis to burn fat such as low carbohydrate diets and ketogenic diets.

Intermittent Fasting is safe for most people
For the vast majority of people, intermittent fasting is safe. It is always recommended that you consult with your doctor before getting started with intermittent fasting just to be sure. Be aware that it is not always a good idea for pregnant women to do intermittent fasting.