Whether you are looking to lose weight, get healthier, or feel better, you may be wondering whether or not intermittent fasting can help you achieve your goals. 

Like most people, you have probably seen fitness professionals promoting intermittent fasting as a way to manage your caloric intake so that you can lose weight more effectively. Since intermittent fasting has become a very popular way to manage your daily caloric intake. It’s definitely worth taking a closer look at it to determine if it’s worth doing.

With that in mind, let’s examine what intermittent fasting is and how it impacts your body. We will also take a closer look at the different approaches to intermittent fasting as well as the health benefits that it offers.  

What is intermittent fasting?

The easiest way to describe intermittent fasting is when you alternate between fasting for a specific length of time and eating at certain times. While intermittent fasting does not dictate the types of foods you should be eating. It definitely specifies when you should be eating.

Therefore, it is not a diet because you are not required to eliminate any specific food groups, but you must eat little or nothing during your fast. For example, some people will fast for 16 hours per day while others will go without food for 24 hours every other day, or they may even choose to fast for two non-consecutive days per week.

How does intermittent fasting impact your body?

When you are fasting, there are a number of changes that happen within your body. First, some studies have shown that fasting will increase human growth hormone levels (Ho et al., 1988).

As you may know, your levels of human growth hormone have an effect on your ability to build lean muscle mass and lose fat. When you fast, your insulin levels also decrease while your insulin sensitivity increases (Tello, 2018).

For those of you who don’t know, insulin helps control your blood sugar levels and impacts the way your body utilizes glucose (“Diabetes treatment: Using insulin to manage blood sugar,” 2019). Furthermore, intermittent fasting provides your cells with an opportunity to repair and regenerate themselves.

Lastly, fasting increases sirtuin activity, which positively impacts your body’s ability to defend itself against diseases and fight oxidative stress (Zhu, Yan, Gius, & Vassilopoulos, 2013).

What are the different approaches to intermittent fasting?

There are a number of different approaches to intermittent fasting, but the three most common methods include alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, and daily time-restricted feeding.

There are a number of different variations of each, depending on the duration and frequency of the fast and whether or not any calories are consumed at all when fasting.

Alternate-day fasting

First, as the name suggests, alternate-day fasting is when you fast for 24 hours every other day. Therefore, you get to alternate between a “feast day” and a “fast day.” Some people choose to consume absolutely no calories on the days that they are fasting.

On the other hand, other people simply significantly reduce their caloric intake when they are fasting. Reducing your caloric intake means that you would still be able to consume approximately 200 to 500 calories when you are supposed to be fasting.

In both cases, you get to eat the way you normally would during your “feast days.”

Periodic fasting

Periodic fasting is when you fast for 24 hours or more. For example, you can fast for one or two full days straight. Using this approach, you can choose to fast on Tuesdays and Saturdays, for example, and eat like you normally would for the rest of the week.

You can also fast every Wednesday and Thursday, which is an example of a 48-hour fast. If you feel you can handle it, you can even fast for several days straight or even weeks.

If you are fasting longer than 24 hours, it is recommended that you simply drastically reduce your caloric intake during that time as opposed to going without any food at all.

Time-restricted feeding

Last, but certainly not least, is daily time-restricted feeding. If you choose this option, the easiest way to do it is to match your sleeping cycle.

Therefore, you are allowed to eat during a certain timeframe throughout the day. For example, during a 24-hour period, you can fast for 16 hours and eat like you normally would throughout the other 8.

The best way to do this would be to eat dinner earlier, then not eat anything else in the evening and then skip breakfast only to eat at lunch.

What are the benefits of intermittent fasting?

Now that you understand what intermittent fasting is, how it affects your body, and the different ways you can approach it, let’s discuss some of its’ benefits.

Some studies have shown that fasting can help treat metabolic disorders as well as decrease the effects that aging has on the body (Phillips, 2019).

Furthermore, it will help you maintain your weight and potentially even lose weight, provided that you eat healthy when you are not fasting. People who have tried intermittent fasting mentioned that they lost belly fat.

As you may know, getting rid of belly fat is many people’s goal because storing fat in that area can be extremely harmful to their health. Since intermittent fasting also helps control your insulin levels, it will help reduce your risk of developing diabetes.

As mentioned earlier, intermittent fasting reduces oxidative damage, thereby reducing inflammation. Not only that, but it can also help prevent heart disease and potentially reduce your risk of cancer. Furthermore, intermittent fasting can help improve your brain health and even protect your brain from degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.

Lastly, it can help potentially extend your lifespan because not only will you lose weight, but you will also reduce your risk for a large variety of health problems that are known to creep up on people as they get older.

A final word

As you can see, intermittent fasting is not a diet, but it is a way to schedule your meals that allows you to go for many hours, or possibly even a few days, with little to no food.

Since there are many ways to approach intermittent fasting, you are bound to find a way that will work for you if you decide to give it a try. Lastly, it offers a number of surprising health benefits, which means that it can help you live a happier, healthier, and longer life.

If you still have any questions, concerns, or a personal story about using intermittent fasting, feel free to comment your thoughts down below.