Chances are you’ve heard of intermittent fasting and its amazing benefits.
You may want to try it or maybe have already tried it, BUT you’re still not sure if its good for , right for you, is worth all of the hype.
If that’s you, you are in the right place.
This post explains what intermittent fasting or IF is, and its most popular 16/8 fasting method.
This post will also explain a specific type of fast, called metabolic fasting.
It also has a sample 1-day 16/8 fasting plan you can use to get started right away.
What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting is not a diet but rather an eating pattern.
It splits a day into periods of eating and fasting, which you alternate.
IF is all about when to eat, not what to eat.
Thus by definition, it’s not a diet.
Because it’s not about the foods you eat, IF works with any dietary choices.
There’s also no calorie counting.
How it works is you choose a part of the day to refrain from eating.
This is called your fasting window, and the other part of the day is reserved for eating.
Intermittent Fasting can easily fit into just about any lifestyle or diet.
And many people find IF less restrictive and more flexible to stick to than actual diet plans.
This leads to the 16/8 fasting, the easiest fasting method around.
What are the types of intermittent fasting?
1. Eat Stop Eat Method:
The first way to do intermittent fasting is to eat stop eat method. In this type, a person keeps fast for the entire day and then he breaks the fast the next day.
For example, You have taken your lunch today and then you will be not eating for the entire day and then in the next day, you will break your fast at the lunchtime.
2. The 5:2 Diet method:
In this type, you will eat only 500-600 calories for twice a week and then in the next 5 days you can consume your normal calories.
This means you are going for an extremely low-calorie diet for 2 days a week.
I would suggest not to consecutively follow it for the 2 days but to keep the gap between the days.
Monday – low calories
Thursday- low calories
And in the remaining days, you can consume your normal calories.
3. Alternate day fasting:
This involves keeping fasting for complete one day and then you can eat normally the next day.
To keep it simple,
You have to keep fast for one day and the next don’t keep it.
Follow this process and this work really amazing.
4. The Warrior Diet:
In this diet plan, you have to keep fast till your dinner time and then at dinner, you usually take up a very big and heavy meal.
5. The 16/8 method:
As I had said earlier in this topic, you will keep a fast for 16 hours a day and then you can eat in the remaining 8 hours of the window.
How Does The Metabolic Fasting Work?
There are many different ways of doing intermittent fasting.
They involve splitting between periods of fasting and eating.
Out of many, one of the most popular fasting methods is the 16/8 or 16 hours fast.
This fasting method restricts your eating window to hours, such as 12-8pm.
Noticeably, this schedule skips breakfast and AM snack.
Eating begins at the lunchtime and ends with your dinner as late as 8 pm.
From there, you fast for the 16 remaining hours from 8 pm to 12 pm the next day.
Many people find 16/8 fasting method to be the easiest to do since much of 9 pm to 7 am is spent sleeping.
They’ll only have to refrain from eating from 7 am to 12 pm.
Also, one perk of the 16/8 fasting method is it is adjustable to your lifestyle.
As long as you stick your time allocation to 16/8, you can designate your eating period from 9 am to 5 pm, 10 am to 6 pm, 11 am to 7 pm etc…
It also helps that coffee, tea, and water are allowed while fasting.
Though it’s easy to implement, the 16/8 intermittent fasting is not without challenges.
Those who are used to eating a big breakfast may feel the void in the morning. This may further compel you to eat a larger portion during the eating period.
Finding the schedule you find doable is inevitably the key to success of the IF 16/8 method.
Over the years, this particular fasting method has grown in popularity. Amongst the most devoted followers are those looking to lose weight.
This is because IF can effortless reduce your calorie intake and produce weight loss.
This is as long as you can keep your meal portions unchanged and don’t compensate for the lack of meal by eating more.
In addition to weight loss, this fasting method is also believed to boost other aspects of health.
Improve blood sugar levels, better brain functions, and longevity are amongst those benefits.
Below is a typical intermittent fasting schedule.
16/8 Metabolic Fasting Schedule
- 7:00 am Wake up
- 7:30 am Lemon Water
- 8:00 am Skip Breakfast
- 12:00 pm Lunch
- 3:00 pm Snack
- 8:00 pm Dinner
- 9: 00 pm Fasting
Fast for 16 hours..
Metabolic Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan
Monday
- Meal #1: Keto Cheesy Avocado Baked Eggs
- Snack #2: Handful of cashews
- Meal #3: Keto Pork Chops with Green Apple Radish Salsa and Broccoli Slaw
Tuesday
- Meal #1: Keto Guacamole Topped Scrambled Eggs
- Snack #2: Apple and 1 Tbsp. sunbutter
- Meal #3: Keto 15-Minute Tamari Marinated Steak Salad
Wednesday
- Meal #1: Keto Denver Omelet
- Snack #2: Hummus with carrots and cucumber
- Meal #3: Keto Cajun Turkey Thighs (Instant Pot)
Thursday
- Meal #1: Broccoli tofu salad
- Snack #2: Piece of dark chocolate
- Meal #3: Salmon kale salad
Friday
- Meal #1: Turkey Chili
- Snack #2: Organic Edamame
- Meal #3: Grilled chicken salad
Saturday
- Meal #1: Grilled salmon salad
- Snack #2: Dark chocolate bark
- Meal #3: Chicken tortilla soup
Sunday
- Meal #1: Sprouts, chicken, quinoa Buddha bowl
- Snack #2: Greek yogurt
- Meal #3: Teriyaki chicken with cauliflower rice
