I have hit a plateau in weight loss and my doctor showed me a study on Intermittent Fasting.
The basic premise is that with dieting, we are consuming and burning calories all day. The trick always is passing that threshold for burning fat.
Going 16 hours without eating forces your body to burn fat. Then the other 8 hours you eat and burn those calories.
Obviously if you eat too much during those 8 hours, you will add fat so this would be pointless.
The golden rule has always been to never skip breakfast, but this has always been the hardest part for me. So I chose my 16 hours to be from 8pm to 12pm the next day.
A friend of mine has actually been doing this for years and has lost a tremendous amount of weight. She simply has an early dinner at 4pm and has nothing else until breakfast the next day.
I started this 4 days ago and I have already lost a few pounds.
There are more rules.. for beverages during fasting, you can have coffee but it has to be black coffee. You can add some coconut oil and natural stevia and cinnamon, but no cream nor sugar.. nor artificial sweeteners. You can drink water, water with lemon.. tea.. or even home made bone broth.
Your first meal and last meal should have protein. Snacks should be a protein with healthy fats, such as nuts.
Exercise is important to not lose muscle on this diet. I have problems with exercise so I try to do simple strengthening exercises during everyday activities. Like leg lifts while standing at the sink or squats while watching tv or curls with that water jug when I get a drink. I’m constantly up and down the stairs anyway, just squeeze those butt cheeks in the meantime.
This is a flexible diet. If you miss a day or two, that’s ok. If you go 13 hours sometimes, that’s ok too.
Look it up and read the science on it. There has been some really good research done.