Six years ago, I wrote a blog post on intermittent fasting (IF), and people thought I had lost my mind for suggesting they skip a meal. That’s understandable though, especially since most fitness pros were still preaching that 5-6 small meals a day was the best way to keep your metabolism revved and drop pounds. Over the last few years, IF has gained a lot of popularity in the health and wellness world. Chances are, you know someone who incorporates IF into their daily routine. My parents have even started fasting! My Mom has lost so much weight she needs to get her wedding rings resized, and my Dad is back to his high school weight. Studies have shown that fasting improves your insulin sensitivity, meaning your body can better process sugar instead of sending it to be stored as fat, but fasting isn’t just great for weight loss! Fasting aids your body in cellular repair and delays tissue aging. Amazing, right?? Skipping meals from time to time will literally help us live longer and healthier lives. Doctors are even prescribing fasting treatments to patients with chronic diseases. While still a controversial practice in the medical world, fasting has a lot of success stories for treating the following:
Type 2 Diabetes
Obesity
Depression
Anxiety
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Mental Illness
Many health professionals even believe that fasting can prevent cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers and Parkison’s. Below you’ll find some information on a few of the most popular fasting techniques and my personal experiences with each of them.
The Warrior Diet
A man named Ori Hofmekler introduced the idea of intermittent fasting to the fitness community in 2002 when he published his book The Warrior Diet. His eating plan is based off of how our ancestors ate. People would “under eat” during the day (hunting for dinner with an empty stomach or while snacking on berries) and have one large meal in the evening. The warrior diet in a nutshell- under eat for 20 hours (eat small amounts of dairy, hard boiled eggs, and raw fruits and vegetables), then have a large meal in the evening. You are encouraged to eat like a true warrior by consuming mostly proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Your under eating period will last around 20 hours so your feeding window would generally be something like 5 PM-9 PM. This program promises to help you shed fat, build lean muscle and increase energy. There is a lot about this plan that I like, but the Warrior Diet encourages you to eat a lot of protein, and I prefer a high-fat, moderate-protein diet. Fat fuels your brain, keeps you fuller longer, and doesn’t spike insulin. I also struggle to “under eat” …once I start eating, I crave a full meal, so I do better skipping a meal altogether.
The One Meal a Day (OMAD) Diet
This eating plan is my personal favorite when it comes to fasting because it’s SO easy to follow. On the OMAD schedule, you simply skip breakfast, lunch, and snacks throughout the day, then have a large dinner. This frees up a lot of your time because you’re not planning, preparing, and eating breakfast or lunch. How much mental energy do you devote to your next meal? I realized I was spending a lot of time asking myself what I was going to eat for lunch or looking around the kitchen trying to find something healthy to eat. I place a high value on my time, so I love love love this style of eating because I feel like I have more time to focus on work, clean the house, love on my baby, etc. If you’re new to fasting, you WILL be hungry when you first start this plan, but your body will adjust after a few days. Just get ready for people to be confused and/or concerned when they find out you’re skipping breakfast AND lunch! Don’t worry about comments from other people. You are trying to better your health and do what’s best for YOU. This is also the fasting plan my parents follow. Dad discovered that after eating breakfast or lunch he felt sleepy, so he started omitting those meals and says his energy levels are awesome now. Mom used to have blood sugar issues, and would feel lightheaded (and hangry!) if she missed a meal, but her body has adjusted to fasting and she feels great on this eating plan also. All of the energy dips you feel throughout the day are caused by your blood sugar plummeting after eating a meal (especially a carbohydrate heavy meal!) so you will notice an increase in energy levels when you incorporate fasting into your way of life.
The 16:8 Plan
If you’re looking for a less extreme time-restricted eating plan, or a way to ease into more intense fasting, the 16:8 plan is a great option. On this eating schedule, you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8 hour window. A common eating window is 12PM to 8 PM. So you would break your fast at lunch and have dinner before 8 PM. Last year I was pregnant, then I nursed for 6 months, so I was accustomed to eating round the clock just to get enough calories in. I followed the 8 hour plan to get my body back into the routine of daily fasting.
Alternate Day Fasting
When it comes to weight loss, this type of fasting has the most compelling evidence and studies backing it up than any other form of fasting. Just as the name implies, this program only calls for you to fast every other day. On your fasting day you will only consume 25% of the calories your body needs on a daily basis within a 2 hour eating window. For a woman this translates into a small 400-500 calorie meal. For a man, 500-600 calories. Once you’ve made it through your fasting day you can rejoice! The next day is a “feeding day.” On feeding days you will eat 125% of your body’s daily caloric needs. You really don’t need to count these calories though. Just eat what you want to. Studies have shown that people will generally only eat 110% of their bodies caloric needs rather than binging. Krista Varady is a nutrition professor and the author of The Every Other Day Diet. Her research at the University of Illinois at Chicago showed that dieters can lose 10-30 pounds in just 8 weeks. That’s quick weight loss! I suggest trying this form of fasting if you can handle the fasting days. I find the OMAD plan easier to follow because I know I can eat whatever I want in the evening. Ultimately when it comes to any type of diet you just need to pick a plan you can stick to. Consistency is the key! If you can’t stick to a plan then it DEFINITELY won’t work for you.
The Fast Diet (AKA The 5:2 Diet)
he 5:2 Diet is just a spinoff of alternate day fasting. Dr. Michael Mosley was struggling to fast every other day so he started fasting on two non-consecutive days of the week while eating, however he wanted on the other 5 days. He quickly lost over 20 pounds on this plan. Fasting days still consist of roughly 25% of your daily caloric needs (400-500 for a woman and 500-600 for a man). This plan is excellent if you want to ease into a fasting lifestyle or if you don’t need to lose weight and merely want to cash in on some of the other health benefits of fasting.
Whew! So many options, right? It can be overwhelming to pick a plan, so I encourage you to try something like the 16:8 plan first, and if that’s tolerable, try to extend your fast to 18:6 and so forth. Remember, no matter which plan you choose, it’s always best to fuel your body with whole foods over processed crap. I love tacos and margaritas as much as the next girl, but I feel a lot better when I choose something more nutritionally dense. Let me know if you try any of these fasting plans and drop a comment below!
*Intermittent fasting is generally safe for healthy individuals, but it is always recommended to consult with your doctor before beginning any diet or fasting plan. Fasting is NEVER safe for pregnant women.