Intermittent Fasting - Are You Doing It Right?
2/2/2020
Written By: Ryan Chan |
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Intermittent fasting has gained its popularity as a weight loss diet program. However, it is not a magical diet program that guarantees weight loss. The success of this program depends on the basic understanding of its objective and the right approach.
The idea behind intermittent fasting is to reduce the time window for food consumption. Instead of being able to eat across your entire 24 hours a day, you are only allowed to eat within a certain amount of time a day (eg. 6,8,10,12 hours etc). Theoretically speaking, the lesser time you have for eating, the lesser you will eat. So with lesser calories consumption, you will lose weight. At least that’s the hypothesis.
So what could possibility go wrong?
The idea behind intermittent fasting is to reduce the time window for food consumption. Instead of being able to eat across your entire 24 hours a day, you are only allowed to eat within a certain amount of time a day (eg. 6,8,10,12 hours etc). Theoretically speaking, the lesser time you have for eating, the lesser you will eat. So with lesser calories consumption, you will lose weight. At least that’s the hypothesis.
So what could possibility go wrong?
1. You Are Overeating
You could still be eating more than what you burn during the time when you are allowed to eat. If your food choices are calorie dense, such as fried and junk food, or that you are not watching over your portion sizes, you could still be on a calorie surplus resulting in weight gain. In order to reduce the risk of such eating habit, keep your fibre and protein consumption high as they will keep you full for a longer period of time.
There is nothing special about intermittent fasting that could magically make you lose weight. You are still responsible with what you eat and keeping it within what you can burn in order to lose weight. The baseline is - Weight management is all about calories in vs calories out.
There is nothing special about intermittent fasting that could magically make you lose weight. You are still responsible with what you eat and keeping it within what you can burn in order to lose weight. The baseline is - Weight management is all about calories in vs calories out.
2. You Are Undereating
The reverse is also counter-productive. Many of the times when an individual plans his/her eating timing, it is within their working hours. This often results to an even lesser calorie consumption due to work load. You will not be taking in enough macro and micronutrients for your body to function properly. Though weight loss can happen initially under such circumstances, it will damage your body’s normal function and composition such as slower metabolism, lack of energy as well as increase loss of muscle and bone density. Future effort to maintain or to lose further weight may be dampened due to the damage done by such poor eating habit.
It is also worth noting that appetite is something that can be conditioned. If your body ends up getting use to eating very little food, the negative effects of malnutrition can be detrimental. Same goes for if you are overeating.
It is also worth noting that appetite is something that can be conditioned. If your body ends up getting use to eating very little food, the negative effects of malnutrition can be detrimental. Same goes for if you are overeating.
3. You Are Not Eating A Balance Diet
Now that you have even lesser time to eat, your food choices become especially important. You do not have time and appetite to waste on eating other non-essential food. It is crucial to consume a balance diet to allow your body to continue functioning properly as mention previously. Some of the key food serving sizes are listed below for you reference in order to have a healthy and balance meal:
Protein – 0.8g to 1.2g per kg of bodyweight (To prevent the loss of muscle mass)
Fruits & Vegetables – 2 portions of respective food (To ensure sufficient amount of micronutrients and fibre is consumed to maintain healthy body function. Fibre in this case is especially important to keep your hunger level to, preventing you from overeating.)
Protein – 0.8g to 1.2g per kg of bodyweight (To prevent the loss of muscle mass)
Fruits & Vegetables – 2 portions of respective food (To ensure sufficient amount of micronutrients and fibre is consumed to maintain healthy body function. Fibre in this case is especially important to keep your hunger level to, preventing you from overeating.)
4. You Change Your Diet Too Drastically
Many of the times, people jump straight into the high gears of intermittent fasting without letting their body condition to what is going to happen. This often results in many complaining that they are starving and ends up giving up the diet program. Instead of going straight to the usual 16:8 protocol (16 hours of fasting, 8 hours of eating window), try starting with a 12:12 for a few days, followed by a 14:10 before going into the 16:8 or even 18:6. Anything more is not recommended
5. You Are Eating the Wrong Type of Food
Because you are not going to consume food for a long period of time, the key strategy here is to make sure the food you are consuming can keep you full for a longer period of time. This includes food that are high in protein, fibre and volume. For more information on what food you should eat, check out this article.
6. You Are Not Drinking Enough Water
Intermittent fasting doesn’t mean that you can’t drink. Keeping yourself well hydrated can help to keep your cravings and appetite in check. You should be drinking 0.5-1 ounce of water per pound of body weight (can be a little confusing to do this conversion but you probably only need to do this once so get on it). To know more about what hydration does for you and how much you should be drinking across the day and during exercises, check out this article.
7. You Are Not Exercising
Why rely on just one method of weight loss when you can have two working at the same time. Intermittent fasting is a strategy to help you reduce your calorie consumption. Why not also exercise to burn even more calories, increasing your calorie deficit and boosting your weight loss progress? However, with that being said, it is important to provide your body enough resources for recovery after exercising thus please strive for a balance diet with sufficient amount of protein
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting is no miracle method to weight loss. It is still important, if not, even more important to watch what you are eating during this precious window of eating opportunity. Consume balance meal, eat food that will keep you full longer, keep yourself hydrated and remember to start or continue exercising
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