When you want to lose excess fat, you often turn to all kinds of diets that promise to help you “get rid” of extra pounds in just a few days. One of these is intermittent fasting, although we wouldn’t call it a diet, but rather an eating pattern—and why not, a way of life.
Intermittent fasting is used to reduce body fat through fasting and a limited but carefully planned calorie intake. This eating pattern can bring you numerous health benefits, such as improving your insulin/leptin sensitivity and helping your body burn fat more efficiently. Intermittent fasting not only prevents excess weight and the metabolic dysfunction associated with it, but can also reverse them.
If we start eating as soon as we wake up and continue until we go back to sleep, we spend almost the entire day eating. As a result, over time we’ll gain excess weight because we don’t give our bodies enough time to burn the energy from the food we consume.
To restore balance or lose weight, you simply need to increase the time you spend burning energy from food (fasting). This way, fasting allows the body to use its stored energy from food.
Intermittent fasting follows a very simple principle: you have 8 hours during the day when you can eat, with a carefully chosen menu, and 16 hours when you fast. The good news is that sleep counts toward those 16 hours. So, if you sleep 8 hours a day, you only have to go without food for 8 hours. Intermittent fasting is especially suitable for people who aren’t in the habit of eating breakfast. This means your first main meal will be at 14:00, and your last no later than 21:00.
Eating:
What can we eat while following intermittent fasting? Sugary foods, chocolate, chips, and snacks are strictly forbidden!
- A moderate amount of high-quality protein – beef, lamb, rabbit, chicken, eggs, fish, legumes;
- Healthy carbohydrates – sweet potatoes, whole grains, chickpeas, quinoa;
- Healthy fats from avocado, organic butter, pasteurized egg yolks, coconut oil, tuna and raw nuts such as macadamias, pecans and pine nuts.
- Unlimited vegetables, with an emphasis on leafy greens and root vegetables;
- Fruit, but in moderation and preferably low in fructose—for example, green apples, berries and citrus fruits
- Drink plenty of fluids—water, tea, coffee and freshly squeezed juices.
Workouts:
While following an intermittent fasting plan, you risk losing a significant amount of muscle mass, but that doesn’t mean you can’t maintain it with exercise. Strength training is preferable during fasting, such as CrossFit, Tabata, Bodypump, Tapout and similar workouts.
Everyone who plays sports knows that working out on an empty stomach is one of the most effective ways to lose weight because it burns more fat. Combine intermittent fasting with strength training for even greater, longer-lasting results in sculpting the perfect body. Choose to attend classes for individual or group training and focus on more cardio. We guarantee you’ll see results soon!