Intermittent Fasting
What is it?
Does it work?
Intermittent fasting could be a great way to help you drop body fat.
If you have tried other methods and they havent worked?
Read this blog and discover how intermittent fasting could be your perfect fat loss solution.
Have you tried to drop lose weight but struggle to find a nutritional stretgy you can stick to?
You’re good with food during the week but you fall apart on the weekends?
Do you get sugar cravings, particularly in the evenings?
If so, Intermittent fasting could be a great solution for you.
Intermittent fasting involves delaying your first meal of the day.
It reduces the time you have available to consume your daily calories.
It allows you to fit your days food into a smaller window of time, giving you the perception of eating more post-fast.
It can help achieve short term satisfaction, while controlling your hunger all at the same time.
The process involves delaying food intake in the morning for between 4 to 8 hours.
When combined with your lack of food intake during sleep, your fasting period can add up to as much as 16 hours.
You then have a window of 8-12 hours to eat your days food, depending on how long you delayed breakfast.
Eating less frequently potentially means you’ll have better control over your hunger.
You’ll also enjoy bigger or more diverse meals and feel more satisfied when you do eat.
Sounds perfect right?
Well, if that works for you, then yes!
BUT……….
Intermittent fasting is NOT a magical stand-alone solution for fat loss.
Nor is it an alternative to the fundamental principles of fat loss.
Its just a different way of implementing the process and some can find it very suitable to their busy lifestyles.
At the end of the day, you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.
Do you want to look good in a bikini rather than just focusing on losing weight (there is a difference)?
If so, then you will also need to consider hitting specific macro nutrient goals (protein, carbohydrates, fats) for your body type.
There lots of ways to implement that process and it doesn’t necessarily mean weighing and measuring every crumb of food you eat.
Where intermittent fasting shines is – it makes fat loss more achievable.
It makes hitting the fundamental goals of fat loss more sustainable and realistic (in my view).
There are no restrictions on how long you fast for.
But if you aren’t meeting your daily calorie/ macro requirements each day, it won’t count for anything.
You can still under or over eat within a shorter time frame.
Yes, you can still gain weight by eating too many calories within a shorter time frame.
So…is intermittent fasting for you?
Well..the most effective nutritional strategy is whichever one you can stick to.
Does delaying breakfast by a few hours and eating more for the rest of the day sound more sustainable to you?
Would you prefer to eat less in the morning and eat more in the evenings?
Thats normally when will power has ran out and you’re craving everything you can imagine.
If so its worth a shot. It works for me and plenty of our 28 Day Transformation Challenge clients.
Start by delaying breakfast by 2 hours, then the next 3 or 4 hours.
See how you feel.
See if you’re able to stick to your nutritional plan easier as a result.
To summarise…
If saving all your food for a shorter period of the day helps you:
Hit your calorie and macro goals more easily
Keeps your hunger under control and your energy for training in the morning is ok
Then intermittent fasting could be a great option for you.
Remember…..
If you want to lose weight – you need to be in a calorie deficit.
If you want to look good in a bikini – you need to be in a calorie deficit, hit some variation of a macro goal and (ideally) lift weights.
Its very simple but not always easy.
Whatever you do needs to be sustainable and enjoyable.
The real results happen when you enjoy the process.
Whatevers sustainable will allow you make consistent progress, without sacrificing your life.
The every day person wanting to lose weight can now enjoy:
No more fasted cardio
No more turning down social invitations for fear of eating out.
No more feeling anxious about not having meals prepared in advanced
No more devoting most of your free time off to over training
Want help putting this al together?
Fill in the form below and we will contact you within 24 hours to help.
Sadhbh “Cant wait to eat all my carbs this evening” Hammond
Coach
Results Fitness
Personal Trainer Dublin and Body Transformation Gym in Blackrock, Dublin
