Tips to Make 16:8 Intermittent Fasting a Success

Intermittent Fasting has been a popular tool for weight loss. This is not a type of diet but rather an eating approach where in you will set your eating window for a certain number of hours.

Some of the well-known Intermittent Fasting methods are the following:

• 16:8 IF (8 hour- eating window time)
• 5:2 (calorie restriction of 500 or 600 for 2 days within the week)
• Warrior Diet (small amount of food during the day and one big meal at night)
• Alternate Day Fasting (fasting every other day and having 500 calories only on fasting days)
• Eat Stop Eat (24 hour fast once or twice a week)

In this article, we will mainly talk about the 16:8 fasting -which is probably the most famous one because it is easy to incorporate into your lifestyle.

Helpful tips when you are doing your 16:8 Intermittent Fasting

If you are new to Intermittent Fasting, you can device a way where this will be easier for you. This will totally depend on your lifestyle and how much you want this.

This is not about what you are eating, though it would be helpful if you are sensible on what you are eating, but rather on when you eat your food. This is based on the premise that when you eat, you increase your insulin level in your body leading to insulin resistance thus causing lots of metabolic issues like Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, etc.

1. Set your eating window based on your lifestyle.
   
   You need to make this easy for you so that it won’t put you off.
   
   Assess your daily schedule so you can easily build a pattern. You can set it for 9:00 until 5:00, 10:00 until 6:00 or noon until 8:00. This will all be dependent on what you find easy.
   
   
2. Eliminate processed food and sugar!
   
   Intermittent Fasting is not about what you eat but we also need to be sensible on what we are eating.
   
   Time restricted eating is a very effective approach for weight loss but if we eat junk food during the time that we are allowed to eat, we are only putting more and more sugar in our body which is very counter productive.
   
   Sugar can cause havoc to your health and it will definitely throw away the hard work that you do when you are doing your fasting.
   
   Remember that farm to table food will always be better because it contains fewer calories and it’s all natural and that IF is not a free pass to have anything you want.
   
   
3. Stay hydrated.
   
   Restricting your eating window can always lead to dehydration. It is very important to hydrate yourself with water, coffee or tea – all of which wouldn’t break your fast!
   
   And as much as you can, avoid alcoholic drinks like wine, cider, beer, etc. These drinks have calories and will definitely increase your insulin level.
   
   For coffee, be very cautious in drinking and do not have it in excess. The caffeine in your coffee can damage your adrenal glands and can increase level of your cortisol (also known as the stress hormone).
   
   
4. Record your progress.
   
   Make it a point to monitor your weight. I, personally, take my weight every Monday morning so this will serve as a guide on how I am doing. This will also serve as your motivation and a record on how well you are doing.
   
   
5. Make Intermittent Fasting a habit.
   
   There will be times that you won’t be able to do IF, that is okay but try to limit it at least once and not 2 consecutive days.
   
   Later on as you go along, it will be easier and you won’t even notice that you are fasting.
   
   
6. Avoid snacking in between meals.
   
   It doesn’t mean that if you are on IF, you can eat anytime within your eating window.
   
   Only eat when you are hungry and do not snack in between. This will cause peaks in insulin level during the day which is what we are preventing to happen.

Intermittent fasting is not for everybody. Learn how to listen to your body, to what it’s telling you. Pregnant women, people with Diabetes, Eating disorders are not meant to go for long periods of time without food.

If you have a medical condition, it is much safer to discuss it with your health practitioner before you start on any fasting program. This will ensure of your safety and to avoid causing further damage.