Most people have tried to lose weight at least once in their life. It’s often framed as a huge challenge that involves restrictive diets, with new ones seemingly popping up every year — from ketogenic to raw-till-4 to plain and simple calorie restriction. However, recent evidence has pointed to a much simpler approach — restricting not what or how much you eat, but when you eat it. This is known as intermittent fasting (IF), and technology is making it easier than ever to stick to.
What is intermittent fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is perhaps best described as a pattern for eating rather than a diet. It involves switching between fasting and eating.
This can take different forms, such as:
● Fasting between 7pm and 7am (or another window within the day)
● Eating just one meal a day
● Restricting calories two days a week and eating whatever you want on the other five
● Fasting intuitively when it feels right for you
Or any combination of the above.
Benefits of IF
IF might sound extreme or even unhealthy at first, but when you think about human history, it makes a lot more sense. It’s only recently that we’ve had access to unlimited food, many of which are hyper-calorific. Most of human history involved periods of feast followed by periods of famine — whether that meant hunter-gatherers feasting on an animal they caught then surviving on berries for a few days, or the pre-globalized world thriving during harvest season then struggling through winter.
One benefit of this approach is that it gives our body a chance to burn fat. When our body goes without food for long enough, it starts burning fat. A 2020 study found that intermittent fasting could promote weight loss of between 0.8% and 13%. There are different types of fasting methods, however, intermittent fasting is believed to be the easiest to follow and maintain.
Yet, unlike most other “diets,” IF doesn’t have to be about losing weight — many adopt it as a permanent lifestyle change to help manage their health. The practice has been linked to everything from cardiovascular disease prevention, lowering blood pressure to reducing stress.
Some people also find that intermittent fasting can help to make them more mindful of what they’re eating and enjoy the meals they have more.
How to start your day with IF
There’s not one single way to go about your intermittent fasting, so your day may start differently depending on which intermittent fasting plans you choose.
Some may skip breakfast as part of their fasting, meaning they only have a glass of water (or a black coffee or herbal tea) in the morning. Others might have a smaller fasting window or a window that leaves room for breakfast, so start the day in a “normal” way with plenty of food.
You may track your weight if weight loss is a goal, but there’s no obligation to do so — and there’s definitely no need to count calories.
How to Do Intermittent Fasting the Easy Way
The premise of intermittent fasting might sound simple, but many people that try it encounter obstacles. Everyone’s a little different, so trying to follow somebody else’s plan can result in problems — and the feeling of “failure” may be demotivating.
Instead of figuring everything out for yourself, you can make the process easy with an intermittent fasting app like Zero and SoonFasting. Most fasting apps will give users a personalized schedule and meal plan to follow based on users’ health and weight, goals, eating habits, and routine.