Intermittent fasting: schedule & what is it?
It's the dream of anyone trying to lose weight. Imagine being able to eat whatever you want most days of the week, restricting your intake one or two days at a time, and still losing weight.
This is precisely what many people experience when they start intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting can do more than just slim your waistline. Studies show that the benefits of fasting include stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammation, and keeping your heart healthy.
There are several approaches to intermittent fasting, whether you prefer to fast for many hours a day or skip meals two days a week.
Let's look at how intermittent fasting can serve as a way to simultaneously improve your health and achieve your weight loss goals.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting, also known as cyclical fasting or periodic fasting, allows people to rely less on our glucose (sugar) for energy and instead lean on ketone bodies and fat stores (keto intermittent fasting).
As a result, both intermittent and periodic fasting lead to benefits ranging from prevention to improved treatment of diseases. Even fasting-mimicking diets, which are not true fasting, can bring about beneficial changes similar to those caused by fasting.
It's difficult to define intermittent fasting because there isn't one right method of fasting. In principle, there are many variations used, and each variant follows a different eating pattern that is often strictly adhered to to achieve physical or even spiritual results.
How does intermittent fasting work?
Extensive research into the concept of intermittent fasting suggests that it works in two distinct ways to improve various facets of health.
First, intermittent fasting leads to lower levels of oxidative stress in cells throughout the body.
Second, fasting improves your body's ability to cope with stress at a cellular level. It activates cellular stress response pathways similar to very mild stressors, acting as a mild stimulant to your body's stress response.
When this happens consistently, your body slowly strengthens against cellular stress and is less susceptible to cellular aging and disease development.
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What types of fasting are there?
Alternate-day fasting: This involves eating only every other day. On fasting days, some eat nothing at all, and others eat a very small amount, usually around 500 calories. On non-fasting days, you eat normally (but healthily).
- The Military Diet: This diet involves eating only fruits and vegetables during the day and one large meal in the evening. (The military diet can also use intermittent fasting protocols).
- 16/8 Fasting: With this method, you fast for 16 hours each day and limit eating to an 8-hour window. The main part of 16/8 intermittent fasting is usually skipping breakfast. With this approach, you don't eat anything after dinner and skip breakfast the next morning.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: Practice the Eat-Stop-Eat method by choosing one or two days a week where you fast for 24 hours, eating nothing from dinner one day until dinner the next day. On other days, you should have normal calorie days.
- 5:2 Diet: Five days a week you eat normally. On the other two fasting days, you should limit your calorie intake to 500-600 calories per day.
- Dirty Fasting: Dirty fasting is a fasting method that is slightly more flexible than other methods. It allows you to eat a very limited number of calories during fasting, such as around 100 calories or less.
Intermittent fasting benefits
Intermittent fasting has many benefits. For example, it stimulates weight loss by accelerating fat burning, improves blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity, contributes to heart health by regulating cholesterol and triglycerides, and helps normalize feelings of hunger.
Let's go through all these benefits in more detail with you.
1. Promotes weight loss
A key health benefit of intermittent fasting is its ability to boost fat burning and shed pounds. Many people even prefer intermittent fasting over traditional diets because it doesn't require you to meticulously measure your food and track calories and grams consumed.
While you don't have to count calories, studies suggest that intermittent fasting can result in the same amount of weight loss as continuous restrictive diets.
Intermittent fasting results in increased fat burning and rapid weight loss by forcing your body to use fat stores for fuel. When you eat, your body uses glucose (sugar) as its primary energy source and stores any excess as glycogen in your muscles and liver.
If you don't provide your body with a constant supply of glucose, it begins to break down glycogen to use as fuel. Once glycogen runs out, your body looks for alternative energy sources, such as fat cells, which it breaks down to provide your body with energy.
This is similar to the ketosis diet (or keto diet), where you deprive your body of carbohydrates and force it to use stored fat for energy.
A 2020 review looked at the effects of intermittent fasting on body composition in 27 different studies and found that it reduced body weight by an average of 1 to 13 percent within six months.
Another study showed that fasting throughout the day led to similar results, with a reduction in body weight of up to 9 percent.
Yet another study, focusing on the 16/8 method of intermittent fasting, showed that it significantly reduced fat mass while maintaining both muscle mass and strength. This is why I most recommend this method of intermittent fasting.
That said, a randomized controlled trial found that calorie restriction was still necessary to lose weight, even when someone was fasting, meaning it's important to follow a healthy diet.
A recent 2023 study from the Journal of the American Heart Association did not support the use of time-restricted eating as a long-term weight loss strategy, but this contradicted many of the other studies on intermittent fasting, as shown above.
2. Improves blood sugar levels
When you eat, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. A hormone called insulin is responsible for transporting glucose from the bloodstream to the cells, where it can be used as energy.
Insulin doesn't always work effectively if you have diabetes, which can lead to high blood sugar levels combined with symptoms such as fatigue, thirst, and frequent urination.
Some studies show that intermittent fasting is beneficial for insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels by keeping them well-regulated and preventing peaks and valleys. Fasting seems to be particularly effective for this if it lasts at least 16 hours.
In one study, participants with diabetes fasted for an average of 16 hours a day for two weeks. Not only did intermittent fasting lead to weight loss and a decrease in calorie intake, but it also helped significantly lower blood sugar levels.
Another study showed that fasting lowered blood sugar levels by 12 percent and also lowered insulin levels by almost 53 percent. By preventing insulin buildup, it can work more efficiently and keep your body sensitive to its effects.
3. Keeps your heart healthy
Studies show that intermittent fasting helps improve cardiovascular health by lowering certain risk factors for heart disease.
In one study, fasting was shown to affect several components of heart health. It increased good HDL cholesterol and lowered both bad LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
An animal study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry showed that intermittent fasting caused an increase in adiponectin levels, a protein involved in fat and sugar metabolism that may protect against cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.
In one study, rats that fasted every other day were even almost 66 percent more likely to survive a heart attack than those on a normal diet.
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4. Reduces inflammation
Inflammation is a normal immune response to injury. Chronic inflammation, however, can lead to chronic diseases.
Some studies have even linked inflammation to conditions such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
A study published in Nutrition Research followed 50 individuals observing Ramadan and showed that they had lower levels of some inflammatory markers during Ramadan fasting.
Another study from 2015 found that a longer duration of nocturnal fasting was associated with a decrease in inflammatory markers. In the journal Rejuvenation Research, alternate-day fasting helped reduce markers of oxidative stress.
Intermittent fasting may help with inflammation.
There is also evidence that intermittent fasting can support a healthy gut microbiome, which helps support immune defense.
Although more research is needed, these studies provide promising evidence that intermittent fasting can help reduce inflammation and combat chronic diseases.
5. Protects your brain
In addition to keeping your heart healthy and warding off disease, some studies have shown that intermittent fasting protects your brain health.
One animal study showed that intermittent fasting helps improve cognitive function and protects against changes in memory and learning compared to a control group. Another animal study showed that it protects the brains of mice by influencing certain proteins involved in brain aging.
Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of intermittent fasting may also help slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Some also say that fasting promotes autophagy, or self-eating, which is our normal bodily process of cell renewal, although more research on this topic is needed.
6. Normalizes hunger sensation
Leptin, also known as the satiety hormone, is a hormone produced by fat cells that helps indicate when it's time to stop eating. Your leptin level decreases when you're hungry and increases when you're full.
Because leptin is produced in fat cells, overweight or obese individuals often have larger amounts of leptin circulating in their bodies. However, too much circulating leptin can lead to leptin resistance, making it more difficult to effectively shut off hunger signals.
A study with 80 participants measured leptin levels during intermittent fasting and found that levels were lower at night during the fasting period. Lower leptin levels can lead to less leptin resistance, less hunger, and possibly even more weight loss.
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How does intermittent fasting work?
As described above, there are many types of intermittent fasting with various options to suit every schedule or lifestyle. It's best to experiment and find the method that works best based on your individual needs.
While every type of intermittent fasting requires skipping meals (usually breakfast), each type works a little differently and has different rules.
Intermittent fasting schedule (free)
Intermittent fasting schedules are a business model for many companies to sell them for a lot of money, but we actually find that a bit nonsensical, which is why we are sharing our intermittent fasting schedule with you for free.
These are the five most popular schedules right now:
The 16/8 Intermittent Fasting method: Fast for 16 hours every day
- Eat your last meal of the day at 8:00 PM
- Eat your next meal at 12:00 PM the next day
- This means you fast for 16 hours with an 8-hour eating window.
- It's almost comparable to a normal eating pattern, so it's one of the best ways to try a fasting regimen.
Crescendo method: Two to three days a week fasting for 12 to 16 hours
- This method involves non-consecutive fasting days:
- Fasting for 12 to 16 hours on days evenly spread throughout the week
- Fasting only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Eat-Stop-Eat method: Fasting for 24 hours 1 to 2 times a week
- Fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week.
- For example, fast from dinner one day until dinner the next day
- This method can be difficult if you're used to eating 3 – 4 meals every day.
The 5/2 method: 2 days a week fasting
- Eat normally 5 days a week
- Limit your calorie intake to 500 – 600 calories per day on two days of the week (e.g., 2 small meals)
- Some may find calorie restriction very challenging, especially at first.
The Alternate Day method
- Fasting every other day is similar to the Eat-Stop-Eat method and the Crescendo method.
- There are various ways to fast regarding the chosen hours
- You fast every other day but can eat up to 500 calories on fasting days
What can I eat during intermittent fasting?
Unlike typical diets, intermittent fasting doesn't require you to count points or calories every night or log your food in a food diary.
Even if your goal is primarily to lose weight with intermittent fasting, it's still important to consume enough healthy food and calories overall. Otherwise, you risk slowing down your metabolism, which is the opposite of what you want.
Eating enough calories remains important.
Skipping meals is also no excuse to eat junk food and ‘empty calories,’ meaning it's important to keep focusing on consuming a nutrient-dense diet.
If you're practicing intermittent fasting, here are foods you can use when not fasting and within your eating window, all of which are filling and packed with nutrients:
- Vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, cucumber, onions, ginger, etc.
- Fruits: strawberries, oranges, lemons, blackberries, limes, raspberries, pears, apples, and blueberries.
- Meats: grass-fed beef, lamb, game
- Fish: wild-caught salmon, tuna, mackerel, anchovies, sardines
- Poultry: organic chicken, turkey, goose, duck
- Nuts: almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, macadamias, walnuts, Brazil nuts
- Seeds: hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds
- Legumes: black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans, chickpeas, lentils
- Whole grains: quinoa, barley, buckwheat, millet, brown rice
- Healthy fats: olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, grass-fed butter, ghee, avocado oil
- Dairy products: goat milk, kefir, goat cheese, probiotic yogurt, eggs, raw milk
- Condiments: hummus, guacamole, apple cider vinegar, mustard, salsa, balsamic vinegar, liquid aminos
- Herbs and spices: basil, oregano, rosemary, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, black pepper, etc.
- Natural sweeteners: stevia, raw honey, maple syrup, dates, monk fruit
- Beverages: water, tea, kombucha, bone broth
How much weight can you safely lose in a month?
It's reasonable to expect to lose about 0.5 to two kilograms per week (or up to about eight kilograms per month). The larger your body mass is when you start fasting, the more likely you are to lose weight faster.
Always keep in mind that intermittent fasting should be viewed as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. So, make sure to focus on filling your diet with healthy whole foods during the days you do eat to pack as many nutrients into your day as possible.
If you are physically active, intermittent fasting and exercise are fine. Stricter forms of fasting, such as not eating for an entire day, require more precautions.
How bad is intermittent fasting?
In principle, intermittent fasting is not bad at all, unless you belong to one of the at-risk groups. For example, this type of diet is not intended for people with eating disorders, pregnant women, or individuals who already have a low body weight.
If you take fasting too far, it can cause side effects such as:
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Food cravings
- Sleep problems
For example, if you suffer from low blood sugar, not eating all day can lead to dangerous side effects due to a drop in blood sugar levels, causing symptoms like shakiness, heart palpitations, and fatigue.
If you have diabetes, it is best to determine with your doctor if intermittent fasting is suitable for you.
Also, if you have a history of eating disorders, this is not a good tool for you because it can encourage unhealthy behaviors and trigger symptoms. If you are a child or teenager and still growing, intermittent fasting is also not recommended.
In people with gallstone conditions, fasting can even increase the risk of gallbladder problems and should be avoided.
Finally, various studies show that fasting can alter the levels of your thyroid hormones. If you suffer from thyroid problems, you may want to reconsider intermittent fasting to avoid changes in these important hormones.
If you are sick, you should also reconsider fasting, as it can deprive your body of the constant flow of nutrients it needs to heal and get better.
Is intermittent fasting safe for women?
Generally, yes, but women are more sensitive to the effects of fasting than men. Certain women may experience hormonal issues if they fast for days – for example, they might benefit from intermittent fasting only a few days a week instead of every day.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women should also avoid fasting and instead focus on a nutritious diet rich in vitamins and minerals.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting is a method to increase fat burning and lose weight while supporting metabolic and cognitive health.
Other health benefits include helping to regulate blood sugar, protecting your brain, keeping your heart healthy, and reducing inflammation.
There are many ways to fast, with variations to suit every lifestyle. A popular method is skipping breakfast and fasting for approximately 16 hours a day, including overnight.
This diet is generally safe, but not suitable for everyone, especially those with certain health conditions, such as diabetes, gallstones, an eating disorder, or a thyroid condition.
To avoid side effects, you should start slowly and ensure you eat a nutrient-rich diet to prevent deficiencies or problems such as fatigue.
So, is intermittent fasting something you should try? The short answer is: not everyone.
Intermittent fasting is just one of many lifestyle strategies that can improve your health.
Healthy eating, exercise, and getting enough sleep are still the most important factors to focus on.
If the idea of fasting doesn't appeal to you, then feel free to ignore this article and continue doing what works for you.
Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to nutrition. The best diet for you is the one you can stick to in the long term.
Intermittent fasting is great for some people and not for others. The only way to find out which group you belong to is to try it.
If you feel good while fasting and find it a sustainable way of eating, it can be a very powerful tool for losing weight and improving your health.
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