Intermittent fasting, or “IF”, is a common phrase we hear when reading about weight loss tips and how to stay healthy. But what exactly is it and should you do it? Here’s my take on it, from an ex-nutrition student that loves learning about health and wellness that has tried it!
1. Decide what your goals are
Before even beginning with intermittent fasting, it’s important to decide what your goal with this lifestyle change is. There have been many studies that look into the benefits of IF, but you should decide if these benefits align with your health and wellness goals. For me, I wanted to minimize my bloating and lose weight. I read about a lot of people’s experiences with IF that said they felt less bloated which reassured me about starting this process. I understood that weight loss comes down to being in a caloric deficit. But IF can be used as a tool to help you achieve that caloric deficit. Thus, I decided that based on both of these goals and the researched benefits of intermittent fasting, it was right for me.
2. Choose how you want to fast
Intermittent fasting (IF) is essentially when you choose to only eat during a specific time. There are many ways to do this, from the 16/8 method, the 5:2 method, the “Eat Stop Eat” method, Alternate Day Fasting, the Warrior Diet, and just spontaneous meal skipping. I recommend choosing one that you think fits best with your schedule, as it is a large lifestyle change. If you work a regular 9-5 job, a 5:2 or alternate day fast might not blend well with your work schedule.
I chose the 16/8 method because it was more regular and it fit my 9-5 job. This method recommends you fast for 16 hours and then eat within an 8 hour timespan. I chose 12pm-8pm to be my eating window and to fast the rest of the time. This schedule was relatively easy to adjust to since it felt like I was just skipping breakfast and late night snacks. When I began, I actually expanded my eating window to 11am-9pm to ease myself in, which I highly recommend as it takes your body some time to adjust.
It took my body about two weeks to adjust to intermittent fasting. During that time, I found solutions to keep myself from feeling hungry. I would drink lots of water, tea and coffee during my fasting window to minimize my hunger. Tea and coffee kept me full but sometimes, I felt even hungrier so I tended to stick with mostly water.
3. Decide what type of meals you want to eat
At the beginning, I felt it was hard to either eat enough during my eating window. Or, on the other hand, I was eating too much and feeling extremely full at night. I started off with sticking to “three meals a day” but I felt like I was too full by 8pm. Then I started eating just 2 meals a day but felt that I was hungry by the end of the night. I then realized that I felt full and satisfied with 2 medium sized meals and a small afternoon snack. You have to find what meal size and consistency works best for you and your body. It might take a bit of time, but once you figured it out, you’ll feel great!
4. Adjust and make changes as necessary
As you start to get used to intermittent fasting, you will begin to see if you’re experiencing the benefits that you desire, or if it’s not right for you. Depending on how your experience is, you can adjust your method of IF to fit with your lifestyle. For me, I felt myself reach my goal of losing weight and feeling less bloated. But as I continued to live my life, I realized that I didn’t want to keep saying no to social activities that involved eating that were outside of my eating window. So, I decided to loosen up my eating window and be more flexible with IF. Now, I try to stick to my eating window on most days, but if there’s an eating activity or invitation, I’ll be open to engaging in it if I’m hungry!
Overall, the decision to start intermittent fasting is a lifestyle change that requires long consideration and thoughtfulness. These were my tips to help you get started to determine if it’s the right choice for you! I hope these helped, and I’d love to hear your experiences with IF in the comments, through Instagram DMs or through email.
