Intermittent fasting is one of the biggest trends in the fitness world today. It basically involves restricting food consumption to a brief ‘eating window’ of 6-8 hours…
I’m writing this article because I see some people blindly following it with absolutely ZERO reason to do so. And other people doing it for the wrong reasons.
I’ve personally used it on and off for the past 4 years for a variety of reasons. In this article I want to cover the main benefits of intermittent fasting, why you should consider it, and a simple, stress-free way to incorporate it into your daily life.
The Real Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
1. Weight Loss
Weight loss is probably the biggest reason someone should consider intermittent fasting.
Because you only eat for a reduced amount of time during the day on this protocol, you’ll naturally consume fewer calories than if you were NOT restricting yourself. For example, if you choose to only eat between 12PM and 8PM, then you eliminate calories that you would have previously consumed before noon and late at night…
And when you reduce overall calories, you lose weight. If you’re at all concerned about getting lean and shredded, then be sure to lift weights and maintain your strength while you lose weight.
2. Stomach Relief
This is the primary reason that I use intermittent fasting in my life.
You might often hear people say that digesting food is a very demanding process for our body. And while I’ve never seen scientific studies to back this up – it is true – at least to some extent. By restricting our feeding window to 8 or so hours, we essentially give our bodies a ‘break’ from digesting food for a large part of the day.
I can personally vouch for this benefit. I have a VERY, VERY sensitive stomach. If I eat too early in the morning, or too late at night, my stomach gets upset, and I tend to get bloated, gassy, and oftentimes diarrhea. So intermittent fasting is how I naturally eat at this point. If you’re prone to getting an upset stomach, I advise giving intermittent fasting a shot. It’s made a world of difference for me.
3. Less Stress About Eating
When you get involved in the fitness world, some of the first advice you hear is that you need to eat 6 small meals per day, every 3 hours on the dot.
This is bullshit. And it causes a lot of people a great deal of stress. If you follow this advice you essentially have to schedule your entire day around planning, preparing, and eating your meals… And this fucking sucks.
A huge benefit of intermittent fasting is that you only have to eat two or three meals – and this can save some people a whole lot of stress and a whole lot of time.
4. Other Partially-Researched Health Benefits
Above are the three main benefits that I’ve personally experienced when it comes to intermittent fasting. That being said, there are a lot of other purported benefits. Some of them have scientific backing, others do not.
These are not the main reasons you should do it, but they are some potential bonuses:
- Lowered insulin levels
- Raised human growth hormone (HGH) levels
- Lowered risk of Type 2 diabetes
- Reduced inflammation
- Lowered blood pressure
- Lowered cholesterol
How to Intermittently Fasting the Right Way
The Simple Way
The easiest way to incorporate intermittent fasting into your life is to skip breakfast and to avoid eating anything late at night. For most people, this is essentially what you’re going to end up doing even if you read tons of literature on the subject and try to take into account every little nuance that you can think of.
The Slightly More Complicated Way
If you want to go one level deeper and fine-tune your intermittent fasting schedule a bit, then follow these guidelines.
- Choose 8 hours during the day when you will eat – be sure to choose times that make sense for your schedule (i.e. if you have to rush to get to work in the morning then you probably should start at lunch time)
- Don’t eat outside of this window – obviously a little bit of variance is okay, but if you choose 12-8 as your eating window then you should do your best not to eat before 11 or after 9
- It’s okay to consume very low calorie items outside the window – if you enjoy a morning coffee, then drink it black, or with some splenda or something that doesn’t add calories
- Your first meal should probably be your biggest – it makes sense to break your fast with a large meal, because your body will be primed to digest the most food in your fasted state
And that’s it. If you’re trying to lose weight, have stomach issues, or a hectic daily schedule then intermittent fasting probably could benefit you a lot. If you’re trying to gain weight or really enjoy your early morning breakfast, then it’s probably not in the cards for you.
How would you manage training? I usually train 10 or 11 am. Would it be ok to train fasted? Or should I move the eating window so that I eat about 2 hours before training and after it?
Some people prefer to train fasted. I used to, but now I like to eat about 2-3 hours before I train (still like empty stomach). I’d say to test it out and see how your energy levels are with each setup and then make a decision based on that.
Apparently, it’s best to train while fasting because when you’re in a fasting state then your body takes its energy from fat stores instead of consumed energy.
But if you feel uncomfortable or weak while working out while dating you dont have to.
Love it David. Been on it for 5-6 mths and feel somehow it has made the mind sharper in everyday life stuff too. Plus stomach has way less indergestion and tummy complaints! First hurdle was the hunger but your podcast on understanding this as a feeling and letting the mind control it made it way easier !! Shot bro.
Thanks my man! And yeah, the morning hunger becomes manageable very quickly.
I really want to eat breakfast, and that happens at 4 am. Can I eat in the 4am to 12 pm window only, and get good results?
You could try but I think it would be tough to stop eating at 12 pm unless you go to bed quite early.
Pues yo te iba a preguntar cual era tu opinión en el tema, pero te adelantaste. Buen trabajo!! Me gusta tu claridad, pusiste al principio bien claro, que esto no es un antídoto para estar definido, ni musculoso. Es un buen método para organizar tus comidas, pero al final del día lo que importa es calorías totales. Muchos hacemos esto sin darnos cuenta. Saludos!!
Gracias Dacero! Eso es: al final lo más importante es calorías totales. Debes llegar allí en cualquier método que prefieres.
Been on really low carb diet the last 6 months and one thing I’ve noticed is that I’m not hungry at all in the morning. Naturally I just don’t eat. Just drink coffee. Then about 11 am, get a little hunger and snack on high fat cheese. Noon, eat meat with leafy greens for lunch. Eat meat for dinner and repeat.
Just eat when you get hungry. Have to remind myself to eat something. It has something to do with increased leptin sensitivity and low insulin.
Hey John, thanks for chiming in. I’m about the same in terms of only really getting hungry at around 11AM. I personally find that eating too early actually affects my energy negatively. I literally won’t eat before 10AM, even if that means waiting until 3 or 4PM.
This is the most useful article on intermittent fasting i have ever read! Thanks a lot, David!
Thanks Sergii – I’m glad you liked it!
Why oh WHY do I get bowel urgency within an hour after my first meal of the day? I usually do not eat past 8 pm and I do not eat until 1 pm. That first meal ALWAYS gives me diarrhea after. What gives? How can I prevent this? Thanks!
I’m not sure honestly. I have this problem only if I eat too early or too late. Maybe try talking to a GI doc, they may have seen this before.
Good Morning,
I am just about ending with my 3rd week. I had read online about bullet proof coffee. Whatvare your thoughts on bullet proof coffee?
I have not seen any studies that show any unique benefits
David,
Do you have any advice on how to stop the bloating that feels to begin just a couple of hours before I end my fasting period?
I fast for 16 or 18 hrs and have a 5 hr window to eat I have my last meal or healthy snack by 9pm. When I eat my first meal which is never fast food or bad always home cooked and healthy. Whether it may be chicken and veggies doesn’t matter. I get so bloated I feel lk ile I’m 5 months pregnant lol Is this normal ???
Like***
I am intermittent fasting but I’m 20:4. I just went 24 hrs without eating and had a half cup of cottage cheese and a cup of cantaloupe and I got bloated. I didn’t feel good after eating. Is this normal?
I have been doing IF for over a month and love it. I typically fast between 16-20 hours a day. Just this past week I began experiencing more GI issues. For example, I get diahrrea after I break my fast. Any tips for avoiding this?? I then feel pretty lethargic.
Thanks!
I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for 3 days now, right now is my 4th fasting period. I eat my breakfast, healthy snack and a decent lunch, then fast from 2-6AM. I’m such an eater during the early parts of the day. I have been having some bathroom issues but it may be also due to a medication I currently take as well. So far so good.