16:8. The 16:8 is one of the most popular forms of intermittent fasting that can be easily incorporated into daily life.
1. 16:8. The 16:8 window is the most popular choice of IF as those who implement this type of fasting say it is sustainable, fairly easy to do, and can be a convenient way to lose weight and promote overall health*.
Types of intermittent fasting
You eat a normal diet within an 8-hour window or 10-hour window each day. This can be done every day or even once or twice a week—whatever you prefer. “For example, if you finish dinner at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, you won't eat again until 10 a.m. or 8 a.m. Wednesday,” Hezer said.
Simply allocate a 16-hour window in the day that you will abstain from calories completely. Many choose their window to be from around 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. the following day, but it's just as possible to eat earlier in the day and stop eating earlier.
If weight loss is a primary goal, a 16-hour fast may be more effective. However, if you're looking for a more sustainable fasting routine, a 12-hour fast may be a better fit. Ultimately, the best fast duration for you is the one that meets your needs and is something you can achieve.
The easiest way to follow the 16:8 diet is to choose a 16-hour fasting window that includes the time that a person spends sleeping. Some experts advise finishing food consumption in the early evening, as metabolism slows down after this time.
By restricting calorie consumption to a specific time period each day or week (for example, only eating between 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.), you could lose weight, decrease your risk of cancer, reduce blood pressure, and improve blood-sugar control, as Business Insider previously reported.
Best Intermittent Fasting Method For Visceral Belly Fat
14/10 Method: Fast for 14 hours and have a 10-hour eating window daily. That means you restrict your food intake to a specific 10-hour period while abstaining from caloric consumption for the remaining 14 hours.
How fasting and eating is divided each day is called an eating schedule. One of the most common, easy-to-follow schedules is 16:8. This means you fast for a 16-hour period of time and eat your daily meals during an 8-hour period of time. For example, you may want to fast from 7 p.m. until 11 a.m. the next day.
This is how much weight you can lose with intermittent fasting. In doing the fast correctly and ensuring that it is aligning with your mind, body and soul–you can expect a good weight loss of anywhere between 2 to 6 kgs a month with excellent inch loss and increase in energy levels and brain function.
Having a decent overnight fast may be a great place to start to give your gut bacteria a helping hand. Having a 10-12-hour overnight period, say 7pm-7am where no food is consumed, is a very traditional way of eating.
In the case of Intermittent fasting, skipping your dinner is better and easier. You can have your dinner either early or have a heavy snack and can begin your fasting. Research suggests that fasting in the evening and overnight, then eating early in the morning is the better way to follow this diet to lose weight.
It was found that when in a fasted state, the belly fat adapted to protect its energy stores. During fasting, the fat tissues provide energy to the rest of the body by realising fatty acid molecules. However, the belly fat became resistant to this release of fatty acids during fasting.
“Lots of clinical evidence exists around the potential weight loss benefits of different intermittent fasting plans,” he says. “For quicker and more profound weight loss, the alternate day fasting plan is arguably the most effective. A less-extreme and thus easier-to-adopt approach is the 16:8 model.
Summary. Intermittent fasting focuses on the timing of meals rather than food choices, making it an appealing approach for reducing belly fat. Methods like the 16/8 and 5:2 involve designated fasting and eating windows. By tapping into stored fat reserves, intermittent fasting promotes weight loss.
Fasting on either a daily or weekly basis helps your body burn fat. There are different approaches to intermittent fasting but the most popular include: Alternate day fasting includes normal eating every other day, with days of restricted eating (500 calories) in between.
For example, studies have found that people who regularly fast more than 16 or 18 hours a day have a higher risk of gallstones. They're also more likely to need surgery to remove the gallbladder. Eating for 12 hours and then fasting for 12 hours is likely safe for most people, Longo explains.
Most popular schedules
Typically, people choose an 11 am-7 pm, 12 pm-8 pm, 1 pm-9 pm time for their eating window, but this varies for shift workers and those who prefer to eat at earlier or later times during the day. There is no definitive time that produces better intermittent fasting results.
You can begin losing weight with intermittent fasting gradually by consuming all your meals between 9am and 5pm. It usually takes two to four weeks to create an intermittent fasting habit. Once this becomes a habit you can lose weight with intermittent fasting by reducing your fasting another hour to 9am and 4pm.
The 16:8 diet
The 16:8 method of intermittent fasting involves fasting every day for 16 hours and restricting your daily eating window to eight hours. For most people, this schedule means not eating anything after dinner and skipping breakfast. You might eat between, say, noon and 8 p.m.
You Can Cheat While Still Keeping Your Fasting Schedule. As we previously explained, no meals are off-limits when it comes to IF. All food and drinks are allowed within reason—even alcohol. Cheating on intermittent fasting refers to eating a meal or two after your eating window is over.
The three popular approaches to intermittent fasting are:
Usually, the small meal is fewer than 500 calories. Eat a normal diet five days a week and fast two days per week. Eat normally but only within an eight-hour window each day. For example, skip breakfast, but eat lunch around 11 a.m. and dinner by 7 p.m.
Skipping breakfast and other meals is one behavior studied as a factor influencing weight outcomes and dietary quality. Based on evidence that skipping breakfast reduces total daily caloric intake, some weight-loss recommendations include skipping breakfast (i.e., intermediate fasting) as one strategy to use.