Intermittent fasting is currently one of the world’s most popular fitness trends. While often mistaken as a diet, it’s really more of a dieting pattern — one that involves alternating cycles of fasting and eating on a strict schedule.
Many suggest that limiting the window in which you consume calories can spur weight loss, improve metabolic health, and even help you live longer (all claims backed by research), but, as with any fitness regime, it’s important that doing so safely be the highest concern.
What is intermittent fasting, exactly?
Intermittent fasting is a dieting pattern in which a person splits their days into distinct fasting periods and eating periods. While you already fast overnight while you sleep, this method extends the fasting period through the breakfast hours — sometimes even further.
Some of the most popular fasting routines are as follows:
- 16/8 Protocol — Fast for 16 hours, then eat for a tight 8-hour window (typically between noon and 8 PM).
- 24 Hr Protocol — Skip two meals one day, where you are taking 24 hours off of eating (a.k.a. eating a normal schedule, finishing eating at 8 PM, then not eating until 8 PM the next day).
- The 5:2 Protocol — Two days during the week, eat only 500-600 calories. Eat normally the other five days.
While the assumption might be that by skipping a meal or two you will consume less calories, and therefore lose weight, the system is actually a bit more complicated than that. All calories are not created equal, and the timing of meals can have a lot of influence on how your body reacts to the food you consume.