Ultimate Guide to Intermittent Fasting
“…Tony the Tiger tells us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It’s grrrrrreat!” This adage about breakfast has become commonplace that it’s readily and unquestionably accepted as fact. Well then, what’s with the growing popularity of Intermittent Fasting and SKIPPING breakfast? (Tony just audibly gasped.)
In this Ultimate Guide to Intermitting Fasting, I’ll teach you everything about the science of fasting and what results you can expect: Let’s dig in!
What is Intermittent Fasting?
“Conventional wisdom” isn’t that smart. We’re going to take two widely accepted healthy eating “rules” and turn them on their head:
- RULE #1: You HAVE to eat first thing in the morning: Make sure you start with a healthy breakfast, so you can get that metabolism firing first thing in the morning! “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” There are even studies that show those who eat earlier in the day lose more weight than those who ate later in the day or skipped a meal.[1]
- RULE #2: Eat lots of small meals for weight loss. Make sure you eat six small meals throughout the day so your metabolism stays operating at maximum capacity all day long.”
Introducing the concept of Intermittent Fasting as a new way to approach your eating habits.
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
By fasting and then feasting deliberately, intermittent fasting generally means that you consume your calories during a specific window of the day, and choose not to eat food for a larger window of time. There are a few different common patterns to implement Intermittent Fasting, which I learned about from Martin over at LeanGains, a resource specifically built around fasted strength training:
- INTERMITTENT FASTING 16/8 PLAN
- INTERMITTENT FASTING 24-HOUR PLAN
What it is: Fasting for 16 hours and then only eating within a specific 8-hour window. For example, only eating from noon-8 PM, essentially skipping breakfast.
Skip two meals one day, where you take 24 hours off from eating. For example, eat on a normal schedule (finishing dinner at 8PM) and then you don’t eat again until 8PM the following day.
Those are the two most popular intermittent fasting plans, and the two we’ll be focusing on, though there are many variations of both that you can modify for yourself:
