Intermittent fasting is not only a great way to lose weight but it has other health benefits as well. A lot of people know that it is a good thing to do, but they are apprehensive about starting with intermittent fasting. It is not a good idea just to go head first into intermittent fasting. You need to be prepared for it and have a plan.
Intermittent fasting can be tough so you need to be persistent and motivated to get through the tough times. This is especially true when you are starting out.
So in this powerful article you will learn the 9 steps to get started fast with intermittent fasting and more importantly to keep going with it. It is going to take at least a couple of weeks for your mind and body to get used to the concept of intermittent fasting. Follow these steps to increase your chances of success.
1. Plan To Start
Although it is not that complicated to get started with intermittent fasting it is always a good idea to have a plan. One thing that you have going for you is that you are probably already participating in intermittent fasting without even realizing it. You sleep for a number of hours each night where you do not eat so your mind and body are somewhat used to the concept.
During your waking hours it is very unlikely that you think about eating all of the time. This should only happen at the times you are hungry. What this means is that there are chunks of time throughout your day when you are fasting again. All that you need to do is organize this better to get good results.
You will need to create an eating window and a fasting window. During the eating window you can eat a couple of big meals, several small meals or a combination of these. As soon as your eating window closes and your fasting window begins then you can only consume water or beverages that contain zero calories (e.g. diet soda).
The thing that sets intermittent fasting apart from other methods is that it really is a lifestyle change. With other diet plans you may have to radically change what you eat. There is no need for you to change your diet with intermittent fasting if you don’t want to but you will get better results if you choose a healthy diet.
One of the first things that you need to do is to consult with your doctor about your intention to start intermittent fasting. This is important as you may have a medical condition that prevents you from starting. The vast majority of people are not going to have a problem here so don’t worry about this. Just talk to your doctor to be sure.
Once you have the “all clear” from your doctor you need to determine your eating window for each day. Everyone has a different lifestyle and only you can decide this. Some people work nights or are “night owls” while others get up very early each day. Most people are somewhere in between these.
Ignore what it says in books or courses about intermittent fasting. You need to give careful thought about when to start and end your eating window. Let’s assume that you are going to start with the Lean Gains 8:16 intermittent fasting plan. This means that you have an 8 hour eating window.
So what is the best 8 hours for you? Is it better that you eat a large meal before you sleep? This works well for a lot of people. The important thing is that your eating window fits in with your lifestyle as best as it is possible.
The next part of your plan is to identify a date that you will start. This may seem strange but there are probably thousands of people out there that promised themselves that they would start intermittent fasting tomorrow.
And guess what? Tomorrow never comes!
We all get caught up in things with our lives. But starting your intermittent fasting is very important so choose a date when you will have confirmed that it is OK with your doctor and identified your best eating window. Write this date down and start on that date.
2. Plan What You Will Eat!
A number of intermittent fasting plans state that you can eat whatever you want during your eating window. There is no need for you to miss out on your favorite foods no matter how unhealthy these may be. If you are OK with this then you can move onto the next step.
The trouble with eating anything that you want when you participate in intermittent fasting is that your results will be slower. You should still lose weight but the results will not be as good as changing your eating habits to achieve a calorie deficit each day.
Find out the number of calories that you should be consuming every day for your gender and size – there are plenty of resources online for this. If you want fast results you need to consume less calories every day during your eating window.
If you want to do this then you need an eating plan. Again you can research online to find healthy eating plans that you will like. It is important that you know what you are going to eat during your eating window.
The most important thing with your eating window is that you achieve satiety. This means that when your eating window closes you feel full. You do not want to be entering your fasting window hungry.
For the best results you could try eating what you normally eat to start your intermittent fasting and then gradually transitioning to a healthy diet. This will help because you are already making a major change to your lifestyle by having a fasting window. Embarking on a new diet as well could be too much at once.
3. Plan To Exercise!
Oh you knew this was coming didn’t you? You can lose weight and feel better with intermittent fasting without exercise. But if you want to achieve the fastest and best results then exercise is a good thing to do.
We are not talking about a crunching two hour session every day in the gym here. If you are already doing that then keep going. What we are recommending is introducing exercise into your life on a regular basis.
Here is an example – do you really need to take the car down to the local store? Walk down there and back instead. If you drive to your place of work or to a store far away then park a little further away from the entrance than you usually do so that you have to walk a few extra yards. Over time you can increase the distance.
Do you work in a multiple level building that has an elevator? Take the stairs part or all of the way instead. Find some gentle stretches that you can do when you wake up every morning. You can find videos online for this. Just make it your business to gradually introduce exercise into your life.
You do not have to do this right from the start. In fact it will probably be better for you if you start on your intermittent fasting and then wait for 2 or 3 weeks until your mind and body have adapted. Then you can start your regular exercise regime. You will be amazed how much better you feel and the results that you get.
4. Set Intermittent Fasting Goals
You can do this before you start intermittent fasting or just after you have started. The important thing is that you do it. It is very likely that your primary reason for getting started with intermittent fasting is that you want to lose weight. So you need to set a weight loss goal and stick with it.
How many pounds do you want to lose? When do you want to lose this weight? Now you need to be realistic here. If you want to lose 100 pounds you are not going to do that in 6 weeks. It would be extremely dangerous even if it was possible. We recommend that you use the SMART goal setting process:
Specific – how much weight do you want to lose?
Measurable – how will you measure your progress (bathroom scales etc)?
Achievable – specify an amount of weight to lose that is achievable
Realistic – You are not going to lose 100 pounds in 6 weeks so be realistic
Timed – add a timeline such as losing weight in 6 months or a year
Now you may be wondering why you need to set a goal for your intermittent fasting. The reason is that once you commit it to paper (yes you need to write it down) then it will help to motivate and inspire you.
To make your goal statement even stronger we suggest that you add emotion to it. What is the real reason that you want to lose weight? It is certainly not because you want to fit into some clothes you purchased years ago. But it could be that you want to look more attractive to the opposite sex – now we are getting somewhere!
Also think about how you will feel when you achieve your weight loss goal with intermittent fasting. Feel the joy of seeing yourself thinner. Feel the pride of achieving this. Make these feelings strong and then add them to your goal statement.
Carry your goal statement around with you everywhere you go. When you get up in the morning read it out aloud. There are going to be some difficult times with intermittent fasting and you will need all of the inspiration that you can get. Use your goal statement to inspire and motivate you to keep going.
5. Keep The Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting in Mind!
As we have said there is more to intermittent fasting than just losing weight. It can really provide you with some other benefits that will improve your overall health and wellbeing. Here are some of the other amazing benefits of intermittent fasting:
Cell repair – you will trigger as process called “autophagy” when you participate with intermittent fasting. This process breaks down cells in your body and helps to remove waste cells.
Resistance to insulin – insulin resistance can play havoc with your blood sugar levels and lead to type 2 diabetes. Several studies have shown that intermittent fasting helps with insulin resistance and during fasting your insulin levels can drop up to 30%.
Improved brain function – when you do things that are good for your body they are often good for your brain as well and intermittent fasting is no exception. With intermittent fasting you should improve your metabolism and this will help to prevent oxidative stress. Again a number of studies show a link between intermittent fasting and improved brain function.
Reduce inflammation – inflammation in your body can cause you all kinds of problems. As people age, the likelihood of inflammation rises. Studies show that intermittent fasting can help to reduce inflammation.
We recommend that you print out this page so that you can remind yourself of the other benefits of intermittent fasting. You could also add them to your goal statement. If you are having a tough day with your intermittent fasting then use this list to inspire you to keep going.
6. Choose The Right Intermittent Fasting Method!
This is critical. If you choose the wrong intermittent fasting method then you are likely to really struggle. We want you to persist with your intermittent fasting and constant struggling in the beginning will make you want to quit. Intermittent fasting is not an easy thing to do but it has tremendous benefits so it is worth pursuing.
You are probably aware that there are a number of different methods for intermittent fasting. One of the most popular is the Lean Gains method where you eat for 8 hours each day and fast for 16 hours. The reason this is so popular is that it is a very gentle way to start intermittent fasting.
Even with the Lean Gains method it is going to take a couple of weeks minimum to get used to it. If you are not full after your eating window then you are going to find things difficult. Even if you are full you can still experience problems. But these problems are a lot easier to overcome than if you embark on a much tougher intermittent fasting routine.
For example, with the Warrior Diet you only have a 4 hour eating window and have to fast for 20 hours a day. This is likely to produce better results than the Lean Gains method but it will take a great deal of discipline and willpower to pull this off. If you are new to intermittent fasting then we do not recommend that you start with the Warrior Diet.
There is another popular program called Eat Stop Eat. With this program you eat for a couple of days and then fast for a full day. So in a week you will have between 2 and 3 fasting days. Can you fast for a whole day at a time? After a while using a gentler method you can build up to this.
Eat Stop Eat is a popular intermittent fasting method because the results are usually very good. Fasting for longer periods of time tends to help you lose weight faster. But it is not easy to do this when you are just starting out so we recommend that you scale up to this after a while of using an easier method.
There are other intermittent fasting methods that require you to fast for 36 hours and 2 days or more consecutively. The people that participate with these intermittent fasting plans swear by the results that they bring. Again you do not want to start with something like this because it will be extremely hard for you to maintain.
There is an alternative day intermittent fasting method where you eat for a day and then fast the next day and then eat the following day. Again there are some good results recorded from this so you may want to bear this in mind for the future.
The bottom line here is that you want to choose an intermittent fasting method that is easy for you to start and maintain. You need to get your mind and body accustomed to intermittent fasting.
You are probably already intermittent fasting on a 16:8 basis. When you sleep for 8 hours you will not be eating so your eating window is 16 hours. When you use the Lean Gains 8:16 intermittent fasting method the transition will not be too onerous. It will not be easy because you are imposing a new lifestyle habit but it is certainly achievable.
So we highly recommend starting with the Lean Gains 8:16 intermittent fasting method. Once you are used to intermittent fasting then you can scale up to one of the other methods that provide better results. Don’t try to do too much at the start.
7. Make Adjustments If You Need To!
Sometimes people give up on intermittent fasting because they believe that they have to stick with the eating and fasting windows that they set for themselves. If you find that your eating window is not working out for you then you need to make adjustments to it.
You may see a temporary dip in results when you do this. But this is a lot better than giving up altogether. If the times you have chosen for your eating window are not working out then change them. After a while you will start to see results again.
It is pointless to struggle with an eating and fasting window schedule that doesn’t work. Most of the intermittent fasting guides will tell you that it is bad to change your eating and fasting windows. But we believe that if it clearly isn’t working for you then you have no choice. Just make the change and get back on track.
8. Be Disciplined
There are going to be times when someone or something will challenge your intermittent fasting schedule. If you find it hard to say “no” to people then you need to work on this because it is very important that you stick with your schedule.
Think ahead here. What about upcoming holidays, how will you handle these? If there is a celebration in your family how will you approach this? Maybe someone is going to retire at your work and there will be a party? How you handle these things is really important.
If you do break your intermittent fasting schedule for whatever reason then don’t beat yourself up and don’t quit. Just get back on the horse again the next day. You will soon get back into the swing of things.
9. Stay Hydrated
When you are in your fasting window you can still drink water or zero calorie beverages such as diet sodas. Water is better for you of course, but as long as the soda has no calories this is OK. You never want to be dehydrated during your fasting (or eating) window. So make sure that you drink as much as you need.
If you feel hunger pangs during your fasting window then drinking water can really help. Firstly, the act of drinking the water will take your mind off the hunger. Secondly, drinking lots of water can make you feel full so that the hunger pangs subside. Some people actually schedule regular water drinking sessions during their fasting window.
When you stay hydrated you will help to flush away unwanted toxins from your body. This will help with losing weight and it is good for your health too. With good hydration you will have clearer skin and it will help to prevent headaches and keep away other ailments.
So don’t feel that you cannot consume anything during your fasting windows. Any beverage that does not contain calories is fine. Herbal teas are a nice change to water for example. As long as there are no calories you can drink as much as you like.
Conclusion
You now have 9 proven ways to get started with intermittent fasting and stick with it. It is now down to you to put these into practice. Intermittent fasting will help you to lose weight and offers other great health benefits too so it is in your interest to succeed with it. Use these 9 tips and you will have the maximum chance of succeeding with intermittent fasting.
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