The short answer is yes, intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and live longer, but first you need to understand just what intermittent fasting is, and what it isn’t.
The word fasting brings to mind long periods of time, typically from three days to up to a week or more, of eating nothing at all and drinking only water. The goal is to force your body to burn off its fat reserves for energy, in theory any way. In practice it doesn’t work out like that.
What happens with traditional fasting is your body goes into ‘starvation mode‘, meaning it stores fat more efficiently, because it thinks you’re starving to death. Any little slip up turns right to fat, does not pass ‘go’, does not collect $200.00.
Basically all traditional fasting is good for is cleansing your colon, and possibly for spiritual reasons.
Intermittent fasting, on the other hand s of a much shorter duration, never more than thirty-six hours but normally between fourteen and eighteen hours. A more appropriate term for intermittent fasting could be scheduled eating.
Think for a moment about your Morning Meal, Breakfast. Do you know where the name came from?
A typical Pilgrim morning greeting may have been, “Hast thou broken thy fast yet this day?” The fast being referred to is the time passed since the prior evening’s meal.
Over time the Morning meal has come to be known as ‘Breakfast’, after all, you’re breaking a twelve to fourteen hour fast!
Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss And Longevity
Now that we’ve covered what intermittent fasting is, how do you use it to promote weight loss and longevity?
The first thing you need to do is commit to not eating for at least fourteen hours in a given day. Many women have a hard and fast rule for weight loss, don’t eat after 6:00 pm. Sorry, that also means no sugary drinks or alcohol.
Next, plan your exercise routine first thing in the morning, before Breakfast. an intense ten to fifteen minutes will do the trick. By intense I mean get your heart rate up and your muscles pumped, but not to the point where you can’t do anything for the rest of the day.
Exercising in a fasted state boosts your HGH (Human Growth Hormone) production, up to 1,300 percent in women and 2,000 percent in men.
Now you’ve set the stage for some pretty spectacular weight loss, but it’s doubly important what you eat immediately after your workout and for the next two hours.
In the first fifteen to thirty minutes post workout you should consume twenty to twenty-five grams of readily soluble protein, such as whey protein. You also need to restrict sugar intake for the first two hours as it will release somatostatin, a hormone that inhibits the production of HGH.
Sample Daily Schedule For Weight Loss and Longevity
Your daily schedule actually begins the night before so no caloric intake after a set time, say 6:00 pm.
In the morning get up and exercise intensely right away, from about 5:00 am to 5:15 am.
Immediately after exercising consume twenty to twenty-five grams of whey protein, and avoid sugar for the next two hours. Now follow a sensible eating plan for the rest of the day.
Sample High Intensity Workout
Check with your Doctor before doing this or any new workout.
Get yourself a digital timer, a kitchen timer works great. You can get one at Dollar Tree for a buck.
Set your timer for one-minute.
Start your timer and do Jumping Jacks for one-minute. This is your warm up.
Rest for the next minute, let your heart rate go down.
Start your timer and do push-ups for a minute, if you can’t do push-ups for a full minute do as many as you can, you’ll improve over time.
Rest for another minute.
Start your timer and do body weight squats for a minute, keep your weight centered above your heels, not your toes. For added calorie burn lace your fingers behind your head and push your elbows back.
Rest a minute.
Start your timer and do mountain climbers for a minute, or as long as you can. To do a mountain climber get in the push-up start position and keeping your abs tight and your back straight bring one knee forward towards your shoulder, as high as you can, return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite knee. For a variation you can aim for the opposite shoulder.
Rest a minute.
Start your timer and do alternating lunges for a minute. to do an alternation lunge stand with your feet shoulder width apart and take a larger than normal step. Keeping your back toes on the floor bend your leg until your thigh is parallel to the ground.
Rest one last-minute.
Start your timer and do Spiderman Climbs for a minute. To do a Spiderman Climb assume the push-up start position and bring one foot towards your shoulder, on the outside. almost like you’re trying to step on your hand, but don’t.
There you go, an eleven minute, intense workout where you need no equipment and actually work out for only six-minutes.
Now have your whey protein and mind the sugar for the next two hours.
If you don’t like whey protein powders or are lactose intolerant soy protein powder is a good alternative.
Get Fit And Live Longer,
Michael Cole