You've probably heard about intermittent fasting benefits and how the diet approach helps with diseases or breaks that weight-loss plateau. Recent studies have found health benefits to fasting , so I decided to try this out for 14 days to see if any of the hype is true, from better sleep to a slimmer waistline.
I spaced my meals to every four hours throughout the day and cut out snacks, especially ones before bed. I committed to starting my fasting window between 7 and 8 p. Fasting isn't right for everyone, and if you have diabetes or other health conditions, you should talk to your doctor before trying anything like this. But if you need the motivation to make healthy lifestyle changes, this type of intermittent fasting may be just what you're looking for. First, I enlisted my sister to join me and keep me accountable. She has much more willpower than I do. Next, I prepped.
I've found meal plans and food prep are essential if you want to stick with a healthy eating plan. Over the weekend, I wrote a meal plan for each day, shopped and chopped.
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Every meal needed to have protein, unsaturated fat and fiber, with plenty of fruits and vegetables. For example, lunch might be two slices of sprouted grain bread covered with half an avocado, spinach and two slices of turkey with an apple on the side. For drinks, water or low calorie, non-caffeinated drinks are recommended. Dinners needed to be quick, easy and kid-friendly most nights. We had things like chicken stir-fry, rice bowls, salmon and sweet potatoes or crock-pot chicken and vegetables.
The first couple days I felt great. Then, as my body adjusted and realized it wasn't getting as much sugar, I felt a little tired.
12 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight While Doing Intermittent Fasting, According To An RD
But toward the end of the second week, I began feeling better and saw results. Check out the benefits:. Because I normally snack on carbs or a piece of fruit, I end up starving about two hours later. I get shaky and a little frantic. A systematic review of 40 studies found that intermittent fasting was effective for weight loss, with a typical loss of pounds over 10 weeks. It is important to note that different study designs and methods of intermittent fasting were used, and participant characteristics differed lean vs. A brief summary of their findings:.
A randomized controlled trial that followed obese individuals for one year did not find intermittent fasting to be more effective than daily calorie restriction. Participant characteristics of the groups were similar; mostly women and generally healthy.
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The trial examined weight changes, compliance rates, and cardiovascular risk factors. Their findings when comparing the two groups:. This type of dietary pattern would be difficult for someone who eats every few hours e. It would also not be appropriate for those with conditions that require food at regular intervals due to metabolic changes caused by their medications, such as with diabetes.
Prolonged periods of food deprivation or semi-starvation places one at risk for overeating when food is reintroduced, and may foster unhealthy behaviors such as an increased fixation on food. Although certain benefits of caloric restriction have been demonstrated in animal studies, similar benefits of intermittent fasting in humans have not been observed.
It is unclear that intermittent fasting is superior to other weight loss methods in regards to amount of weight loss, biological changes, compliance rates, and decreased appetite. Certain people who typically eat one or two meals a day or do not eat for long stretches of time may show better compliance with this type of regimen.
More high-quality studies including randomized controlled trials with follow-up of greater than one year are needed to show a direct effect and the possible benefits of intermittent fasting. Strong recommendations on intermittent fasting for weight loss cannot be made at this time. The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice.
Two-Week Challenge: Intermittent Fasting
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Harvard T. The Nutrition Source expand child menu. Search Search for:. What Is It? That solved the problem of my growling stomach, but the headaches and spacey feeling were still there. For dinner that night, my husband made homemade whole-wheat pizza with lots of veggies and a teeny amount of cheese. I also had a glass of red wine.
All of it was London-approved. She said the trick to drinking wine while doing IF is to not overdo it, since having more than a glass or two could make me dehydrated and trigger feelings of hunger, not to mention lose the willpower to avoid late-night snacking.
I made sure to finish the glass by 9 — so not a problem. Heading into the weekend, I upped the fasting to 16 hours on Saturday and 17 hours on Sunday. This made the plan very easy and simple to adhere to. On Saturday morning I made my own breakfast bowl with kale, cherry tomatoes, avocado , two eggs, and two slices of bacon. For dinner that night, my husband and I tried a new restaurant. Everyone around us got the burger, which is probably what I would have chosen had I not been doing this plan.
Instead, I ordered an arugula, fennel, and tomato salad and my husband got the crab cake sliders. We also got a small plate of the lobster mac'n'cheese, and I used the "I'm on a Mediterranean diet" excuse to eat most of the lobster since London suggested I eat more seafood. I don't like fish, so this seemed like a win-win to me. On Sunday we brunched at a Mexican place, and I passed up what would have been my usual go-to tacos! Later, I snacked on green pepper slices dipped in hummus, and ate leftover veggie pizza and a kale side salad for dinner.
Even though the daily headaches were still persisting, I felt like I was finally getting the hang of things. I asked London about them, and she encouraged me to drink more water. Over the remaining days I increased the number of fasting hours to It honestly didn't feel like a huge adjustment since I'd been working up to it, but it did mean I could only eat between 2 and 8 p. On most days my first meal was a kale salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado, and grilled chicken tossed in olive oil and lemon juice.
I'd have my usual smoothie or an apple with peanut butter and granola a few hours later if I was hungry. Then not long after that it would be time for dinner. Another night I did grilled chicken with brown rice and veggies. One time I did go totally off the rails and order a chicken sandwich with fries. Plus, potatoes are a vegetable!
At the end of the week, I definitely felt lighter. When I weighed myself, however, the scale stayed exactly the same — down to the tenth of the pound. I also checked my measurements and apart from losing a quarter of an inch around my waist, there were no other differences in terms of my physical appearance. I also didn't see any improvement in my cognitive abilities. By mid-week the fogginess and headaches had subsided, but who's to say whether it was better hydration, my body was acclimating to the plan, or a legit benefit of the fasting?
I think I'd have to do IF for more than a week to get the answer to that question, and that's not something I'm particularly interested in doing.