{"id":413,"date":"2015-09-25T00:16:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T04:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/?p=413"},"modified":"2018-03-19T09:12:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T13:12:35","slug":"9-great-reasons-to-try-intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/9-great-reasons-to-try-intermittent-fasting-for-weight-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Intermittent Fasting Benefits for Weight Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l2A5tktzFBc?rel=0\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ultimatefatburner\/?sub_confirmation=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2867\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/blog-subscribe-banner2.png\" alt=\"9 Intermittent Fasting Benefits\" width=\"880\" height=\"164\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1>9 Great Reasons to Try Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss<\/h1>\n<p>If you\u2019re new to intermittent fasting (sometimes called alternate day fasting), it\u2019s pretty much what it sounds like it is; extended periods of fasting, followed short periods of feeding. <\/p>\n<p>On the face of it, intermittent fasting doesn&#8217;t sound like a whole lot of fun, but actually, regardless about how you feel about food and feeling hungry, there\u2019s some pretty good reasons to try this type of dieting. <\/p>\n<p>For instance, you may not have to change what you eat or how much you eat to lose weight \u2014 the fact that you\u2019re entering a fasted state (which doesn&#8217;t happen when we eat regularly) for an extended period allows your body to burn fat for fuel much more effectively than usual. <\/p>\n<p>So much so, in fact, that changing what you eat might not even be necessary. <\/p>\n<p>How cool is that?<\/p>\n<p><H2>Should You Try Fasting?<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve been playing with intermittent fasting for the last couple of years, and I have to say I really like it. If you give it half a chance, I think you will too. It&#8217;s certainly worth an experiment, in my opinion! <\/p>\n<p>With that said, here are nine reasons why you should consider intermittent fasting.<\/p>\n<h3>1. It\u2019s Simple<\/h3>\n<p>To lose weight, you don\u2019t have to count calories, you don\u2019t have to weigh food, you don\u2019t need to eat special foods and you don\u2019t need to worry about portion control (within reason of course). <\/p>\n<p>This is one my favorite benefits of this diet \u2014 it\u2019s just really damn easy to do!<\/p>\n<h3>2. You\u2019ll Learn about Hunger.<\/h3>\n<p>I think this is an important benefit. Let me explain why. <\/p>\n<p>First, let me say this; you don&#8217;t spend most of your time starving or hungry during an intermittent fast. Sure, there&#8217;s a few times when you&#8217;re hungry, but it fades away quickly enough. In fact, most of the time you\u2019re not particularly hungry at all. <\/p>\n<p>But when you\u2019re fasting, you become cognizant of hunger. <\/p>\n<p>The reason why this is important is because most of the time hunger ignites a subsconscious, knee-jerk, &#8220;go to the fridge&#8221; reaction. Most of us never really feel &#8220;hunger&#8221; for very long; as long as it takes to walk to the fridge, hit the drive-thru or grab something from the lunch room. <\/p>\n<p>Fasting teaches you recognize hunger on a more conscious level, so that when you experience it, you don&#8217;t automatically head for the fridge. You learn that, &#8220;hey&#8230; hunger really isn&#8217;t that big a deal, and if I just hold off a few minutes before raiding the fridge, the feeling will pass.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<h3>3. You May Live Longer<\/h3>\n<p>Animal studies show the caloric restriction and periods of extended fasting may help extend your lifespan and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.medical-hypotheses.com\/article\/S0306-9877%2806%2900089-2\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">there&#8217;s reason to believe these same benefits may extend to humans<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<h3>4. Alternate Day Fasting May Reduce Cardiovascular Risk Factors<\/h3>\n<p>Yep. Cholesterol, triglycerides&#8230; all that good stuff. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17616757\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal data shows<\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Lower total cholesterol levels.<\/li>\n<li>Lower triglyceride concentrations.<\/li>\n<li>Lower heart rate.<\/li>\n<li>Lower blood pressure. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Limited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17616757\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">human data shows&#8230;<\/a> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>higher HDL cholesterol \u2014 that\u2019s the good stuff!<\/li>\n<li>Lower triglyceride levels.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>5. Intermittent Fasting May Reduce Cancer Risk<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/18184721\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal studies<\/a> suggest lower rates of cell proliferation of several cell types, plus longer survival rates and decreases in lymphoma rates. <\/p>\n<p>Fasting&#8217;s benefits also extend to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/19135806\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">better cure rates<\/a> for certain cancers and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/19135806\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">possibly protecting normal cells<\/a> during chemotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n<h3>6. You\u2019ll Retain More Muscle Mass with Intermittent Fasting<\/h3>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re a bodybuilder or not, retaining your muscle mass is critical on a diet because muscle mass is an important contributor to your metabolism. Intermittent fasting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21410865\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appears to be effective for the retention of lean muscle mass<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>7. Intermittent Fasting May Help with Type II Diabetes Risk Reduction<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24993615\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Preliminary data is promising<\/a>. <\/p>\n<h3>8. Alternate Day Fasting May Reduce the Effects of Stress on the Cardiovascular System<\/h3>\n<p>Chronic stress can be extremely tough on a number of systems, especially the cardiovascular system. <a href=\"http:\/\/jn.nutrition.org\/content\/133\/6\/1921.long\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal studies<\/a> suggest intermittent fasting may help reduce these effects. <\/p>\n<h3>9. The Side Effects of Fasting are Minor<\/h3>\n<p>For the most part, the worst you going to feel with intermittent fasting is occasional hunger, a bit of lightheadedness and what I call brain fog \u2013 the inability to think clearly. <\/p>\n<p>While animal studies suggest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23755298\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fasting improves cognitive function<\/a>, my personal experience is that it does&#8230; up to a point. For me, that point is around the 18-20 hour mark. I&#8217;ve got a solution to this though &#8211; stay tuned!  <\/p>\n<h2>Supplements to Help with Intermittent Fasting<\/h2>\n<p>As far as I&#8217;m concerned a zero-calorie branched-chain amino acid supplement is essential when fasting. <\/p>\n<p>Right now I\u2019m stuck on using <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner-recommends.com\/amino_amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iSatori\u2019s Amino-Amp<\/a>. <\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 530px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/dcadq94qqu9ei.cloudfront.net\/Paul_Images\/Amino_Amp+copy.gif\" alt=\"amino acid supplement\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Awesome branched chain amino supplement!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>I take a serving about 16 hours into my fast. It clears up the brain fog I sometimes get, and seems to suppress the desite to eat. This makes sense, as <a href=\"http:\/\/journals.lww.com\/co-clinicalnutrition\/Abstract\/2009\/01000\/Protein,_amino_acids_and_the_control_of_food.10.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clinical data<\/a> shows that leucine, one the branched chain aminos, can do just that. <\/p>\n<p>Branched-chain aminos can help protect lean muscle mass. Also a good thing. <\/p>\n<p>Coffee \/ caffeine (without sugar) also helps. But you need to use your judgement; for some people, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/type-2-diabetes\/expert-answers\/blood-sugar\/faq-20057941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coffee may cause an insulin response<\/a>, which is exactly the sort of thing we&#8217;re looking to avoid in our fasted state.<\/p>\n<h3>The Bottom Line on Fasting for Weight Loss<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s worthwhile trying. <\/p>\n<p>You might hate it, you might love it, but you won&#8217;t know until you try. Missing a few meals isn&#8217;t as hard as you think, and the whole experience might surprise you. Plus, it&#8217;s simple, and cheap. \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n<h2>Where to Learn More<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in learning more about intermittent fasting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner-recommends.com\/brad_pilon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I recommend checking out Brad Pilon\u2019s \u201cEat Stop Eat\u201d.<\/a> It\u2019s it\u2019s the publication that introduced me to intermittent fasting some years back.<\/p>\n<p>Highly recommended!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>9 Great Reasons to Try Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss If you\u2019re new to intermittent fasting (sometimes called alternate day fasting), it\u2019s pretty much what it sounds like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/diets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}