3 Weight Loss Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to lose weight permanently.

One in three adults in America is considered obese according to The Institute of Diabetes.

About 1 in 13 adult Americans suffer from extreme obesity.

One of the main reasons behind this is the food sourcing in America. Eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) is cheap but toxic. This diet only benefits big food and pharma companies.

Food that is advertised as healthy is in reality unhealthy. There are few regulations to prevent this.

For years I struggled with weight. It seemed that no matter what I did I could not lose weight.

It was not until four years ago when I learned what actually was in food. Knowing this helped me drastically change my diet.

The weight fell off and stayed off.

But two years ago I felt that I hit a plateau. I turned to intermittent fasting after a few months of resistance

1. Intermittent fasting benefits your weight loss efforts without taking extreme measures.

Starting the 16:8 way of fasting was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

There are so many benefits from fasting you can reap like:

• Increased weight and body fat loss. Fasting allows your body to deplete its glucose stores. Your body then has to choice but to burn fat for energy.
• You experience more focus and clarity. Constant digestion from food requires energy. We only have a finite of energy per day.
•  Eating a whole foods diet. Fasting will help you maintain a healthy weight without much effort.

Constantly eating makes your body stay its parasympathetic state (controls rest and digestion).

While this is great for later in the day, you want to maximize your focus and energy by allowing your body to remain in a sympathetic state (fight/flight mode) which can be beneficial.

When your body is in the sympathetic state you allow:

• More alertness. Think of ancient man going hunting. The release of adrenaline increases awareness. This is beneficial for laser focus.
• The shut down of processes unnecessary for survival. You free up more energy for activities like content creation or training in a fasted state.

Fasting over time allows you to burn fat more efficiently.

Currently, I am on an aggressive fat loss protocol for a few weeks.

While I am not starving myself, my carb intake and calorie count are lowered temporarily.

Combined with fasting I will meet my goals faster.

My body has no choice but to use energy from my excess fat stores. In a month or so I will increase my caloric intake for weight maintenance and muscle building.

When you first start fasting an extreme protocol is not needed. Shorter fasts teach your body to use fat for energy. You can extend your fasting periods as you get used to fasting.

2. Intermittent fasting helps with binge eating. It improves your relationship with food.

If you struggle with binge eating, fasting can help you on your journey to recovery.

For years I struggled with binge eating. Night after night I would shove my face with cheeseburgers, french fries, and cake.

This was always an attempt to quell my emotional angst from the day.

The next morning I usually felt terrible. Then that night I would repeat the process. I had no clue how to break the cycle. When I finally decided enough was enough I got help from a nutritionist.

From there I drastically changed my diet.

For over two years I worked on eating whole minimally processed foods.

When I started to fast, my relationship with food had improved exponentially.

This is important.

If you are looking to curb binge eating, start with eating whole foods before fasting. This will eliminate binge cycles when you start fasting.

In the study, Effects of binge eating on satiation, satiety, and energy intake of overweight children compared the post-meal satiety and energy intake of 60 overweight children with and without a history of binge eating.

The study found that:

• After an overnight fast, the children that suffered from binge eating ate more food and had less satiety after a buffet lunch.
• Coupled with large amounts of good tasting food and decreased satiety, these children are more likely to suffer from obesity and binge eating for the long term.

It is important that you heal your relationship with food before starting to fast. Fasting will assist with healing more after you have done the first step.

My relationship with food continues to improve each year. Food is more for energy and nutrition and less about emotional fulfillment whether that’s positive or negative.

The Beginners Guide to Intermittent Fasting helps you get started with a fasting protocol that works for you. The guide also highlights other pitfalls to avoid when you begin to fast.

3. Fasting takes the focus off of strict diet protocols.

Keto, Paleo, Veganism, Whole 30 . Each year it seems that more diets are thrown into the weight loss market.

According to The Boston Medical Center, about 45 million people in America go on diets each year. Americans spend 33 billion on weight products each year.

As our obesity rates continue to rise, this is a very disturbing picture. People who are overweight and obese are prone to high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.

Look at popular diets as a guideline. In reality, everyone is different and we all react differently to diet protocols.

Fasting allows you to look at diets in a completely different way. You become more efficient with your food choices because your eating window is smaller.

You start to realize that experimenting with different diets and picking what works for you is better.

Focus on eating whole foods like:

• Salmon, Wild Shrimp, Monkfish, Mussels, and Wild Catfish
• Bison, Grass Fed Beef, Duck, and Turkey
• Wild Rice, Quinoa, Black Bean Pasta, and Sweet Potato
• Kale, Arugula, Spinach, and Watercress
• Garlic, Mushrooms, and Onion
• Honey, Maple Syrup, and Organic Dark Chocolate

Avoid cheat days.

Embrace re-fueling days which will help you get out of an extreme caloric deficit. Re-fueling days also help with overeating.

Seek to eat well most of the time. What you do most of the time matters much more than the occasional slip-up.

Fasting for weight loss is one of the best decisions you will ever make. You will lose the weight you want. Excess weight will stay off for the rest of your life.

Take The Next Step

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