When you are facing weight loss of 20 pounds or more, you may be wondering whether the current intermittent fasting trend is right for you. Will it really help you to burn through unwanted body fat more efficiently than more traditional techniques? Are there drawbacks you should know about or cautions of which you should be aware?
The body of evidence to support the use of intermittent fasting in an effort for weight loss of 20 pounds or more is growing. There are potential health benefits to this type of practice as well, if you believe some of the preliminary research.
What do you have to do to benefit from intermittent fasting? This differs from one strategy to the next. Intermittent fasting isn’t a specific diet as much as it is a concept around which many different diets have been formed. Overall, the idea is that you will need to restrict all your meals and snacking to a specific span of time each day.
There are many different types of intermittent fasting for weight loss of 20 pounds or more. While some strategies restrict eating time to a maximum 10-hour window per day, others allow you to eat on only certain days of the week. This can make it difficult to know where to start.
Typically, the best place to begin is with your doctor. The reason is that even the mildest form of this dieting style can be inappropriate for certain people. Various common medical conditions can make intermittent fasting uncomfortable, ineffective or even dangerous. Therefore, knowing if it is appropriate for you is always a great first step. From there, your doctor can likely help to guide you toward one or several types that may be helpful to you, assuming this style is acceptable for your health needs.
The two most common types of intermittent fasting for weight loss of 20 pounds are a 16 hour fasting window (in which there is an 8 hour window for eating), and an 18 hour fasting window (which gives you 6 hours in which to eat). Research published in the Cell Metabolism journal showed that there is no need to take things to any more extreme levels than an 18 hour daily fast. While stricter fasting can come with a greater risk of unwanted side effects such as hunger, mood swings and periods of weakness or faintness, there was no difference recorded between an 18 hour fasting window and a 20 hour fasting window in the research.