By Timing your nutrition is highly beneficial for fat and weight-loss – long term.
I have a very easy to understand method that is effective for anyone. It is something you can easily do every day of your life, and never have to worry about weight gain again. Not only will you experience weight loss, you will also diminish inflammation markers in your body, e disease, the signs of ageing and settle any digestive or gut issues. It’s simple, and can be as easy or hard as you wish it to be.
The best lifestyle protocol for weight loss is ‘Intermittent Fasting’
Why do I not use the term ‘diet?’ It’s because nothing short term works well, and will take you back to where you started, possibly worse off. What you must understand is that weight loss and keeping your physique in check, comes with diligent commitment and some form of work. If it’s easy, and doesn’t take too much effort, then you will most likely stick to it. That’s why intermittent fasting is so good. You can adapt it to your lifestyle, while still getting those results. Our bodies were made for feast and famine periods, and it can adapt. We must allow our bodies to work as they should, and only then do we experience well-being, an abundance of health and a longer, healthier life (not to mention, a lean body as well!)
6 ways intermittent fasting helps you lose weight fast, and keep it off for life
- Lowers your insulin levels – making you more insulin sensitive. Low insulin levels is the cue your body needs to make in order to switch in burning stored fat instead of glucose (7).
- Boosts your metabolism. When your resting metabolism is boosted, it helps you burn more calories throughout the day, even when asleep or at rest.
- It kick starts ketosis. Ketosis usually happens under extreme limitations of carbohydrates. Intermittent fasting provides a short cut towards this ultimate fat burning state. Once the body is drained of glucose the primary source of our bodies energy – it is forced to burn through fat reserves for energy, through a process called Ketosis. Ketosis has the power to reduce inflammation markers, burn through extra fat and drop weight at a faster rate.
- By burning visceral fat. This is the stubborn fat we have on our bodies. It’s allocated deep around the abdominal organs. During a 6 month fasting duration, people on an intermittent fasting diet were able to shed 4–7 percent of their visceral fat (3) (4).
- Reduces inflammation. Lowering inflammation markers is the key to weight loss, and improving your longevity. You also have the added benefit of reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Fasting decreases oxidative stress and inflammation across the whole body.
- Improves cholesterol. Fasting impacts your cholesterol by decreasing your levels of LDL and VLDL cholesterols. This is the bad cholesterol. Although it’s more apparent on obese people, who may also have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease; keeping your cholesterol levels in check benefits your health long term.
In order to get the most long term fat loss benefits (and health ones of course!), here are some added tips that will turn you into a fat burning machine
3 added tips to get the most out of fasting
- Eating lower carb. Get most of your carbs from the cruciferous veggies you are eating, as well as limited amounts of sweet potato. This will make it a lot easier to get into ketosis.
- Use MCT oil. Try having 1–2 teaspoons of MCT oil to break your fast, before ingesting any food. Better yet, include it in your black coffee when fasting has ended. This will nourish your body with good fats and boost your fat burning potential even more.
- When breaking your fast, eat high quality protein, veggies and fat. It’s very important that when you break a fast, you are only filling your body with nutritious foods. It can be tempting to eat something sweet, but do resist this urge. Pre-prepare your meals earlier, so you always heat and eat your foods.
Don’t forget that this method works well with time. Allow yourself at least a month to get into a habit of feeding and fasting. You can chose to fast for 12–16 or 20 hours. I personally fast from lunch time – 12, and wont eat again until 5am. This allows me to re-feed after training, as I find I’m a lot more hungry before lunch time. This also allows your body’s digestion some calmness, and regenerating during the night. If you have gut issues (as I do) this method works perfectly to decrease inflammation markers in the gut. Don’t forget to alter the duration of the fast daily, so your body does not become accustomed to it, and you get the best results. Give it a go.