Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a weight-loss regimen that has grown fashionable in recent years. Intermittent Fasting, also known as IF, is not a diet in the traditional sense. Instead of focusing on what you eat, it focuses on when you eat. It establishes eating patterns that alternate between eating and fasting periods.

The main goal of this diet is to limit your eating to only a few hours per day. When we sleep at night, we already have a practice of fasting. It is for this reason that the first day of the meal is called breakfast, as it is used to break the night's fast. Intermittent fasting only extends the fasting window for a longer period of time [1,2].

According to experts, "There is a lot of scientific evidence that supports the efficacy (of intermittent fasting) in terms of weight loss, both early and long-term. When intermittent fasting is properly scheduled, there is no risk of nutritional shortage or metabolic problems."

Intermittent Fasting: Types

Intermittent fasting can be done in a variety of ways. We're about to reveal the simplest, most often used, and most useful way. This strategy focuses on fasting for 16 hours a day and eating exclusively inside an 8-hour timeframe. You have complete control over the timing of these windows. If you use this strategy, you will most likely skip one meal. In a single day, you can either eat breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.

Other forms of intermittent fasting, such as the 16/8 approach, are less prevalent. The 5:2 technique entails eating healthily on five days of the week. You reduce your calories to 500-600 calories for the remaining two days. Eat stop eat is a 24-hour fasting programme in which you fast once or twice. Alternate-Day Fasting is defined as fasting every other day.

There is no food allowed during the fasting period. During this time, you can only drink water, coffee, or tea. Breaking your fast by eating or drinking caloric beverages will result in significant weight loss [3-5].

Is Intermittent Fasting a Healthy Option?

Most people can safely practice intermittent fasting. This diet is widely used as a means of losing weight, and it has shown to be effective. This diet also has the added benefit of perhaps lowering insulin resistance and the risk of type 2 diabetes. "Intermittent fasting has been demonstrated to be efficient in regulating excessive insulin in the blood," says researcher. It may enhance blood sugar levels and blood pressure, which may be advantageous to heart health. However, this does not imply that this strategy will work for all body types or that it will result in weight loss.

Intermittent Fasting Side Effects

Intermittent fasting, like most diets, has negative consequences. Because you've been fasting for such a long time, you're more likely to feel hungry. During the first few days of intermittent fasting, you may feel headaches. Hunger can influence your mood and make you unpleasant. These are some of the disadvantages of this eating strategy.

Every diet has advantages and disadvantages, and not every diet will be beneficial to us. As a result, it's critical to understand our bodies' requirements and to remember that having a healthy body comes first [6].