Hey guys, this is a guest post on fasting for weight loss by my friends over at TheFatLossAuthority. Enjoy!
Fasting for Weight Loss – Fat Loss Success or Foolish Trend?
If you’ve been trying to lose weight within the last few years chances are that you’ve heard a few people talk about fasting as a way to lose weight. Although some scoff at the idea that fasting can help you lose weight, many have experienced significant and ongoing weight loss.
Fasting intermittently is the best method of fasting for weight loss, but there is much more to fasting than simply not eating for a set period of time. Keep reading to find out how fasting for weight loss could benefit you!
What Is Fasting?
Simply put, fasting is when you go without food (or drink) for a set period of time.
When it comes to fasting for weight loss, dieters have to decide which method of fasting works best for them. There is the absolute fast where you completely abstain from eating foods and sustain yourself through liquids and vitamins, and there’s temporary intermittent fasting.
Intermittent Fasting
The intermittent fast however allows you to abstain from food for a few days at a time, again sustaining yourself through liquid nutrition, as a means to break your addiction to food.
Intermittent fasting for weight loss is the best method because it doesn’t force you to go through physical and mental extremes associated with long-term fasts. Intermittent fasting for weight loss means 24-72 hours at a time without food, but not without nutrients.
Fasting for weight loss is effective because fasting helps with the most crucial part of weight loss; the calorie deficit. Successful weight loss requires you to burn more calories than you consume, and fasting allows that because you are consuming virtually no calories.
Fasting for weight loss can also be successful because it can help you reconnect with your body. Often we eat, not out of hunger, but out of boredom or habit which often leads us to eat far more calories than our bodies need for sustenance.
Fasting, particularly intermittent fasting for weight loss gives you a chance to identify when your body is hungry because it needs energy or if your brain simply needs to feed its addiction to food. When you’re able to distinguish real hunger from your food addiction, you can respond better whether or not you’re fasting.
Fasting for weight loss often gets a bad reputation because of the lack of energy often associated with long-term fasts. With intermittent fasting however you aren’t going long periods of time without food and nutrients, so you never have to worry about your energy levels dipping dangerously low.
In fact because intermittent fasts only last a few days, you’ll even have enough energy to complete regular workout sessions. In fact if you continue weight training during your fast, you can stop worrying about losing muscle mass because it just won’t happen.
Fasting for Weight Loss No-No’s
Another reason fasting for weight loss gets a bad reputation is because of reckless fasters out there who go overboard once the fast has ended. Your body isn’t starving after a 3 day fast, so there’s no need to gorge on proteins or eat your weight in carbs just to increase your energy level.
Fasting for weight loss will allow you to have energy to get through your busy day and work out regularly without feeling crabby and sluggish. Just make sure that when you’re not fasting for weight loss you’re eating a well-balanced diet that consists of fresh fruits & vegetables, fiber-rich foods and lean proteins.
Fasting not only teaches you how to identify real versus imagined hunger, but it also teaches you how to lose weight for long term weight loss success. Get more calorie counts, recipes and workout tricks for weight loss at The Fat Loss Authority!
