Proponents advocate an intermittent fasting program as one that’s easy to maintain in comparison with conventional, calorie-controlled dietary regimes.

Here we talk over 5 unique ways to cash in on the practice of intermittent fasting.

1.    To keep a fast for 12 hours a day

The corresponding rules to keep up this diet can be easily followed. All a person needs is to make a decision on and abide by a fasting window lasting 12 hours every day.

On the word of a few researchers, putting up a fast for roughly 10 to 16 hours can touch off the body converting its fat reserves into energy. Consequently, this causes the release of ketones into the main bloodstream. Ideally, the method should bring about a noticeable weight loss.

This kind of intermittent fasting strategy may prove beneficial, especially for novices. This is due to the fact that here, the fasting window is comparatively small and a major share of the fasting takes place in the course of the sleep. At the same time, the person can take to absorbing an identical amount of calories per day.

So, the simplest way to effectuate a 12-hour intermittent fast is to take in the duration of sleep within the bounds of the fasting window.

For instance, a person can schedule a fasting period from 7 PM to 7 AM. The person would usually drop the curtain with dinner before 7 PM, wait for 12 hours and eat breakfast at 7 AM, yet include sleep for a big portion of the time in between.

2.    To stay on an empty stomach for 16 hours

It’s generally known as the 16:8 method constituting the Leangains diet. Amid this diet, a fasting period of 16 hours is allocated per day. Hence, the eating window is the remaining 8 hours.

For the duration of the 16:8 diet, men and women abstain for 16 and 14 hours respectively. This particular intermittent fasting type is suitable for people who have already taken a crack at the 12-hour fast but with no obvious benefits.

In the course of this fast people are thru with their dinner by 8 PM. The next day, breakfast is skipped until they have food at noon.

A research carried out on mice revealed that by confining the feeding window to 8 hours they’re less at risk to develop obesity, diabetes, inflammation, liver disease, etc. 

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3.    Alternate day fasting

Alternate day fasting can be pulled off in several ways, the most common being keeping a fast every other day.

For a few people, the concept of alternate day fasting alludes to complete restraint from solid foods on those particular days while others limit their intake up to 500 calories. On non-fast days people frequently eat as per their desired quantity.

Research indicates this method of dieting having remarkable efficacy in triggering weight loss and improving heart health among both overweight and healthy adults.

Alternate day fasting is somewhat harsh as far as beginners or people with underlying medical conditions are involved. Furthermore, this kind of fasting may be troublesome to sustain in the long term.

4.    Keeping a 24-hour fast once in a week

Being in the fasted stated fully for 1 or 2 days every week is commonly called the Eat-Stop-Eat diet. In the midst of this diet, you eat no food for a complete period of 24 hours. Numerous people maintain this fast on a “breakfast to breakfast” or “lunch to lunch” basis.

For the period of this fasting, people accustomed to the diet can feed on water, tea, and other drinks devoid of any calories.

People need to go back to their typical eating patterns during the non-fasting days. This manner of intake helps in reducing the overall calorie consumption. However, the pattern doesn’t put a curb on certain foods that the individual may consume.

In fact, a 24-hour fast comes up with lots of challenges. It may give rise to upshots like headaches, fatigue, and mood swings. A number of people find these side-effects becoming less intense and obvious with time as the body acclimatizes to the new eating habit. They can take advantage of a 12-hour or 16-hour fast prior to moving on to the more stringent 24-hour fast.

5.    Meal skipping

This is a flexible approach to bring to pass the practice of intermittent fasting. By and large, it’s good for beginners. It takes into account the habit of skipping meals occasionally.

The onus lies personally to determine the meals that need to be skipped based on time constraints or hunger levels. Nonetheless, it’s imperative you eat wholesome foods at every meal.  

The convention of meal skipping becomes most effective when individuals keep an eye on the body’s hunger signals and act in response to them. Usually, people who adhere to this routine of intermittent fasting, which at times feel more natural in contrast to other fasting methods, tend to eat only when they feel hungry and give meals a miss when they’re not.