Hey sarah!
Intermittent 16/8 fasting goes like the PDF. If you want to eat between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., you do. But you won't eat after 3 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning. Because you eat for 8 hours, then stop eating for 16 hours. That's the easiest schedule -- at least it was for me.
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If you start eating at: 7AM, stop eating and start fasting at 3pm
If you start eating at: 11AM, stop eating and start fasting at 7pm
If you start eating at: 2PM, stop eating and start fasting at 10pm
If you start eating at: 6PM, stop eating and start fasting at 2AM.
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You can alter your 8 hour schedule too, depending on when you want to start/stop eating.
For example, you could start eating at 8 a.m. and have your dinner at 5 p.m. and stop eating after that until 8 a.m. the next morning. Or, you could start eating at 10 a.m. and eat your dinner at 6 p.m. and stop eating after that.
I skipped food at breakfast time and drank decaf coffee or herbal tea. Then I started eating lunch at 11 a.m. and eat dinner at 6 or 6:30 pm and stopped eating totally by 7 p.m. then I "fasted" until 11 a.m. the next day.
I did it for a year and it worked. I also didn't just eat 2 meals between 11 and 6. I ate about 4 small mini meals. Sort of like, snacks on steroids, because they were small and spaced out food portions.
It also helped me avoid my typical gastritis (i.e. stomach flu) caused by inflammation from high processed carb foods (bakery items) because I stopped eating those. I've been eating bakery items galore for 7 months now, so now I have gastritis bouts more frequently. (Ah, depression. It sucks.)
I didn't eat bakery items for a year -- that means, no processed cakes, muffins, or bread (for lunch, it was salad w/chicken and strawberries w/italian dressing). I also didn't eat any pasta (it gives me gas so I avoid it at all costs). I ate rice and veggies, humus w/veggies. Sometimes I cheated and snacked on humus w/pretzels (pretzels are processed but hey, I still lost 50 pounds!).
I ate a lot of popcorn (yum), sometimes salmon. Sometimes chicken. Lots of eggs (good source of vitamin B). I avoided the bad stuff (bakery goods, pasta, processed meats like salami, oh god was that difficult because I LOVE DRY SALAMI).
All the foods that inflamed my gut and made me fat and feel bad, I avoided for a year by fasting this way. Having my doctor be my support system kept me going. I could cry about how much I missed my favorite salty salami, or missed eating cereal with milk or a bowl of fruit for breakfast, and be encouraged to keep going.
As long as you choose the 8 hour window when you know you have to eat, but can easily stop eating and "fast" for the 16 remaining hours until your 8 hour window starts up again, then you've got it down.
Intermittent Fasting 101 — The Ultimate Beginner'''s Guide
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When you fast, several things happen in your body on the cellular and molecular level.
For example, your body adjusts hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible.
Your cells also initiate important repair processes and change the expression of genes.
Here are some changes that occur in your body when you fast:
Human Growth Hormone (HGH): The levels of growth hormone skyrocket, increasing as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for fat loss and muscle gain, to name a few.
Insulin: Insulin sensitivity improves and levels of insulin drop dramatically. Lower insulin levels make stored body fat more accessible.
Cellular repair: When fasted, your cells initiate cellular repair processes. This includes autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cells.
Gene expression: There are changes in the function of genes related to longevity and protection against disease. These changes in hormone levels, cell function and gene expression are responsible for the health benefits of intermittent fasting.
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Additionally, intermittent fasting changes hormone levels to facilitate weight loss.
In addition to lowering insulin and increasing growth hormone levels, it increases the release of the fat burning hormone norepinephrine (noradrenaline).
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I fell off the intermittent fasting wagon this summer w/my mother's nursing home transition and everything that's happened since then. So, I need to get back on it and do it again. No excuses. That's the hard part -- the excuses.