Forget about resorting to fad diets in an attempt to lose weight. With those types of diets, lost pounds typically find their way back to your waistline once you get back to your normal routine. But making a complete lifestyle change, as you would with a diet that includes fasting, helps you to fully integrate healthy eating practices into your everyday habits to keep the weight off.
Jodi Coleman of JC Fitness Training Studio recently hosted an Eat Clean, Get Lean challenge group that integrated fasting into a diet and fitness plan for participants. She explains that intermittent fasting gives the body a shock, which helps with gene repair and speeding up the metabolism so you lose body fat instead of muscle. Benefits also include improved mood and mental clarity, protection against mental decline and improved longevity.
There are two ways to do intermittent fasting. The first technique is to fast for two days and feast for five. Just determine your fasting days ahead of time and stick to it each week. With this method, women can consume 500 calories in one sitting on fasting days but it should be a low-glycemic meal like protein and veggies. Coleman explains that it’s really not about the calories but instead giving your liver and pancreas a break from digestion. The second technique is to eat only within an eight-hour timeframe every day of the week.
When the hunger pangs strike, Coleman suggests doing something to occupy your mind, like going for a walk or drinking hot tea. “Hunger pangs come in waves,” she says. “It will go away. It is mostly a mental battle.”