Intermittent Fasting 101: The Beginner's Guide

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.

Popular Methods

• The 16/8 Method: Skip breakfast and restrict your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
• Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
• The 5:2 Diet: With this method, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.

Benefits Beyond Weight Loss

IF changes the function of cells, genes, and hormones. It can lower insulin levels, increase human growth hormone, and induce cellular repair processes.

Combining IF with a metabolism-boosting morning routine is the "secret weapon" of many fitness models.