Intermittent fasting is basically only eating during certain hours of the day and not eating the other hours. Your eating "window" should be a maximum of 8 hours feeding/16 hours fasting.
Intermittent fasting is a way of eating that involves periods of fasting followed by windows of feeding.
While there is no set feeding window to say you are doing intermittent fasting, it is widely agreed upon that your feeding window should be no more than 8 hours to get the hormonal benefits of the intermittent fasting diet.
There are several variations of intermittent fasting with the most popular fasting protocol being a 16 hour fast followed by an 8 hour feasting window. Other variations are 24 on / 24 off, one meal per day or 20 fasting, 4 hours feeding.
The basis of intermittent fasting is based on the following concepts:
Technically intermittent fasting is only concerned about the timing of your feeding and fasting windows and doesn't specify a type of food. That being said, to truly get the benefits of the intermittent fasting protocol, it is advised you follow a healthy nutrition plan such as Clean Eating, Keto, Low Carb or other bodybuilding diets.
While there are no food restrictions on an intermittent fasting nutrition plan, we have found a way to truly make this a lifestyle is to perform fasting with a clean diet on Monday - Friday afternoon, then on Friday evening and all day Saturday you still eat within the feeding window, but you can basically have a cheat day.
When Sunday rolls around, you are still in your feeding window and back to clean eating.
The core principles behind intermittent fasting is that it unlocks parts of our evolution as humans and promotes health and weight loss benefits which are superior to the 3 meal per day plans.
These benefit sinclude:
While intermittent fasting does not require you eat "meals" and simply eat within a feeding window, below is a sample plan of when you could eat and what you can eat on a non cheat day.
Noon: Break Fast with 2 tbsp natural peanut butter and 1 scoop of protein
Meal 1: 3/4lb chicken, fish or beef, 1 bag of vegetables, 1 serving fat
Meal 2: 3/4lb chicken, fish or beef, 1 bag of vegetables, 1 serving fat
8pm: 1 Banana or other simple carbohydrate, 1-2 tbsp natural peanut butter
*If you get hungry, you should snack on green vegetables and almonds or cashews. Avoid carbs and sugar.
Intermittent fasting also does not require you to track your calories and eat when you're hungry. However if you think you want to track your calories, you can use the sample intermittent fasting meal plans below.
