Quick, Healthy Weight Loss With These Fasting Guidelines
If you've looked at fasting for weight loss and thought, "that looks too easy, there must be a catch." Or maybe you think it sounds difficult to not eat. Maybe you think only disordered people would chose to eat less frequently.
To be frank, fasting with the right guidelines is perfectly healthy and can be a huge help in losing and/or maintaining weight.
The simplest guideline for fasting: No calories!
There's not much beyond that - stop eating for approximately 24 hours. this is different from "take a day off from eating". That would mean skipping all meals during an entire waking period, morning to night. This guideline means 24 hours exclusively without eating. Eat at noon (or 6 pm) one day, then don't eat until noon (or 6 pm) the next. Notice that there is not a 'day without eating'. You aren't waking up AND going to sleep hungry, ever. Once a week to start, possibly twice, and you'll be on the road to weight loss.
I've found going from a late supper to late supper works best for me I like eating at night, but this lets me stay full before bed so I'm not tempted when I'm weakest. Skipping breakfast is a matter of oversleeping, pretty easy to do. Plan some errands for lunch, no time to eat then Avoid the snack jar in the afternoon and I'm home free.
This rigor doesn't mean you can't do things to make the fast easier. I find some of these tricks help.
Gum can get you through the first few fasts Getting something to chew is very satisfying.
Please drink lots of water. Drink flavor packets - only the ones with no calories - are alright on a fast. Diet sodas can make it feel like you're not depriving yourself. I prefer unsweetened tea to the artificial flavors. Pick up a flavorful tea that you can enjoy without flavor. Take away your mouth's need for interest, and you will find it much easier to not break the fast and eat something.
Find a way to keep busy on fast days. Shopping that keeps you away from food, or extra tasks at work. Keep food cravings away by focusing on the task in front of you. The skill of focusing on what you're doing without being distracted can be huge in fasting and other areas of your life. We think we're going to starve if we don't obey every twinge of hunger. But maybe it's just habit or an emotional trigger like boredom that is urging us to eat. I can say, if you need to lose weight, you listen to your body saying it's hungry more then you need to.
By the act of ignoring food cravings for a limited amount of time, we can call attention to how often we're struck by urges to eat. The urge to eat came up SO often when I started intermittently fasting. As I practiced though, it got easier to ignore the urges, and they grew weaker. That discipline started spilling over into my non-fast days as well.
There are more fasting guidelines online, I recommend Brad Pilon's website and product. He has the details and documentation to support this way of fasting to burn fat. You can find information about other types of fasting for weight loss - the warrior dietlong-term fasting for detox - but I find this intermittent fasting to be much less obtrusive into everyday life. It's just one or two days a week, the rest you're a normal citizen. The basics are easy, just try it for a day - this will NOT trigger anorexia or starving. Thanks!
Beth Benson is sharing her knowledge after years of looking for the right weight loss plan at her site, activelyloseweight.com/. If you've found dozens of ways to lose weight, but don't know how to pick the right weight loss and/or fasting plan for you, check here for some tips - activelyloseweight.com/healthy-weight-loss-plan-chose-the-right-one
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