Is dropping body fat a goal of yours? Intermittent fasting is a powerful way to shift your body into an efficient fat burner. Most people are sugar burners but we can retrain our bodies to use fat or sugar as fuel. The results can include sustained energy levels, weight loss, reducing metabolic disease among many other benefits.
Here is one way to intermittent fast:
1. Finish eating by 6-7 each evening and do not put anything but water, tea or *bullet proof coffee into you body until 10-11 the next day. Adjust as needed for your schedule but do not eat within 3 hours of retiring for your night’s sleep on fasting days.
This allows your body up to 16 hours to use up the glycogen (a sugar substance) stores and seek other fuel to burn. Your body begins to burn fat as a fuel; it becomes trained to be a fat burner!
Very quickly your energy is maintained, you do not have sugar and carb cravings and over a few weeks (or possibly less), you will not feel hungry.
2. Due to a shorter eating window during your day, you will consume less calories.
Choose these calories carefully, eating real, whole foods and reducing processed “food-like substances” Minimize the carbs from cereal grains and sweets including baked goods and fruit.
Once your body has shifted into fat burning mode, your cravings for sweets or junk food will disappear.
Combine intermittent fasting with high intensity weight lifting and you will be able to change the composition of your body to leaner, more toned and defined.
The other advantages are the time saving simplification of only eating twice per day! It is liberating to worry less about food preparation.
Precautions: Do not intermittent fast if you are pregnant, hyperglycemic or have adrenal fatigue. For women, start out slowly. Our hormonal systems are very sensitive to caloric restriction and overzealous fasting can cause imbalance and weight gain. (not what we want!!)
Start with a day or two per week and build up to 4-7 days. Once you are fat-adapted (a fat burner) you can fast as you are inclined with 3-5 days per week as optimum. Pay attention to what your body is telling you! You will know
Challenge of the month: Integrate 1-3 of the following ideas into your life.
1. Have a bullet-proof coffee in the morning and do not eat until you are hungry. (the butter and coconut oil do not break your fast. Sugar or carbs do) BP coffee recipe: https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
2. Just try it! Finish eating at 6 pm and do not eat again until 8 am tor later the next day. Stretch it out to 10 am if you are not hungry. Even a 12-14 hour fast will make a difference in shifting your body to burning fat.
3. Read more about intermittent fasting:
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2015/10/16/intermittent-fasting-helps-shed-excess-weight.aspx
4. Look into 5:2 diet plan, a slightly different take on fasting. http://www.thefastingdietplan.com/
As always, be very kind to yourself. Be willing to try new inputs that improve your health and weight management. And be aware of any negative self-recrimination you may have. Self-loathing will trump all of the most powerful inputs to health. A loving accepting, caring approach to yourself is the foundation for exceptional health and a fit, trim body you are proud of.
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