There's no doubt about it that more and more people today are using intermittent fasting for weight loss. If you're not sure what intermittent fasting is it's basically when you strategically use periods of fasting to force your body into burning fat as a fuel source. This method of weight loss is highly effective but you have to make sure you're doing it right or else you can actually slow your metabolism.
While you are going through a fasting period you should only be consuming water along with Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) which will help prevent the breakdown of muscle. This may be too intense for some people because you will most likely experience hunger and there will be a high level of discipline necessary for intermittent fasting. Those who are for this type of weight loss claim that they can get results quicker than traditional dieting practices such as calorie restriction.
If you're new to intermittent fasting then it's recommended that you do a trial period of 24 hours to make sure you can continue with doing these for an extended period of time. It's going to be natural to become easily irritable towards people during your fasting day so prepare for the worst. I prefer to have a cheat day prior to the fasting day so I can prepare my body for the fast and also accelerate the results. The massive caloric intake of the cheat day primes my body to burn more fat as a fuel source on the fasting day.
I also personally prefer to use Sundays as my fasting days because I have the least amount of interaction with society because once again it's very easy to become irritable. Be sure to take your BCAA's throughout the day in 5-10 gram servings like you would in place for regular meals. Eventually after you have successfully completed the 24 hours fasts you can progress to more advanced methods of intermittent fasting such as using multiple ones throughout the week.
Intermittent fasting isn't going to be for everyone but if you're serious about getting some real results then this will definitely boost them. Everyone should still learn the basics of a healthy diet and exercise program. You can definitely workout on your fasting days to enhance the fat loss but it will be extremely difficult for many to muster the energy to do so. Overall just make sure you plan ahead prior to your fasting day as it will be instrumental in your success with the program.
This article on intermittent fasting for weight loss was written by a personal trainer who specializes on how to lose belly fat. For more on the intermittent fasting for weight loss be sure to check out his Napa boot camp blog.
