Every now and then we all gain a little extra fat that we would like to get rid off….fast. And we all seem to get the same old advice:

“Create a balance between a healthy diet and exercise… and the weight will come off.”

By a balanced healthy diet, most coaches mean eating 5 – 6 small meals a day with at least 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. The frequency of meals is designed to keep you full throughout the day and also keep your metabolism high – in order to keep burning fat.

And while this approach can be effective for some people, it doesn’t really do much for others…especially when you’ve reached a weight loss plateau – that’s where you’re stuck at a certain weight and you can’t seem to lose any more of it. At this stage, eating less is not an option because you’ll just be hungry all the time (and that can interfere with your mood, productivity and even your sex drive) and that’s not something you really want.

The second option is to exercise more. But even then, if you’re busy and you’re working on a ton of things every day, being in the gym any more than three times a week can harm your productivity and possibly set you back in other important areas of your life. You simply can’t afford to go to the gym more than 3 times a week.

So what should you do? Is there a way to (1) reduce calories and not feel hungry all the time, and (2) work out no more than 3 times a week?

Yes.

You need to try intermittent fasting.

1. What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is a very simple and effective method to lose weight from your body fast. There are basically two phases to intermittent fasting. There’s the “fed state” and there’s the “fasted state”.

The “fed state” is the time window during which you’re feeding your body, that’s when you’re eating and digesting a meal. Each meal takes about 2 hours on average for your body to digest and an extra 2 to 3 hours to fully absorb it. That’s a total of 5 hours.

During that time, your body responds to the presence, digestion and absorption of food, especially carbs, by spiking your insulin level. The spike in this hormone tells your body that you’re satiated and that it has enough energy to keep going on its own. It tells your body that it doesn’t need to burn any fat for fuel.

When your insulin levels are high, your body won’t burn any fat.

 

The “fasted state” is the time window during which you’re not eating, digesting or absorbing any food. You enter the “fasted state” about 8 hours after eating your last meal. And when you don’t have food in your body for approximately 8 hours, your insulin levels will dip. And when your insulin level dip it tells your body that it needs to burn fat for energy.

When your insulin levels are low, your body will burn fat for energy.

So given what we know about insulin levels and its relationship to burning fat, we can maximize and speed up the fat burning process when we put our body in a “fasted state.” And that’s exactly what we need to do.

2. How Long do You Need to Fast For?

I am going to share with you the process I follow and how it’s helped me lose 20 pounds (about 8 kg) in 2 months while keeping my hard earned muscles and strength.

I eat my last meal of the day at around 8:00 p.m. and I stay fasted all the way through until noon of the next day. That’s when I eat the first meal of the day. I have 100g of dried oats with two scoops of protein. I put them in my protein shaker, pour some water, and shake them up. My first meal is ready in less than 30 seconds. It’s also my pre-workout meal (I work out 2 hours after eating this meal).

In addition to this meal, I eat 2 other meals. I eat the second one at around 3 or 4 p.m (that’s 3 to 4 hours after the first meal), and the last one around 7.30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. (Eating 3 meals a day works best for me. You might want to try 2 bigger meals and 2 snacks, or whatever else works for you).

Following this plan ensures that I am fasted for at least 16 hours a day with an 8 hour “feeding” window. This gives my body plenty of time to burn fat and to keep doing so for the length of the 16 hours. But I didn’t start out fasting for 16 hours. I began with fasting for 12 hours, then 14 hours until I reached my goal of 16 hours.

And because I was fasting for this long, I ate less total calories. That put me in a calorie deficit that further jumpstarted the fat burning process, and contrary to what you may think, I didn’t feel tired once during those 2 months. In fact, I had more energy in the morning and I had the pleasure of working uninterruptedly from the moment I woke up till noon. And the best of all, the weight came off really, really fast.

Now, fasting doesn’t mean that you can’t consume anything during the “fasted” state. I drink plenty, and I mean plenty, of water and I also allow myself to have a cup of black coffee. It helps suppress my appetite and it gives me the kick I need to start the day. However, after a week of fasting for 16 hours, I no longer felt any urge to eat before noon and I had the coffee just because I like my morning coffee J

In addition to the weight loss benefits of intermittent fasting, there are two key benefits that make intermittent fasting a smart and attractive option.

3. Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

1. Intermittent fasting is simple

The small frequent meals diet is just too time consuming. It used to take me a solid 3 – 5 hours a day preparing and eating my meals, and that was extremely inconvenient for me. When you’re working a lot, the last thing you need is to be interrupted every two and a half or three hours to go eat a meal. And sometimes, you might have to be in a meeting during your meal time, other times you’re driving, and sometimes you’re in the middle of creative work. It can be really annoying to have to eat on time all the time.

Intermittent fasting takes all the hassle out of it. It simplifies your life.

2. Intermittent fasting has numerous health benefits
   

Following intermittent fasting has been shown to help you lower your LDL (your bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels in your body. Studies have also shown that it can normalize your ghrelin levels, also known as “the hunger hormone” and make you less ravenous when you’re hungry. It can also help promote human growth hormone (HGH) production and give you much more energy during the day. In effect, it acts as a cleansing mechanism and it can reset your body and help it become stronger, healthier and more durable.

Finally, a good intermittent fasting approach must be coupled with a good whole food diet. Your body won’t change much if you fasted for 16 hours a day and ate a ton of high sugar crap food.