Make intermittent fasting an easy and sustainable lifestyle.
Make intermittent fasting a lifestyle
If you are not sick, and if you are not in a group of people who are not suitable for fasting (such as pregnant women, children, and certain patients), you can start intermittent fasting now.
Please tell your friends and family that you have started intermittent fasting. Once you announce it to the world, it will be easier for you to stick to it and make it a part of your daily life.
Don't worry about the occasional short-term hunger during fasting; it's basically harmless.
Unless you eat and drink excessively for years and lose the ability to endure hunger, a healthy body is generally capable of coping with small amounts of food for a period of time.
Modern research has found that people often mistake many emotions for hunger: they eat when bored, when thirsty, when tempted by food, or when with company...
If you feel the urge to eat due to these external stimuli, you should control your intake appropriately.
Regardless of the fasting method, the most difficult part is the initial period, because the body and mind need to adapt to the new habits and new eating habits.
Once everyone gets through this hurdle and makes it a habit, sticking to it long-term will not only bring a healthy lifestyle, but also be an important tool for purifying the mind and improving physical health.
If you can find one or two partners in your life who can do intermittent fasting with you, whether they are family, friends or lovers, that would be the best thing.
You can plan your fasting days to be on the same day, which makes it easier to eat together, encourage each other when you're hungry, exchange experiences on making your own fasting meals and overcoming hunger, and finally, share the health and happiness you've gained through intermittent fasting.
Adhering to intermittent fasting is easier than you think.
Many obese people have tried various dieting methods before they came into contact with intermittent fasting: some are impatient and try to lose weight quickly by fasting for a long time; others are more cautious and try to achieve results by fasting every other day too frequently.
While prolonged fasting can certainly help you lose weight, it can also lead to nutrient deficiencies and affect your basal metabolic rate. Once your body gets used to this slower metabolism, you won't lose weight even if you don't eat.
Once they resume a normal diet, they often regain weight quickly, sometimes even more than before, resulting in the so-called "yo-yo effect."
Studies have found that prolonged fasting can be more harmful to health than one might imagine. Many people suffer from dehydration and shock due to fasting, leading to acute kidney failure, and in severe cases, even sudden death.
Therefore, it's best not to try it lightly.
While alternate-day fasting does not cause severe nutritional deficiencies, the practice of fasting every other day often causes a lot of trouble for those who fast.
Because the fasting days are not fixed each week, it is difficult for relatives, friends and others to figure out which day is your fasting day and which day is your eating day.
Therefore, this could cause social distress or even damage relationships.
Compared to the two dieting methods mentioned above, intermittent fasting can be described as "zero-pressure". It advocates that most of the intermittent fasting tasks only need to be completed on two days a week, and on these two days, you should consume 75% less calories than usual, instead of reducing your calorie intake every day. This is a great relief, allowing people to avoid the hardship of eating less every day, because many people find it difficult to diet every day.
At the same time, a two-day fast is long enough to reduce total weekly calorie intake and reshape eating habits.
In addition, and most importantly, this method is easier to implement.
Having understood the principles of intermittent fasting, the next step is to address how to put it into practice.
This chapter will teach you the specific methods for implementing intermittent fasting, including physical and mental preparation, food selection, calorie calculation, testing indicators, and how to combat hunger during fasting.
The document also provides answers to common questions that may arise during intermittent fasting.
How to take the first step into intermittent fasting?
Understand your health level
·age
If you are under 18 years old, it is best not to fast intermittently, as your body is still developing and has a greater need for various nutrients.
If you are between 18 and 60 years old, you may consider intermittent fasting.
If you are over 60 years old, please do not fast intermittently.
• Measure height and weight to determine if you are within the standard weight range.
By standing on the height and weight measuring device, you can easily measure your height and weight.
From these two values, you can calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) using the formula: weight (kg) / height (m) squared. This value can determine whether you are overweight.
A healthy person's BMI is typically between 18.5 and 23.9. If your BMI is outside this range, you can start planning to lose weight.
In addition, body fat percentage and waist circumference are also important factors in determining whether you need to lose weight. Some people may have a normal weight, but their body fat percentage is too high or their waist circumference is too large. These people should also try intermittent fasting to lose weight.
Do you suffer from anemia, heart disease, low blood pressure, or other illnesses?
People with certain medical conditions, such as anemia, low blood pressure, or heart disease, are advised against intermittent fasting.
People who are frequently anemic may experience a worsening of their anemia if they engage in intermittent fasting due to insufficient energy supply. People with low blood pressure may experience dizziness or even fainting during the two days of intermittent fasting. Although intermittent fasting can reduce the risk of heart disease to some extent, heart disease patients should not attempt intermittent fasting to avoid serious consequences.
• Are they special groups?
Pregnant women and breastfeeding women are not suitable for intermittent fasting; instead, these groups should ensure adequate nutrition.
If you are in the recovery period after an illness, it is not advisable to do intermittent fasting. It is best to wait until your body has fully recovered before considering whether to do intermittent fasting based on your actual situation.
For manual laborers, such as porters and farmers, intermittent fasting means eating much less at each meal, which will definitely make it difficult to keep up with high-intensity activities and may cause dizziness.
Adjust your lifestyle
Before starting intermittent fasting, try to avoid fried and grilled foods and gradually transition to a light, low-sugar, and low-calorie diet to get used to the intermittent fasting state in advance.
If you rarely exercise, please start now and do some moderate physical exercise every day to get your body into a state of exercise in advance.
Set short-term and long-term goals
A short-term goal could be to lose 5% to 10% of your weight in the first 3 months. For example, if you originally weighed 60 kg, you could lose 3 to 6 kg.
You can set realistic goals, such as reducing your jeans size to a certain number, or hoping to look better in a swimsuit. These are often more motivating to stick to your goals.
Long-term goals vary from person to person. Some people may hope to regain their former figure, while others may hope to lose 10 or even 20 kilograms to reach their ideal weight.
As long as the goal is realistic and you can stick to it, there's no need to worry about it not being achievable.
Cheer yourself up!
You're about to start intermittent fasting, and you might be worried that you won't be able to stick to it until the end, or that you won't be able to lose weight... Starting now, give yourself positive affirmations and encouragement every day to build a strong mindset to cope with the various challenges and temptations ahead.
• Actively cope with various pressures
If you encounter stress and difficulties during intermittent fasting, you can make a stress list, analyze the reasons and your own performance, and find ways to cope as soon as possible.
You can go for a walk in the park, go hiking, watch your favorite movies or read your favorite books to relax.
Resisting others' food temptations
When you're fasting, family or colleagues might disrupt your eating plan and try to persuade you to eat more.
Therefore, before embarking on intermittent fasting, you must clearly explain your reasons for doing so, ensuring that they unconditionally cooperate and support your fasting plan, and eliminating all food temptations.