Over the last 10 months I have lost 50 pounds. The first 30 pounds took me nearly 9 months to lose. The last 20 pounds only took me 45 days! The secret to my success for the last 20 pounds was Intermittent Fasting. Here are 10 easy tips to make Intermittent Fasting work for you. Learn how to be successful with your intermittent fasting, whether you want to lower your blood sugar, lose weight, work on lowering your blood pressure or cholesterol, or try to reverse diabetes.
- Know your reason for starting Intermittent Fasting. Are you doing this to lose weight, lower your blood sugar, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, or reverse diabetes? Whatever brought you to intermittent fasting, know the reason and work towards that goal.
- Do your research on Intermittent Fasting. Check with your physician to make sure that you are healthy enough to start a fasting regimen. If you have an eating disorder, are pregnant, or an adolescent then you should not be starting Intermittent Fasting. There are plenty of resources for you to go through. You can look it up on the internet, YouTube, books, and ebooks. Dr. Jason Fung is a great resource. You can google him, or look him up on YouTube. You can also read his books. His books are “The Obesity Code”, and “The Diabetes Code”. Another author to read is Gin Stephens. Her book “Delay, Don’t Deny” is a great resource. Other great resources are podcasts.
- Take pictures of yourself, take your measurements, and record other data such as blood pressure and blood glucose levels. These are handy to look back on as you go through you Intermittent Fasting journey.
- Select an Intermittent Fasting cycle. Popular cycles are 16:8, 18:6, 20:4, OMAD, and alternate day fasting.
- Tell other people about your Intermittent Fasting. One of the best ways to hold yourself accountable is to make sure that others know that you are doing this. It will help them understand why you may be going through a physical transformation and why you may not eat at the same times as they are.
- Do a clean fast. When in a fasting state do not drink anything with artificial flavoring or with real sugars, or artificial sweetener. Limit your beverages to water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea.
- Create a support system. Besides finding someone else who has done Intermittent Fasting you can also join online groups, Facebook groups, and listen to podcasts.
- Drink plenty of water. You don’t want to get dehydrated and your body needs plenty of water when fasting. Drinking water also helps to fend off hunger pains.
- Start with a family member or buddy. You can hold each other accountable or even compete with each other. It’s good to have someone to talk to about your successes and challenges with Intermittent Fasting.
- Persevere. When weight loss is slow or other results are slow and you are down about it go back and look at the pictures you took and review your numbers to see your successes. Give your body time to heal and don’t be afraid to change it up if you need to. Go ahead and switch to a new cycle such as go from 16:8 to 18:6 and see what type of difference that makes.