What Are the Best Hours for Intermittent Fasting? (2024)

FAQs

What Are the Best Hours for Intermittent Fasting? ›

Depending on your lifestyle and when you can manage to stop eating, the best hours for intermittent fasting include the 16/8 or 14/10 fasting periods. Intermittent fasting is hailed by many as the new mantra of weight loss, disease prevention, and reversal of aging.

Best Intermittent Fasting Method For Visceral Belly Fat

14/10 Method: Fast for 14 hours and have a 10-hour eating window daily. That means you restrict your food intake to a specific 10-hour period while abstaining from caloric consumption for the remaining 14 hours.

A good rule of thumb for those wanting to fast to improve their metabolic and overall health is to leave at least 12 hours between meals – ideally more – on a regular basis, according to Dr Adam Collins, Principal Teaching Fellow in Nutrition at the University of Surrey.

While both 12-hour and 16-hour fasting can promote fat burning, it's possible that a 16-hour fast may be more effective. This is because the longer fasting period may lead to a greater depletion of glycogen stores, which can trigger higher levels of fat burning.

If you've tried intermittent fasting but aren't losing weight, possible reasons why include overeating during your eating window and poor food choices. To help, you can try eating fewer calories, work on balancing your meals, or create a smaller or larger eating window.

There's no set time you should stop eating to lose belly fat, but, as a guideline, you should avoid eating two to three hours before bed to stop it from disrupting your sleep and body clocks, which can cause belly fat gain. Studies show early dinners can help people lose weight.

It's not a diet, so unless you have individual dietary restrictions, you can eat whatever you want within the eight-hour time frame. But the plan will work best for weight loss if you are already making smart, nutrient-rich choices, said NBC News health and nutrition editor Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.

Flavor without Breaking Fast: One of the challenges of fasting is the boredom of consuming plain water only. Adding True Lemon adds a refreshing twist without adding calories, which means it won't break your fast.

It's best to limit ultra-processed foods like packaged snacks, deep-fried items, sugary drinks, and most frozen meals. These negate the positive effects of 16/8 intermittent fasting. To begin 16/8 intermittent fasting, choose an 8-hour window and limit your food intake to that time span.

Technically speaking, eating or drinking any calories breaks a fast. That means it's generally considered OK to drink black, unsweetened coffee or tea, as well as water.

What foods won't break a fast? ›

Foods and beverages that do not break a fast include water, black coffee, unsweetened tea, and diluted apple cider vinegar.

The absolute most important rule is “Don't break your fast”.

Beware of foods labeled zero calories, as most will have trace amounts of calories that can break your fast if you eat enough. Drink lots of water, add a fiber source with your meals, or use a supplement to help manage hunger cravings.

In the case of Intermittent fasting, skipping your dinner is better and easier. You can have your dinner either early or have a heavy snack and can begin your fasting. Research suggests that fasting in the evening and overnight, then eating early in the morning is the better way to follow this diet to lose weight.

A person needs to decide on and adhere to a 12-hour fasting window every day. According to some researchers, fasting for 10–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy, which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage weight loss.

Generally, it's a good idea to limit deep-fried foods, baked sweets, ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, refined grains, processed meats, artificial sweeteners, alcoholic drinks, and candy.

Additionally, it will take your body a while to get used to this new eating schedule. So don't expect results right away. You may need to wait between 2 and 4 weeks to see or feel any results.

A person needs to decide on and adhere to a 12-hour fasting window every day. According to some researchers, fasting for 10–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy, which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage weight loss.

Two popular intermittent fasting approaches include doing a 24-hour fast two to four times per week or a 16/8 fast, where you restrict your eating window to 8 hours each day, often by skipping breakfast or eating an early dinner.

Alternate-Day Fasting

This is a popular approach for weight loss. In fact, research found that, in overweight adults, alternate-day fasting significantly reduced body mass index, weight, fat mass, and total cholesterol. You may be concerned about feeling hungry on fasting days. Research published by Dr.

“For quicker and more profound weight loss, the alternate day fasting plan is arguably the most effective. A less-extreme and thus easier-to-adopt approach is the 16:8 model.