How to Lose Fat With Intermittent Fasting
As a skinny-fat guy you have probably tried to lose fat with limited success. Personally, I have tried a lot of diets. I started out eating high protein meals 6-8 times a day, and I lost a bit of fat only to gain all of it back because I got tired of eating small healthy meals. After 1.5 year of training I discovered the benefits of intermittent fasting by reading the book Eat Stop Eat. To this day, Eat Stop Eat is my favourite book on nutrition. In intermittent fasting you simply divide the day into two phases:
Phase 1: Feeding phase of 8 hours
Phase 2: Fasting phase of 16 hours
By doing that, you will be unable to eat more than 2-3 solid meals a day and the 16 hour fasting phase enables you to lose fat. This is a very effective approach for a skinny-fat guy, because to lose fat you have to eat less calories than you burn! In my opinion the easiest and most enjoyable way to lose fat, is by implementing intermittent fasting into your life style since it is very SIMPLE. As an added benefit, a lot of people experience that they are very productive during their fasting phase, since they are not spending their mornings on preparing breakfast and eating.
If you are a student just like me, intermittent fasting could look similar to this:
– 07 AM: Wake up and drink a cup of coffee.
– 12 AM-08 PM: Feeding Phase
– 08 PM-12 AM: Fasting Phase
As you can see above, it is actually very simple: instead of breakfast you drink a nice cup of coffee (without sugar) and you stay productive until noon to avoid eating. When your 8 hour feeding phase starts, you eat 2-3 solid meals that fuel your workout. After your last meal you can unwind and enjoy your evening until you go to bed. I have experienced success with this approach, even though I eat what I want with each of my meals, as long as the majority of my food intake is healthy.
Therefore… if you implement intermittent fasting into your life style you can forget everything about:
– Eating small unfulfilling meals every 2-3 hours
– Waking up early to prepare breakfast
– Experiencing insulin spikes in the afternoon
– Counting calories
Also, once a week I go out and skip my fasting phase, but this has not hurt my fat loss at all. I highly recommend intermittent fasting to any person that is serious about losing fat. If you want to know more about Intermittent Fasting, I recommend Brad Pilon’s book Eat Stop Eat. In this book he includes a lot of interesting studies about the positive effects of fasting on your body. It is definitely worth your time to read his book if you are serious about implementing fasting into your lifestyle.
Furthermore, a lot of people ask: what can I consume during the fasting phase? The answer is: coffee, tea and chewing gum without sugar. The most important thing is to stay hydrated during your fasting phase to avoid hunger!
To sum up, here are the benefits of intermittent fasting:
– Simple to implement
– Eat fulfilling meals
– Lose fat and gain muscle
– Skip breakfast and sleep in
