Intermittent fasting has surged in popularity in recent years, especially among people looking to lose weight, gain muscle and live healthier lives.
But it isn’t just one-size-fits-all there are different types of intermittent fasting, depending on your body type.
In this article, you’ll learn about some of the most popular intermittent fasting methods and find out which one might be best for you!
What Is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
- Intermittent fasting (IF) is an umbrella term for a variety of different meal timing protocols, most of which involve fasting in some way either skipping a full day of eating or restricting yourself to just one or two meals per day.
- While there isn’t a universal agreement on which methods should be classified as IF, they do have several commonalities. Most IF regimens have you going longer than 12 hours between meals often quite a bit longer.
Intermittent Fasting Methods
What works best for you?
- You might have heard of different methods of intermittent fasting. But, what’s best for your body type?
- This is something you’ll need to experiment with because everyone is different. We will go over three different types and provide an example diet plan for each one: Lean, Slow-Metabolism, and Fast-Metabolism.
- These are broad terms that describe how quickly your body burns energy, stores it and how many calories it needs per day. Find out which method would work best for you according to your metabolism type.
- In general, shorter fasts in which you consume all your calories during a short period (8 hours) are more beneficial than longer fasts, but if they don't agree with your schedule try experimenting by doing a longer one occasionally.
- Don't forget to drink lots of water while on any kind of intermittent fasting plan! And keep in mind every individual is unique so keep experimenting until you find something that suits you perfectly!
- If nothing else use these guidelines as a jumping-off point for developing your own personalized protocol!
A Very Powerful Weight Loss Tool
Intermittent Fasting has recently been gaining popularity among health-conscious individuals looking for a more natural and safer way of weight loss.
In simple terms, Intermittent fasting is basically when you abstain from food for a period of time on a regular basis.
Some people find it harder than others to go through with it, but it’s an incredible tool that helps you lose weight without having to adopt any drastic lifestyle changes. It’s also extremely safe and beneficial for your overall well-being.
As mentioned earlier, Intermittent fasting involves abstaining from food for 24 hours or more at regular intervals in order to create positive hormonal changes in your body and help burn fat while preserving muscle mass.
Safety and Side Effects
Intermittent fasting is generally considered safe. There are no long-term side effects associated with IF, and there are very few contraindications that prohibit its use.
One example of a common side effect would be dehydration, so it is important to drink enough water while you’re doing IF (which is why I recommend keeping a bottle of water near you when you eat).
The lack of calories can also have adverse effects on some people who are predisposed to an eating disorder or have any type of disordered eating pattern.
For example, if someone has anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, intermittent fasting may not be appropriate for them because they could use it as a tool for restricting their food intake and losing weight.
The Benefits of Intermittent fasting (IF)
- Intermittent fasting is a popular dieting technique that allows you to eat regularly throughout most of your day but severely restricts calories during short periods usually between 12 and 24 hours.
- The diet forces your body into a faster rhythm of eating, which can be especially beneficial for people who are already accustomed to eating small meals frequently.
- Even for experienced intermittent fasters, some days will likely call for longer periods without food than others.
- If you’re thinking about trying out IF but aren’t sure if it’s right for you, keep in mind there are several different types of intermittent fasting based on when your fasting begins and ends as well as your current diet preferences.
Finding Your Body Type
- The first step in intermittent fasting is finding your body type, or figuring out which category you fit into.
- For example, if you’re an ectomorph, your metabolism will be faster than someone who is an endomorph.
- The important thing to remember is that because there are so many different body types and genetic makeup differences, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to intermittent fasting.
- For example, I am a rapid metabolizer and can get by with three meals per day plus a snack here and there (a practice I call grazing), but my friend Jessi falls into a different category she needs to eat every 2–to 3 hours to keep her metabolism from shutting down!
- It’s just what works best for each of us individually. You could be a fast, medium, or slow metabolizer; we all have our own unique needs and we have to find what works best.
- Again, results may vary between individuals depending on their diet and exercise regimens as well as their bodies, so don't worry too much about getting all technical with your approach just yet just focus on starting small and having fun with it!
Getting Started:
While being familiar with how different foods affect your body type is imperative to finding success through intermittent fasting, another vital factor that affects results is consuming adequate water throughout the day.
Intermittent Fasting (IF) for the Explorer
- If you're an Explorer, Intermittent Fasting may be perfect for you. Explorers are curious people who want to learn about new things and try them out for themselves.
- Because of their impulsive nature, Explorers can use IF as a way to be more in tune with their body's natural hunger signals and eat only when they feel like it.
- If you're an Explorer, I recommend sticking with a 16-hour fasting window per day and eating your last meal around 8 PM or 9 PM. This will allow your body enough time to burn off most of its glycogen stores before hitting a fasted state for about 16 hours.
- The relatively short period where you're not fasting should provide adequate time for any sugar cravings to subside.
A good rule of thumb is:
Don't break your fast until you've been awake for at least four hours, after all, there's no point getting halfway through breakfast if you'll just go back to sleep and miss out on those precious fasting benefits!
Another tip:
Drink water throughout your fast so that by dinner (or breakfast), you don't even have room left in your stomach! Remember that drinking tea, coffee, or anything with calories (including milk) will negate all of these effects so stick to just water.
Intermittent fasting (IF) for the Builder
- If you’re an endomorph, it may be wise to exercise caution when fasting. It’s a good idea for all people who choose to fast intermittently, but if you have a large frame or naturally thick body type, fasting could mean breaking down large amounts of muscle and glycogen stores for energy.
- If your goal is to lose weight by doing intermittent fasting, make sure that your eating habits are on point before you dive into IF. Don’t skip meals! That will lead you right back into yo-yo dieting.
- Instead, eat small, sensible portions during non-fasting hours so that you can maintain your ideal body composition with fewer calories.
- You can still achieve great results from IF without ever dipping below your optimal caloric intake on any given day.
- In fact, studies show that alternate-day fasting does just as well as total daily calorie restriction for fat loss; plus, I personally believe ADF has other health benefits over DR in general (because of how metabolism responds).
- So if you’ve done every diet under the sun with minimal success over 5+ years of time consider trying something new like ADF.
- Doing something different than what got you here often means better results than sticking with old habits; after all, those old habits aren't what got us overweight in the first place.
intermittent fasting (IF) for the Director
- The director is an extrovert and has a short-term digestive system. He or she can't starve for more than an hour.
- So, at 11:00 in the morning, he takes a 2-hour break from eating and drinks water or tea.
- This is his first intermittent fasting. And then at 1:00 in the afternoon he starts eating again. IF for Men with Blood Group A.
- If you are in man with blood group A, you have guts that will not digest food well when your stomach is empty.
- You will feel uncomfortable when you are fasting if you eat only once per day as people with other blood groups do since your body type has a short-term digestive system; it needs food every 3 hours so don't go on intermittent fasting! It is better to split your fasting into several intervals during the day.
- Example: 12:00 – 13:30 / 15:30 – 17:00 / 19:30 – 21.
- The above meal times are just examples; they can be adjusted according to your schedule. There is no special rule about meal frequency for those who belong to group A; they just need enough time between meals (3~4h). So Intermittent Fasting (IF) based on meal frequency instead of time could also be suitable for them.
Intermittent Fasting and type 2 diabetes
A diet that provides a good dose of protein and carbohydrates may help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes, suggests new research from Spain.
In a small study presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting, researchers said those with type 2 diabetes who followed an intermittent fasting diet had better blood sugar control and healthier fats in their blood than those who didn't follow such a diet.
The 24-week study included 57 people with type 2 diabetes who either followed a Mediterranean eating plan or a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD).
For six days per month, study participants ate their normal diet, but for 25 days they consumed only low-calorie shakes. Both groups had health coaches to help them stick with their regimens.
A short FAQ on Intermittent Fasting
Frequently Asked Questions About Intermittent Fasting (IF) seems a very challenging task but is possible.
This is not to say that it is easy and if you don’t know what it involves, it can be downright scary.
But if you educate yourself and have realistic expectations, IF can be an empowering experience for any person.
So here are some questions about intermittent fasting according to body type so that you can get more knowledge about Intermittent fasting The first question we often receive from beginners has to do with timing and frequency of when we should eat: how often should I eat?
How much time should pass between meals?
Well, as in most things related to human behavior, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
However, there are certain rules of thumb that apply across the board in terms of maximizing your likelihood of success with intermittent fasting: If weight loss is your primary goal from trying out IF then you would ideally want to be doing it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.
You will find later on in our guide though that certain times within the day may actually work better than others depending on your physiology!