More than a third of U.S. consumers are dieting, and most of them are going through intermittent fasting or IF. If you haven't been familiar with the trend yet, IF is an eating pattern that includes abstaining from food for a fixed amount of time (usually overnight) and restricting food to a meal window. Many people are involved in dieting because they can see intermittent fasting progress in as little as 10 days.
However, while evidence shows that many people try their luck with IF, people also find that they do not see optimal intermittent fasting outcomes as soon as they expected.
Avoid the following unhealthy practices, so you can actually get the intermittent fasting results that everyone expects to see.
You're eating less-nutritious foods
Although the focus of intermittent fasting is on when to eat rather than what to eat, that doesn't mean that you can eat whatever you want on eating windows and still lose weight. If your diet consists mostly of calorie-dense foods, such as fast food, you probably won't lose weight.
You don't eat enough calories on non-fast days
If you don't eat enough calories on a non-fast day, your body will save the energy you consume rather than burn it.
You're eating so much during the eating window
Weight reduction is essentially attributed to calories in and calories out. If you end up eating the same amount of calories (or more when you eat your windows as before you began fasting intermittently, you won't lose weight. In other words, if you only pack all the calories you would usually consume in your food window, you don't even change your diet at all.
You're skipping meals during your eating window
Skipping food and not eating enough while eating windows will make you feel incredibly hungry during fasting times, making it more likely that you will end up breaking your fasts. Restricting yourself too much during a single meal window can also cause you to binge and overeat during your next eating window, which can also increase your maximum calorie intake.
You don't follow the strategy as directed
It can be daunting for some dieters to adopt an intermittent fasting regimen because they're not used to long stretches of time without food. But if you keep cheating on your diet week after week or cutting corners, it certainly won't give you the weight-loss benefits you were looking for. So you might want to decide whether IF is right for you and your lifestyle.
In the end, you have to choose an intermittent fasting strategy that better suits your lifestyle and can be practiced for longer periods of time.
