Most of us start diets to shed fat and stay fit. With intermittent fasting, you can lose weight while reaping awesome benefits like improved brain performance. Other benefits include healthy heart function, slow aging, and reduced inflammation in your body.
What’s intermittent fasting?
This is a diet that restricts when you eat to a specific time block known as an eating window. You restrict calories or eat no food for the rest of the time. You can stay hydrated by consuming zero-calorie drinks. During the fasting time block, your body is in a fat-burning mode. This time-restricted eating can be done daily or every other day.
How to burn fat faster with intermittent fasting
If losing stubborn weight is your goal, then adding these 3 tips to your fasting regimen is the way to go.
1. Keep insulin low after fasting
Your insulin level drops when you fast. Ensure that you don’t spike this level when you break your fast. This will help you stay in that precious fat-burning mode. High insulin levels encourage your body to convert sugars into fat. Have meals that are low in carbs and processed sugars. For example, you can keep the carbohydrates in your plate below 15%. On the other hand, you can pair your fasting with the ketogenic diet.
2. Exercise while fasting
Working out during your fasting window has been shown to increase fat loss and build muscle. More muscle mass will lead to a higher metabolism. To shed more fat, don’t eat right after exercising. Let your body keep burning fat for an hour or two.
3. Increase your fasting window
This works simply because your body will stay in a fat-burning mode for longer. You can gradually increase your fasting window to lose more weight. Experts recommend not exceeding 36 hours of fasting. Alternating between eating and fasting is the key to success. If you fast for too long your body will enter into starvation mode and break down muscle.