McKinley Grapevine

If you didn’t get the chance to read Fat Loss #4 Part A, you can find it on the Grapevine along with the rest of the Fat Loss series.

Ways to help your body adjust to fasting:

1. Gradually lengthen the time of your fast.  If you naturally fast for 10 hours every day, lengthen your fast by 1 hour every day or every other day.  Once you have experienced the length of fast that works best for your body you can then decide what IF schedule will work best for you.

2. Drink water as soon as you wake up, warm or cold.  You can also drink a cup of herbal tea…no cream of sugar…just teaJ.
3. Stay busy!  Don’t watch the clock and count down the minutes to your breakfast.  Go about your day and continue drinking water.
4. Have your first meal planned with healthy portions of carbs, proteins and fasts.  Take your time eating your first meal and let your Leptin do its job.  When you start to feel satiated, stop eating 🙂 .

Intermittent Fasting Schedules:

If you are trying to fast for 12-16 hours you will either be eating an earlier dinner or a later breakfast.  These lengths of fasts are usually best to try over the weekend.  Based on your current eating schedule, you will decide how many days you would like to fast for 12-16 hours.  Some will choose every day and others may choose one or two days weekly.  Personally, I fast for 12-14 hours 2 or 3 days weekly depending on the week.

Examples:

What’s best for you…2, 3 or 4 meals daily?

This is something most people already have figured out.  If you feel your level best with your current eating schedule…stick with it!  The best advice I can give you is to eat when you feel hungry BUT there is a difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger.  If you don’t know the difference, read this: http://grapevine.mckinley.com/?p=1022

Training in a fasted state:

Pros – You will burn more fat for 2 reasons:

1. Your human growth hormones are elevated which is the hormone that helps build muscle and burn fat simultaneously.
2. Your body is already converting fat to glucose for energy.  If your body requires more energy to get through a workout, you will increase your fat burning potential.

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/03/16/aerobic-training-fasted-vs-fed-state.aspx

Cons – Lack of energy and feeling tired.

1. You could have less energy for your workout which could cause you to have a workout where you’re not able to lift as much weight as you’re used to.
2. You could feel dizzy and nauseous at which point you would stop your workout.

If you want to try training in a fasted state:

1. Start out with a moderate cardio session for 20-30 min and assess how your body feels.
2. If you felt fine during your fasted cardio session, try a light 20-30 strength training routine and assess how your body feels.
3. Keep a banana or chocolate milk close by so if you start to feel dizzy or light headed you can stop your workout and quickly eat something to refuel your body.

Remember, IF is not going to be the right approach for everyone.  It is a fat loss method that has worked for some and might work for you as well.  There are several articles and opinions about If.  Whatever article you choose to read whether it’s one I’ve suggested or one you find on your own, read the information, learn from it and only put to practice what will work best for you.  Email me with any questions :).

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/03/16/aerobic-training-fasted-vs-fed-state.aspx

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/intermittent-fasting-the-ultimate-weight-loss-hack.html

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith

Good Morning Everyone!

Intermittent Fasting, or IF as many call it, is not another fad diet, it’s a way of life.  Actually, we already do it daily to some extent.  At the end of the day we take our last bite of food (for some, this is as early as 6:30pm and others as late as 10:00pm), we go to bed, wake up and break our fast with breakfast :).  Most of us naturally fast daily for 8-10 hours.  Pure IF is when you go without food for 16 hours (consuming only water) and eat your daily calorie allowance in an 8 hour window.  However, you can still reap the benefits with a shorter fast such as 12-13 hours which is what I currently do 2-3 days weekly. Simply put, you’re skipping late night snacks a few nights a week and pushing breakfast back by an hour or two a few days a week.

What are the Benefits?

1. Burn Fat and Preserve Muscle:  Everyone is different, but it takes approximately 6 – 8 hours for your body to use the glucose from your last meal for energy.  After that, your body will start using fat stores for energy.
2. Increased sensitivity to human growth hormone, a hormone our bodies naturally produce in the pituitary gland: Dr. Mercola explains “HGH, human growth hormone, commonly referred to as “the fitness hormone,” plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness and longevity, including promotion of muscle growth, and boosting fat loss by revving up your metabolism. The fact that it helps build muscle while simultaneously promoting fat loss explains why HGH helps you lose weight without sacrificing muscle mass, and why even athletes can benefit from the practice (as long as they don’t over train and are careful about their nutrition)”. http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx
3. Increased sensitivity to Leptin: The hormone that regulates the amount of fat stored in our bodies and the hormone that is released when we have consumed enough food/energy for our bodies to function properly.  John Berardi, who has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and nutrient biochemistry designed a 12 week fat loss system with IF being part of the system specifically because of its effects on Leptin.  Several of his participants made some form of IF a part of their regimen and successfully lost fat!
4. Increased sensitivity to insulin: The more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you’ll be able to use the food you consume efficiently, making it less likely to be stored as fat.
5. Improved Cholesterol Levels: After a 10 week trial study with 16 participants, both LDL cholesterol and triglycerides decreased.  http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/5/1138.full

Important Caveat:

There is NO “One Size Fits All” fat loss plan!!!  Therefore, fasting for 16 hours won’t be right for everyone.  Those who suffer from hypoglycemia or have diabetes should have a talk with their Doctor before making any adjustments to their eating schedule.

There is so much information I want to share with you about Intermittent Fasting that I’m splitting Fat Loss #4 into two emails :).  In the next email I will refer you to a few sites for more specifics on IF and will talk about the following:

1. Different examples of IF schedules
2. Ways to help your body adjust to fasting
3. What’s best for you…2, 3 or 4 meals daily?
4. Training or doing cardio in a fasted state

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith