Which Type of Intermittent Fasting Appeals to You?

Kathy Berman
Eat Clean in 4 Weeks
4 min readJan 11, 2021
From Pinterest

From The different types of intermittent fasting and which may be more beneficial to your health:

16:8 Intermittent fasting:

The 16:8 approach is possibly the most common method of intermittent fasting. It’s sometimes called time-restricted fasting, and there are several slightly different variations.

In the 16:8 version, you fast for 16 hours and limit your eating to an eight-hour window of time during the day.

Most people skip breakfast as part of the 16-hour window, says Selvakumar. So, you might eat between the window from 12 pm to 8 pm, for example.

However, some may choose to skip dinner, instead. For this, you might limit your eating window to between 9 am and 5 pm each day.”

5:2 Intermittent fasting:

“For 5:2 intermittent fasting, you eat normally for five days of the week and drastically reduce your caloric intake for two non-consecutive days. Women restrict themselves to 500 calories, and men to 600 calories on fasting days.

Some people prefer the 5:2 approach. But a 2018 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that while this version was effective on the weight loss front, it was not more effective than a continuous calorie restriction approach in which people tried to reduce the number of calories they consumed each day.”

One meal a day:

“The OMAD (one meal a day) diet is where you limit your eating window to just one hour each day and fast for the remaining 23 hours. This is an extreme type of intermittent fasting, and it can be an effective weight-loss strategy for some people.

It can even help to lower some of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, you have to be able to last the entire 23 hours between meals and resist the temptation to overeat during that window, as intense hunger is a common side effect of this method.”

From The Best to Keep Lean:

“While any of the intermittent fasting types I mentioned will help keep you lean, I would have to go with the one I use myself: 16:8.

It’s the best compromise between implementing some type of diet and constraints while keeping a normal lifestyle.

It’s easy enough, once you’re able to do it, to make a habit out of it, and easy enough to skip breakfast. 16:8 will make you lose weight and, yes, after a while you might reach a plateau.

But if you’re happy with your weight that’s not a problem. You can still do other types of IF to go to your ideal weight is 16:8 is not enough, and then stick to 16:8 to stay lean.

16:8 will already help you break the first barriers of fasting, it’ll give you some of those benefits such as more energy, focus, better sleep, increased metabolism, reduced hunger, and cravings, etc.”

From The Best If To Lose Weight Easily:

One meal a day to me is the best way to lose weight quickly and easily. Once you’re able to go up to 24 hours without eating, once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll see it gets easier.

And we’re not talking about counting calories, reducing fat or carb intake, weighing what you’re eating. You simply only eat one meal a day.

Do you have lunch with a client? Why not try and only eat lunch instead of dinner for once? Sure, you’ll only be doing around 16 hours fast before lunch, but afterward, you’ll do 30 hours fast until dinner the next day.

What I want to say is that not only it’s effective for weight loss, but it’s also flexible. Being able to do one meal a day will definitely show on the scale, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it every single day at the expense of your lifestyle.

From What to Eat and Avoid: Intermittent Fasting Food List:

There are many ways to do intermittent fasting. Some of them are:

— 5:2 Fast-

This flexible method of fasting is popular among beginners. In this method, you can eat normally for five days each week. During the remaining 2 days, you should limit your daily calorie intake to about 500 calories.

— 12-hour fast-

Like the 5:2 fast, this is another beginner-friendly fasting method. It is easy to follow. Simply, avoid eating any calories for 12 hours. Eat all your calories within the next 12 hours. That completes one cycle of fasting.

Once your body adapts to fasting for 12 hours, you can work your way up to fasting for longer durations, such as the 16:8 fast or 20-hour fast.

— 16-hour Fast-

This is probably the most studied form of IF. We may say it is an extended version of the 12-hour fast. You are not allowed to eat for 16 hours a day and can eat normally in the 8-hour feeding window. Want more information — check this link.

— 20-hour Fast or “The Warrior Diet”:

This is an extreme form of fasting. It has a long fasting window of 20 hours and a short eating window of 4 hours. The 20-hour fast is ideally suited to people who have spent a considerable amount of time doing 16-hour fasts. Click here to learn more about the Warrior Diet.

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Kathy Berman
Eat Clean in 4 Weeks

Addiction recovery date:11/24/1976. kathyberman.com. Addiction recovery; eating clean; self-discovery. Kathy Berman’s Publications lists my Medium publications.