Intermittent fasting is a dieting protocol that has been popularized lately by the fitness industry.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

It is a period when you restrict food consciously for a set number of hours in a day. Ramzan is an example of intermittent fasting, where people abstain from food or water from sunrise to sunset and then eat and drink.

However, in the fitness community, it is not that severe, as you are allowed to consume liquids and zero calorie drinks during your fasting window.

But keep in mind, it does not promise mind-bending, overnight, magical results, as pushed by some health influencer or YouTube fitness celeb.

Following are some of the benefits of intermittent fasting: 

1. It Can Help You Feel Full On A Diet

Hunger can be a real problem as calories drop when you are dieting. If you have a bigger appetite, it may not be easy to stick to your diet if you are eating tiny snacks as meals all day. In that case, it would be a much better idea to practice intermittent fasting.

© Getty Images

There are many ways in which you can do intermittent fasting. The most famous way that people do it is the 16/8 fast, which is also known as the 'lean gains' protocol.

In this method, you consume all your calories in an 8-hour window of the day.

This window is usually kept in the second half of the day or around your training window so you refuel after exercising and do not go to bed hungry.

2. You Can Be Full Even When Fasting

While you are fasting, like I have written above, you are still allowed zero calorie drinks and fluids. This leaves you with plenty of options like water, black coffee, green tea, black tea, salted lemonades or sodas, zero calorie or sugarfree energy drinks, diet soda like diet Coke or diet Pepsi during the fasting window.

© Getty Images

There was a debacle on these drinks being permitted during intermittent fasting, as people used to think that any sweet taste will spike insulin and break the fast.

A study was done on these non-nutritional sweeteners and it was observed that they do not have any strong effects on insulin to break your fast.

3. It Can Help You Be More Focused

This is a personal observation of mine. I tend to get a bit lethargic after having food and feel lazy. I myself use intermittent fasting because it helps me be more focussed at work. 

By restricting foods in a limited window, I do not have to think of food or do not feel lethargic during the day and get most of my work done.

I do not practise the traditional intermittent fasting and do something called a protein fasting. I will write on that in a different piece altogether.

© Getty Images

In conclusion, intermittent fasting can be a great tool for dietary adherence if you understand what exactly you are applying it for.

Spoiler alert, it does not magically burn fat or make you a fat burning 'machine' as people try to sell it. If your goal is to lose fat, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day and do it consistently over a period of time.

Intermittent fasting is just one way to achieve it. There is nothing magical about it.

Author Bio:

Pratik Thakkar is the co-founder and director of GetSetGo Fitness, an online fitness company and the founder of Mars Nutrition, a nutrition supplement company. Both his companies are geared towards providing you with the right information and products without any false or fake claims. You can reach out to him at pratik@getsetgo.fitness and follow him on Instagram.