7 Fast Facts You Should Know Before Doing IF

Intermittent Fasting (IF) has become popular among health and fitness enthusiasts over these few years.

This weight loss approach allows you to eat reduced calories on some days of the week, whereas other days it permits your normal meals consumption.

How is it done?

According to WebMD, some plans allow you to fast (no food at all) for up to 24 or 36 hours at a time. On others, such as the Every Other Day Diet and the 5:2 Fast Diet, you can only have about one fourth of your regular calories.

Here we share with you 7 fast facts about IF:

1. You can eat mostly what you want on days when you don’t fast. However, in order to lose weight in a healthy way, you should only eat healthy foods and limit treats like dessert and processed foods.

2. Prepare a balanced meal and eat in moderation on the days you are allowed to eat.  A treat or two is fine but that’s about it.

3.  You’re not going to have a lot of energy for that on your fasting days. The creators of the Every Other Day diet studied people doing cardiovascular exercise (like biking) while on the alternate-day fasting plan and found that they were able to maintain muscle mass while fasting.

4.  Most of the IF diets recommend cutting back to 500-600 calories on fasting days. In general, for many people this would be medically safer and easier than not eating at all on those days.

5.In order to prevent dehydration, you should focus on drinking more water.

6.Some research shows IF may curb symptoms of asthma and improve cholesterol levels.

7.IF is not recommended for children, pregnant women, people with eating disorders, and some people with diabetes.