There are all sorts of reasons why a person may want to lose weight. However, it is important to remember that while there may seem like pressure out there to slim, it’s taking care of your physical and mental health which is the most important thing. Some people will choose to get trim, and many may hope to target their belly fat in particular. Can intermittent fasting help you to burn body fat?
Intermittent fasting is an eating schedule which sees a dieter set a time window in which they are able to eat in.
This may mean that you only eat between the hours of 10am and 6pm, for example.
Rather than being a diet plan itself, IF is a pattern of eating.
There are a whole host of types of IF out there, such as 16:8 fasting and the 5:2 diet.
However, it’s crucial that you consider how this could impact your health, and talk to your doctor before starting a fast to check that you can do so in a safe way.
It may be that intermittent fasting helps weight loss simply by the automatic reduction in your calorie consumption.
Other research suggests it may be that short-term fasting changes hormone levels, which could increase your metabolic rate.
This was highlighted in the studies titled “Enhanced thermogenic response to epinephrine after 48-h starvation in humans” and “Resting energy expenditure in short-term starvation is increased as a result of an increase in serum norepinephrine”.
It suggest that short-term fasting can increase your metabolic rate by 3.6 to 14 per cent, Healthline explains.
What’s more, a 2014 review suggested that intermittent fasting can cause weight loss of between three and eight per cent, over the course of three to 24 weeks.
What’s more, these participants lost between four and seven per cent of their waist circumference.
What has the NHS said about intermittent fasting?
It pointed out that this weight loss method is difficult to stick to, instead suggesting one makes permanent changes to your diet and exercise routine.
Advice on the website says: “You can do this by making some healthy changes, such as eating more wholegrain food, fruit and vegetables, eating fewer calories and doing more exercise.”
For those people who want to get rid of their belly fat, one expert has revealed that the best way to do this is to focus on your diet.
Rugby World Cup 2014 champion Vicky Fleetwood is also a trained personal trainer, and she said of transforming belly fat into toned abs: “Most of that is going to come from your diet, which is why that’s so important – alongside doing your training as well.”