As a gym member, you’ve probably met people following all kinds of diet plans to improve their health and exercise performance. And, while most diet plans focus on what you eat, there is one currently popular diet that puts the spotlight on when you eat — intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating plan that puts you on a regular schedule of fasting and eating. There are several intermittent fasting schedules available so you can pick the one that works best for you. Research has shown that IF can be a successful way to manage your weight and prevent, or even reverse, some diseases.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what intermittent fasting is, its benefits, some of the most common IF schedules you can follow, and how intermittent fasting can be a part of your fitness goals at AFAC’s Thornton, CO, gym.

What Is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is currently a very popular trend in the health and fitness community. IF is not a diet in the conventional sense because it doesn’t specify which foods you should eat. Instead, it specifies when you should eat them.

Intermittent fasting, therefore, is more accurately described as an eating schedule or pattern where you eat during certain hours or days, and refrain from eating the rest of the time.

This doesn’t mean, however, that you should limit your intake of water or other calorie-free beverages like black coffee, tea, and diet drinks. On the contrary, when you fast, you’ll probably need more water and other calorie-free beverages to avoid dehydration.

One common IF schedule is fasting 16 hours every day. Another involves fasting for 24 full hours, twice per week.

Is Intermittent Fasting Safe?

People have often heard of fasting being done for religious or spiritual reasons. Most of the world’s major religions participate in fasts occasionally.

Intermittent fasting, however, is an ongoing lifestyle choice. And it’s not something new – humans have fasted throughout history. Ancient hunter-gatherers didn’t have the luxuries we enjoy today like modern farming methods, refrigerators, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants. Sometimes our ancestors might go a full day or more without finding anything to eat.

As a result, humans have evolved to survive and function well if they don’t eat for many hours, or even several days or longer. As a matter of fact, for humans, fasting regularly is more natural than eating 3-4 meals per day.

That said, you should consult with a doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist before trying intermittent fasting or any new diet plan.

Who Should Avoid Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone. People who should steer clear of intermittent fasting include:

• Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to conceive, or have a history of amenorrhea
• Children and teens under the age of 18
• People with diabetes or blood sugar problems
• People with a history of eating disorders
• People who have kidney stones
• People who have acid reflux
• People who are underweight
• People who have low blood pressure
• People who take certain medications

There is also limited evidence that intermittent fasting may not be as beneficial to some women as it is to men, so women should be especially careful with intermittent fasting.

Again, before you try intermittent fasting, check with your primary care practitioner first.

Also, intermittent fasting may have different effects on different people. Speak to your doctor if you start experiencing headaches, nausea, anxiety, or other symptoms after you begin an IF program.

People not in these categories can do intermittent fasting safely and continue indefinitely. It’s a lifestyle change that offers multiple benefits.

What Are the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting?

While fasting can be challenging and uncomfortable at times, it also comes with a long list of mental and physical benefits.

The main health benefits of IF include:

• Weight loss — Weight loss is the most common reason why people try intermittent fasting. By making you eat fewer meals, IF can result in an automatic reduction in the calories you consume. IF also changes hormones in the body to help in weight loss. By lowering insulin, increasing growth hormone levels, and increasing the release of norepinephrine (a fat burning hormone), intermittent fasting may increase your metabolic rate by 3.6%-14%. Therefore, by causing you to eat fewer and burn more calories, intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and belly fat without needing to consciously restrict your calories. In animal studies, IF prevented obesity. In human studies, obese people lost weight using IF.
• Reductions in inflammation — IF can reduce markers of inflammation, a key risk factor of many chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, arthritis, stroke, and multiple sclerosis.
• Reductions in insulin resistance — Intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance. It can lower blood sugar by 3%-6% and fasting insulin levels by 20%-31%. This can help protect against Type 2 diabetes.
• Heart health — IF can reduce many risk factors of heart disease like “bad” (LDL) cholesterol, inflammatory markers, blood sugar, insulin resistance, and blood triglycerides. Intermittent fasting can also improve blood pressure and resting heart rates.
• Cancer prevention and treatment — Studies in animals suggest that IF may prevent some types of cancer. IF may also jump-start the immune system during chemotherapy and expose cancer cells.
• Brain health — IF increases BDNF (a brain hormone), may aid in the growth of new nerve cells, and may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Thinking and memory — Intermittent fasting boosts working memory in animals and verbal memory in human adults.
• Physical performance — Young men who fasted for 16 hours experienced fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. Mice in studies also showed better endurance in running when fed on alternate days.
• Tissue health and repair — In animal studies, IF reduced tissue damage during surgery and improved post-surgical results.
• Longer lifespan — Studies in rats showed that intermittent fasting can extend lifespan. In the studies, fasted rats lived 36%-83% longer than non-fasted rats.

These benefits of intermittent fasting are exciting, but keep in mind that research is still in its early stages. Many studies were small, short-term, or conducted in animals. Numerous questions about intermittent fasting still have yet to be answered in higher-quality human studies.

What Are the Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting?

If you’re interested in trying intermittent fasting, you’re probably wondering if it has any side effects. While intermittent fasting is safe for most people, studies have shown that it does have some minor side effects and isn’t the right choice for everyone.

The potential side effects of IF include:

• Hunger and cravings — When you go for longer periods without taking in any calories, you may experience increased hunger. Studies have shown that people doing IF reported higher hunger scores than those who consumed a low-calorie diet with continuous calorie restriction. However, studies also suggest that the symptoms of hunger occur during the first few days of a fasting regimen, so your hunger may resolve as your body adapts.
• Headaches and lightheadedness — Some people who try IF experience mild headaches during the first few days. These fasting headaches are more likely for people who commonly get headaches than those who don’t. Low blood sugar and caffeine withdrawal may contribute to the headaches experienced during intermittent fasting.
• Fatigue — Low blood sugar can occur during periods of fasting or calorie restriction. This can cause you to feel tired and weak. However, as your body becomes adapted to regular fasting periods, intermittent fasting can actually reduce fatigue.
• Mood changes — Low blood sugar can also lead to anxiety, poor concentration, and irritability. Interestingly, although some people are more irritable during IF, they also experience a higher sense of self-control, pride, and achievement after the fasting period than during the non-fasting period.
• Sleep disturbances — Some research suggests that people doing intermittent fasting might have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. This is more common during the initial days of an IF regimen. Other studies have shown that IF has no effect on sleep quality.
• Dehydration — During the initial days of fasting, the body releases large amounts of water and salt in the urine. This process is known as natural diuresis. People practicing IF may forget to drink or not drink enough, particularly those who are new to IF. To stay properly hydrated, drink water throughout the day and monitor the color of your urine. It should be a pale lemonade color. Dark-colored urine may indicate that you’re dehydrated and need to drink more.
• Malnutrition — People on any restrictive diet program, including IF, can experience malnutrition if they don’t replenish their body with enough nutrients. That’s why it’s essential to consume a nutritious, well-rounded diet and not overly restrict your calorie intake during IF.
• Digestive issues — Some people experience constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and bloating with intermittent fasting. Choosing nutrient-dense foods that are rich in fiber can help prevent these issues.

All this being said, intermittent fasting has an excellent safety profile. If you’re healthy and well-nourished, there’s nothing dangerous about not eating for a while.

What Are Some Common Intermittent Fasting Schedules?

The first step of intermittent fasting is choosing a schedule.

And, chances are, you’ve already done intermittent fasting at some point in your life without realizing it. For example, if you’ve ever eaten dinner, gone to bed, slept late, and not eaten until lunch the next day, you’ve already fasted for at least 16 hours. As a matter of fact, some people instinctively eat this way because they simply don’t feel hungry in the morning.

Some of the most common intermittent fasting schedules include:

• The 16/8 Method — This features a daily 16-hour fast and an 8-hour eating window in which you can fit in 2, 3, or more meals.
• The 14:10 Diet — This is similar to the 16/8 method but involves fasting for a 14-hour window and eating for 10. It’s easier to stick to than 16:8 because you have a longer eating window, but that might mean 14:10 is not as effective for weight loss.
• Time-Restricted Eating — The 16/8 and 14:10 methods are two forms of time-restricted eating. Time-restricted eating is fasting every day for 12 hours or more and eating during the remaining hours. This allows you to adjust your IF schedule to your own preferences and sleeping habits.
• Eat-Stop-Eat — This involves a 24-hour fast once or twice per week.
• The 5:2 Diet — This involves eating as you normally would 5 days per week and restricting your calorie intake to 500-600 on the other 2 days.
• Alternate-Day Fasting — With alternate-day fasting, you fast or eat only a few hundred calories every other day.
• The Warrior Diet — This involves eating small amounts of raw vegetables and fruits during the day and eating one large meal at night within a 4-hour window.

So, which schedule is best? In short, the best IF schedule is the one that’s easiest for you to follow. If one of these schedules works for your lifestyle and preferences (including your work schedule, living situation, family dynamic, commute time, travel plans, etc.), you’re more likely to stick to it and see results.

Another approach is to fast whenever it’s convenient for you. That means you can skip meals from time to time whenever you’re not hungry or don’t have time to prepare a meal. You don’t necessarily have to follow a structured IF plan to get some of the benefits.

Experiment with the different IF approaches to find out which one you enjoy and fits your schedule!

Will Intermittent Fasting Affect My Workouts at the Gym?

If you’re trying intermittent fasting and still want to fit your gym workouts into the equation, there are some pros and cons to consider.

Research suggests that if you exercise in a fasted state, your body’s stored carbohydrates are most likely depleted, so you’ll be burning more fat to fuel your workout at the gym.

That said, exercising in a fasted state may also cause your body to break down muscle and use protein for fuel. Plus, you’ll be more susceptible to hitting a wall when exercising, which means you’ll have less energy to work out hard and perform well.

To get in an effective gym workout while fasting, here are some key ideas to consider.

• Think through your timing — Should you work out at the gym before, during, or after your eating window? Working out before eating is ideal for someone who performs well on an empty stomach. During the window is better for someone who doesn’t like to exercise on an empty stomach and wants to capitalize on pre- and post-workout nutrition for performance and recovery. After the window is for people who like to exercise after eating and don’t have the opportunity to exercise during the eating window.
• Eat the right meals and macros before and after your workout — It’s important to pay attention to the macros (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) in your diet when you exercise and practice an intermittent fasting regimen. For example, if you do heavy lifting, it’s critical that your body have protein before and/or after your gym workout to aid in muscle regeneration. You also need to eat enough carbs to fuel your workouts, so that protein is free to do its main job of repairing and rebuilding muscle tissue. The combination of protein plus carbs is the key to recovery. Fueling up with adequate carbs 1-2 hours before exercise helps maintain adequate blood glucose for our muscles, which supports the notion that if you are on an intermittent fasting regimen, it’s best to schedule your gym workouts during your eating window.
• Don’t try to build a lot of muscle with intermittent fasting — If your main goal of working out at the gym is to build muscle, intermittent fasting might not be a great idea. That’s because you can’t build appreciable muscle in a calorie deficit, and IF is designed to restrict your calorie intake. You might be able to build a pound of muscle here and there with IF, but you won’t be able to build anywhere near as much muscle as you would if you consumed a few hundred extra calories above and beyond what your body needs each day.
• Eat a meal close to your moderate- to high-intensity workout — Meal timing is key when you’re about to engage in moderate- to high-intensity workouts at the gym. You’ll need a meal close to this workout so that your body has some glycogen stores to tap into.
• Stay hydrated — Remember that intermittent fasting doesn’t mean to stop drinking fluids. You’ll probably need to drink more water while fasting. Also keep your electrolytes up.
• Listen to your body — If you push yourself too hard during your gym workout and begin to feel lightheaded or dizzy, take a break. It’s important to listen to your body.
• Consider the type of fast you’re doing — If you’re doing a 24-hour intermittent fast, stick to low-intensity workouts at the gym like walking, yoga, or Pilates. But, if you’re doing a 16:8 fast, much of the 16-hour fasting window is in the evening, while you sleep, and early in the day, so it’s not as critical that you stick to a certain type of exercise.

Experimenting with Intermittent Fasting and Fitness at AFAC Gym

If you’d like to try intermittent fasting as a part of your fitness program, the staff at AFAC gym is here to support you and answer your questions. We also provide the perfect combination of cardiovascular machines, strength training equipment, and  fitness classes that you can combine with a nourishing diet to be your healthiest you. In addition, our personal trainers can design an individualized fitness plan for you that will help you achieve your goals.

To find out more about becoming a member of AFAC gym — the best gym in Thornton, Colorado — please stop by or give us a call anytime. We’ll be happy to assist you. You can also contact our gym owner, Susan, at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club for assistance.