Therapeutic fasting for a week or more is the choice of Pavel Durov. On his channel, he said that he had not eaten for 6 days and was feeling great. In his opinion, a voluntary weeklong refusal to eat helps to activate thought processes, develop creativity and creative thinking. The creator of the popular social projects “VKontakte” and “Telegram”, which brought him billions in profits, assures that this diet helps him stay in excellent physical shape, avoid health problems and generate new ideas. Is everything really that good? What do doctors say about this?
Intermittent fasting - what is it?
The 16/8 diet is one of the most popular weight loss methods among women. It is based on 16 consecutive hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating with almost no restrictions. The main thing is to observe intervals.
Within 8 hours you are allowed to eat your entire daily food allowance. You need to understand that nutrition should consist of healthy foods. For the next 16 hours of fasting, you can drink only pure water, herbal tea, coffee without milk and sugar. All this helps speed up metabolism and remove toxins. Alcohol is allowed only in moderation.
This diet should be followed for no more than 2 weeks.
Are there any contraindications
This diet is healthy, but has some limitations. It cannot be used for the following diseases and conditions:
- ulcer;
- diabetes;
- blood pressure disorders;
- mental disorders;
- kidney disease;
- liver pathologies;
- oncology;
- tuberculosis;
- age under 18 years;
- recent operations;
- pregnancy, lactation;
- chronic diseases in the acute stage.
Experts recommend that you undergo a medical examination and obtain a doctor’s permission before starting fasting.
The benefits and harms of intermittent fasting
Before starting a diet, you need to understand its basis, understand its benefits and harms. As a result of large-scale studies, it was found that such weight loss is effective and safe for people suffering from obesity. But you need to understand that only healthy men and women, without chronic diseases and contraindications, can go on a fasting diet.
The founders of the fasting diet believe that it is beneficial for the whole body. As a result of reducing calorie intake, fat consumption begins, and muscle mass is preserved. Sugar levels return to normal, blood pressure stabilizes, immunity is strengthened, toxins are released, overall health improves and the body feels light.
Interesting! Basic rules for getting rid of belly fat at home
There are also possible side effects in the form of headaches, malaise, indigestion, constipation, drowsiness, irritability, and abdominal cramps. Fasting and refusing to eat for such a period is stressful for our body; we need to be careful and not break down, otherwise fasting can turn into impulsive overeating. If you have problems with the perception of food or you “eat” your emotions, the fasting diet is definitely not for you.
General information
Short, that is, one-day fasting, was practiced in ancient times.
For example, this was done by Socrates, who believed that food must be seasoned with hunger. Such “treatment” was also practiced by ancient doctors, who were convinced from experience that hunger can be treated. In fact, there is a lot of common sense in this thesis, since modern people are prone to overeating. Short daily fasting is very beneficial for the body. It makes it possible to cleanse it, stimulate the function of the immune system, keep the body in good shape and even cure some diseases. And even if a person fasts one day a week, then with the right approach to this process, such a system will make it possible to obtain a tangible effect. how to properly fast for 1 day, how to recover from fasting , and how to tolerate a 24-hour abstinence from food correctly.
Who is the weight loss method suitable for?
Intermittent fasting is chosen by those who suffer from excess weight and obesity. This diet is most suitable for people with good willpower, those who know how to follow a regimen and combine it with other activities. The best results will be obtained by people who play sports and lead an active lifestyle. 16/8 intermittent fasting is intended for healthy people without acute or chronic illness.
During fasting, sensitivity to insulin increases, thereby eliminating insulin resistance, which leads to the development of obesity and diabetes. Therefore, intermittent fasting is chosen by people who want to lose weight.
Slow down aging
As cells grow older, their productivity decreases, and old cellular material accumulates inside. All this leads to aging. The nutrient deprivation that occurs during fasting activates the process of autophagy, which is the breakdown of old material. And in place of old and inactive cells, new and healthy ones appear. This process was explained by Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 2016.
Scientists from the University of Georgia in the USA have discovered a molecule that the body produces during fasting or prolonged physical activity. It prevents the aging of vessel walls and helps their cells actively divide. The study authors note that the main aspect of aging lies precisely in the wear and tear of the circulatory system. With age, the vessels supplying blood to various organs become extremely vulnerable.
In addition, fasting stimulates the production of growth hormone, which strengthens bones, improves protein synthesis and increases muscle mass. This way you rejuvenate both inside and out.
However, no matter how tempting the results of fasting may look, it is best to conduct such experiments with your body under the supervision of a specialist.
Basic principles of 16/8 intermittent fasting
Before starting the diet, you need to learn the basic principles of 16/8 intermittent fasting for women:
- within 8 hours you need to eat three times;
- you need to adhere to your own calorie intake per day;
- refrain from fatty and salty foods, fast food and sweets, bakery and confectionery products;
- be sure to drink at least 1.5-2 liters of water per day;
- you need to eat more fruits and vegetables, in between meals;
- It is advisable to play sports to achieve the best effect;
- It is better to do sports on an empty stomach.
How to eat properly during 16/8 intermittent fasting for women
For the effect to be impressive, women need to adhere to the principles of intermittent fasting, as well as follow the rules of nutrition. You need to understand that you can get the desired result only with a healthy diet and physical activity.
Proper nutrition consists of a significant amount of vegetables and fruits, healthy fats, nuts, foods high in protein and fiber. During the diet, you need to forget about fast food and sweets, fatty foods and bread. These foods will only hinder your weight loss. And if you are hungry, it is better to drink more water.
During a sixteen-hour fast, you can only drink water, unsweetened tea and coffee without sugar. Sugary carbonated drinks and juices are prohibited. And if you want to drink alcohol during the diet, only a small amount is allowed.
Authorized Products
During the diet, you need to pay special attention to nutrition. It is important to include foods with sufficient protein in your diet, such as chicken and quail eggs, chicken, beef, turkey, cheese, cottage cheese, mushrooms, nuts, beans, peas, lentils and lean fish.
Healthy fats are required, their sources: butter and vegetable oil, sour cream, kefir, dark chocolate, cheese, herring, salmon, saury, pork, lamb.
It is also recommended to pay attention to products containing complex carbohydrates: dried apricots, raisins, prunes, marshmallows, marmalade, marshmallows, berries, fruits, vegetables, pasta, cereals.
List of prohibited products
During intermittent fasting, the following foods are strictly prohibited:
- Carbonated sweet drinks and kvass. Diet drinks are also prohibited - they contain a huge amount of sugar, which oversaturates our body.
- Juices. Almost all juices on store shelves contain preservatives; their usefulness is close to zero. If you want to drink juice, you need to make it yourself and drink it the same day.
- Energy and protein bars. Such sweets are almost no different from regular chocolate ones; they also contain a lot of preservatives and sugar, despite the protein and fiber content. If you really want it, it’s better to eat natural nuts.
- Products that contain corn syrup, fructose or sucrose. Eating foods with these ingredients spikes your blood sugar levels and can lead to huge health problems, including diabetes.
- Breakfast cereals. They contain a significant amount of sugar. Only those with no more than 5 g of sugar are acceptable.
- Chips, crackers. May cause exacerbation of gastritis and obesity.
General Tips
Regardless of the chosen scheme, to increase efficiency it is necessary to follow a number of simple rules:
- Accounting for caloric intake. For any type of fasting, the amount of calories consumed per day should not be higher than recommended. To calculate, you can use the following formulas: men = 88.36 + (13.4 x weight, kg) + (4.8 x height, cm) – (5.7 x age, years); women = 447.6 + (9.2 x weight, kg) + (3.1 x height, cm) – (4.3 x age, years).
- Drinking enough water. You should never limit your water intake. Avoid dry fasting techniques.
- Cheer yourself up. If you are extremely hungry, you need to try to improve your mood and distract yourself (going to the cinema, walking in the park, etc.).
- Emphasis on saturation. You should eat foods that are low in calories, but cause a quick feeling of fullness in the stomach (raw vegetables and fruits, grapes, melon, popcorn).
- Use of spices. They will give any dish a more pleasant taste and better satisfy your hunger. Perfect for: spices, vinegar, herbs and garlic in any form.
- Maintaining a balanced diet. The human body must receive sufficient amounts of vitamins, macro- and microelements, and fiber to maintain its vital functions. A balanced diet is the basis of a healthy lifestyle!
Following simple rules of fasting can increase the benefits and reduce the risk of side effects and complications caused by a poor diet.
How to prepare for fasting
You can’t suddenly start fasting; you need to prepare your body, otherwise stress and breakdown are inevitable. It is advisable to prepare in advance for fasting. In about two weeks, you need to start reducing the daily amount of calories: to start by 10-15%, and then gradually reduce further.
Tips for preparing for fasting:
- It is recommended to start keeping a food diary, which will list your entire diet with calorie calculations.
- Calculate your personal optimal ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates and plan your diet taking this into account.
- At the preparatory stage, reduce the amount of sweets, fatty foods and semi-finished products consumed.
- Start adding physical activity little by little if you haven’t already. You can increase the daily number of steps taken, or start strength training or cardio training.
- Start drinking more water, at least 1.5-2 liters per day.
- Choose the time that suits you best.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting Plan for Beginners
Often, with intermittent fasting, the eating period is chosen from 12 noon to 8 pm. This is the best option: you just need to skip breakfast, and the night will pass as usual. And after noon, you can calmly eat a full lunch and dinner, and you can have a snack in between.
Interesting! 15 Best Exercises to Lose Back Fat
Some people prefer the period from 9 am to 5 pm. It is convenient for them to have a full breakfast and lunch, and after 5 pm they don’t eat at all.
If you are just starting to get acquainted with fasting, it is recommended to try both options.
Nutrition during intermittent fasting should be balanced. You need full meals, there may be several of them, as well as snacks. The main thing is to follow all the principles and rules of intermittent fasting 16/8, and the schemes may already be different.
Menu for weight loss with intermittent fasting
The 8/16 intermittent fasting menu for a week is compiled by each person personally for himself and his preferences. For example, you can use this menu.
For a week
Monday:
- breakfast: cottage cheese with fruit, 2 boiled eggs, coffee without sugar, marshmallows;
- lunch: chicken broth soup, steamed turkey cutlets;
- snack: nuts;
- dinner: vegetable salad, chicken breast and boiled egg.
Tuesday:
- breakfast: oatmeal with fruit, a sandwich with grain bread and cottage cheese, herbal tea without sugar;
- lunch: beef soup, steamed pork cutlets;
- snack: two cucumbers;
- dinner: omelette of egg whites and herbs, kefir 2.5% fat.
Wednesday:
- breakfast: millet porridge, coffee without sugar, milk and cream, marshmallows;
- lunch: potato soup, pork meatballs, carrot and egg salad;
- snack: 2 apples;
- dinner: grain cottage cheese with sour cream 10%.
Thursday:
- breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, coffee without sugar, milk and cream, cheesecakes with honey;
- lunch: tomato soup, chicken fillet with tomatoes, baked in the oven, beet salad;
- snack: tea without sugar with lemon, marshmallows;
- dinner: boiled hake, cucumber salad.
Friday:
- breakfast: cottage cheese casserole, tea with honey and lemon;
- lunch: vegetable puree soup, pasta with vegetables, tomato and onion salad;
- snack: a handful of berries;
- dinner: yogurt 2.5%, steamed chicken breast.
Saturday:
- breakfast: boiled potatoes, coffee without sugar, milk and cream, dark chocolate;
- lunch: borscht with beef, bread with a piece of cheese, tomato and sweet pepper salad;
- snack: 2 boiled eggs;
- dinner: pollock baked in the oven with dill and lemon, stewed cabbage.
Sunday:
- breakfast: boiled rice, a slice of bread with salmon and butter, tea with lemon;
- lunch: stewed vegetable mixture, steamed chicken cutlets;
- snack: yogurt 2.5%;
- dinner: boiled turkey, stewed zucchini.
During the day you can drink tea and coffee without sugar, milk and honey, be sure to drink water, you can add a slice of lemon. We maintain a calorie deficit of 10% of our norm.
Daily schedule for intermittent fasting
As stated above, there are two main intermittent fasting plans. Let's look at the patterns of the day with them.
Intermittent fasting day plan from 9:00 to 17:00 for beginners:
- 7:00 - drink a whole glass of water at room temperature;
- 8:00 - drink a cup of tea or coffee without sugar, milk or cream;
- 9:00 - first meal;
- 11:00-12:00 - time for training or vigorous activity;
- 12:00 - snack;
- 13:00 - lunch;
- 15:00 - snack;
- 17:00 - dinner;
- 17:30-9:00 - fasting.
Scheme of the day of intermittent fasting from 12:00 to 20:00:
- 7:00 - drink a whole glass of water at room temperature;
- 8:00 - drink a cup of tea or coffee without sugar, milk or cream;
- 10:00 - drink a cup of tea or coffee without sugar, milk or cream;
- 11:00-12:00 - time for training or vigorous activity;
- 12:00 - first meal;
- 14:00 - snack;
- 16:00 - lunch;
- 14:00 - snack;
- 20:00 - dinner;
- 20:30-12:00 - fasting.
How to get out of intermittent fasting correctly
The recommended period of the fasting diet is 2 weeks. For the first time, it is advisable not to violate this recommendation. If you do intermittent fasting for a long time or incorrectly, you may experience headaches, severe attacks of hunger, stomach cramps, weakness, irritability, heartburn, bad mood, constipation, etc. If even one sign appears, you need to stop this diet immediately.
Interesting! How to drink water correctly for weight loss?
Also, a long-term fast diet can lead to an eating disorder and completely change your attitude towards food, even anorexia.
Reviews and results of losing weight
Reviews of women who have already tried 16/8 intermittent fasting and their results.
Alena Lanskaya, 24 years old, Balashov
I have been doing intermittent fasting for a year, eating three times a day, and snacking on small amounts of fruit. I monitor the amount of food, water and calories in each meal. In six months I lost 30 kg. It turned out that it was easier than starving and even eating buckwheat. And all my life I struggled with excess weight, but not so effectively. It turned out to be simpler than I thought. I wish everyone success in this!
Inessa Arkelyan, 29 years old, Kazan
But I think that the diet needs to be selected individually. I myself first took the mywellness DNA test at mygenetics, and only then changed my diet to lose weight. They put together a sample diet for me that suits my genetics better, and gave me a lot of recommendations on nutrition and sports. And the main thing is that there is a result, I’m slowly losing weight and I don’t feel any hunger, which is the main thing.
Anastasia Kutepova, 28 years old, Vetka
I've been losing weight for a year. Calorie counting, physical activity: Zumba, fitness, running, walking. I lost 25 kg. It was 104, now it’s 79. I’ve been weighing for a month now. I read about intermittent fasting. Despite some unoptimistic comments, I want to try it. Starting today, or rather evening. The last meal today was at 17.00. So I’ll check how much I can save in the week before next Wednesday.
Evgenia Popova, 25 years old, Izhevsk
Minus 17 kg in a year and a half and minus 10 kg in 5 months on intermittent fasting or how the trending weight loss system taught me to eat twice a day, without limiting myself. Do not neglect sports if your diet contains sweets and various excesses. Here either you deny yourself everything, or you still don’t sit still. So, for example, in 3 months of self-isolation I lost 5.5 kg. I ate less, moved more. Yes, I couldn’t walk 10 thousand steps outside, but at home a stepper helped me with this. An hour of studying with the series and the daily activity is completed. Don't forget that the key to success on any diet is to consume less than you burn.
Svetlana Afanasyeva, 32 years old, Semikarakorsk
6 months PG! The result that I had dreamed of all my life, but no longer hoped to achieve. Why didn't I find this power system earlier?! Today's weight is 48 kg, and it has never been so stable after losing weight. I noticeably increased my calorie intake, sometimes with less-than-quality food. With the arrival of cold weather, you want to eat a little more. But in the 16-hour window I don’t feel hungry at all. I eat from 12 to 19 hours. For now, I have removed fasting days and fasting days altogether. I try to do more sports at home (plank, jump rope, sometimes elliptical trainer) and walking.
Alina Andreeva, 26 years old, Kirovsk
Probably only the lazy have not heard of cyclic fasting. Knowing that volumes are more important than numbers on the scale, I took measurements, weighed myself and began my 30-day experiment. Total: in a month I lost 4.3 kg and the volume was gone: in the chest 2 cm, in the waist 8 cm, in the stomach and sides 8 cm, in the hips 4 cm. For some, the results are small, for me they are not bad. The changes are clearly visible in the clothes. The waist and stomach went the best.
Cause of excess weight in people
When you are in a crowded place, look around, how many overweight people do you see? A lot, and these are the modern realities of the civilized world, regardless of the country.
Extra pounds are a price to pay for comfort. People move less, and the amount of food consumed exceeds energy expenditure. Therefore, excess calories are stored in reserve. At a young age, when a person is more active, and metabolic processes proceed at a normal pace, there are much fewer problems with excess weight.
Cause of excess weight in people
But as the years go by, gradually the traditional diet, replete with fatty, refined foods, against the backdrop of decreased physical activity, leads to various malfunctions, primarily of the cardiovascular system. Cells become resistant to insulin, and type 2 diabetes develops.
Modern man eats haphazardly - a cup of coffee with cream here, a hamburger here, a hearty dinner before bed - and this is how the day passes. As a result of such snacks, large doses of insulin enter the bloodstream, and the daily calorie intake is exceeded.
But food is energy, and much more of it comes in than a person spends in a day. Of course, if we are not talking about athletes. As a result, all excess turns into fat.
This is interesting!
“One-day therapeutic fasting according to all the rules and with benefits for the body” Read more
There are so many fat depots in the body. This is primarily the liver, as well as other areas that form luxurious bodies. The more calories you consume, the faster your size increases, and the process can continue even when you literally cannot move your legs.
If you limit the supply of food, then some processes can be reversed. The body needs energy, and if it cannot get it from food, it will take it from its own savings.
