With intermittent fasting you can lose weight quickly and sustainably. At least that’s the promise. Read here which five common mistakes prevent weight loss.
Intermittent fasting, also known as intermittent fasting, has several advantages: The nutritional method helps you lose weight, improves your mood and, according to studies, can have a positive effect on blood pressure.
However, the weight loss method is not suitable for everyone. There are also five mistakes that prevent success with intermittent fasting and are not good for your body in the long run.
This is how intermittent fasting works
Depending on the variant, you fast for at least 16 hours a day, and you can eat as usual for the remaining hours.
Set yourself realistic goals for intermittent fasting
Many diets fail because they require extreme adjustment. If you completely change your diet from one day to the next, your body will be overwhelmed.
Therefore, you should not set your personal goals too high right from the start, but rather increase them slowly.
It’s best to start with a fasting interval of twelve hours and extend it depending on your personal well-being.
Intermittent fasting plans must fit into everyday life
Which fasting option you choose should be carefully considered. If you don’t like breakfast anyway, the 16:8 rhythm is ideal. For example, you can eat from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
However, night owls who don’t want to go without their midnight snack often find this option difficult.
Even full fasting days like the 5:2 variant are not suitable for everyone – for example, if you have a stressful work day, you need regular meals to recharge your batteries.
Eat enough food
The fasting phase is finally over, so now you can eat properly again? Not quite: If you eat too much, you gain weight.
The energy balance also applies to intermittent fasting – if it is positive, you eat more than you use and therefore gain weight.
But eating too little is also dangerous: the metabolism slows down and the body breaks down muscle mass. However, muscles are important when losing weight because the more muscles you have, the higher the calorie consumption – even when resting. You should therefore counteract this with strength training.
Stay away from unhealthy foods
Intermittent fasting is not a free pass for fast food, chocolate and other high-calorie foods.
Of course, you can and should allow yourself minor sins from time to time, but unhealthy snacks shouldn’t become a habit.
If you don’t follow this rule, you shouldn’t be surprised about extra kilos. Intermittent fasting only leads to the desired success in combination with a healthy diet.
Drink enough water
Drink, drink, drink – that is THE standard rule for all weight loss methods. The recommendation of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) is two to three liters per day.
And that doesn’t mean cola, juice and beer, but water and unsweetened herbal teas. Drinking enough water is healthy and helps you lose extra pounds.