In an endless sea of diets, people often switch between them with the sole purpose of losing weight. Although fast weight loss sounds convenient and appealing, developing a healthy lifestyle brings much more to your health, weight, and overall well-being. However, fad diets that promise a quick fix after implementing highly restrictive rules often bring particular health concerns. That’s why medical experts from a weight loss clinic Chicago advise their patients to stay away from such diets, especially if they have a habit of repeating them over the years. 

One of the long-term changes you can make to lose weight is to start intermittent fasting. You’ve most likely heard about it in terms of a weight loss solution, but fasting is generally not a new concept. It’s been around even in Ancient Greece and is used to this day as a practice for several religions. Moreover, it has been used as a healing method – meaning it brings numerous benefits to your overall health and is worth doing some research on the topic. However, we’re going to focus more on the ways fasting helps you lose weight here:

  • It helps your body switch to a fat-burning mode.

You’ve probably heard about the concept of burning fat while you’re asleep, and it is correct. The thing is, you enter a fasting mode while you’re sleeping, and since you’re not consuming any food, your body has to start using your fat stores for fuel to support some of the essential processes such as breathing, brain, and heart function, etc. When you expand your fasting period to about sixteen hours, your body will be able to burn even more fat because your activity levels will be higher than when you’re asleep. 

  • It helps you regulate your appetite.

If you’ve ever skipped dinner two nights in a row, you could have noticed your hunger levels dropping down around the time when you usually had dinner. Your body will not take long to get into the fasting mode, and before you know it, you’ll experience the feeling of satiety when you’re outside of your eating hours. In addition to that, your insulin levels will also drop down and remain somewhat constant – preventing those hunger spikes from occurring at all.

  • It enhances digestion hormone secretion.

Synchronizing intermittent fasting with your circadian cycle (an individual and natural process regulating your sleep-wake cycle) can significantly improve the way your body digests and uses food for fuel. As a result, you can expect an improvement in your metabolism function and digestion.

  • It prevents you from late-night snacking.

One of the most impressive traits of intermittent fasting is that it prevents you from late-night snacking. This habit is often associated with weight gain and disruption in your metabolism processes. The calories you consume during the late hours can’t effectively fuel your body, and instead, they build up (typically around the abdominal area).

Final thoughts

Intermittent fasting is praised by many people worldwide, who witnessed its weight loss, detoxifying and healing properties. Another benefit of implementing this regimen into your lifestyle is that you can personalize it the way it suits you the most – you can either expand your eating/fasting period, cycle it throughout the week, etc. And although this method doesn’t have to restrict you from eating any food, it’s always advisable to combine it with a nutritionally balanced diet to get the best results.