When you care about your weight, you will do everything in your power to diet effectively. But what if you are not enjoying success with the diets you have tried? It is tough to lose weight – a lot tougher than most people assume. If you went through some personal troubles or a spell where you just ate a lot of food, you may find that you are 20 or 25 pounds heavier than you want. The good news and the benefits of intermittent fasting, you can lose that weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. But how do you transition to such a diet?

Start Slow

The best thing that you can do with any diet is to avoid going cold turkey. It is a mistake that a lot of people make. You just spent three or four months eating chocolate, ice cream, pizza and beer most days. It is why you probably gained weight! Now you want to go to the other extreme of dieting through fasting? It is ambitious, but most people will fail if they make such a drastic move. It is why we recommend choosing a lighter version of the diet first.

Bursts of Eating

A useful way to intermittent fast when you are starting out is to look at eating times as bursts during the day. Let us take any 24 hours. You sleep for eight of those hours, which means you are up for 16. Instead of eating consistently throughout those 16 hours, you say that you will not at anything for 10 of them. Now you pick a six hour stretch at any point in the day as the one where you will eat.

So long as you stick to that specific six hour stretch for a few weeks in a row, you get the benefits of intermittent fasting. It includes better metabolism, improved fat burning, more energy, organ and overall body detoxification and a clearer mind. These are all scientifically proven advantages.

Calorie Cutting

The method we discussed does not involve drastic calorie cutting. Say you want to lose a couple pounds a week. If you cut roughly 1000 calories a day compared to what you burn, you can achieve two pounds a week with ease. Say you burn 1800 calories on a typical day, while you can exercise to add another 600. That is 2400 calories. If you eat 1400 calories a day, you will lose weight at the rate you want.

With intermittent fasting, you will lose even more than two pounds a week, as it boosts your metabolism and you burn additional calories even without adding more exercise to your routine. It is why the diet is so helpful to most.

Healthy Eating

A key element of intermittent fasting that many people ignore is the food that you are putting into your body. Yes, you are fasting for set hours in the day. Yes, you have a calorie limit and you will stick to it almost every day in the week. But what about the type of food you eat? Does that matter?

Yes and no is the real answer. Yes, it matters to overall health. No, it does not matter that much for weight loss. If you just care about cutting weight right now, you can eat unhealthy food with intermittent fasting and see most of its benefits.

But if you want all the benefits and you want to live a long, healthy life, you should also eat foods that are good for you! Fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean protein and other healthy fats.