5 Reasons Why You Should Be Doing Intermittent Fasting

As American obesity rates continue to soar, due to poor nutrition, vacations that make you fat, and general laziness, I can’t help but notice all of the nutrition and fitness trends that circulate around from the “experts.” The most common advice I hear, that everyone must abide by, are these points:

• You must eat breakfast the moment you wake up, the bigger the better
• You must eat eight small meals a day to “keep your metabolism going”. This one makes me laugh because it is a direct contradiction to the first point.
• You must eat lots of carbohydrates if you want to have energy – in fact, carbs are GREAT for you!
• If you eat lots of fruits and veggies, you will automatically lose weight, but they fail to mention that eating 3,000 calories worth of rabbit food without exercising will result in you not losing any weight

The list goes on and on. At the end of the day, obesity “experts” don’t actually want to completely eliminate obesity, and why would they? People are paying thousands of dollars for easy methods of losing weight like surgeries, consultations, and fitness programs. Doctors, like you and I, are in it to make money. Obesity doctors do not want to cure obesity because they would take themselves out of a job, for the same reason that fertility specialists encourage young girls to be on birth control when they are most fertile, because they get to then rob them financially later in life when they can’t get pregnant.

Intermittent fasting has become very popular in recent years with blogs such as LeanGains pouring out a wealth of information regarding it. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it involves cutting down your food intake to twice a day – none of this constant snacking bullshit. General guidelines are to allow for a 16 hour fasting window, with an 8 hour feeding window. Here is what my personal setup looks like:

• 7:00am – Wake up
• No breakfast
• Drink lots of water throughout the morning, and a cup of straight black coffee if I’m really hungry, as it seems to help stave off hunger
• 11:00am – First meal of the day, I eat at my desk.
• 2:00pm – Workout
• 3:00pm – Very, very light post-workout snack or just a protein shake
• 6:30pm – Eat my second meal, hopefully finish up by 7:00pm.
• Repeat cycle

This means that from 7:00pm – 11:00am, I consume no food. The only calories would be that occasional cup of coffee. Truthfully, my routine isn’t perfect—the LeanGains site I linked before contains a wealth of knowledge about supplements you should be taking and the exact timing of your meals/workouts.

Here’s five reasons why you should also try Intermittent Fasting.

Greatly Improved Clarity

When your body has to process food, it expends resources that are usually used for other bodily functions to do so. That’s where the “food coma” term comes from – when you feel so tired you want to shut down, because your body is too busy processing the mountain of food you just piled into it.

Intermittent fasting eliminates this. When I wake up in the morning and start my work, I am much more mentally sharp than after eating. I attribute part of this due to it being early in the day when general mental fatigue has not yet set in, but certainly not all of it.

Self Discipline

This is something most people struggle with. They can’t bring themselves to go to the gym, can’t bring themselves to cook, and often, can hardly get themselves out of bed in the morning. Intermittent fasting teaches you discipline – you know the hours you can eat, and until then, you simply cannot. The allure of food is one of the most tempting forces out there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard to pass on the donuts everyone in the office eats in the morning, but I feel significantly more in control and awesome when I brush them away.

Eating Big

I recognize not everyone has the same outlook, but I personally love eating big meals. Part of this is because I sometimes lack self control once I get going. Before I know it, I’m rolling around and moaning about how I’m in a food coma.

The problem is, when you eat three large meals a day, you’re bound to gain weight. Intermittent Fasting cuts this by 33%, which is huge. It makes it much easier to do the next point:

Control Your Weight

Just doing Intermittent Fasting alone, and not completely stuffing yourself at every meal will maintain your weight. You won’t get ripped, and probably won’t lose any weight, but you won’t blow up and start putting money into obesity doctor’s pockets. If you do workout consistently, then congratulations—participating in Intermittent Fasting means you can eat whatever you want and maintain your figure. I’m not saying eat a Domino’s Pizza when you’re aiming to get a summer beach body, but I generally eat whatever the hell I want and easily maintain my leanness.

It’s Not What Everyone Else Does

Your average person absolutely has to eat breakfast, because all of the experts say it is the most important meal of the day—one you definitely should not skip. Of course, their breakfast is rarely healthy. Typically, breakfast consists of sugary cereals, protein bars which are as bad as candy, and other easy to eat on the go meals that hold little-to-no nutritional value.

Your average person snacks constantly all day because they are told to do that.

Your average person eats whenever they feel like it, even if it’s well into the night.

Don’t be average, because your average person is a fat slob. If you’re having trouble knocking some weight off, or just want an easier way to control your weight, do your own research give Intermittent Fasting a try. It made my life much simpler.

Read More: 4 Reasons Why Your Diet Sucks