Intermittent fasting has been a practice since our ancestors during the old ages. It is a powerful technique in improving cholesterol quality and insulin resistance. You can do this by simply eating during a specific time. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple days a week, can help your body burn fat. When you fast, several things happen in your body on the cellular and molecular level. Your body adjusts hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible. Your cells also initiate important repair processes and change the expression of genes. The levels of growth hormone will get higher until five times. This has benefits for fat loss and muscle gain.

By making you eat fewer meals, intermittent fasting can lead to an automatic reduction of calorie intake. An average person can loose upto 3-5 kgs once intermittent fasting was done correctly and without much effort on exercise. Rapid weight loss can be achieved by loosing upto 10-11 lbs. per week as long as you do it safely. One example is if you complete three intense, metabolic resistance-training sessions, another three interval-training sessions, and you are diligent about eating a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet and lose 10 pounds in one week. You will never go wrong as long as you supply your body with enough nutrients during your eating windows.

During the times when you’re not eating, water and zero-calorie beverages such as black coffee and tea are permitted. During your eating periods, “eating normally” does not mean you can go binging, else this diet won’t work. You’re not likely to lose weight or get healthier if you stuff yourself with high-calorie junk foods, sweets and starch. Here is a 7 day meal plan to start you up and prepare you to the low-carb intermittent fasting.

1. Meal skipping method – the idea with this method is to skip meals from time to time. For example, if you're really not hungry for a particular time, skip breakfast and just eat a healthy lunch and dinner. This method is advisable for beginners to prepare and train your system for fasting.

2. The 5:2 diet – this is another method for beginners wherein you may want to eat normally 5 days of the week while restricting your calorie intake to 500–600 for 2 days of the week. In this method, you might eat normally every day of the week except Tuesdays and Fridays. For those two days, you eat 2 small meals of 250 calories each for women and 300 calories each for men.

3. The 12/12 method – it simply means eating only within a 12-hour window, and fasting for the other 12 hours of the day. By 12 hours, you’ve entered the metabolic state called ketosis. In this state, your body starts to break down and burn fat. When you are fasting, ketone bodies generated by your liver partly replace glucose as fuel for your brain as well as other organs.

4. The 14/10 method – it simply means eating only within a 10-hour window, and fasting for the other 14 hours of the day.

5. The 16/8 method – This is also popularly known as the "Two Meals on a Day Diet " (TMAD). if you begin intermittent diet with either of the first 4 methods, you may want to take your fasting to the next level. This method involves eating for only 8 hours and fasting every day for 16 hours. You can choose what schedule you want for the 8 hours according to your preference just be sure to follow the schedule for at least 3 months and don’t switch schedules from time to time. Exercising in the fasted state forces the body to use its energy systems more efficiently, since carbohydrate stores are nearly depleted after a 12-16 hour fast.This method can be as simple as not eating anything after dinner and skipping breakfast.

6. The 18/6 method - This means having a six-hour eating schedule. Just like the 16/8 diet, instead of 6 hours, you would cut your meal time into 6.

7. The 20/4 method- Also known as the Warrior Diet. This means having a four-hour eating schedule. Just like the 18/6 diet, instead of 6 hours, you would cut your meal time into 4. For example fasting all day from 8pm to 4 in the afternoon the following day and eat a full meal from 4pm to 8pm. This form of fasting may be best for people who have tried other forms of intermittent fasting already.

8. The 23/1 method- This means having a one-hour eating schedule. This is also known as the One Meal A Day diet which is also known as the OMAD diet.

9. 24-hour fasting- This is also an advanced way to do fasting. It involves a 24-hour fast once or twice per week. For example, if you finish dinner at 8 p.m., don't eat until the following day at 8 p.m. You can also fast from breakfast to breakfast or lunch to lunch. Calorie free beverages are allowed within fasting periods.

10. Alternate-day fasting – this can be an intense way to do fasting so it is not advisable for beginners. It simply means that you have to fast every other day. Drinking liquids such as water, natural fruit juice, tea or coffee is a way to make you feel full.

• Good Memory - Studies discovered that intermittent fasting boosts working memory in animals and verbal memory in adult humans. ¹. As you fast, there will be a rise rates of neurogenesis in the brain. Neurogenesis is the growth and development of new brain cells and nerve tissues. Higher rates of neurogenesis increase brain performance, improved memory, mood and focus. One of the most important proteins that are boosted during fasting is BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). It makes your brain more resilient to stress and more adaptable to change helping to in the production of new brain cells and protecting your current brain cell amd improving your memory. Fasting from 16 to 18 hours boost BDNF levels for 50% to 100% while an extended 36 hours boost it for upto 400%.
• Healthy Heart - Intermittent fasting improved blood pressure and resting heart rates as well as other heart-related measurements. ²
• Performance - Young people who fasted for 16 hours showed fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. The amount of muscle endurance within the body strengthens.³
• Diabetes and Obesity - In animal studies, intermittent fasting prevented obesity. And in six brief studies, obese adult humans lost weight through intermittent fasting.⁴
• Cellular repair - When fasted, your cells initiate cellular repair processes. This includes autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cells. Within 24 hours, your cells are increasingly recycling old components and breaking down misfolded proteins linked to Alzheimer’s and other diseases. This is a process called autophagy. ⁵
• Improves Skin Texture - The glow of our skin depends on the food we eat during fasting. Aside from eating the right food during allowed eating windows, fasting plays an important role in improving the collagen tissues which are responsible for skin eleasticity and glow.
• Anti-aging - Because autophagy is one stage that happens during fasting, this extends to your skin cells potentially slowing down the formation of wrinkles, acne and age spots.There are changes in the function of genes related to longevity and protection against disease ⁶
• Improve Inflammation Conditions - inflammation conditions such as alzheimer's disease, arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis and stroke. By 18 hours of fasting, the body switched to fat-burning mode and are generating significant ketones. As their level in the bloodstream rises, ketones can act as signaling molecules, similar to hormones, to tell your body to ramp up stress-busting pathways that reduce inflammation and repair damaged DNA. ⁷
• Boosts the Immune System -If we fast for a long time like 24-hour or 48-hour fasting, our body reorganizes the immune system and regenerates the immunity stem cells. Our body rejuvenates and create new white blood cells that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders.

It's important to note that intermittent fasting can have unpleasant side effects, but they usually go away within a month. Side effects may include hunger, fatigue, insomnia, nausea, and headaches. You may start with the first and second method in order to make yourself used to fasting in the first 2 months. You can then switch to a more intense fasting as you go on. Experiment and listen to your body as to its effectiveness. Remember, not everybody has the same effect. After fasting, it’s important to break it with a nutritious, balanced meal that will further improve the function of cells and tissues that went through cleanup while you were fasting.

Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. Some people should steer clear of trying intermittent fasting including children and teens under age 18, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, people with blood sugar problems, those with a history of eating disorders, pregnant or breast-feeding women and those who have medical problems.