What is the Best Intermittent fasting protocol?

There are many, many different types of intermittent fasting out there. So it is only natural to ask: What is the best intermittent fasting protocol? This is not an easy question to answer on your own, and because of this, we have written this article that can help you choose the right type of fasting.

The best type of intermittent fasting will depend in large part on you as a person. While most people can try the many different types of intermittent fasting, there are certain types that are better for certain sexes, temperaments, body types, athleticism, and so on.

In this article, we will briefly go over the most common types of intermittent fasting, and which of them might be right for you.

5:2

The 5:2 is a very popular type of intermittent fasting – and with good reason! In 5:2, your week gets separated into 5 “normal” days and 2 fasting days, hence the name.

During the normal days, you can eat however you want, and during the fasting days, you restrict your caloric intake to 500~600 calories. 5:2 is very easy to follow and something that most people can easily overcome.

Because of this, 5:2 is ideal for people just starting out with intermittent fasting, or those who aren’t ready for more intense forms of fasting.

If you just prefer a more relaxed approach to intermittent fasting, where you aren’t as tightly regulated, 5:2 can give you great flexibility. You could for example skip meals a few weekdays and eat well during your weekends, or whichever other days you prefer.

16:8

Like 5:2, 16:8 is named after a fixed period of time. but where 5:2 refers to the seven days in a week, 16:8 refers to the 24 hours in a day. You have probably already guessed it, but the method involves fasting for 16 hours and then have an 8-hour eating window.

Only having 8 hours to eat in might sound very restrictive, but it can actually be very easy to practice. For example, if you don’t eat anything after 8 pm and then wait until noon the next day to eat, you have successfully passed a 16-hour fasting window.

Because of this, instinctual breakfast-skippers might be practicing 16:8 already. 16:8 is therefore ideal for beginners and those who like consistency. For most people, it is not too big of a change to skip breakfast or some other meal. However, some people find the constant nature of fasting a bit restrictive. You might want breakfast some days, and some days not.

An interesting side-note: when you break the word “breakfast” down to its components you get “break” and “fast” and therefore the idea of fasting might not have been too distinct from our daily lives for our ancestors.

Eat stop eat

Eat stop eat is a lot like the 5:2 diet. However, instead of limiting your intake to 500 calories, you do a complete 24-hour fast two days a week. Because of these similarities, Eat-stop-eat can be seen as a more advanced form of 5:2.

If you want success with Eat-stop-eat, the most important thing to keep in mind is to eat normally afterward. This means to resist the temptation to binge-eat or overindulge in calories. Instead, Brad Pilon who pioneered the technique, says that you should “pretend the fast never happened” and go back to your natural eating habits afterward.

Just like 5:2, the benefits are the flexibility that the method provides. You can definitely do fasting days on a schedule, but you can also do them as you feel like it. However, you should not do two fasting days in a row as a beginner.

Meal-skipping

Have you ever skipped a meal? If you have, you could call that a small intermittent fast. Your body is very robust and quite adept at telling you when you need food. Therefore if you ever don’t feel hungry, you can feel free to skip a meal, as long as you eat a healthy one later.

This method is of course very, very easy to get started with. It can be done completely spontaneously, and without having to adhere to any schedules at all.

Moreover, the light nature of meal-skipping means that it can be a gentle and easy entry to trying out intermittent fasting.

On the downside, if you only practice meal-skipping, you might be slower to develop the long-term metabolic benefits that intermittent fasting can provide. For example, your food cravings might not go away as quickly, or certain side effects might take longer to subside.

Another thing is that you probably won’t be diving into a deeper state of ketosis where your body predominantly uses fat as a fuel source and reach stages where processes such as autophagy occur and where levels of Human Growth Hormone rises substantially which are some of the great benefits of “real” fasts.

Alternate day fasting

Alternate day fasting means that you have a fasting day every other day. This means that 3-4 days in your week will consist of a maximum caloric intake of 500.

Alternate day fasting is an advanced form of intermittent fasting, that isn’t recommended for beginners. The most common problem with the fast is that hunger, cravings, and a lack of “fullness” can make it a challenging type of intermittent fasting.

Articles on the effectiveness of alternate-day fasting are not clear. One study claims that alternate-day fasting wasn’t more effective than conventional caloric reduction. Another study by Krista A Varady, who pioneered the fasting method, shows that it can be effective for weight loss.

Because of this, alternate-day fasting is mostly recommended for people experienced with fasting. It can be an exciting challenge, and it might be the perfect fit for some people. However, beginners should not pick it up.

Warrior diet

The warrior diet involves eating much like a warrior would do in ancient times. This means periods of fasting, with bursts of overeating.

The warrior diet is the invention of fitness expert Ori Hofmekler. In his book “The warrior diet” he claims that eating like our ancestors can be a key to a leaner physique, greater weight loss, and enhance performance. By emulating these habits, you can activate “survival instincts”.

However, the science behind the warrior diet is not much different from that of normal intermittent fasting.

Practically, the warrior diet consists of a 4-hour eating window, with a 20-hour fasting window. While fasting, you are allowed to eat small portions like nuts and berries.

Because of the long fasting window, and the similarity to other types of intermittent fasting, the warrior diet is mostly ideal for those looking for a diet, to combine with their intermittent fasting. While you can eat what you want during your eating window, Hofmekler recommends eating a diet that looks close to the paleo diet.