The Best Stress-free method for weightloss: Intermittent Fasting

Weight loss is the dream of many people with diabetes and is overweight. This is so because insulin, the drug you take to reduce your blood sugar, is the same thing that’s causing your weight gain.

Let me explain why.

Insulin’s purpose is to move glucose into your body cells. The more insulin you inject, the more glucose is moved into your cells to stabilize your blood sugar.

When your cells absorb too much glucose, it converts the exercise into fat. And this fat causes weight gain. That’s one reason why you experience weight gain after taking insulin for a while.

The sad aspect is that as you gain weight, you put pressure on your arteries and the remaining body organs. That’s why you sometimes see heart, liver, or kidney failures with people having diabetes

It doesn’t have to be this way

This problem can easily be reversed with intermittent fasting.

Think of it this way. Let’s say anything you eat equals one tablespoon of glucose. Hence, when you eat three main meals and four different snacks at different intervals in the same day, then you have introduced seven tablespoons of glucose into your blood.

On the other hand, when you eat only your regular three meals a day, then you have only three tablespoons of glucose in your blood.

With fasting, you are not eating, and therefore your body would have to use up the excess sugar in your blood and cells for fuel. That’s why intermittent fasting induces weight loss. It also protects you from long-term diabetes complications such as amputation, blindness, or stroke.

In this article, I’ll explain briefly how intermittent fasting can aid in weight loss, and how you can get started without the fear of being hungry.

Let’s start with why intermittent fasting is the most effective weight-loss method, especially when you have diabetes.

Why intermittent fasting

As I mentioned before, the more you eat, the more you introduce glucose into your bloodstream. And the more glucose you introduce, the higher your sugar level would be. That’s where intermittent fasting comes in.

Intermittent fasting is simply the deliberate avoidance of food within a particular window of time. This is different from starving. You starve when there’s no food to eat when you’re hungry.

According to science daily, when you combine aerobic exercise with moderate reductions in the number of calories you consume each day, you improve the health of your arteries and veins, more than exercise alone.

This makes a lot of sense.

When you’re not eating, your body is forced to tap into the glucose stores in the cells and wherever they’re hiding. When those glucose stores ran dry, your body starts to use up the fat stores.

And that’s what you want to achieve. We want your body to make use of the fat stores so that you can lose weight.

Okay, so now that you know how intermittent fasting can help you lose weight, let’s see how you can easily get started.

Simplest way to intermittent fast for weightloss

Among the many methods of intermittent fasting out there, there’s one that I prefer. It’s called the 16/8 method. That is 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating.

It may sound scary to fast for good 16 hours. It’s not that extreme. Let’s do the maths.

Let’s say you have your dinner at 5 PM, and then you eat nothing again until 9 AM. This gives you 16 hours of fast.

From 9 AM to 5 PM, you are allowed to eat as much as you can. Of course, you still have to watch what you eat if you want to see any results in your weight loss.

Sure, you don’t have to follow this rule like some compulsory tradition. It’s best to keep it flexible. You can start intermittent fasting by banning yourself from eating in-between meals. That way you’ll eat only your main breakfast, lunch, and supper. Nothing in-between.

For a beginner, you can start fasting for 12-15 hours. It shouldn’t be every day. With time when you’re comfortable with that, you can increase the hours and number of days you fast.

I made a post on what to eat when you’re fasting. Check it out as a reference.

Intermittent fasting for weight loss does wonders to the body, no matter your age. It is especially true if you are obese and are over 50 years old. However, there are few precautions you need to take when initiating intermittent fasting.

Precautions you definately have to take so you don’t land in hospital

Everything has its downsides. Intermittent fasting is no exception. That’s why you need to take these precautions so that you don’t end up in the emergency room. For simplicity, I’ll put them in bullet points. Shoot me an email at audrey@abadede.com with any questions you might have.

1. Speak with your doctor before you make any major changes in your diet.

2. Carry glucose tablets when you’re fasting, just in case you might experience episodes of hypoglycemia

3. Watch what you eat. Eat balanced whole meals to

4. Keep close contact with your doctor. You’ll need him now more than eaver.

5. Be patient with your weitht. When you don’t see changes instantly, it doesn’t mean that youfasting is bad, or that It’s not for you. We are all different in various ways ,and hence our reslults would bary form person to person.The key is persistence.

Take Aways

Here’s the point. No matter what you may have heard, intermittent fasting is the most effective weightloss method if you have diabetes and are overweight. You only have to take it slowly. Instead of starting vigorously, you could simply start by avoiding snacks and junk food every now and then.

With time when you’re used to that, then you can include longer hours of fast. Just remember to speak with your doctor before you start. It’s also important to continue keeping in touch him along the way.

That way, he or she would be able to measure your progress and tweak your medications to suit your needs.

Your turn. How else have you managed your weight that you think others might benefit from?Do you know anyone who might benefit from the information here?