Can exercise help with weight loss when also following intermittent fasting?
Hey lovely, still scrolling around the internet to find the next best thing to help with maintaining, losing and managing weight?
We’ve all been there haven’t we! There is so much information available and it’s hard sometimes to find out what will really work for us and what will best fit in with our busy lives.
The best way to maintain healthy weight is through diet and lifestyle by implementing sustainable habits and changes into our lives. But what if we tell you there's a secret weapon to help with weight loss?
Amazing results can be attained by combining a healthy diet, physical exercise and Intermittent Fasting.
Wednesday Cleanse Day is here to help and support you to achieve your health and wellness goals so read on to find out more.
Does Exercise Help You Lose Weight?The answer is, yes, it does!
Research also supports that exercise is an integral and holistic approach to weight loss. [1] When we exercise, our body utilises the nutrients in our diet. It then uses these nutrients to feed our tiny workers (also known as cells) to work efficiently and to help us continue our physical activity.
When we lower our carb intake or do not eat for several hours, our body runs out of carbohydrates, switching to fat reservoirs to keep working.
You may know and have heard about how our bodies cholesterol level will increase dangerously when we are constantly consuming fatty foods and not burning the excess fat. This can expose individuals to higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, stroke, and hypertension. [2]
We may be doing healthy exercises regularly, but what does our diet plan look like?
If we consume too many calories thinking that exercise will compensate for it, we may simply be stressing ourselves out. In this regard, planning a good diet and understanding our calories may help lose weight.
Exercise, Diet and Intermittent FastingTo explain a bit more about combining intermittent fasting and exercise for weight loss here’s how beneficial it can be:
Intermittent Fasting means we have a window of eating and a period where we fast for period of the day, depending on which method is being followed. The most common method is the 16:8 method with an eating window of 8 hours and fasting for the remaining 16 hours but ensuring that as much of the fasting period is during sleep.
When our body can't find carbs in the diet, it consumes energy storage. First, it utilises the fats and later the proteins for energy-requiring mechanisms, thus reducing extra weight.
Which brings us to the following point: how do you opt for the best possible strategy to manage weight loss while combining exercise, diet and Intermittent Fasting?
Some strategies to Lose Weight can be- Maintain a Balanced Diet: Make a chart for your daily calorie consumption. It must contain a healthy amount of all micro and macro-nutrients. Plan it and do follow it religiously. It is necessary to eat all kinds of foods (everything in moderation hey?) just as long as they are all incorporated it all in our caloric intake.
- Drink low-Calorie Liquids: Drinks like water, Wednesday Cleanse Day’s pretty pink tonic and black tea can serve you well and keep you hydrated. Studies show that green tea boosts your metabolic rate and acts as an antioxidant. [3] [4] Wednesday Cleanse Day will also give you a nutrient boost with all its good, natural ingredients.
- Pair Your Exercise with Intermittent Fasting: Managing your eating interval is a great way to lose weight. So, pair your exercise with intermittent fasting. You can choose your fasting hours.
- Exercise Regularly: Exercising regularly is a necessity for weight loss and overall well being. The amount of exercise needed varies from individual to individual. It can have a combination of both moderate to vigorous activity so you can do some yoga and aerobics to stay fit but most importantly make it something that you look forward to doing!
Talking about exercise, we must look at what other health effects it can provide us.
4 Benefits of Exercising with Intermittent Fasting:1. Weight Loss
The Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey from 2017-18 revealed that 67% of Australians were overweight or obese. IF has been proven helpful in achieving success in reducing body weight. [5]
The carbohydrates in our diet convert into a storage form of sugar called glycogen, broken down into glucose when needed. If we are combining diet routines with physical training, our body may start burning fats at a quicker pace.
2. Prevention of Diseases
Did you know that refraining from eating while fasting and keeping a good meal interval can help you prevent diseases? During a fasted state our body starts eating unhealthy and harmful cells, known as autophagy. A study shows that fasting can help enhanced cognitive performance and improve longevity. [6]
3. Lowering Diabetic and Cardiac Risks
Over recent decades, Type 2 or insulin resistance diabetes is becoming more common even in the younger generation. High blood sugar and lipid levels are a gateway to cardiovascular problems. A way to manage and improve this is to manage our diets and to have a regular exercise routine.
4. Brain Health
Our brain is like a control station of your body. It shouldn't be stressed out. Working out and combing diet and intermittent fasting can help dramatically improve mental health. Drink some detox juices to hunt down harmful reactive oxygen species involved in the pathways of headache and neurodegenerative diseases.
Is Intermittent Fasting and Exercise Effective for Losing Weight?It all depends on the individual’s lifestyle and routine but by implementing some key changes around what we eat, when we eat and what our exercise routine is, we can vastly improve our feelings of health and wellness. These are all habits that can benefit a long and health life!
Which Exercises Are Best with Intermittent Fasting?The quick answer is any movement and exercise is fantastic for body and mind, some examples are:
- Walking/ jogging
- Sprint training/HIIT
- Yoga
- Aerobics
- Cycling
- Pilates
Longevity depends on staying healthy. It’s never too late to adapt our routines and lifestyles to incorporate ways to get and stay feeling amazing. It’s all about having a good balance!
Wednesday Cleanse Day’s delicious pretty pink tonic can help to support your health and wellness goals, head to our shop to find out more about our collection today!
References:
[1] D'Souza, A. C., Lau, K. J., & Phillips, S. M. (2022). Exercise in the maintenance of weight loss: health benefits beyond lost weight on the scale. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(13), 771-772.
[2] Gellar, E., Bane gas, J. R., Blasco-Colmenares, E., Jiménez, F. J., Dallongeville, J., Halcox, J. P., ... & Rodríguez-Artalejo, F. (2011). Excess risk attributable to traditional cardiovascular risk factors in clinical practice settings across Europe-The EURIKA Study. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 1-11.
[3] Chacko, S. M., Thambi, P. T., Kuttan, R., & Nishigaki, I. (2010). Beneficial effects of green tea: a literature review. Chinese medicine, 5(1), 1-9.
[4] Khan, N., & Mukhtar, H. (2013). Tea and health: studies in humans. Current pharmaceutical design, 19(34), 6141-6147.
[5] Templeman, I., Thompson, D., Gonzalez, J., Walhin, J. P., Reeves, S., Rogers, P. J., ... & Betts, J. A. (2018). Intermittent fasting, energy balance and associated health outcomes in adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 19(1), 1-11.
[6] Brandhorst, S., Choi, I. Y., Wei, M., Cheng, C. W., Sedrakyan, S., Navarrete, G., ... & Longo, V. D. (2015). A periodic diet that mimics fasting promotes multi-system regeneration, enhanced cognitive performance, and healthspan. Cell metabolism, 22(1), 86-99.