The 'Most Effective' Method Of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is changing the way people eat. But there are so many different ways to fast these days, is one method better than all the rest? Personal trainer and health coach, Max Lowery says, cutting your eating down to just 2 meals a day is the best way to tackle fasting head-on. He also believes that the popular 16:8 method isn't as perfect as it seems.

With just one slight adjustment, he says you can make it far more effective. You can learn more about his lifestyle on Instagram.

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Following is the transcript of the video:

Max Lowery: So 16:8 is basically, you break your day up into a period of a 16-hour fast with an 8-hour eating window. And I think it's just, you know, for me, it's just the more natural way of eating. Obviously, most people that start doing the two meal day is because of weight loss, and yes, they are losing weight but actually, we're constantly hearing how people have so much more energy throughout the day. They are not having, you know, this energy crashes because they aren't so dependent on food for energy, they are using body fat. They realize that they don't have to constantly eat to get themselves through the day.

So the reason I started the two meal day — it's not the 16:8, is because one of the main issues that people come into with the 16:8 is that they get obsessed with the time periods. And they start counting down the hours until they can eat and they end up eating because the clock tells them to rather than their body tells them to. It's essentially the same thing, in terms of, what's going on, but just changing the focus to listening to your body is when it becomes a way of life because you're understanding yourself better. 

If someone says, "Okay, how do I start tomorrow?" First of all, choose whether you're going to find it easier to skip dinner or you're going to find it's easier to skip breakfast. So say you're skipping breakfast, I would say, "Okay, what time do you normally have your breakfast?" Average person says 8 a.m. I'll say, "Okay, rather than 8 a.m., go in to work or whatever you are doing and wait until 10 a.m. and see how you feel." And then basically, over the course of two weeks, push until it's a 16-hour gap. And the whole time you are listening to your body, you're kind of, hopefully learning to understand that just because your stomach is empty, does not mean that you are hungry. 

Then the main thing is that you fundamentally need to be eating whole foods cooked from scratch. A lot of other intermittent fasting methods have been like, "Oh no, you can eat what you want but just in a small time period" or "Eat what you want for 5 days." That doesn't encourage changes in behavior long-term, which is obviously, fundamentally what the issue is for some people. So all I'm trying to do is just educate people and give them the tools to listen to their bodies better and that's really what it boils down to.

[PussyDevourer]

I'm doing 16:8 for almost 30yrs now. Very effective and powerful.

16hrs of feasting and 8hrs of sleeping.

[bayani]

Before: I'm too lazy to cook today
Now: I'm fasting

[Shamoo]

Started eating only two meals a day and drinking tons of water and I’ve lost about 35 pounds in about 4 months. I’m much more motivated and energetic as well. It truly works!

[shark_plissken]

when i listen to my body, it tells me to eat

[GainzzGangg]

Here's what intermittent fasting has done for us:
Myself- 73 lbs in 5 months
My Mom- 9 lbs in 6 weeks
My Twin Sister - 17 lbs in 8 weeks
my mom and sister just started at the beginning of the year in January, it doesn't happen overnight, but stay consistent and it will happen

[jeiku]

Fasting? Oh, you mean not having enough money to eat anything. Thanks college.

[cmetzg]

4 hour eating window everyday for me. With a 48 hour fast at the end of each week. Also following the ketogenic diet. These two methods worked wonders for me. Dropped 70 pounds in 7 months

[MrTranMan]

I found the combination of Intermittent fasting, a low carb clean diet, and maintaining a caloric deficit really helped me reach my weight-loss goals personally.

[OldeVikingOriginal]

I've kept the one meal a day plan going for about a month now. I never thought that I would have energy or focus during the day but it feels really good. Also I can really feel what the foods I eat do to my body and mind more and more, the other day I had a pizza with a side salad. I was completely wrecked that morning. Decided to eat something more healthy and what would you know, I felt much better the day after and still going strong. Eating all the time makes me lose connection to what I need and how I feel from what I've eaten. This really helps to keep track of my humours.

[MikeCola]

Intermittent fasting & time restricted eating can increase autophagy
- intermittent fasting and autophagy go hand in hand. When the body is deprived of nutrition it is forced to make decisions to survive. It will get ride of damaged cells and focus on strong healthy ones. Autophagy is the housekeeper of cells. Removing and clearing damaged organelles.

[michaelryan]

I am on the20 fasting and a 4 hour eating window in 5 weeks i lost 36pounds thank you for me finding this it chance my life i feel better

[laudydorado]

I tried this with a friend who lose weight. If your starting out, skipping breakfast works better especially for working people and just eat every lunch time then the other by dinner just by adjusting your time. Remember, you won't notice your on fasting during the sleeping time which is ideal for the 16 hours.

[georgejung]

Don't buy the book. He explained in this video the entire book.

[kirataylor]

This is great I have eaten 1 meal a day usually dinner for over 20years I used to be told I was crazy, starving myself it wasn’t healthy…… during the pandemic started eating 3 meals a day, due to boredom, nothing to do, and emotional eating. In 2 short years I’ve gained over 30lbs and have less energy, and have gotten sick more that the previous 20years.

My personal experience with intermediate fasting is this, your body gets used the eating schedule, and I stopped feeling hungry during the day, if I felt extra hungry in the afternoon I would drink a glass of water then if I still felt hungry I would eat a light snack, then a few hours later dinner. I’ve consistently weighed 110-125 I’m 5’2” female. I was rarely sick with colds or flus. And always very active. I have no health issues and only do the annual doctors visit.
I’m currently going back to my old eating habits with a 5 day fast on day 4. I’m going back to this lifestyle as I feel terrible all the time and again have gotten colds, covid continually since I stated eating more. I have always been a healthy weight before and felt great. I wish more people looked at fasting as a lifestyle and did not put so much focus on food we as a society spend so much time thinking about, preparing, eating, cleaning up meals imagine that time spent on learning something new, or hobbies you enjoy!

[shackledwithfreedom]

I'm doing 36/12 fasting and the fat burning after the 24 hour mark is really insane. My ketone level triples between 24 and 36 hours. I've been overweight most of my life so my insulin resistance is quite high. I need to do longer fasts to force my body to burn fat. I hope that due to the autophagy my insulin sensitivity will improve over time. So far IF works out really well. I lose 0.2 kg/day without slowing my metabolism down. The downside of this approach is that the ketones get rid of the hunger feeling and I literally need to force myself to eat on feeding days.

[glenvillanueva]

It only hurts on the first week. But once you get used to it... It still hurts when other people around you are eating.

[atalayooo]

I go 18:6 of IF easily. I eat at 1 p.m., and 7 p.m..I do it for a year. I lost 50 lbs, and still leaning, even though I haven't been lost a pound for 2 months. I do my weight lifting and cardio like 3-4 days a week maximum (45-60 minutes a session). And thats enough. I feel great. I look better every week.

[remkojerphanion]

I've been on the 16:8 regime for some time, and it's easy. Not only do I restrict the time frame in which I eat, but I actually eat less because my body isn't craving at all. I do however, make sure that I eat whole food and very little carbohydrates. Works for me!

[ikeman]

Bro I grew up in Africa I didn't even know I've been doing intermittent fasting since my youth. We didn't eat in the morning cos we didn't have enough food to eat in the morning..

[ADOS_DSGB]

I've been doing this method and I love it. I started out doing 16/8 but now I'm do 18/6, two big meals and maybe a snack.