16/8 Intermittent Fasting: A Beginner’s Guide

Goldilocks would choose 16-8 fasting periods as her ideal fasting regimen; these fasting intervals don’t extend too long into discomfort, yet don’t wane in effectiveness too quickly.

Habitual 16 8 fasting (commonly written 16/8 fasting) provides immense potential benefits – weight loss, metabolic health improvements etc – once adopted into daily practice.

Are 16/8 intermittent fasts the right starting point for beginners? (Hint: Goldi isn’t!) What benefits and risks should be expected? Furthermore, how can this intermittent fasting approach fit into everyday life?

Read for four minutes and you will have your answers.

Intermittent Fasting Basics
Intermittent fasting involves regularly restricting calories for short periods, to shift your body from energy storage mode into energy burning mode:

Energy Storage Mode. When we eat, excess energy is stored as body fat; when we fast, our bodies access body fat as fuel for energy production. Both states (fed and fasted) are essential to human flourishing and oscillating between them helps us remain metabolically healthy.

Humans evolved to live in balance, yet we are currently stuck in storage mode (are you having your fourth meal?) And thus there is an obesity crisis looming over us all.

Intermittent fasting acts as a reset button; we refuel by expending energy only on occasion.

Intermittent fasting comes in two main varieties:

Today we will explore daily fasting (also called time-restricted feeding or TRF), also known as time-restricted feeding (TRF). When practicing TRF, calories must be consumed within an agreed-upon window each day – usually between 16:00-18:00 hours.

16/8 Intermittent Fasting can be defined as eating all your calories within an 8-hour daily window and then fasting for 16 hours of each day.

In practice, this may mean forgoing breakfast and having your first meal around noon before finishing dinner at 8 PM – or starting earlier by having breakfast around 9 AM and dining on your last bite by 5 PM.

As much as possible, try eating during daylight hours. Food helps regulate your circadian rhythm – the 24-hour wake/sleep cycle that shapes a large chunk of our genome – just as light does.

Fasting overnight provides many health advantages of TRF. Your sleep improves, your genes work more effectively, and everything feeds back into a virtuous cycle of wellbeing.

And you don’t need to fast for 16 hours for these circadian benefits; even an overnight fast of 12-13 hours should suffice.

Beginners should begin slowly. Assess how overnight fasting feels before increasing it if necessary.

How Many Calories to Consume during Intermittent Fasting Time-restricted feeding does not limit how much you can consume; rather, it restricts when and how often.

People tend to consume fewer calories on 16/8. With shorter feeding windows, individuals often consume fewer food items.

Dieting to aid weight loss is the cornerstone of success, and skipping breakfast with 16/8 is an effective strategy to do just that.

Bottom line, most likely you don’t need to restrict calories actively; if you’re finding it hard to shed those last pounds on 16/8, though, Carb Manager could help track and moderate portions for you.

16/8 Intermittent Fasting Meal Structure
Instead of inundating you with a comprehensive 16/8 intermittent fasting meal structure plan for 7 days, let’s instead cover the principles behind TRF meal structures so that you can create your own customized schedules.

Prioritize protein. With less hours to feed, you have less meals in which to take in this essential macronutrient for muscle maintenance, DNA repair, hormonal health and much more.

If you want to maintain strength, your meals should focus on protein sources like meat, fish, eggs and so on. Aim for between 1.2-1.6 grams per kilogram bodyweight on average daily protein intake (100 daily grams is an ideal goal for most).

Beyond protein, strive to fill your plate with nutrient-rich whole foods – such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and healthy fats–rather than processed products loaded with empty sugar calories.

Remind yourself that you’re eating within a limited window; make your diet as nutritious and varied as possible within that window.

Potential Advantages of 16/8 Format.

As previously discussed, time-restricted feeding offers numerous health advantages that ripple throughout our bodies.

Clinical studies have also demonstrated how 16/8 fasting can benefit:

Weight loss, reduced blood sugar levels, inflammation reduction and other indicators of metabolic improvement are the hallmarks of better metabolic health for obese and diabetic populations.

Potential Risks of 16/8
One risk associated with 16/8 is muscle atrophy. Studies have proven this can happen, however adequate protein must be consumed along with strength training programs to achieve this result.

Another risk of fasting is experiencing headaches, muscle cramps, fatigue and other related side effects. While adding electrolytes (particularly sodium) might help with these issues, sometimes altering your protocol may be necessary to alleviate symptoms.

Pregnant and nursing women, children under the age of 10, underweight people, and people suffering from eating disorders should avoid fasting altogether. Furthermore, anyone diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should seek advice from a healthcare professional before making any moves that could result in fasting.

Let’s close this section out with three quick tips for implementing 16/8 intermittent fasting.

First Step in Health Management
Don’t fast just because it’s “healthy.” Instead, establish what goals you wish to meet through fasting before starting.

Obese people have different goals from lean and athletic individuals because they need to shed more fat (and less muscle mass).

Always carefully weigh any potential fasting benefits with potential muscle atrophy risks when selecting an eating protocol, such as 16/8. It may or may not fit this description perfectly.

2. Step Two: Build Up To It For those just beginning fasting, starting small may be key. Start off by fasting for 12 hours overnight to gain experience before trying 16/8 fasts.

Switch your dinner and breakfast meals (say from 7 to 7) without eating for at least seven hours and observe any improvements in sleep, mood, body composition and other areas.

Once you feel confident about fasting, extend the window of opportunity.

3.3) Evaluate
It’s true that some can wing-and-pray on 16/8 and still achieve results, but when starting out it is wiser to measure progress with something like Carb Manager. It allows you to keep tabs on what progress has been made over time.

Log your meals and calories eaten to track calorie consumption; track macronutrients (particularly protein) and micronutrient intake; count down fasting periods using our Intermittent Fasting Tracker; create custom fasting protocols, or follow well-known regimens like 16/8; keep track of body weight, sleep quality, blood sugar levels and other health metrics
Over time, your new eating patterns will become second nature and you can focus on puppies, rainbows and sunshine again.