What Is The 16:8 Diet And How Does It Help For Weight Loss?

Losing weight is no longer just about dieting anymore. With so much information out there (thank you technology), choosing a diet plan that exactly suits your bodily needs is no longer an issue.

One diet has been trending recently, and it's called intermittent fasting.

There are several different types of intermittent fasting but the 16:8 diet method is typically the most common.

What is the 16:8 diet?

The 16:8 diet requires you to fast for 16 hours and eat for the remaining eight hours. For example, if you keep your eight hours of eating fixed in the middle of the day, let’s say 10 am to 6 pm, you are not supposed to eat anything for the next 16 hours. Normal intermittent fasting requires you to eat two meals with an eight hour break. This derivative is dependent on the calorie deficit it creates in the body, which ultimately leads to weight loss.

Read: 9 Easy Strategies for Rapid Weight Loss

It is better to opt for early morning hours to complete your eating schedule since your metabolism is high during this time and energy burning capacity is at its peak. It is advised to eat healthy foods during this eight hour period and stick to caffeinated options such as black tea or coffee during the 16 hour fasting period.

How does the diet work?

Once you start following the 16:8 diet plan, your body enters a state of ketosis. This means that it starts using your fat stores to burn energy and produces ketones in your urine. So, even without following a proper keto diet, you are still losing weight the same way.

Related: 10 Ways Your Mind Makes You Fat

Secondly, 16:8 diet creates a calorie deficit in your body. This means you are consuming less calories than your body requires. Calorie deficit is a classic way of losing weight. However, it is not always sustainable.

---

Note: If you want to try a new strategy to approach weight loss, a fitness/nutrition expert as well as coach and former Marine Corps Sergeant Kyle Cooper recently invented the science-backed Fat Decimator System, in which you avoid eating this ONE veggie and promises to lose 1 pound belly fat every 72 hours.

Backed by independent clinical research from some of the world's top universities, it works by decimating the fat cells in your body and melting them away with incredible speed while skyrocketing your energy levels and youthfulness, balances your body chemistry, and ramp up your sex drive to optimum efficiency. Go there now or follow the button below. FIND OUT MORE

(Note: They accept refunds)

---

In a study published in the Journal Nutrition and Health Aging, 23 participants practiced 16:8 diet plan. They ate between 10 am to 6 pm and fasted for the remaining 16 hours. At the end of 12 weeks, the participants were found to eat 350 calories lesser than they usually did.

"These findings suggest that 8-hour time restricted feeding produces mild caloric restriction and weight loss in obese adults, without intentional calorie counting," the study authors wrote, emphasizing that while the results are promising, longer-term, larger-scale research around the 16:8 diet is still needed. Most other studies around intermittent fasting have used animals instead of human participants.

Who is this diet for?

There are certainly downsides to this lifestyle. Not eating in the evenings can have an adverse effect on your social life (dinner and drinks with friends becomes a lot trickier) and home life, if you normally eat with your partner or family at night.

Read: 9 Invisible Reasons Your Diet Is Not Working

But based on research about the 16:8 diet there is absolutely no reason that you should not try the 16:8 diet--however, you might want to eat in moderation in-between the 8-hour period rather than chowing down on everything you see like a wild lost beast in a forgotten forest.

Related: 10 Astonishing Diet Rules Backed By Science

The goal here, again, is to end up with a calorie deficit, which is proven help people lose weight and improve overall health, and without some level of moderation you may end up with a calorie surplus instead.

Read: Recommendations to Decide on a Fast Weight Loss Diet Plan

It is best to try it for three days first to see how it affects your body. If it leads to severe headache or dizziness, this plan may not be for you.