For a long time, people have practiced counting calories and focused more on portion control in order to lose weight and burn excess fat. Though intermittent fasting shortens your eating window, it is not actually a diet. Now the question is – should you incorporate them? Here are some factors to learn about intermittent fasting and calories.
Reducing Calories Naturally
People often get confused between calories and intermittent fasting because they consider fasting as a diet. Though intermittent fasting can help you with weight loss, it is not a diet that can manage your food intake or restrict you on what food you can or cannot intake. It’s just a way to modify the time when you have to eat and when you haven’t. The rest you can choose and decide for yourself. However, you might notice that you are naturally eating less while fasting as your eating window is shorter than it used to be earlier.
Quality Of The FoodÂ
It’s equally crucial to know about the quality of the food you eat along with how much you eat. With intermittent fasting, as you are not eating throughout the day, it’s important to keep the count. You need to consume a considerable number of nutrients in your meals which would be enough for a whole day’s worth. Thus, it implies that the quality of your food is also essential. Depending on the quality of your diet, it can incorporate lots of fruits and veggies, low carb foods, high protein foods, whole grains, or just a proper balance of various macronutrients.
Choose Plain Beverages
People who follow a fasting routine successfully, consider water as the key to their success. Usually, there are no calories present in water. However, it can have some trace of important minerals that your body requires in order to repair and rearrange any process. Tea is one of the good choices as well. An average cup of tea contains only 2 calories. If you can make sure that there is nothing added to your tea, you are likely to be below the range of calorie intake.
Adequate water intake is essential to stay hydrated during fasting, and plain drinks would not increase your calories during the eating windows.
Determine Your Goals
With intermittent fasting, when it comes to calories, perhaps the most crucial factor to consider is to determine your purpose. If you want to focus on the health benefits like a less fuzzy brain and more energy, the amount of your food intake is not of much importance. However, if you are aiming for losing weight with intermittent fasting, that is when it is essential to count calories. The amount of your food intake should be enough to sustain the normal energy levels and for your overall health, though you need to stay low in calories in order to lose weight.
