Weight Loss: A 7-Day Meal Plan for 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
1. Introduction
The 16/8 pattern is simple. Don't eat during a 16-hour fast. You can set the time frame, but generally people choose to stop eating by dinnertime and then begin eating again the following day at lunch. But in general, pick a consistent pattern such as not eating from 8 PM to 12 PM the next day. Drink water during the fast. Step 1 helps you become accustomed to the pattern by eating your first meal of the day at lunch. Step 2 learn to recognize physical hunger and differentiate it from a craving, when you do eat, eat until satisfied. Step 3 after you have mastered step 2, you no longer have to stick to eating 2 large meals, you can choose to eat 2 or 3 meals within your 8-hour eating window. Step 4 be physically active during the fast to help prevent boredom eating.
When you decide to diet, you unfortunately fall victim to erratic eating patterns. Initial weight loss success is often met with weight gain and a sense of failure. 16/8 intermittent fasting is designed to help you achieve your weight loss goals. This dietary pattern helps to prevent the "famine" response, when your body thinks it's in a state of emergency and holds on to body fat, by helping you learn to recognize hunger and fullness and delay eating until your body signals that it's time to eat. Additionally, it teaches your body how to burn stored fat. It is an easy diet pattern to follow, and for many it has shown increased adherence to regular weight loss diets. Intermittent fasting combined with morning aerobic exercise has been shown to increase the ability to burn fat.
2. Benefits of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
A few benefits of 16/8 intermittent fasting include: Supports weight loss: Intermittent fasting enhances hormone function that facilitates weight loss. Lower insulin levels, higher growth hormone levels, and increased amounts of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) all increase the breakdown of body fat and facilitate its use for energy. For this reason, short-term fasting actually increases your metabolic rate by 3.6-14%, helping you burn even more calories. May help prevent or reverse type 2 diabetes: By reducing insulin resistance and lowering blood sugar levels, intermittent fasting may help prevent or reverse type 2 diabetes. Additionally, intermittent fasting can help reduce body weight and fat, which are both risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Could benefit heart health: Given that intermittent fasting may be able to improve blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, inflammatory markers, and blood sugar levels, it is plausible that it could also lead to a reduction in the risk of heart disease.
3. 7-Day Meal Plan for Weight Loss
Day 1: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Step five is to set a goal and stick to the plan for at least a month. Remember that food is a reward for being active and productive, so if you've been sitting around the house all day, then you don't deserve to eat a nice meal in the evening. Get outside and go for a walk. If you find that the meal plan is not producing the desired results, then you may need to track your total calories and adjust portion sizes accordingly.
Step four is optional and involves exercise. Whether it's best to exercise in a fasted state is a highly debated topic. In theory, low-intensity cardio in the morning before your first meal would be optimal for fat loss due to increased fat oxidation in a fasted state. However, in practice, it may be more difficult to complete your workout without breakfast and you may lack energy. In this case, it's probably best to eat something and just focus on hitting your total daily energy expenditure. High-intensity workouts and weight lifting may be best scheduled just before your first meal, as this is when your glycogen stores will be getting low and your body will be starting to burn fat for fuel.
Step three is to remain disciplined and refrain from consuming anything with calories between the fasting period. This includes milk and sugar in your coffee. This may be difficult at first, but remember that it gets easier each day. After a week or two of intermittent fasting, you will find that you can't start eating in the morning even if you try. For an entire article on how to suppress appetite between meals, including what is safe to consume during the fasting period.
Step two is to acquire healthy or healthyish food that is low in total calories and doesn't contain high amounts of sugar or fat.
Step one is to decide how many hours you are going to fast for and what times you will be eating, then simply follow the meal plan given each day. Over the following days, I will detail the health benefits that intermittent fasting has to offer and explain why it may be the solution to your weight loss and health problems.
You can expect to find a full original meal plan for Day 1 of the 16/8 Fasting Diet. Each day of the plan offers eight hours of eating and sixteen hours of fasting. The speed of weight loss is entirely up to you and how many hours you are willing to fast. The later your first meal of the day, the earlier your last meal. As long as you maintain an eight-hour eating window, you can adjust the times of your meals to suit your lifestyle. Morning people can have breakfast at 8am and dinner at 3pm, and night owls can have breakfast at midday and dinner at 7pm.
Day 2: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Preparation: 1. Open the can of tuna and place it into a bowl. 2. Add the whole-egg mayonnaise and pepper into the bowl with the tuna. 3. Mix it together with a spoon until the mayonnaise, pepper, and tuna have combined well. 4. Drop two slices of whole grain bread in a toaster. 5. Spread the tuna mix over the bread evenly and then top with lettuce and tomato. 6. Place the two slices of bread together to form a sandwich and there you have it. A quick and easy tuna and wholegrain sandwich.
Midday Meal: Tuna and Wholegrain Sandwich Ingredients: 185g can tuna in spring water 2 wholegrain bread slices 2 lettuce leaves 2 slices of tomato 1 tsp of whole-egg mayonnaise Pepper (for seasoning)
Preparation: 1. Place the eggs in a bowl and whisk them together. 2. Heat one tsp of olive oil in a frying pan and spread it around the pan to coat the bottom. 3. Pour the eggs into the pan, shake it a little so the eggs will coat the base of the frying pan, then leave it on medium heat for 1-2 minutes. With a spatula or pallet knife, ease the eggs away from the pan. Hold the pan vertical and shake the eggs down to the lower edge until you see that the egg can move freely in the pan without sticking. 4. Get a plate and put the pan face down onto the plate and with your other hand place the egg side of the pan and turn it over so the egg lands onto the plate and not making a mess on the bench top. 5. Now slide the egg back into the pan using a spatula and cook for another minute. Now the egg is ready to be slipped off onto a plate. 6. Heat the wrap in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, or until it is warm. 7. Place the eggs in the wrap and top with baby spinach, feta, and cracked pepper. Fold the bottom of the wrap up over the filling and then fold the sides in so it holds the filling.
Breakfast - Spinach and Feta Breakfast Wrap Ingredients: 2 eggs 2 tsp of olive oil 1 wholemeal wrap 50g baby spinach leaves 30g Danish feta cheese (1 matchbox piece) Cracked pepper
Day 3: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
3:00 PM - Lunch will be after a weight session today. For 1 hour after your training window is still open, so this is the best time to eat your main carb meals due to it being a more key time for insulin sensitivity. Carbs are best consumed in a peri-workout phase as opposed to the morning for people with a higher body fat, but on a rest day for insulin sensitivity levels, there isn't much difference, so it's personal preference and how the morning meal affects you. On training days, skipping eating carbs at breakfast can reduce exercise performance, so it's better to just alternate carb intake around the mornings and let the dinner carbs remain constant. Today's lunch is a protein sandwich using wholemeal bread, a handful of mixed nuts, and an apple. This meal will provide a decent amount of fats and carbs.
12:00 PM - For breakfast, you should eat around the same time as yesterday, so for most people, this will be around 12. When on a fast, it's very important to eat at around the same time every day, as one of the jobs of fasting is manipulating insulin so your body gets used to releasing it at specific times. Being irregular with your meal timings can result in erratic blood sugar levels, which is something we are trying to avoid. The breakfast is the same as yesterday: 2 scrambled eggs, a handful of spinach, and a protein shake. As lunch will be a bit later today, you have the opportunity to get extra inventive and increase your cooking skills by trying out a really nice recipe. Cooking can almost be a relaxing hobby to embrace to take your mind off eating. After breakfast, prepare your dinner, get it all ready to cook so that it is adding some structure to the day, and then go on those long-awaited errands.
Day 3: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
Day 4: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Dinner (7.30pm): Grilled fish (size of your palm) and sweet potatoes. You can skip eating veggies today as fish has already provided you enough of it (approximately 200-250 calories for the fish, 120 calories for the sweet potatoes).
Lunch (12.00pm): Alhamdulillah, you can now take brown rice today. 1/2 cup of brown rice with grilled chicken breast (size of your palm) and any veggie. Calculate the total calories of this meal and take a fruit for dessert (approximately 300-350 calories for the rice, 200 calories for chicken, and 50 calories for the veggie). This lunch might be a bit heavy, but remember to reduce the late night dinner as you are applying the 16/8 diet plan. You're only allowed to take foods within an 8-hour window.
Breakfast (8.00am): One boiled egg and 1 small banana (200 calories). If you are vegetarian or vegan, try plain tofu with a fruit (200 calories).
Day 5: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Let's lay out the plan here. If you eat breakfast at 8 AM, after eating this meal, you will be fasting for 16 hours. This is the beginning of your 16-hour fast. Due to the high fiber content of this meal, you will feel satiated for quite some time throughout the day. Fiber increases the sense of fullness following a meal and maintains that feeling. This will get you through quite nicely until your 1 PM lunch!
Breakfast: 2/3 cup oatmeal - 210 calories 1 1/3 cups of mixed frozen berries - 70 calories (is added into the lunch total) 2/3 of a large banana - 80 calories (is added into dinner total) A handful of flaxseeds - 55 calories 2 scoops of whey protein - 260 calories Total - 675 calories with 32g of protein
Keep in mind all portions are for a 190lb person aiming to lose weight, and it is important for you to adjust calorie/portion sizes based on your calorie goal. Always keep good food choices in mind. Everyone knows you shouldn't be eating that fast food cheeseburger, but also remember that you can have too much of a good thing. It's important to monitor portion sizes in order to lose weight. With that said, starting off your day, you really want complex carbohydrates. They provide a steady energy source, along with vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Day 6: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Since we are only eating within an 8-hour window, remember it is okay to have breakfast food at 12 PM! This meal should consist of 1 scoop of protein powder and 1 tbsp of almond butter. For lunch, prepare a salad with 6 oz of chicken with a tablespoon of olive oil as the dressing. On the side, you should also have ½ of an avocado. For dinner, make 6 oz of tilapia, ½ cup of black beans, and another vegetable stir-fry or steamed veggies. This meal plan has a total of 1146 calories, 38.3g of fat, 60g of carbs, and 132.3g of protein. Remember that you can make adjustments to these meal plans. This is simply a guide for those who are not sure what to eat and need some direction. There are so many healthy meal options for you to eat and we do not have to eat the same things every day. Feel free to make changes based on your personal food preferences. This is simply an example of what you can eat using this type of meal plan.
Day 7: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
For dinner, a piece of fish is an excellent choice. Flavor it with any citrus, some garlic, and fresh herbs, wrap it in foil, and bake it. Try to avoid recipes that include butter or heavy sauces. Accompany this with some wild rice and steamed vegetables, and voila! This is an excellently balanced meal.
For lunch, a large salad with chicken or tofu, some beans, and a light vinaigrette is an excellent choice. Try to have an all-vegetable or bean soup on the side. The more fiber and water-rich foods you eat, the easier and more palatable this will be, and the healthier it is. If you are a meat and potatoes kind of person, aim to make this meal the night’s dinner instead. That way, you won’t be consuming the richer, higher-calorie foods later in the day.
For breakfast, try a slice of whole-wheat bread with low-fat cheese or a small fruit salad with low-fat or fat-free yogurt. If you’re never very hungry in the morning, try to at least have some fruit early on in the day. The enzymes in fruit can actually stimulate the fat-burning mechanisms in the body.
Here are some ideas of what to eat to break your fast on the first day of the week. Day 7: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
4. Tips for Success
Expect it to be challenging in the beginning. Remember it is normal to feel a bit off when you are making a significant change to your usual eating patterns. You may experience temporary side effects such as feeling irritable or having headaches. For most people, these are short-lived, and quite often they feel better than they did before they started the plan.
Be patient. The results you receive will be determined by many factors. If you have a lot of excess weight, it could take 6 months or more to be at your ideal weight. If you are already fairly lean, it could take a month or two to see the results you are looking for.
Be prepared for it to take time: Your body may take some time to adjust to going for longer periods without eating. Remember that you probably won't see huge results in the beginning. The scale may not move very much, as losing weight is a complex process. However, you should find that you feel better, and that your clothes are starting to feel looser.
5. Conclusion
This change in nutrient partitioning creates the desired ideal situation to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. With the blood sugar and carbohydrate intake primarily in the post-exercise period, the muscle glycogen stores are replenished, and recovery is at an optimal level. The maintenance or increase in protein intake will ensure muscle mass and create a positive protein balance. In essence, this meal plan creates a scenario of negative energy balance, increase muscle mass, and increase exercise performance, which is in contrast to an average diet scenario of negative energy balance, loss of muscle mass, and decreased exercise performance.
When exercise is done in this fasting state, with high muscle and liver glycogen stores, and a low blood sugar level, it is evident that exercise performance will be compromised. The low insulin levels also allow for higher fat oxidation. With this meal plan revolving around times of low insulin, it makes the most of the body's ability to access and burn body fat. This coupled with a resistance and/or cardio training session creates the ideal environment to maximize fat loss, whilst maintaining or improving muscle mass and exercise performance.
Using the model of the eating plan from table 1, it is not difficult to see how changes in body composition are possible. It has been well documented that weight loss results when energy expenditure exceeds energy intake. With relatively low carbohydrate and fat intake during the fasting period, blood sugar levels are maintained to a minimum. This allows the body to then access and burn body fat as an ideal fuel source to spare muscle and liver glycogen stores.
Given that people under a busy schedule, or who have a family to take care of, it may be hard to have the nutrient timing pattern laid out in the table above. If this is the case, the spread of foods may be eaten over the 8-hour eating window. Remember, this is just a plan. The foods listed are just examples. If you are finding success with this plan and achieving the results in weight loss and exercise performance, this can be continued as a lifestyle choice, seeing the foods and portion sizes can be adjusted accordingly.
It is quite easy to see that if 16/8 intermittent fasting is to be successful, the choice of foods is of utmost importance. The wrong food choice can make the difference between success and failure. The best way to ensure that this eating plan works is to prepare meals on a daily basis, with a view to cooking your meals from scratch, in order to have control over the contents. Choice of foods should be fresh, avoiding processed foods at all costs. Lastly, the eating plan should work on a basis of lower carbohydrates and fats, and increases on non-processed protein sources such as chicken and fish.