For three weeks, I tried alternate day fasting (ADF), a form of intermittent fasting that involves fasting one day, eating the next, and repeating. If you need to, you are allowed to eat on fasting days, the recommended amount being 25 percent of your total calories.
To complement my workout schedule and family life, I fasted Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays so I could have the weekends to enjoy eating with my family. With my previous experience doing 5:2, where I ate 500 calories a day on those two fasting days, I found that eating such a small amount actually made me more hungry. So for ADF, I didn't consume any calories during the 24-hour fasting window, which was from 6 p.m until 6 p.m. the following day. On my eating days, I ate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
I not only saw the scale numbers drop an average of one pound a week, but I could see from the before and after photos that I definitely lost belly fat and my face looked thinner. I saw more muscle definition in my arms and upper back and just felt leaner and less puffy.
I did this for a total of four weeks, then went back to 16:8 and was able to maintain my results. It was a great way to break through my weight-loss plateau, and in the future, if I ever need to take a break from IF and end up gaining weight, I can use ADF as a way to get back on track.