There are several different ways to do IF, and it's not a one-size-fits-all diet. The most popular forms of intermittent fasting are:
- Leangains: The most popular form of Leangains is fasting for 16 hours and eating within an eight-hour window each day. If that seems too extreme, you can practice Leangains with 14:10 or 12:12 and work your way up to a 16-hour fasting period.
- 5:2, or Fast Diet: For two days each week (not consecutively), you eat around 500 calories a day. The other five days of the week, you eat normally, as if you weren't on a diet. Still, on eating days, you should not go over your daily calorie target (i.e., 2,000 calories a day).
- Eat, Stop, Eat: Fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week, then eating however you want the other days of the week. This means 24 hours with absolutely no food.
- 20:4, or The Warrior Diet: Fasting for 20 hours and only eating within a four-hour window. This typically means just one large meal a day.
- Alternate Day Fasting: Fast for one day (you can eat up to 500 calories on fasting days) and then eat normally the next day, and repeat throughout the week. It's similar to 5:2 just with more fasting days.