Ever wondering what is crescendo fasting and how it may help you to lose weight?
I know how painful it is to lose weight. Having given birth to three kids myself and experiencing firsthand my ever-changing body, losing weight is not easy.
Every experience is different and as we women aged, losing weight will be challenging. This might be due to our hormone imbalance, the foods that we choose to eat, our sedentary life, lack of sleep, and how well we manage our stress.
And doing crescendo fasting might be a way for you to start your diet journey, lose weight, be healthy, and enjoy your life as a woman, wife, and mother.
Are you excited to know more about crescendo fasting? Let’s dive in.
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What Is Crescendo Fasting?
Crescendo fasting is one of the intermittent fasting methods. Instead of fasting 16 to 20 hours, with crescendo fasting, you will start with 10 hours fasting period and gradually increase the intensity after your body already adjusted with intermittent fasting.
While doing crescendo fasting, you can start fasting on non-consecutive days for example fasting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in a week.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a diet that focuses on when to eat. Doing intermittent fasting is having alternating window periods of fasting and eating.
Many types of diets are focusing on what to eat but intermittent fasting does not. Research has shown that fasting for a couple of hours or eating just one meal for a couple of days in a week may have health benefits for our bodies.
Why Crescendo Fasting?
There has been a lot of debate that intermittent fasting is not suitable for women. As we are more sensitive to hormone imbalance.
If we are not doing it correctly, doing an intermittent fasting diet can cause hormone disruption, especially to our sex hormones; estrogen and progesterone.
Women who are overweight tend to have higher levels of estrogen causing them to have more body fat storage and a high risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and many more.
Weight loss methods, including intermittent fasting, can cause estrogen levels to drop. If you are not careful and overdo it, this can cause hormone disruption and may lead to infertility and trouble conceiving.
With crescendo method fasting, you can ease into it a little more carefully. If you are a woman and trying to do intermittent fasting for the first time, trying to figure out which intermittent fasting method that is right for you, my advice you should start with crescendo fasting.
With crescendo intermittent fasting, you are helping yourself and your body to understand and ease into adopting “stress” due to an intermittent fasting diet.
This will help to give your body time especially your hormone to adjust to the intentional biological physiology stress changes that you put your body through.
This method of fasting benefits my clients and me when we first started intermittent fasting for women weight loss.
Crescendo Method Fasting
In crescendo method fasting, you start fasting for ten hours and increase the intensity of your fasting window period to twelve to sixteen hours a few days per week, rather than every day.
Once you and your body are ready, you can increase the fasting intensity. You can give your body a couple of weeks before adding in another day of fasting and see how your body reacts.
If you still feel good, you can add in more hours or days until you have reached your fasting goals. The main point of the intermittent fasting crescendo method is to ease your body in slowly and avoid shock too much at once.
Your fasting days should be non-consecutive (e.g. Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday). You can choose any day that is suited to your lifestyle, work, etc.
You can also check this intermittent fasting calculator to get your timing between fasting and eating. For example, if you choose to do ten hours of fasting, your fasting period will be from 10 pm to 8 am.
With a crescendo fasting schedule, you have the flexibility to choose your own timing. However, I highly suggest that you do not eat later at night. This is to prevent upsetting your circadian rhythm.
If you are working shifts, this might be a problem for you. Every problem has a solution. You can do intermittent fasting while working on the shift. You just need to know which intermittent fasting method you want to do.
How To Do Crescendo Fasting?
Step 1: Choose Your Fasting Hours
Decide how many hours to start your fasting. Start by fasting for ten hours then you can gradually increase your fasting hour to twelve to 16 hours.
After you have decided how many hours you intend to fast. You now decide when is your eating window period. This intermittent fasting calculator can help you.
Step 2: Fast On An Alternate Day
Start fasting on two alternate days (Thursday and Saturday for example). You can decide your fasting day accordingly to your lifestyle and work.
Once your body is adjusted, you can add more days to fast. Gradually increase and add more hours and days until you reach your intermittent fasting goals for example fasting for 16 hours.
You may see the results of your hard work doing intermittent fasting as early as two weeks or in four week time.
Step 3: Eat Mindfully During Your Eating Window Period
An intermittent fasting diet only focus is when to eat and not what you eat. But if you choose what you eat and eat mindfully. This fasting method will do you justice.
I can’t emphasize enough how important for you to eat a well-balanced nutritious meal. Complete your macronutrient and choose what is the best for your body. I found the Mediterranean diet menu is the best.
You can also check my healthy diet recipe collection.
Step 4: Exercise
You can exercise while on crescendo fasting. Have a separate routine for fasting and non-fasting day.
During fasting day, go for light exercises like yoga, brisk walking, slow jogging, or Zumba. You can do HIIT and weight training during your non-fasting day.
Combining intermittent fasting with well-balanced nutritious meals and exercise will accelerate your success in losing weight, and being healthy.
Step 5: Hydration
While in a fasting state, you can still drink water or coffee, or tea (both without sugar). Ideally, you should drink water at least 8 glasses.
Staying hydrated will not only help you to be healthy, but it can also help boost your body metabolism too. This can help your body to burn more fat.
A good indicator to know whether your body is well hydrated, check your urine color. Aim for pale yellow.
Step 6: Getting Enough Sleep
We need to have good, quality, and enough sleep. During sleep, your body is repairing and restoring cells. This will help to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health.
Ideally having 8 hours of sleep is the best for your body. However, as we age, it might be difficult to achieve this. So 6-8 of sleep should be your aim in order to get the best sleep benefit for your body.
Step 7: Managing Your Stress
To lose weight not only do you need to pay attention to your diet and get enough sleep, but you should also pay attention to how to manage your stress.
Short-term stress will not affect much on your health and weight but long term will cause hormone imbalance.
The main culprit is cortisol. Cortisol can stimulate fat and carbohydrate metabolism causing insulin to spike and excite ghrelin which causes you to eat more as your appetite increases.
Managing your stress is imperative for your physical and mental health. You can try meditation, yoga, eating mindfully, or talking to your family, friends, community, or expert for help.
Step 8: Have Electrolytes
You might feel tired while fasting, as your body uses energy reserve glycogen. To help your body energize, you can make an electrolyte drink.
For me, a quick infused drink example cucumber and mints in cold water can help to energize my body. There are a lot of electrolyte drinks and infused water recipes out there. You can try to explore and choose one to your liking.
Step 9: Don’t Forget Your Micronutrient
Micronutrient is essential in filling in that gap in which your food intake is lacking. Our body cannot produce these micronutrients thus we need to get them from our food intake.
The five most important micronutrients that your body needs are vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, and zinc.
These are vital to prevent disease, health development, and overall well-being.
FAQs On Crescendo Fasting
What Is Crescendo Method?
The crescendo method is one of the intermittent fasting methods which focus on time-restricted eating similar to the famous Leangains Protocol. Instead of fasting for sixteen hours, the crescendo method of fasting gradually increases the intensity of fasting from ten to twelve to sixteen hours once your body adjusted to this diet regime.
What Are The Most Successful Fasting Hours?
The most successful fasting hours are sixteen hours fasting also known as the Leangains Protocol. The best time is between 7 am to 3 pm or even 10 am to 6 pm. Limit the hours of the day you eat, make it earlier in the day, and definitely not in the evening before bed as this can disrupt your circadian rhythm.
What Is The Best Fasting For Fat Loss?
The best fasting for fat loss is a 16/8 intermittent fasting plan. This plan requires you to abstain from food for sixteen hours of the day. It also restricts food consumption and calorie-containing beverages to a set window of eight hours per day.
What Is The Most Beneficial Fasting Length?
The most beneficial fasting length would depend on the individual body and tolerance. As every human being is not the same. Some might get benefits with a longer fasting duration of eighteen to 20 hours. Research has also shown those who fast for fourteen to sixteen hours also get the same benefit as those who choose to fast longer.
Does Sleeping Count As Fasting?
Yes, sleeping does count as fasting. During intermittent fasting, you are abstaining from food for certain hours. When sleeping, you do not require to eat or drink thus sleeping is considered a fasting period while doing intermittent fasting.
Does Coffee Break A Fast?
No, coffee is unlikely to break your fast. Coffee without sugar contains very few calories and you can drink moderate amounts of black coffee during fasting periods. Drinking coffee may enhance the benefit of intermittent fasting, which include reduced inflammation and improved brain function.
Who Should Never Fast?
Individuals that should never fast are those who struggling with weight gain, are underweight, under 18 years of age, pregnant, or breastfeeding as they need sufficient calorie intake daily in order for their bodies to properly function. Should they attempt to do intermittent fasting, it is best under expert supervision and approval.
What Can I Drink While Fasting?
While fasting, you can drink black, unsweetened coffee or tea, the best plain water. Any drinking that has calories can break intermittent fasting.
Recommended Products Crescendo Fasting
There you have it. I hope this article is beneficial for you and helps you to embark on your journey to the crescendo method of intermittent fasting.
Starting something new might be overwhelming for you, but let me reassure you that if your mind is ready, you are ready.
Always remember to take that first step often you will feel scared at first, but once you already taking that step you are one step to achieving your goals.
Combining crescendo fasting with eating well-balanced nutritious food and exercising is the best. Understanding your body cue and reacting appropriately will takes time.
I am rooting for you.
I appreciate it if you could share this article with your family or friends. Should you have any questions, you could email me at [email protected].
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