Intermittent Fasting - 6 Benefits To Be Aware Of.

If you're not familiar with intermittent fasting, it's not a diet but rather a pattern of eating. You choose a part of the day to refrain from eating, called your fasting window, and the other part of the day to eat, which is your eating window. The most common type of IF is known as the 16:8 plan, where you fast for 16 hours and you eat from noon until 8 p.m.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is gaining popularity, most notably because it can help people lose weight. That's not the only positive effect, though! Here are six common health benefits you'll experience from intermittent fasting.

Related: 5 Types of Intermittent Fasting

Weight Loss

Many people who've failed at other diets or workout programs find success with intermittent fasting. Stephanie Ferrari, a registered dietitian with Fresh Communications, said, "The formula for weight loss is actually very simple. When the number of calories you eat is less than the number of calories you burn, you will lose weight." Since you're not eating for long periods of time, there are fewer opportunities to consume calories, which is why IF helps people eat fewer calories effortlessly. Stephanie also shared a meta-analysis from 2014, which "shows that when using an IF eating pattern, people reduced bodyweight by three to eight percent over three to 24 weeks."

Both Stephanie and Dr. Luiza Petre, a weight-loss specialist and board-certified cardiologist, also note that intermittent fasting raises growth hormone levels and lowers insulin levels, both of which help burn more fat. Stephanie added, "Insulin decreases when you fast, and lower levels of insulin results in burning more fat."

"The most important benefit of fasting is increasing insulin sensitivity," Dr. Petre said. "That means that cells are able to metabolise the carbohydrates better and the doors to the fat deposits are open vs. being locked as in insulin resistance syndrome." She added that your metabolic rate increases by four to 14 percent. "Intermittent fasting will reset your body from burning sugar as fuel to burning fat."

7 Signs You Are Getting Healthier Despite Not Losing Weight.

It’s no secret that there are myriad ways to measure your overall health: strength, aerobic fitness, cholesterol levels, mood and, of course, the seductive shrinking of that number on the scale. But what happens when you’re not dropping pounds — or worse, you’re actually gaining a few — despite sticking to your diet and exercise commitments?

This isn’t a sign that you should throw in the towel. The number on the scale is simply one factor of your health, and weight-loss plateaus are incredibly common.

If you feel like you’ve hit a frustrating leveling-off period after making some dietary changes, it might be time to amp up your fitness routine to restart that slimdown. Add speed drills to your morning run or tack cardio onto your weight-training routine.

In the meantime, to keep you going strong to the other edge of that plateau, pay extra attention to these seven signs that you’re getting healthier even if you’re not losing weight:

1. YOU HAVE MORE ENERGY

A major perk of dropping pounds is the increase in energy you experience as you get fitter. But even as your weight loss slows or plateaus, research points to the energy uptick you’ll experience when you continuously exercise.