Is 5 hours the best window for intermittent fasting

If you are like a lot of people in America, you are constantly fighting the “battle of the bulge.” There are many weight loss programs out there and many are either costly or just not easy to stick to for the average person.

Intermittent fasting has become a popular option for losing weight over the years and it also boasts a multitude of other health benefits. One of the methods you may have seen is called “The Fast Five Diet Lifesytle.” This method was developed by Dr. Bert Herring, who based his method on the idea of “appetite correction”. What that means is that in today’s modern era where food is so easily accessed, our bodies never really go long enough without food, to know when they are really hungry, when they are just craving food, or when it’s just time to eat. So, his idea is to limit all of our meals to within a short time frame of just 5 hours. Then, after some time of doing that you will eventually realize that you aren’t really hungry as often as you once were. Your body has started the process of appetite correction.

Now some people will say 5 hours is too short and it should be 6, 8 or even 12. In this article on Dr. Herring’s website, Dr. Herring talks about why he believes 5 hours may be the best window to eat all your food for the day:

“How to Choose the Best Intermittent Fasting Regimen

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Dr. BertMay 18, 2016

Appetite / Fast-5Appetite CorrectionCulturePounds loststudy of one

I recently received email from a reader asking this question:

“Is 5 hours the best window for intermittent fasting?”

It’s no surprise people are wondering about the best window length given the sheer number and variety of intermittent fasting (IF) regimens that have been popped up since I wrote The Fast-5 Diet and the Fast-5 Lifestyle back in 2005. The question comes up often enough that it’s worth sharing answer here.

The Short Answer

The best window is the one that works best for you and to work for you, the schedule has to be effective, flexible and sustainable.

What does “working for you” mean?

A regimen that’s working for you results in three outcomes:

You lose weight steadily.

You don’t fight hunger.

It naturally becomes a habit because it’s easy and simple.

You know it’s working when you achieve appetite correction.

One of the keys to having windowed eating (another name for intermittent fasting) work for weight loss is achieving appetite correction. When appetite correction happens, you don’t have to track calories or exercise willpower to eat less; you simply want less, and the weight comes off steadily with relatively little effort and little, if any, trouble with feelings of hunger.

A 5-hour window most reliably provides appetite correction.

Over 300 individuals who have followed the appetite correction (AC)/Fast-5 lifestyle described in my 2005 book, The Fast-5 Diet and the Fast-5 Lifestyle, completed a recent survey. Respondents have maintained the AC/Fast-5 lifestyle for up to ten years. Their answers to two of the survey questions (addressing window length and experience with the lifestyle) give us insight into outcomes experienced with different window lengths.

Individuals who reported window lengths of 5 hours or less uniformly described appetite correction. They were not hungry.

Individuals who reported window lengths longer than 5 hours most often reported fighting hunger as a barrier to sustainability.

A 5-hour window provides flexibility.

The 5-hour window is generous enough that a person can eat a meal without feeling like overstuffing is necessary, because there is time to eat later should one become hungry. The window can be moved to any time of day, and it can be moved temporarily to accommodate social occasions. The five-hour window may also be more forgiving of slips and skip days, meaning you can still see progress even if you take a day off the schedule now and then or occasionally extend the window.

Conclusion

Until a formalized study comparing various IF regimens head-to-head is conducted, the best available evidence that I know about is the 2016 AC/Fast-5 Lifestyle survey. The results of the survey reveal that the 5-hour window works best for most people. It corrects appetite so people:

lose weight steadily

gain freedom from hunger

weave it naturally into their lives as an easy and simple habit

The Longer Answer

A few people achieve appetite correction with a 6- or 7-hour window. That brings up a second question.

“If the window length hits the mark of achieving steady weight loss, appetite correction and sustainability, is there any reason to shorten it to 5-hours or less?”

Of the AC/Fast-5 Lifestyle survey respondents who adhered to a 5-hour eating window and reported a history of a chronic disease, 57 percent experienced improvement in their symptoms and 24 percent decreased their medications by one or more.

The findings in the survey were no surprise in the context of anecdotal reports people living the AC/Fast-5 lifestyle have shared over the past 10 years. During that time, individuals with autoimmune or other inflammatory diseases have often told me that adopting the AC/Fast-5 lifestyle with a 5-hour eating window led to some substantial—and appreciated—anti-inflammatory effects.

The non-weight loss benefits of fasting appear to be tied to keeping insulin levels low. It makes sense that the shorter the window, the more likely one is to accrue non-weight loss benefits, but we don’t yet know the point of diminishing returns: Is a 2-hour window better than a 5-hour window?

The only logical measure we have to go on right now, until formal study is conducted comparing one regimen to another, is total low-insulin hours.”

To finish the article, go on over to Dr. Herring’s website by clicking the link below. Also, if you are interested in learning the details of the Fast 5 diet you can download the free booklet on this page: https://shop.bertherring.com/collections/free-digital-downloads

This diet is definitely worth a try if you have struggled with weight loss for any amount of time.

http://www.bertherring.com

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