If you're a new parent, firstly, you're amazing. Your body has just gone through a superhero-level transformation, your bundle of joy has probably gifted you sleepless nights alongside the smiles, and you're here, reading this article and doing due diligence with your health?!

Thanks to common marketing ploys and promotions like Margarita Monday, Boozeday Tuesday, Wine Wednesday, and Thirsty Thursday, it can feel like there's a fun (often alliterative) reason to raise a toast daily. Not to mention those happy hour deals … But what seems like a fun and relaxing opportunity to catch up with friends, enjoy a cozy date night out, or snag your favorite drink at a steep discount can feel like a minefield when you're intermittent fasting.

It can be daunting to start something new. If you're considering trying a fasting schedule to improve your eating habits, lose some weight, and get on a health kick, you might be anxiously thinking, But how do I even start with intermittent fasting? Let's take the worry and wonder out of the equation so you can get to feeling confident, calm, and in control.

Intermittent fasting is an approach to eating that involves a repeated routine of eating windows and fasting windows (periods of time when you don't eat). Rather than focusing on what you eat, it emphasizes when you eat.

If you're someone living with diabetes, chances are you've experienced fasting ahead of a blood test. But not all fasting is created equal. Intermittent fasting involves a regular routine of timed eating windows and eating breaks. While the specifics and timing of this routine can vary, all intermittent fasting schedules focus on when you eat rather than what you eat.

Which is better: Cats or dogs? Peanut butter or jelly? Ketchup or mustard? We all love a good comparison question, and the world of intermittent fasting isn't immune. Judging by online searches, the people of the internet are often eager to learn which intermittent fasting schedule comes out on top. Let's put a couple of heavyweight fasting schedules into the ring and find out: 12:12 vs. 16:8.

So you've heard about intermittent fasting. The magic eating routine that might give you all the same health benefits of a calorie restriction diet — like improving heart and brain health while reducing inflammation and the risk of type 2 diabetes — without the whole watch what you eat and hands off the cookie jar thing.

For an effective method of losing weight and improving your health, intermittent fasting is refreshingly light on rules (ironic, given the title of this article). And, because we know that change happens more easily when people control their own path, we're not here to start laying down the intermittent fasting law.

In a world where miracle remedies and magic solutions are showcased everywhere, from billboards to nightly news to your social media feed, it can be tricky to sort through all the hyperbole, exceptions, and twisted truths to distinguish fact from fiction. This filtering process can be incredibly convoluted when it comes to health and nutrition, especially because everyone's body is different, and everyone has different needs and goals.

Intermittent fasting is an approach to eating that involves daily or weekly fasts (periods of time when you don't eat) and has been linked to benefits like weight loss, supporting our immune function, reducing inflammation, and even supporting gut health. You may have heard that you can determine your best intermittent fasting schedule by using your age.