Maybe you've found your one true pairing in intermittent fasting 16:8 and are ready to tie the knot. Maybe you're still window-shopping fasting schedules for one that fits your style. Or maybe you overheard someone talking about an eating routine that supposedly can support weight loss, reduce the risk of heart disease, and promote better blood sugar control, and your internet stalking of Does intermittent fasting work? dropped you here.

Whatever your health goal — from losing weight, gaining lean muscle, or improving insulin sensitivity to feeling more energetic, having better mental clarity, or lowering your risk of certain cancers and medical conditions — fat burning is often part of the plan.

You've tried low carb. You've tried intermittent fasting. But what might happen if you tried them … together? Low-carb intermittent fasting. Is it madness? Or is it genius?

You started intermittent fasting a whole week ago. This morning, you stood on the scale, looked at that irritating number that somehow has the staying power of a red wine stain on white carpet, and thought, How long does it take for this intermittent fasting thing to work, anyway? Now you're hovering anxiously over your fasting tracker, wishing you could speed things up but feeling stumped on how to do so.

According to the CDC, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects up to 12% of women / people with ovaries in the US. If you're one of those five million people, you've probably been on the hunt for ways to manage your symptoms.

So you've hit your 50s, and while it's not the over the hill season you might have thought it'd be when you were a fresh-faced 22-year-old, it has arrived with its changes and challenges — both good and bad.

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.