Intermittent fasting — which alternates fasting periods with an eating window — is a wonderfully flexible principle that you can customize for your needs, wants, and lifestyle. But if you're interested in intermittent fasting, you've probably felt like there are so many options that it's hard to decide which schedule to choose.

No matter what algorithms your search history is triggering, you probably can't go a few clicks through the internet without running into click-bait advertisements for ways to lose belly fat. From intense workouts and restrictive diets to holistic remedies or chemical-heavy supplements, every corner seems to cheer (loudly) for a different solution.

You're tired of diets. You're done with calorie trackers ruling your life. But you still want to do something to lose weight and/or make your body feel and function better. Intermittent fasting has some attractive benefits in just those areas.

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.

Look around, and you'll notice immediately that people are different. Humans vary widely in their shapes and sizes, from the barely-five-foot-tall populations in Indonesia and Bolivia to the easily-six-foot-tall folks of places like the Netherlands and Montenegro. Watch the Olympics, and you'll see diverse body types excelling at different sports: tiny bodies flying through the air in gymnastics, long bodies slicing through the water in swimming, and thick bodies hurling heavy objects through the air.

Picture it: you've just started intermittent fasting. You've picked your approach, you've got a meal plan ready to go, and your motivation is sky-high. After a successful first fasting window, you sit down, do a little celebration shimmy, and dive into your eating window with gusto.

Want better focus? Healthy cognition as you age? Or maybe just a better chess game? Then brain health is probably on your agenda. Aside from cool sci-fi scenarios with a magic pill or technological plug-in that makes you a genius, how else can you improve and/or preserve your brain health?

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.

If you're a guy who's having a rough time losing body fat, you're not alone. Whether it's a packed schedule, work, family, travel, getting older, or any number of other life demands, finding time for healthy habits can be hard. Plus, food tastes good.

Have you ever gone without eating for a number of hours, then noticed you had a thumping head? No need to start googling your symptoms (never a good move!) — getting a headache from fasting is super common.