@breathlessmidnighthours asked me for fasting tips, so I decided to write a quick primer. And then I made a graphic, because I hadn’t needed to cook in three days and was bored. 😁
I started with 16:8 fasting for a month (eating in an 8-hour window and fasting for 16 hours, basically just skipping breakfast), then moved to OMAD (one meal a day, eating only dinner) for five months, before doing 48- and 72-hour fasts. Many people fast for 5, 7, 21, or 30 days with no problem. These are just my suggestions and what’s worked for me as a non-doctor; your experience may vary!
▪ Keep your electrolytes up! Drink your water with a dash of sodium and potassium (I use Morton Lite Salt), take a magnesium supplement (I use NOW brand magnesium citrate), and suck on some pink Himalayan salt for added minerals. (The rule I’ve heard is that if the salt tastes okay to you and not super disgustingly salty, then your body was probably craving it.)
▪ The salty-tasting water is weird at first, but I’ve grown to enjoy it. People who don’t like the taste can just mix the Lite Salt with a small amount of water and chug it quickly before going back to drinking regular water. I’ve never measured how much I use but just add a pinch to every glass of water I drink. You can also buy fasting drops if you’d like someone to measure for you.
▪ If you’re experiencing headaches, use more sodium. If you’re experiencing muscle cramps, take more magnesium.
▪ If you’re peeing too often, your body is flushing out the water that’s trying to strip it of electrolytes, so use more sodium/pink salt.
▪ Go ahead and work out! I’ve read that it’s good for getting rid of the glycogen in your system so you can start burning fat more quickly. I’ve done hour-long sessions on my stepper with no problem.
▪ You might feel dizziness if you stand up too quickly or work out too hard. Just take it slow if you feel any weirdness.
▪ Never trust a fart! You’re not going to have much in your bowels after 36+ hours of fasting, so anything that comes out is going to be mostly liquid. If you feel a fart coming on, just go to the toilet. I’ve read too many horror stories about people sharting their pants.
▪ Use coffee and sugar-free drinks sparingly as needed. The general rule is that if it’s not water, it WILL break your fast. But I really, REALLY look forward to having a cup of coffee every morning. I use a little cream or half & half and drink the cup over the course of several hours (literally one cup lasts me from 10am to 3pm or later), so I assume the insulin effect isn’t awful. It makes me feel like I’m getting to “eat” something, and I still seem to be losing plenty of weight. Other people use Diet Coke or unsweetened flavored sparkling water. It’s BEST to just drink water (with sodium/potassium), but do what you need to to get through the fast.
▪ Expect weightloss between 0.5 and 1 pound every day on an extended fast. You’ll gain some of this back when you begin eating again, but your net loss should still be impressive.
▪ Eating keto during your feeding window is generally considered best practice in terms of feeling full. People say they feel much better during the first day of their fasts if they’ve eaten low-carb the day before. I personally feel much better if I’ve eaten a giant pizza dinner followed by a rich ice cream dessert because I care more about eating delicious food than feeling full, but try both out and see which you prefer.
▪ If you feel hungry, drink a glass of cold water. You might feel OVERWHELMING hunger from time to time and think that you absolutely HAVE to eat something. In my experience, this passes after a few minutes. It really just goes away if you ignore it.
▪ If you feel bad in another way, not just hungry or slightly headachy but actually bad, break your fast. Don’t beat yourself up. Try again.
▪ Keep busy while you’re fasting. Go for a long walk, clean your house, or work out with all of the energy you’re going to have. Don’t see friends if you won’t be able to say no to the snacks/wine they’ll inevitably offer you. Also don’t do what I do and use that time to figure out what amazing food you’re going to break your fast with. 😈
▪ A lot of people break their extended fasts with bone broth or a light snack of something like olives or nuts to see how it affects them. I’ve always just eaten whatever I wanted for dinner, never eased into it.
▪ And my #1 tip in terms of ~how~ to fast is to not eat. JUST DON’T EAT. You’ll probably feel hungry once or twice a day, usually when you would’ve usually eaten. It’s not real! If you have fat on your body to lose, you won’t starve. Any time my stomach rumbles, I congratulate myself on the fat I’m burning. Remind yourself that you WILL eat again and go do something to occupy yourself.
Fasting for me is 90% mental. It’s about willpower. I’m rarely hungry during a fast, and I’m usually feeling great, but I simply want to eat because eating is fun. JUST DON’T EAT.
It’s as simple as that! To me, being able to skip meals feels like a superpower. As someone who loves to think about food every waking moment, I feel an incredible sense of accomplishment in being able to not eat. I look forward to being in a fast now and seeing what I can do.
I used to worry so much about when my next meal would be, what I would do if I was out somewhere and got hungry. I used to bring food with me on airplanes and to hotels and get scared about how bad I might feel if I had to miss a meal sometime. I feel such FREEDOM from that now. Fasting for me has been life-changing.
Please ask me any questions or let me know what I’ve missed! Thanks for reading!
