Intermittent Fasting: Tips + Tricks

Use these tips and tricks to get started with intermittent fasting!

Start small.

No need to start with a 24 or 48 hour fast! There’s nothing wrong with starting out doing a daily 12-14 hour fast and working your way up to a longer fast once you determine if it is right for you. Starting small allows you to determine what works for you without feeling overwhelmed or stressed out.

Stay busy during your fasting hours – or sleep!

Don’t give yourself time to think about the hunger. My favorite time to fast is during work because I am so busy that I don’t have much time to eat anyway.

Sleep during the hardest hours of the fast. After some trial and error, you might find that fasting during certain times of the day doesn’t work well for you. Readjust your hours so that during the times that fasting is the hardest, you are asleep! The best part about intermittent fasting is that it is truly customizable to everyone.

Remember to track your results.

Tracking nutrients, results, and reflections looks different for everyone. While tracking is not necessary to see the benefits of intermittent fasting, it is useful to see what works and what doesn’t work for you – because you are an individual! What works for someone else might not work for you. Tracking your self-experimentations will allow you to make adjustments until you find what works for you.

If you need help tracking your fasting, you can check out the app Zero. This app allows you to choose your type of intermittent fasting, keep track of your progress, and export your data.

 You might get some strange looks or a lot of questions.

I was listening to the Rich Roll Podcast, an episode with Ray Cronise, and he was discussing the difference between biological and social extremes. While fasting is not biologically extreme (our bodies are smart and know what to do in times of feast and famine) it is considered socially extreme. When you first tell people that you are intermittent fasting, you might get some strange looks and questions. After about a hundred of those, you will start to anticipate them. Being different is awesome! Embrace it and know that you are doing something great to benefit your health. Share the knowledge, maybe they will want to try it or will at the very least learn something!

Give it time.

Intermittent fasting is not the way you’ll lose 1lb/day or 3lb/week! You might have some ebb and flow and the initial weight you’re dropping might be retained water from certain foods you were eating in the first place. Expect some ups and downs and focus on feeling your best.  Proper intermittent fasting can help you lose body fat, maintain your weight, and increase your health-span, but not in the blink of an eye! Be patient, listen to your body, and make intentional choices. You’ll get there, I promise!

Last but not least, don’t over complicate it!

If you’re searching the web and reading about other people’s intermittent fasting experiences, you might be overwhelmed by how technical it can get and how complicated it seems. It doesn’t have to be that way! Simply put – sometimes you eat, and sometimes you don’t. Don’t stress about the numbers if you eat an hour sooner or later than you planned. 15 and 17 hours is not that much different than 16 hours. Intermittent fasting is not just about the numbers! That being said, if you like geeking out over the numbers, there is tons of opportunity for that too.
 

This article does not take the place of tailored advice from your healthcare professional. See the disclaimer in the footer below for more information.

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