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Fasting? What??? Seriously???
Going for extended time without eating??
Trust me when I say that this sounds w-a-y harder than it is.
Instead of thinking that you are going for 15 hours a day without eating, change your mindset. A 15-hour fast means that you have a 9-hour eating window. That makes fasting much easier to digest (pardon the pun)!!
Side-note: it is called intermittent fasting because you both fast and eat within a 24-hour time period. Thus, it’s intermittent.
Also, in the keto world, people refer to intermittent fasting as IF.
There are 2 key reasons why people fast; for weight loss and for autophagy.
Autophagy is a process that refers to the recycling of potentially dangerous or damaged metabolite. Essentially, fasting for autophagy cleans out damaged cells and regenerates newer healthier cells.
To benefit from autophagy, fasting must be for long periods of time; 24 hours or more.
If you decide to do research on IF, you’ll find that the information is conflicting. One site will say ‘this’ and another will say ‘that’. I have given up trying to find the ‘real’ truth and have made my own conclusions.
Half of the research I’ve done states that if one is fasting for weight loss, consuming less than 50 calories during fasting hours is acceptable. (The exact number of calories that ‘break’ a fast isn’t totally clear in any evidence-based research. Obviously then, keeping your calories as close to zero as possible is what we should be striving for). If more than 50 calories are consumed during the fasting window, this is referred to as ‘breaking the fast’.
The image below is one of those ‘conflicting’ pieces of research, but interesting nonetheless.
This image was taken from Pinterest.
I have done two 60-hour reboots; fasting for 60 hours – consuming only bone broth, electrolytes, and exogenous ketones during those hours. Brutal! (But I did lose weight on both). What I found most difficult about these reboots was missing my coffee and having to drink plain water.
When I am fasting, I follow the ‘under 50 calories’ rule. This allows me to consume sweetened coffee and water. This decision makes my family happy! Lol!!!
Perhaps you are stronger than me – have more willpower – or are more adult than me and don’t mind black coffee or tea and can happily consume ‘plain’ water. If so, feel free to ignore this section. However, if the thought of huge amounts of plain water and black coffee/tea make you gag, read on.
Water – during your fasting hours, if you want to add water enhancers, go to town! Just make sure that they are sweetened with stevia where possible. Look for sweeteners with zero calories/carbs/sugars. If your water enhancer is sweetened with sucralose, try to add as few drops as possible. We don’t want to see a spike in insulin levels.
Coffee/Tea – during your fasting hours, you can add the following to your coffee and tea: liquid stevia, skinny syrups, 1 tbs butter (I recommend cacao butter. Froth it up with your coffee – delicious!), a splash of hwc (remember, this is heavy whipping cream), an ounce of unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbs MCT oil (higher calories, but it promotes ketosis), 1 tbs coconut oil, or any other 0 calories/carb/sugar substitutes.
Knowing that it will likely yield better results, you may want to incorporate some degree of fasting while following a ketogenic lifestyle. Some people fast every day, others fast during weekdays only, others fast every second day.
There is no ‘right’ way. Die-hards will tell you that to lose weight, you have to fast every day. I disagree.
I did no intentional fasting when I first started keto. I lost 40 lbs. In hindsight, I was actually doing a 14-16 hour fast most days. I’m not a breakfast person. And, I’m not a snacker. After eating dinner (we are typically done eating by 7:00 p.m. at the latest), I wouldn’t eat again until noon the next day. I did have coffee for breakfast; but kept it under 50 calories.
14-hour fast; 10-hour eating window
15-hour fast; 9-hour eating window
16-hour fast; 8-hour eating window
18-hour fast; 6-hour eating window
Although the fasting hours outlined above are straightforward and easy to follow, I also like to use a free fasting app to track my progress. I find this helpful if I adjust my feeding window times.
The app that I use is called LIFE and can be downloaded for free from the app store. What I like about this app is that it shows what is happening to my body as I am fasting. There is also a ‘learn’ tab that has lots of great articles and videos that explain everything related to fasting.
Please note that there is the upgrade option. You definitely don’t need this.
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