How flexible are you? Of course, I’m referring to your fasting skills. The ability to adjust our eating pattern routine is an inevitable part of mastering fasting and for it to become part of our lifestyle. Learn to adjust instead of give up.

At the beginning it might be more effective to follow the same routine but the more experienced you become the easier it should be to change up your routine. Not only will it help you feel less restricted it may also help prevent weight loss stalls and burnout.

Here are 3 general routine variations you should master:

LENGTH

How long is your fast?

Do you know when to step back and fast less? Are you able to follow through with an extended fast whenever you plan it? Are you able to adjust your routine according to social events without feeling guilty about making changes?

You can fast anywhere from 12 hours to 72 hours. Ideally, you would have experienced every fasting length within this fasting range. Experienced fasters can go beyond 72 hours without food, although it is absolutely not necessary if you’re fasting for weight loss.

REDUCE

If you’re doing OMAD everyday, learn to take a break from time to time and do a shorter fast with at least one day per week of no fasting.

EXTEND

If you’re fasting daily (15-18 hrs) but you’re not losing weight, introduce extended fasting once a week, ideally a 36 hour fast.

FREQUENCY

How often do you fast?

THE CRESCENDO METHOD

You can start the intermittent fasting lifestyle by reducing your eating window 2-3 days per week. You can try the Crescendo method and gradually increase the amount of days you want to practice intermittent fasting. You are still going to benefit from fasting.

EXTENDED FASTING

Another option is to practice extended fasting (24- 48 hrs) once or twice per week and eat as you normally would for the rest of the week.

For example you can do a 36-48 hour fast every Monday, then you eat as normal for the rest of the week. You repeat this every week, if you have more weight to lose you can do this twice per week.

ALTERNATE DAY FASTING

You could also try the 5:2 fast diet where you reduce your calories down to 500-600 two days per week, then eat as normal for the remaining days.

A more intense version would be the 4:3 protocol, which is also known as Alternate Day Fasting. You fast one entire day and eat normally the following day. In other words, you’re alternating between fasting (36-46 hours) and eating days. You fast 4 days and eat ad libitum 3 days per week.

MODIFICATIONS

What do you consume during a fast?

Firstly, modified fasting doesn’t mean inadequate fasting. It is a skill. Knowing what options are available, how to use them appropriately and when, whilst observing how your body reacts is an invaluable tool.

When people refer back to me after they had tried modified fasting, they are always pleasantly surprised as to how much easier it was to fast this way.

REDUCED CALORIES

Modified alternate day fasting means every other day you will reduce your caloric intake to around 25% and eat as normal the following day. You can do this every other day (the 4:3 diet) or twice a week (the 5:2 diet) on non-consecutive days.

FAT, FIBRE, PROTEIN

Another type of modifications includes drinking bulletproof coffee during your fasting window, adding any type of fat into your tea or coffee, bone broth fasting, egg fast or consuming fibre.

FAST MIMICKING DIET

You also have the option of following a fast mimicking diet where you consume small ketogenic meals.

Any modified version of fasting should still keep you in the fast mimicking state despite the calories. In other words, you won’t eat anything that will sharply raise your insulin (carbohydrates) and take you out of the fasted state.


Try something new this week!

xox

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