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 The Beginners Guide to Intermittent

Fasting
John Romaniello | May 4, 2016 | Tags: Intermittent Fasting
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THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING
What is Intermittent Fasting?
The Most Important Meal of the Day? Should You Skip Breakfast For Faster Fat Loss?
The Truth About Eating Breakfast
Frequency of Fasting
What Research Says About Intermittent Fasting
TYPES OF INTERMITTENT FASTING PROTOCOLS
Feast/Fast
24-Hour Fast (aka Eat-Stop-Eat)
20-Hour Fast (aka Warrior Diet)
16/8 Fasting (aka LeanGains)
So, You Can Stop Stressing About the Most Important Meal of the Day.
11 WAYS TO START INTERMITTENT FASTING TODAY
The Importance of a Morning Routine
INTERMITTENT FASTING may well be the most discussed dietary concept on the
Internet right now. Like many other breakout diets, intermittent fasting (I.F.) is growing
by leaps and bounds. However, unlike most other diets, I.F. is gaining ground despite
challenging many long-held assumptions about nutrition.
In fact, practicing I.F forces you to eat in direct opposition to those assumptions, and
thatalong with the resultsis whats generating all the buzz. Before we get into the
why and the how, lets first discuss the basics of the what.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eat as soon as you wake up to break the
fast and set yourself up for healthy eating patterns.
Dont skip meals, your body will think its starving and your metabolism will suffer.
To keep your metabolism revving, you should eat a mini meal every three hours.
Most of us have spent the last 20 to 30 years believing these statements to be true. But
what if I told you all of these common suppositions might be wrong? Or at least, might
not be entirely right? The modern approach to meal consumption actually stands in
stark contrast to more historical standards. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, but the
reality is, we just dont know for sure.

While modern standards say we should eat three meals a day with snacks between
meals, historically, this hasnt been the norm. Light, ongoing grazing and a single, larger
meal is actually more representative of the makeup of historical meal timing. So why,
then, are we so convinced that skipping meals or failing to eat breakfast is bad for
health and metabolism?

The easy answer is, Well, research says so, but thats only sort of true. The field of
nutritional research is still relatively new, and most studies leading to the commonly held
beliefs that you shouldnt skip meals or deny yourself breakfast dont account for every
contributing variable.

For instance, a large-scale epidemiological study that draws the correlation between
skipping breakfast and weight gain may not consider factors such as high-stress jobs or
the consumption of highly processed foods as co-factors to skipping breakfast.

Plus, common sense flies in the face of claims that skipping meals always negatively
impacts metabolism. Just look around the leanest of individuals are typically calorie
restrictive; They control how much they eat, sometimes skipping meals to do so.

As a society, we could certainly benefit from a little more self-control in the kitchen, and
if diets are hard to maintain, maybe a well-employed fasting plan could kill two birds with
one stone; providing calorie restriction without the overwhelming maintenance of a long-
term diet.
Thats why the recent and growing research on the impact and benefits of intermittent
fasting is so interesting. And for some people, it could be a real game changer.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

The most accurate definition is the simplest one: I.F. is merely alternating intervals of
not eating (fasting) with times when you are allowed to eat. Or, to use I.F. parlance, you
alternate a fasting period with a feeding window. How long each will be tends to vary
heavily, depending on which intermittent fasting protocol you selectand there are
several.

Each method of intermittent fasting will be discussed later in the article, but for now, its
enough to mention that the differences come from expanding the fasting window. The
fasting period on specific plans can range from 16 hours all the way up to 36 hours (with
several stops in between), and each of those specific plans will have benefits.
Its also important to note that every one of us does some form of fasting, whether you
realize it or not. The least technical-while-still-being-accurate definition of fasting is
simply not eating, so anytime youre not eating, youre fasting. Most of us arent on a
structured timetable of meals where the window of fasting is constant, so rather than
fasting intermittently, were fasting haphazardlyand theres no benefit there.

The exception for most people is sleep. When youre sleeping, youre fasting; therefore
most of us have a fairly rigid fasting period of 6 to 8 hours per night, until we eat in the
morning. It is for this reason, by the way, that our morning meal is called breakfast, as
you are literally breaking your overnight fast.
I want to be very clear that intermittent fasting (I.F.) isnt even remotely the same thing
as anorexia. Specifically, intermittent fasting is, by nature, intermittent. In other words,
its done for brief, controlled periods of time. Some of the best examples of intermittent
fasting are those associated with religious practices.

For instance, the 4-week period of Ramadan during which practicing Muslims dont eat
or drink from sunrise to sunset. Theyre welcome to eat during the night, and some even
eat to excess, but during the day, an intermittent fast is in effect. Anorexia, by contrast,
is sustained and extreme caloric restriction with the sole intent of fast and extreme fat
loss.

The Most Important Meal of the

Day? Should You Skip Breakfast For Faster
Fat Loss?
When I was a kid, my parents would rush me to eat breakfast before going off to school.
My parents believed that eating breakfast was vital and the only way to ensure I had
enough energy to be productive at school. Were my parents the only ones who valued
breakfast? Of course not!
When you wake, your body is in a fasted state. Assuming that your goal is to reduce fat,
eating breakfast early morning theoretically stops fat loss or breaks your fast. In fact,
breakfast is such an important part of everyones life that we make it a priority to eat first
thing in the morning. We subconsciously hurry to eat breakfast before going to work,
school, exercise at the gym or go off into the day.

Why?
Well, somewhere down the road we were taught to believe that breakfast is the most
important meal of day and skipping it would crash your metabolism, drop your blood
sugar to unhealthy levels, and that your body would cannibalize itself, go into starvation
mode, and affect your thyroid health. YIKES!

Is this true? Will skipping breakfast slow you down, decrease energy, and work
production?
Absolutely not!
The Truth About Eating Breakfast

Breakfast is sort of a hot topic in the Intermittent Fasting world, and in fact seems to be
the first point of contention for people looking in on intermittent fasting from the outside.
Dont we need breakfast? Intermittent Fasting proponents tend to say nowhich flies in
the face of much of the dietary advice coming from every authority from Registered
Dietitians to MDs. I.F. peeps dont give a shit, though, because these dudes hate
breakfast.
Heres why: for years, weve been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the
day. In fact, many people are often scolded by their physicians for skipping breakfast
particularly people who are embarking on a plan to lose weight.
There is some credence here, by the way: a study conducted in 2008 showed that
participants who ate a calorically dense breakfast lost more weight than those
who didnt. The espoused theory for the results was that the higher caloric intake early
in the day led people to snack less often and lowered caloric intake overall.

The value of that study has been questioned for many reasons, not the least of which is
that despite the fact that roughly 90% of Americans eat breakfast, close to 50% of
Americans are overweight. If eating breakfast is the first step to weight loss, then clearly
something else is going wrong.

More evidence seems to support the breakfast idea, though. There are some
epidemiological studies that show a connection between skipping breakfast and higher
body weight. Of course, proponents of the breakfast theory are quick to suggest that
most people are simply eating the wrong breakfast, as quick n easy meals like Danishes
and doughnuts, which can lead to weight gain.
However, the crux of the breakfast study is ultimately that a larger breakfast leads to a
lower daily caloric intake. That is, the argument for a larger breakfast ultimately boils
down to energy balance; if that study is reliant on the position that weight loss comes
down to calories-in versus calories-out, then the make up of the food shouldnt matter. If
weve learned anything from Mark Haubs Twinkie Diet, its that you can eat garbage
and lose weight. Clearly, something else is going on.
The only real argument that breakfast crowds have is insulin sensitivity. On a very basic
note, the more sensitive your body is to insulin, the more likely you are to lose fat and
gain muscle. Increasing insulin sensitivity almost always leads to more efficient dieting.

Getting back to it, supporters of eating breakfast declare that as insulin sensitivity is
higher in the morning, eating a carbohydrate rich breakfast is going to have the greatest
balance of taking in a large amount of energy without the danger of weight gain.

This brings us back to I.F.. You see, insulin sensitivity isnt higher in the morning; its
higher after the 8 to 10 hour fasting periods you experience if you sleep. Or more
specifically, insulin sensitivity is higher when glycogen levels are depleted; liver
glycogen will be somewhat depleted from your sleeping fast.

Intermittent fasting takes that a step further. It seems that extending the fasting period
beyond that 8 to 10 hours by skipping breakfast (and therefore further depleting
glycogen) will increase insulin sensitivity even further.

Insulin sensitivity is also increased post-exercise due to further glycogen depletion in

addition to other mechanisms, I feel it makes to most sense to compound benefits
by training in a fasted state, then having a carbohydrate meal or shake, maximizing the
already potent effect of your para-workout nutrition.
Ultimately, this all means that theres nothing special about breakfast and first thing in
the morningthe first meal you eat to break your fast will be exposed to the benefits of
increased insulin sensitivity.

On the other hand, Ill take my tongue out of my cheek long enough to say that theres
nothing inherently evil about breakfast either. Even if you practice some form of fasting,
you can still eat breakfast. Remember, the more important part is the length of the fast,
not the time of the fast. Skipping breakfast just happens to be the easiest way to
implement a fast.

A discussion that mentions skipping breakfastor any meal, reallywill invariably lead
into a discussion of meal frequency, which leads me to my next point.

Frequency of Intermittent Fasting?

It seems that over the past 15 to 20 years, hundreds of diet books have been printed,
and no two were identical. In fact, some of them have been in direct opposition to one
another.

Calorie-restrictive plans like Weight Watchers certainly dont agree with plans like the
Atkins diet, the first iteration of which allowed dieters to at all they want, as long as they
kept carbs low. Similarly, carb conscious plans generally call for products like yogurt or
cottage cheese to be used as portable sources of protein, but many plans to reject dairy
products altogether.
Despite the incredibly disparate natures of so many of these diets, the one thing that
has been consistently suggested in most books published over the past 20 years is the
frequency of meals.

If youve read a diet book, seen a nutritionist or hired a personal trainer at any point
during that time, youve probably been told that in order to lose weight, you need to eat
5-6 small meals per day. (Note: this suggestion is sometimes phrased as 3 meals and
2 snacks.)

This style of eating, commonly referred to as the frequent feeding model, is popular with
everyone from dietitians to bodybuilders, and has been repeated so often for so long
that its generally taken as fact. Which it isnt. In fact, the reputed benefits of eating
small meals more often have never been scientifically validated.

The first and most commonly cited of these is that eating frequently stokes the
metabolic fire. Put less colloquially, the theory suggests because eating increases your
metabolic rate, then the more often you eat, the more your metabolic rate will be
elevated. Thats true, but it doesnt lead to more fat lossin fact, its been scientifically
borne out that there wont be a difference at all.
When you eat, your metabolic rate increased because of the energy required to break
down the food youve taken in. This is called the Thermic Effect of Food, or TEF. So,
while youre experiencing energy expenditure due to TEF every time you eat, the net
effect is no different regardless of how many times you eat, as long as the total amount
of food is the same.

You see, TEF is directly proportional to caloric intake, and if caloric intake is the same at
the end of the day, there will be no metabolic difference between eating 5 to 6 meals or
2 to 3. In fact, as long as the total calories are the same, you can eat ten meals or one
meal, and youll still get the same metabolic effect.

Further, one study has shown that eating more frequently is less beneficial from the
perspective of satiety, or feeling full. Which means that the more often you eat, the
more likely you are to be hungryleading to higher caloric intake and eventual weight
gain.
Intermittent Fasting guru Martin Berkhan has summarized this study, its meaning, and
the effects of such things quite well, but suffice it to say that it seems people who eat
larger meals less frequently take in fewer calories and are more satisfied doing so.
A smaller number of meals obviously fits well into fasting protocolsif you are
condensing the amount of time youre allowed to eat into a small window of 4 to 8
hours, having more than 2 to 3 meals becomes impractical at best and impossible at
worst. My clients who practice I.F. eat 3 meals (not counting a post-workout shake,
which they consume on days they train with weights).
What Research Says About Intermittent
Fasting

For the record, I am not suggesting that going ahead with intermittent fasting and
skipping breakfast is the ONLY WAY to lose fat because obviously there are other
diets and trategies to nutrition that have proven results, but I am simply introducing
another perspective. And I would argue that skipping breakfast makes a little more
sense metabolically. But wait! I know what you are thinking, is this strategy only
beneficial for losing fat? Not at all. In fact there are many additional health benefits.
The research on intermittent fasting is overwhelmingly positive, and not just from a fat
loss perspective. A few recent studies have found I.F. could help:

Reduce risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, as well as employ significant,
positive changes to blood cholesterol in healthy and pre-diabetic populations.
Improve markers of longevity that could contribute to a longer lifespan.
Benefit children with severe epilepsy, reducing seizures beyond the reductions seen
using a ketogenic diet alone.
Override the harmful effects of a high fat diet by preventing obesity and liver disease.
Improve brain health and help stave off Alzheimers Disease.
Protect cells, slow tumor growth and reduce side effects of chemotherapy treatment in
cancer patients.
Give the stomach and pancreas a break from constantly secreting digestive juices
(Hydrochloric acid and bicarbonate). Both aid in killing bacteria, mashing food particles,
and neutralizing gut pH. The result is a healthier flow of juices and movement of food
from point A to B.
Give the pancreas an opportunity to recharge from secreting digestive enzymes and
hormones. This rest aids in optimal enzyme secretion, food break down, and improved
blood sugar regulation.
Aid in re-sensitizing cells in utilizing glucose. In other words, cells become more
efficient at using glucose (carbs, sugar) and converting it into potential energy.
Improve hunger control. Most people eat immediately once they hear or feel their
stomach growling. Skipping breakfast will help control or reduce your hunger. Thus you
only eat when your body is truly craving nutrition.
In other words, I.F. is pretty amazing. Researchers are still trying to find out why its so
amazing, but theyre starting to hone in on a few contributing factors. For instance, a
2015 study performed at the Yale School of Medicine determined that fasting stimulates
the release of the compound beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB).
BHB directly inhibits the inflammasome protein complex, which drives the inflammatory
response in disorders including autoimmune diseases, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimers
disease, atherosclerosis and autoinflammatory disorders. In other words, inflammation
is a known body-wrecker, and fasting can help prevent the inflammatory response and
its associated diseases.

Just be aware that many of the studies performed to date have been on mice and other
animals. There have been fewer human studies, so definitive benefits for human
population are less clear.

Obviously, above and beyond the debunking of long-believed myths, there are
numerous benefits to Intermittent Fasting that make it so popular.

As weve established thus far, people who practice I.F. eat less frequently. In addition to
feeling hungry less often and more full when they do eat, these people benefit in terms
of practicality and logistics.
After all, eating fewer meals means fewer meals and buying fewer meals. In addition to
saving you time (and probably money), this also means that youre exposed to flavors
less often, and are therefore less likely to get bored and eat something you shouldnt.

Weve also mentioned that eating less frequently tends to result in eating fewer calories
overall, but thats a pretty important point so it bears repeating: eating less frequently
tends to result in eating few calories overall.

And speaking of caloric restriction: that brings us to another benefit. I.F. plans that
require full-day fasting drastically reduce your calorie intake, so if you are using a style
of I.F. which requires you to fast for 24 hours twice per week, youre reducing your food
intake by about 30%. Its not hard to see how that would lead to weight loss.

Going a little further, by restricting calories, youre forcing the body to look elsewhere
than the gut for energy, which can encourage cellular repair. That is, a cell will turn to its
own damaged proteins for energy.

While that cycle would be bad in the long term, keep in mind youre only fasting for
brief periods. When you eat again the cell will use the new cell-stuff to replace the old
cell-stuff thats been consumed.

All told, this phenomenonwhich again, stems from caloric restrictioncan generally
help slow both disease and the aging process.

For something more specific: one study out of the University of Utah showed that
people who fasted just one day per month were 40% less likely to suffer from clogged
arteries.
While theres certainly a lot to be said for caloric restriction, its important to keep in
mind that intermittent fasting isnt just about eating fewer caloriesthere are also
hormonal benefits that lead to improved body composition.

For starters, theres the improved insulin sensitivity that comes with fasting, especially
when paired with exercises, as weve covered. However, fasting has other hormonal
benefits, including (but not limited to) an increase in the secretion of growth hormone
(GH).

Growth Hormone has a myriad benefitsa full discussion of which is beyond the scope
of this writingbut for our purposes its enough to say that the more GH you produce,
the faster you can lose fat and gain muscle. Additionally, GH tends to offset the effects
of cortisol, which is (in part) related to belly-fat storage. So it seems likely that fasting
can help you lose belly-fat, at least indirectly.

Still not satisfied? Well, if you need another benefit, fasting reduces inflammation, which
can have implications for improved immunity and increased fat loss.
I cover most of this information in my intermittent fasting video here:

Types of Intermittent Fasting Protocols

As in all nutrition-related subjects, there are different approaches to I.F., none of which
have been proclaimed the outright winner for fasting benefits.

This is in part because more research needs to be done, but also because everyone
responds differently to nutritional interventions. In other words, outcomes can vary
widely based on age, sex, activity level, underlying illnesses and weight.
Generally speaking, the most common approaches are:

Feast/Fast
24 Hour Fast
20 Hour Fast (Warrior Diet)
16/8 Fast ( AKA Lean Gains)

Got it? Great. Lets get going. And the top four intermittent fasting protocols are

Feast/Fast
SUMMARY: The feast/fast model, which Ive been using consistently for close to 8
years, is my own small contribution to the community of intermittent fasting protocols.
Some time during 2004, I noticed that while I was getting a ton of benefit from cheat
days in terms of fat loss and mental reprieve, the digestive aftermath wasnt pleasant. If
I cheated on a Sunday, I would pay for it Monday by means of intestinal distress.
Not only would I be in the bathroom more than I wanted, but my stomach would hurt
and eating was a huge chore.

I had come from the old-school bodybuilding mentality of, if you fall off the wagon, get
right back on, immediately. The old way of thinking states that even if you had a cheat
meal/cheat day, if you didnt go back to your regularly scheduled meals, youd do more
harm than good.

In my case, this meant a bowl of oatmeal and several eggs first thing in the morning.
After a night of eating pasta, ice cream, brownies and steak (yes, all at once), the last
thing I wanted to do first thing in the morning was eat.

After some time, I discarded the bodybuilding rules and started pushing my first meal
of the day back by a few hoursthen a few more. Eventually, I stopped eating
altogether. And my results got even better.

Ive written about this both here and here, so lets move on.
BENEFITS: When I started looking into fasting (mainly to justify my not-eating), I came
across a few different reasons why the feast/fast worked so well; some had to do with
fasting, obviously, but there was some stuff that had to do specifically with the cheat day
as well.
Like any style of fasting, removing food for an extended period of time can lead to fat
loss, because it often leads to lower caloric intake. Pretty simple. However, the reason
this works well is because its coming on the heels of a cheat day. Again, Ive written
about this before, so Ill be brief.
The abridged version: when youre dieting, leptin-hormone controlling satiety- levels
drop, which slows down fat loss. When you overfeed (cheat), leptin levels get bumped
back up, increasing rate of fat loss. Therefore scheduling a period of fasting subsequent
to a cheat day does two things:

1. Prevents any fat gain from the caloric spillover of eating, oh, I dunno, 14,000 calories
worth of ice cream by creating an immediate deficit.

2. Elevated leptin levels from the cheat prevent stagnated fat loss, allowing the
hormonal benefit from the fast (explained HERE) to proceed uninterrupted.
More than anything, this is just a practical approach and was created to alleviate
discomfort. I started using this method before looking into science of any kind; it just
happened to work.
DRAWBACKS:There are a few here.
First, in order for this to be applicable, you have to have a cheat daycant exactly do
a feast/fast without the feast. Some people dont like cheat days (I know, weird, right?). I
made a pretty compelling argument for the inclusion of cheat days here, but if you dont
like them, you dont have to use them.
From there, the main drawback is that youre really looking at a 32 to 36-hour fasting
period. If your last meal on your cheat day is before bed (assume 10 p.m.) on Sunday,
and you dont eat at all on Monday, your first meal is breakfast Tuesday morning. For a
number of people, this has proved to be a pretty difficult thing to do.

I believe that with some practice just about anyone can abstain from food for an
extended period of time with little discomfort, but for a lot of people, the idea of going
without food for a day and a half is a bleak proposition.

For these people, I let them keep the training wheels on for a few weeks, allowing a
small dinner on Monday night to take the edge off of the hunger. This wont detract from
any of the hormonal stuff, it just adds in some calories where there werent any before.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE FEAST/FAST: I am a big fan of cheat days, so I use this
method nearly every week. I like my cheat days to coincide with Sundaysbecause,
call me crazy, but I like wings and nachos when I watch football.
This means that Mondays, I dont eat AT ALL. I think this is a good fit for most people
Monday happens to be the busiest day for most people, and so if ever there was a time
where it helped to free up a few hours by not eating, this is it. Also, since people are
busier, they tend not to realize theyre hungry. Overall, this is a fantastic combo that
works very well for most people.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Again, this is my method, so I cant really be objective here,

but its worked well for me in the past and all of my clients who have tried it.
24-Hour Fast (aka Eat-Stop-Eat)

SUMMARY: A 24-hour fasting period is essentially what it sounds like: if your last meal
is at 8pm on Monday, then you do not eat again (at all) until Tuesday at 8pm. This can
be done 1 to 3 times per week; two being the most common iteration.
Its impossible to talk about 24-Hour fasts without talking about Brad Pilon and his book
Eat-Stop-Eat, which is the definitive book on this style of fasting. ESE has been
around for several years, but Brad continues to publish updated versions with more
science whenever he can. Its a well-researched book that also happens to be well-
written.

Brad was one of the first people talking about I.F., and his approach is one of lifestyle,
not diet. Brad discussed much of this in an interview I did with him, which you can
read here.
BENEFITS: The 24-hour fast works well for a number of reasons. Firstit is easily
adaptable to any lifestyle, and its very hard to screw up. The only rule is dont eat for 24
hours. As mentioned above, this is much easier than a 36 hour fast, especially for those
new to it.
Secondly, like most methods of fasting, the abstinence from caloric intake for large
periods of time is going to be a large part of the reason for success. For example, if you
generally eat 2,000 calories every day, thats 14,000 calories over the course of a week.

If you remove two of those days, youre eating 4,000 calories less. Without any other
changes to your lifestyle, youd be on pace for over one pound of fat per week. Even if
you compensate and eat a little more on the days youre not fasting, you are still going
to wind up with a fairly substantial caloric deficit. Add in some exercise, and its not hard
to see consistent weight loss.

Caloric manipulation aside, this style of fasting works incredibly well because of the
effect that fasting has on your overall hormonal environment. More specifically, when
we talk about fasting, were really going to talk about two hormones: insulin and growth
hormone.

With regard to insulin, it seems the less often you eat, the less often you raise insulin
levels. This is not surprising, obviously. Its even less surprising that this would lead to
fat loss, since we know that chronically elevated insulin levels make it very difficult to
lose fat.

Therefore, if youre eating less often, youre going to have fewer insulin issueseven if
youre eating the same foods in the same amounts. (This, is a pretty strong argument
against the popular frequent feeding method of 5 to 6 meals per day.) However, while
fasting and infrequent feeding helps to control insulin and keep it low, thats not enough
to stimulate fat lossunless growth hormone is present.

If insulin AND growth hormone are both low, there isnt a huge effect on fat loss. And
so, while insulin management is important, growth hormone management is even more
important. Which brings us to the very predictable point: The effect of fasting on growth
hormone is incredibly important.
Your body releases GH pretty consistently, but research has shown increased secretion
of growth hormone in three specific instances:

During/immediately after sleep

After exercise (as little as 10 minutes)
During and immediately after a fast

Looking at these three thingsall of which are thoroughly discussed in Pilons Eat-Stop-
Eatits not hard to come up with a best of all worlds scenario. If you produce a lot of
GH while sleeping, and you produce it while fasting, then the obvious combination is to
continue fasting after you wake, allowing for prolonged GH secretion. From there,
exercise will allow for increased production in addition to your prolonged secretion.

Overall, this maximizes both the presence of GH and its effect. In addition, the elevated
GH in combination with the low insulin is a deadly one-two punch to your body fat.

Finally one of the main benefits of both this style of fasting and the book itself is the
incredible flexibility of the program and the ease with which you can adapt it to your
lifestyleyou can fast any day you like, and can move it around at will to suit your social
life, which is important.

DRAWBACKS: There arent many here. The main problem that clients of mine seem
have here is that 24 hours seems like a long time to go without food; however, this is
not unique to 24-hour fasting. That said, there are some people who seem to have
medical problems with abstaining from food for a significant length of time. In particular,
people with low blood sugar seem to have an issue. If you are hypoglycemic, you may
want to tread lightly.
The only other problem here would be for people who train on fast days and dont want
to miss out on post-workout nutrition. This can be alleviated by either moving your
workout to the end of the fasting period, or simply scheduling your off days and fast
days to coincide.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE 24-HOUR FASTS: This is a style of fasting I tend to use
when I get very busy and have to train in the evenings. Also, I use this pretty much any
day when I have to go out to a large social dinner and am not going to be watching my
diet. For example, if I am going out on a Friday night, I might make my least meal
Thursday at 8pm. Then, at dinner Friday, Ill get to eat a lot of food, perhaps enjoy
dessert, and be fine, even if I go out after and eat again.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: While this type of fasting is suitable for more than damage
control, it works well for me in an occasional fashion. However, for many of my
coaching clients, this is a sort of every other day approach that works well with them.
More than anything else, I frequently find myself referring people to Pilons book as a an
IF primer, and a good resource for understanding a lot of the science behind why fasting
works. Check out Brads site and book for more info.
20-Hour Fast (aka Warrior Diet)

SUMMARY: The Warrior Diet was the first type of structured fasting that I tried. I initially
read about it in an interview with the author, Ori Hofmekler on T-Nation back in 1999. I
tried the diet for the first time in 2002.
Simply, the diet is a 20-hour fast followed by a 4-hour feeding period. As the name
implies this is inspired by the nutritional habits of the warriors of antiquity, who certainly
werent in the habit of eating six meals per day.

Instead, warriors in cultures ranging from Roman centurions to the Spartan elite
subsisted on one to two meals: a large meal in the evening and (sometimes) a small
meal in the morning, according to the author. The diet itself is modeled after this type of
eating schedule; however, its worth noting that this is often criticized for not being true
IF.

While having a small breakfast and a large dinner will probably work for weight loss,
there may only be 8 to 10 hours between them; some people posit, isnt long enough to
get the benefits of fasting.

Moreover, during the fasting part of the day, the diet allows for mild consumptionyoud
be allowed to eat a few servings of raw fruits and vegetables and a few servings of
protein (protein shakes included) if needed/wanted.

These are kept quite small. Having said that, some fasting purists understandably
maintain that Warrior Dieting, is not fasting.
In practice, however, most people skip the small meal and simply have one large meal
at the end of the day.

BENEFITS: Much like a 24-hour fast, a 20-hour fast allows you to reap the hormonal
benefit of increased growth hormone. And, like all fasting, generally will result in fewer
calories being consumed.
The benefit that is unique to this type of fasting is that youre generally eating one large
meal and, therefore, the make up of such a meal isnt as important as you might think;
as long as you get adequate protein, you can eat junkier foods and still do well.

Moreover, having only one meal makes life pretty simple, and less thinking means less
screw-ups.

DRAWBACKS: On the flip side, were running into the issue of hunger, which isnt
unique to Warrior Dieting.
The main drawback in my experience comes from the meal itselftrying to get all of
your calories in a single meal means that meal is, by necessity, quite large. So large,
that eating it often leads to discomfort. This is why many people turn to less wholesome
foods, getting in 2,000 calories of chicken, veggies and rice isnt nearly as easy as
getting in chicken wings and French fries.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Its a generally good dietary practice, and certainly easy to
follow.
One criticism often made is that the points are anecdotal, with very little scientific
evidence to support the arguments. While some I.F. authorities dismiss the Warrior Diet
based on that, I feel it should be respectfully acknowledged given that it was the book
that got people talking several years back.

Moreover, while the book does lack science, its truly an enjoyable read. The author has
a very engaging writing style and adding to the fun is the fact that he was an editor for
Penthouse.

16/8 Fasting (aka LeanGains)

SUMMARY: Popularized by Martin Berkhan, LeanGains or 16/8 is a style of I.F. where
the fasting period is 16 hours, and the feeding window is shortened to 8 hours. During
this time, users may eat as few meals as they like, with the most frequent iteration being
three meals.
Designed specifically with training in mind and mean to to be used for such, the 16/8
method has specific post-workout suggestions and recommendations. In nearly all
ways, its the most sophisticated form of intermittent fasting.

Berkhan is great in terms of showing his research, and his clients get excellent results.

BENEFITS: In addition to having all of the benefits inherent in other types of fasting, the
16/8 methods is a stand out because it offers an advanced level of hormonal
management.
While something like 24-Hour Fasting or Alternate Day Fasting will give you these
benefits, these methods are not for daily practice, whereas 16/8 is. This means that you
are going to have a daily increase in GH, which leads to greater effects.

Moreover, daily practice means that youre eating the same way every day; this means
that you dont experience ups and downs in hunger, as with some other forms of fasting.
Put another way, some people experience difficulty with fasting for 24 to 36 hours
because they do it infrequently; not an issue with daily practice.
There is also the benefit of hunger management. A number of studies have recently
shown that larger, infrequent meals are better for increased satiety than small, frequent
mealsso youll be fuller, longer.

DRAWBACKS: There are very few drawbacks to this style of I.F., and these mainly
come from scheduling. You see, from everything Ive seen and read, the LG protocol is
MOST effective if the workout is performed in a fasted state, and the meal that breaks
the fast is immediately consumed post workout.
For some, execution can become a little impractical. For most people, adhering to that
simple rule forces them to shift the feeding window to inconvenient times. I find that
most of my clients are able to workout either in the morning (roughly 6am, before work)
or in the evening (6 p.m.), after work.

Given that we want to have a 16-hour fasting window that ends with the PWO meal and
begins an 8-hour feeding window, you can see how either of those times present some
issues. For example, lets look at 6am. In order for this to work as your first meal, your
last meal is going to be at 4 p.m. (allowing you to fast for 16 hours until your next
feeding window).

Right off the bat, I see three (theoretical) problems arising here. This first is that having
your last meal at 4pm can present some social issues, at least if you ever want to have
dinner with your friends or family.

The second is that your feeding window is going to coincide almost minute for minute
with your workday, making it difficult to eat your meals, let alone enjoy them. The third
problem is that a good number of your fasting hours are after your feeding hours have
ended. In my experience, clients who try to have cutoff time for eating arent
successful.

That said, if youre looking to try 16/8 and can only work out in the a.m., its certainly
doable, just be aware of this going in. And, of course, this problem is really only
applicable to certain people. Like any other style of eating, make it work for youwithin
the rules of the system.

HOW (AND WHEN) TO USE 16/8: This style of fasting fits very well with my life,
because I work from home.
For me, its very easy to plan my meals and workouts around one another, and making
last minute changes isnt a problem. Most days of the weekusually Wednesday
through SaturdayI do some form of 16/8.

I like to workout anywhere between 12 and 2 p.m., so I just judge my last meal the night
before based on when Im going to train the next day. Sometimes Ill wind up with an 18
hour fast instead of 16, but, again, this is really no big deal.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Of all intermittent fasting protocols, 16/8 is probably the most
sophisticated, in terms of both intention and execution. While most fasting is effective
mainly because it prevents you from eating, LeanGains is really about making your
hormones your bitch. Which is awesome.
This style of I.F. is best for serious folks and those who are already lean. This is the
ONLY style of I.F. that was designed specifically with fitness-oriented people in mind;
therefore yields exceptional results for folks who train consistently.
Its worth mentioning that Berkhan is one of the guys most responsible for the I.F.
movement, and spent years arguing against ideas that many fitness pros (myself
included) thought were fact.

All in all, he and Pilon are a big part of the reason guys who werent talking about I.F.
last year are talking about it this year. So, while he didnt invent I.F., I feel I should give
him a wi-five. If you havent already, please check out his site here.
So, You Can Stop Stressing About the Most
Important Meal of the Day.
The US government and mainstream media have created strong cognitive biases
surrounding the importance of breakfast. Over the past 20 years, how many
commercials have you heard that called it, The most important meal of the day? A lot.
A lot of commercials with really happy people who are surrounded by cute, animated
animals as they eat breakfast and expound upon its virtues.

Breakfast became my favorite meal of the day when I was younger solely because I
got a toy in my breakfast cereal.

Beyond mainstream media, weve had the government telling us that were at risk of
heart disease and excess weight gain if we skip breakfast, but have no fear. The US
Government released a brand new set of dietary guidelines stating that skipping
breakfast is no longer considered a health hazard.

Its a lot of flip-flopping, but they finally got it right, so you can let it go. Let go of the
belief that skipping breakfast is a threat to your core identity, because not only is
skipping breakfast not going to have any adverse health effects, there are a slew of
reasons why you should skip it starting with convenience.

Note: Im omitting the most significant reason (in my opinion) which is the potential to
help you burn a lot more fat, with a lot less effort, by allowing you to extend your fasting
window.
As I mentioned above, there is research on both sides of the conversation, but just
know that you will in no way start gaining weight due to your decision to start skipping
breakfast.

If your still arent convinced on the benefits of I.F., here are 6 more reasons why you
should make intermittent fasting part of your lifestyle.

1. Convenience
More meals equate to more time spent preparing to eat, as well as eating. I dont know
about you, but I have a lot of stuff I want to learn and accomplish in life, so if I can save
time every day skipping the entire breakfast routine AND see an increase in fat loss, Im
going to do it.

2. Happier Brain
Its something young people dont think about often, but theres a lot of research
pointing to fasting as one of the best things you can do to avoid Parkinsons and
Alzheimers disease. Beyond the benefits in the future, fasting practices have shown
cognitive benefits that can help you think more clearly.

This may sound counterintuitive if youve been eating breakfast for years, but after a few
weeks of skipping it, youll notice an increased sense of clarity and focus when youre in
your fasted state.

3. Increased Productivity
The key to my creative space is a fasted morning and a double Americano. Talk about a
flow state. Without having to worry about where your first meals coming from each
morning, you get to jump into accomplishing things on your to-do list without
interruption.

4. Who Wants to Live Forever?

There is a lot of research circulating around the idea that fasting during a portion of your
day can lead to an increased lifespan. During periods of fasting, your body spends less
energy digesting food and more energy repairing and regenerating new healthy cells.

5. For the Love of Money

This point really seems to piss people off for whatever reason, but its simple: buying
one less meal a day means youre spending less money.

6. The Truth About Hunger Pains

Most people dont really know what real hunger feels like. Instead of waiting until hunger
starts to really set in, weve been systematically trained to eat in the morning because
its just what you do.

This type of forced eating does jump start your metabolism, but it also jump starts your
ghrelin production. Gherkin is the hormone released to signal hunger. This
means youre going to feel much hungrier, for the rest of the day. Putting you at risk of
eating more and potentially overeating throughout the day.

Getting into a routine where you skip breakfast teaches your body to understand what it
feels like when youre actually hungry, and on top of that, it allows you to feast when
you get hungry instead of having to control your portions.

When Im hungry, I dont want to graze, I want to feast. This allows for that. If you can
relate to this, youre going to love removing breakfast from your daily routine. If you are
ready to take the plunge, here are 11 ways to help you get started.

11 Ways to Start Intermittent Fasting Today

1. Know Thyself and Know Thy Challenges.
Intermittent fasting requires control and restriction during fasting periods. If you are
prone to disordered eating or eating disorders, IF could act as a trigger for unhealthy
behaviors. Be very careful about trying IF if you think you might use it as an excuse for
ongoing or overly restrictive calorie consumption.

2. Keep Training.
The IF studies performed on humans in relation to body composition, muscle mass and
athletic performance indicate that intermittent fasting produces the best results when
done in conjunction with strength training.
Youre more likely to reduce body fat percentage and maintain or improve muscle mass
when you exercise and fast together (although not necessarily on the same days).

3. Eat Well When Youre Not Fasting.

One of the big challenges of a fasting diet is the inclination to over-consume during non-
fasting periods. While you dont necessarily need to count calories or restrict food intake
when youre not fasting, you should prioritize eating healthy, whole foods.

If you counteract your fast with a day of overzealous bingeing on highly processed
sugars, you may not see the changes or benefits associated with intermittent fasting.

4. Ease Your Way In.

Intermittent fasting, ultimately, is a lifestyle change. But theres no reason you cant give
it a test run to see if its an approach youre comfortable with.

Try a single, 24-hour fast to see how it feels, or follow a week of partial day fasting with
an 8-hour eating window between 11am and 7pm or 12pm and 8pm. If you find the
experience tolerable, consider following an ongoing plan.

5. Grit Not Grits.

This is a big one. Understand that unless youre someone who never gets hungry early
in the day, the first 3 to 6 weeks are going to suck. Youll experience hunger pangs
during this initial periods, and your main tool to get through it is going to be grit.
Consider it a personal challenge that youre taking on. Youll notice that as the weeks go
by, your body will adapt and youll slowly begin to only experience hunger later in the
day. Your body is incredibly intelligent.

As long as you give it the time to adapt, youll easily reset your homeostatic rhythm (the
bodys natural rhythm) to eating later in the day.

6. Black Coffee Helps.

To get the benefits of skipping breakfast, you dont need to skip out on your morning
coffee. Coffee acts as an appetite suppressant and will make your morning a lot less
difficult when youre first getting started.

7. Stay Busy.
Take this newfound chunk of time and put it to good use; completely immerse yourself
in something. That immersion and potential flow you enter is going to divert your
attention away from any cravings you experience. This is more important than you may
imagine. Dont let yourself get bored. Stay engaged and use your mornings to complete
your most energy-intensive tasks.

8. Hydrating Helps.
A lot of what we perceive to be hunger can actually be attributed to dehydration. Use
this window of time where youre not eating to get uber hydrated for the day. I
recommend drinking half your bodyweight in ounces of water each day (at minimum).
Try to get in as much water as possible during the a.m.

9. Accept That Youre Going to Be The Weird

Friend.
And so fucking what? Youre working towards becoming the best version of yourself.
Skipping breakfast is a minor choice that doesnt affect anyone else. If someone has a
problem with it and continues to express it, then its due to a deeper insecurity on their
end, not yours.
10. Let Yourself Off the Hook.
From time to time, you might go out to brunch with friends, and youre welcome to take
a day every week or two to have breakfast and indulge your eggs benedict cravings.
Diverging from the no breakfast club 10% of the time isnt going to offset all the benefits
youre receiving from the others days of skipping breakfast.

11. Create Leverage.

I can list all the benefits to why skipping breakfast is going to make your life better, but
at the end of the day, whether or not youre successful in the first few weeks will come
down to willpower. Humans are 10 times more likely to take action in order to avoid pain
than to gain pleasure. Its just how were hardwired.

Use this to your advantage; tell yourself that if you break your fast more than once a
week, then something awful is going to happen. I use leverage for everything in my life
when I want to create healthy habits and get rid of unhealthy ones.

I recommend you think of something that will motivate you substantially, be it an awful
exercise or burning a stack of money, and use that as leverage to get yourself to follow
through. Make yourself do 300 burpees or make a donation to a cause that you dont
support.

The Importance of a Morning Routine

If you are going to go forward with regular implementing intermittent fasting into your
lifestyle, then I cannot stress the importance of having a consistent morning routine.

A few months back, I posted a picture to my Instagram account that featured a small
piece of my morning routine: drinking a glass of warm water mixed with lime juice and a
dash of sea salt. Outside of being tasty, its got a host of benefits.
Since then, Ive been getting a lot of questions about both that particular concoction,
any others I drink, and my morning routine in general.

I started writing it all out, but then I got lazy and stopped. And then I looked in the mirror
and realized I was having an incredible hair day, so I should just go ahead and film a
video.

So, thats what I did.

Which is to say that Ive got a content-rich video for you detailing exactly what I put in
my body each and every morning to help me stay healthy, fit, and keep my hair looking
thick and luxurious.

This is worth thinking about. Morning routines, that is; not my hair.

So, check it out:

Final Thoughts
If you still arent convinced intermittent fasting is right for your or are uncomfortable with
skipping or pushing breakfast back, then I recommend you try it for yourself and see
what happens.

Remember, your body has plenty of stored liver glycogen, roughly 75 to 100 grams or
300 to 400 calories worth of stored glucose (energy) if you truly need it. Not to mention
you have plenty of additional fat that you will be burning regardless of your body
composition, lean or fat. So dont panic, if you decide to skip breakfast, you have plenty
of fuel reserves to cover you.

Again, dont think that you should never eat breakfast again, but rather use this as a
strategy to help burn more fat. Like I mentioned earlier, most people these days are
carrying extra fat and eating breakfast isnt helping them lose it especially if that
breakfast involves traditional sugary breakfast foods. Skipping breakfast can help. You
can skip breakfast twice a week, three times, or five days a week (five days a week is
my goal). It keeps me in control, healthy, and fat off my body.

So slow down, holster your fork and burn some fat!

Also,
Onnit would like to thank John Romaniello, Laura Williams, Brandon Epstein, and Jon
Celis for their contributions to putting this guide together.
And for the most popular questions regarding IF, check out this post
covering Intermittent Fasting FAQs.
For more information on intermittent fasting and other great fitness tips check out the
resources below:
1. Romanfitnesssystems.com
2. Zendudefitness.com
3. GirlsGoneSporty.com
4. Absolutraining.com

SHARE:
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day? What are the benefits? Is there any science behind this or are
you just crazy? Is it dangerous?

Slow down, friend. I've been known to do some crazy things, but this is
totally legit. It's easy to implement into your lifestyle and there are
tons of health benefits. In this post, I'm going to break down
intermittent fasting and everything that goes with it.
Free Bonus: I created an Intermittent Fasting Quick Start Guide with a
summary of the benefits of intermittent fasting and 3 fasting schedules
you can use depending on your goals. It's a quick 5 page PDF you can
save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click here to get the
guide, free.

What is Intermittent Fasting and Why Would You Do

It?
Intermittent fasting is not a diet, it's a pattern of eating. It's a way of
scheduling your meals so that you get the most out of them.
Intermittent fasting doesnt change what you eat, it changes when you
eat.
Why is it worthwhile to change when youre eating?

Well, most notably, its a great way to get lean without going on a crazy
diet or cutting your calories down to nothing. In fact, most of the time
you'll try to keep your calories the same when you start intermittent
fasting. (Most people eat bigger meals during a shorter time frame.)
Additionally, intermittent fasting is a good way to keep muscle mass
on while getting lean.

With all that said, the main reason people try intermittent fasting is to
lose fat. We'll talk about how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss in a
moment.

Perhaps most importantly, intermittent fasting is one of the simplest

strategies we have for taking bad weight off while keeping good weight
on because it requires very little behavior change. This is a very good
thing because it means intermittent fasting falls into the category of
simple enough that you'll actually do it, but meaningful enough that it
will actually make a difference.

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

To understand how intermittent fasting leads to fat loss we first need
to understand the difference between the fed state and the fasted state.

Your body is in the fed state when it is digesting and absorbing food.
Typically, the fed state starts when you begin eating and lasts for three
to five hours as your body digests and absorbs the food you just ate.
When you are in the fed state, it's very hard for your body to burn fat
because your insulin levels are high.

After that timespan, your body goes into what is known as the post
absorptive state, which is just a fancy way of saying that your body
isnt processing a meal. The postabsorptive state lasts until 8 to 12
hours after your last meal, which is when you enter the fasted state. It
is much easier for you body to burn fat in the fasted state because your
insulin levels are low.

When you're in the fasted state your body can burn fat that has been
inaccessible during the fed state.

Because we don't enter the fasted state until 12 hours after our last
meal, it's rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. This is one
of the reasons why many people who start intermittent fasting will lose
fat without changing what they eat, how much they eat, or how often
they exercise. Fasting puts your body in a fat burning state that you
rarely make it to during a normal eating schedule.

The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Fat loss is great, but it isn't the only reason to try intermittent fasting.
1. Intermittent fasting makes your day simpler.
I'm big on behavior change, simplicity, and reducing stress.
Intermittent fasting provides additional simplicity to my life that I
really enjoy. When I wake up, I don't worry about breakfast. I just grab
a glass of water and start my day.

I enjoy eating and I don't mind cooking, so eating three meals a day
was never a hassle for me. However, intermittent fasting allows me to
eat one less meal, which also means planning one less meal, cooking
one less meal, and stressing about one less meal. It makes life a bit
simpler and I like that.

2. Intermittent fasting helps you live longer.

Scientists have long known that restricting calories is a way of
lengthening life. From a logical standpoint, this makes sense. When
youre starving, your body finds ways to extend your life.

Theres just one problem: who wants to starve themselves in the name
of living longer?

I dont know about you, but Im interested in enjoying a long life.

Starving myself doesnt sound that appetizing.
The good news is that intermittent fasting activates many of the same
mechanisms for extending life as calorie restriction. In other words,
you get the benefits of a longer life without the hassle of starving.

Way back in 1945 it was discovered that intermittent fasting extended

life in mice. (Here's the study.) More recently, this study found that
alternate day intermittent fasting led to longer lifespans.
3. Intermittent fasting may reduce the risk of cancer.
This one is up for debate because there hasnt been a lot of research
and experimentation done on the relationship between cancer and
fasting. Early reports, however, look positive.

This study of 10 cancer patients suggests that the side effects of

chemotherapy may be diminished by fasting before treatment. This
finding is also supported by another study which used alternate day
fasting with cancer patients and concluded that fasting before
chemotherapy would result in better cure rates and fewer deaths.
Finally, this comprehensive analysis of many studies on fasting and
disease has concluded that fasting appears to not only reduce the risk
of cancer, but also cardiovascular disease.
4. Intermittent fasting is much easier than dieting.
The reason most diets fail isnt because we switch to the wrong foods,
its because we dont actually follow the diet over the long term. It's not
a nutrition problem, it's a behavior change problem.

This is where intermittent fasting shines because it's remarkably easy

to implement once you get over the idea that you need to eat all the
time. For example, this study found that intermittent fasting was an
effective strategy for weight loss in obese adults and concluded that
subjects quickly adapt to an intermittent fasting routine.
I like the quote below from Dr. Michael Eades, who has tried
intermittent fasting himself, on the difference between trying a diet
and trying intermittent fasting.

Diets are easy in the contemplation, difficult in the execution. Intermittent

fasting is just the opposite its difficult in the contemplation but easy in the
execution.
Most of us have contemplated going on a diet. When we find a diet that
appeals to us, it seems as if it will be a breeze to do. But when we get into the
nitty gritty of it, it becomes tough. For example, I stay on a lowcarb diet
almost all the time. But if I think about going on a lowfat diet, it looks easy.
I think about bagels, whole wheat bread and jelly, mashed potatoes, corn,
bananas by the dozen, etc. all of which sound appealing. But were I to
embark on such a lowfat diet I would soon tire of it and wish I could have
meat and eggs. So a diet is easy in contemplation, but not so easy in the
longterm execution.
Intermittent fasting is hard in the contemplation, of that there is no doubt.
You go without food for 24 hours? people would ask, incredulously when
we explained what we were doing. I could never do that. But once started,
its a snap. No worries about what and where to eat for one or two out of the
three meals per day. Its a great liberation. Your food expenditures plummet.
And youre not particularly hungry. Although its tough to overcome the
idea of going without food, once you begin the regimen, nothing could be
easier.
Dr. Michael Eades
Diets are easy in the contemplation, difficult in the
execution. Intermittent fasting is just the opposite its
difficult in the contemplation but easy in the execution.

In my opinion, the ease of intermittent fasting is best reason to give it

a try. It provides a wide range of health benefits without requiring a
massive lifestyle change.

Examples of Different Intermittent Fasting Schedules

If youre considering giving fasting a shot, there are a few different
options for working it into your lifestyle.

Daily Intermittent Fasting

Most of the time, I follow the Leangains model of intermittent fasting,
which uses a 16hour fast followed by an 8hour eating period. This
model of daily intermittent fasting was popularized by Martin Berkhan
of Leangains.com, which is where the name originated.
It doesn't matter when you start your 8hour eating period. You can
start at 8am and stop at 4pm. Or you start at 2pm and stop at 10pm.
Do whatever works for you. I tend to find that eating around 1pm and
8pm works well because those times allow me to eat lunch and dinner
with friends and family. Breakfast is typically a meal that I eat on my
own, so skipping it isn't a big deal.
Because daily intermittent fasting is done every day it becomes very
easy to get into the habit of eating on this schedule. Right now, you're
probably eating around the same time every day without thinking
about it. Well, with daily intermittent fasting it's the same thing, you
just learn to not eat at certain times, which is remarkably easy.

One potential disadvantage of this schedule is that because you

typically cut out a meal or two out of your day, it becomes more
difficult to get the same number of calories in during the week. Put
simply, it's tough to teach yourself to eat bigger meals on a consistent
basis. The result is that many people who try this style of intermittent
fasting end up losing weight. That can be a good thing or a bad thing,
depending on your goals.
This is probably a good time to mention that while I have practiced
intermittent fasting consistently for the last year, I'm not fanatical
about my diet. I work on building healthy habits that guide my
behavior 90% of the time, so that I can do whatever I feel like during
the other 10%. If I come over to your house to watch the football game
and we order pizza at 11pm, guess what? I don't care that it's outside
my feeding period, I'm eating it.

Weekly Intermittent Fasting

One of the best ways to get started with intermittent fasting is to do it
once per week or once per month. The occasional fast has been shown
to lead to many of the benefits we've already talked about, so even if
you don't use it to cut down on calories consistently there are still
many other health benefits.

The graphic below shows one example of how a weekly intermittent

fast might play out.
In this example, lunch on Monday is your last meal of the day. You
then fast until lunch on Tuesday. This schedule has the advantage of
allowing you to eat everyday of the week while still reaping the
benefits of fasting for 24 hours. It's also less likely that you'll lose
weight because you are only cutting out two meals per week. So, if
you're looking to bulk up or keep weight on, then this is a great option.

I've done 24hour fasts in the past (I just did one last month) and
there are a wide range of variations and options for making it work
into your schedule. For example, a long day of travel or the day after a
big holiday feast are often great times to throw in a 24hour fast.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of doing a 24hour fast is getting over the
mental barrier of fasting. If you've never fasted before, successfully
completing your first one helps you realize that you won't die if you
don't eat for a day.

Alternate Day Intermittent Fasting

Alternate day intermittent fasting incorporates longer fasting periods
on alternating days throughout the week.

For example, in the graphic below you would eat dinner on Monday
night and then not eat again until Tuesday evening. On Wednesday,
however, you would eat all day and then start the 24hour fasting
cycle again after dinner on Wednesday evening. This allows you to get
long fast periods on a consistent basis while also eating at least one
meal every day of the week.
This style of intermittent fasting seems to be used often in research
studies, but from what I have seen it isn't very popular in the real
world. I've never tried alternate day fasting myself and I don't plan to
do so.

The benefit of alternate day intermittent fasting is that it gives you

longer time in the fasted state than the Leangains style of fasting.
Hypothetically, this would increase the benefits you receive from
fasting.

In practice, however, I would be concerned with eating enough. Based

on my experience, teaching yourself to consistently eat more is one of
the harder parts of intermittent fasting. You might be able to feast for
a meal, but learning to do so every day of the week takes a little bit of
planning, a lot of cooking, and consistent eating. The end result is that
most people who try intermittent fasting end up losing some weight
because the size of their meals remains similar even though a few
meals are being cut out each week.

If you're looking to lose weight, this isn't a problem. And even if you're
happy with your weight, this won't prove to be too much of an issue if
you follow the daily fasting or weekly fasting schedules. However, if
you're fasting for 24 hours per day on multiple days per week, then it's
going to be very difficult to eat enough of your feast days to make up
for that.

As a result, I think it's a better idea to try daily intermittent fasting or a

single 24hour fast once per week or once per month.

Frequently Asked Questions, Concerns, and Complaints

Im a woman. Should I do anything differently?
I havent worked with women on implementing an intermittent fasting
schedule, so I cant speak from experience on this one.
That said, I have heard that women may find a wider window of eating
to be more favorable when doing daily intermittent fasting. While men
will typically fast for 16 hours and then eat for 8 hours, women may
find better results by eating for 10 hours and fasting for 14 hours. The
best advice I can give anyone, not just women, is to experiment and
see what works best for you. Your body will give you signals. Follow
what your body responds favorably to.

Also, if youre a female, there is an allfemale page on Facebook that

discusses intermittent fasting. Im sure you could find a ton of great
answers and support there.
I could never skip breakfast. How do you do it?
I dont. Breakfast foods are my favorite, so I just eat them at 1pm each
day.

Also, if you eat a big dinner the night before, I think youll be surprised
by how much energy you have in the morning. Most of the worries or
concerns that people have about intermittent fasting are due to the
fact that they have had it pounded into them by companies that they
need to eat breakfast or they need to eat every three hours and so on.
The science doesnt support it and neither do my personal experiences.

I thought you were supposed to eat every 3 hours?

You may have heard people say that you should have six meals per day
or eat every 3 hours or something like that.

Here's why this was a popular idea for a brief period of time:

Your body burns calories when it's processing food. So the thought
behind the more meals strategy was that if you ate more frequently,
you would also burn more calories throughout the day. Thus, eating
more meals should help you lose weight.

Here's the problem:

The amount of calories you burn is proportional to the size of the meal
your body is processing. So, digesting six smaller meals that add up to
2000 calories burns the same amount of energy as processing two
large meals of 1000 calories each.

It doesn't matter if you get your calories in 10 meals or in 1 meal, you'll

end up in the same place.

This is crazy. If I didn't eat for 24 hours, I'd die.

Honestly, I think the mental barrier is the biggest thing that prevents
people from fasting because it's really not that hard to do in practice.

Here are a few reasons why intermittent fasting isn't as crazy as you
think it is.

First, fasting has been practiced by various religious groups for

centuries. Medical practitioners have also noted the health benefits of
fasting for thousands of years. In other words, fasting isn't some new
fad or crazy marketing ploy. It's been around for a long time and it
actually works.

Second, fasting seems foreign to many of us simply because nobody

talks about it that much. The reason for this is that nobody stands to
make much money by telling you to not eat their products, not take
their supplements, or not buy their goods. In other words, fasting isn't
a very marketable topic and so you're not exposed to advertising and
marketing on it very often. The result is that it seems somewhat
extreme or strange, even though its really not.

Third, you've probably already fasted many times, even though you
don't know it. Have you ever slept in late on the weekends and then
had a late brunch? Some people do this every weekend. In situations
like these, we often eat dinner the night before and then don't eat until
11am or noon or even later. There's your 16hour fast and you didn't
even think about it.
Finally, I would suggest doing one 24hour fast even if you don't plan
on doing intermittent fasting frequently. It's good to teach yourself
that you'll survive just fine without food for a day. Plus, as I've
outlined with multiple research studies throughout this article, there
are a lot of health benefits.

What are some good resources on intermittent fasting?

You can learn a lot about intermittent fasting by reading articles like
this one and the resources below, but the best way to learn about what
actually works for you is to experiment. That said, I'd recommend the
following resources.

Martin Berkhan's site on the Leangains version of intermittent fasting

is great. You can find it here. If you're looking for a few articles to start
with, I'd recommend this one, this one, and this one.
Andy Morgan has also created an excellent site that covers the
Leangains model of intermittent fasting, which you can find here. I
particularly like his method of counting macros instead of counting
calories, which you can read about here. (That said, I don't count
anything. I just eat.)
There is a very active forum on Reddit where people post their own
progress with the Leangains style of intermittent fasting. You can
check that out here.
Brad Pilon wrote a good book on intermittent fasting called Eat Stop
Eat, which you can buy here.
And finally, John Berardi's report on intermittent fasting is a great
example of testing the ideas in practice. You can download it here.
That's intermittent fasting in a nutshell.
Free Bonus: I created an Intermittent Fasting Quick Start Guide with a
summary of the benefits of intermittent fasting and 3 fasting schedules
you can use depending on your goals. It's a quick 5 page PDF you can
save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click here to get the
guide, free.
Read Next
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