How Fasting Might Be the Lifestyle Change You Need to Get Fit
I am not going to sugarcoat it, growing up, I was a fat kid. Not obese but definitely chubby. I was okay with that but I never felt happy about my own health. And for good reason.
I wasn’t healthy. I regularly ate junk food ranging from chips, soda, etc. But then I had my first crush on this girl and wanting to impress her was my new life motto. So that day after school, I picked up my dad’s set of dumbbells at home, did some quick research, and worked out for the first time in my life.
That was a turning point. Since then, I have pretty much prioritized my health and fitness. It started out with home workouts, then the cheapest gym I could find. And now that I have decent pay, I moved on to a nicer gym where I go about 3–4x a week.
So, I was pretty consistent with working out. This meant that I lost weight, gain some muscle but I got as lean as I wanted to. It didn’t matter how much cardio I did or how heavy I lifted, my body never went in my desired direction.
You can probably guess by now, what eluded me was my nutrition.
It was easy to keep going to the gym because it was ingrained from the beginning. But I noticed that I always ate whatever the hell I wanted later because I thought I deserved it. In all fairness, I don’t eat as much junk anymore but my weakness seems to be luxurious meals. Oh man, how I love a good stew. I don’t think I could ever give that up.
Needless to say, I never stuck to a diet. I would get really motivated, try out a diet for a week or two, and then stews just kept calling me back. I could never escape the grip of a great slow-cooked meal even at max willpower.
When the idea of intermittent fasting came around. I was sold on it. The idea of fasting but eating whatever you want later was a trade-off I was willing to make. It meant no more tasteless boiled chicken for lunch.
Of course, eating whatever you want still didn’t mean junk food, it just meant I could enjoy the only meal I had (dinner) without worrying. Not to mention, eating a heavy dinner felt good because it was the reward for a hard day’s work of fasting.
It’s been a little over 2 years since I started fasting. I currently fast for 20–22 hours, 4 days a week. Throughout the 2 years, I have tracked my weight loss, mood, strength, and energy. Experimented with different durations and timings to find the right fasting schedule for me.
There is a lot of science behind the benefits of fasting. Whilst I encourage anyone to read up on it, the human body is still complex enough that fasting may not be for everybody. Trying it out for yourself is still the best way to make that decision. I even wrote an article on the surprising benefits that I have found here.
First and foremost, fasting is no diet, and don’t expect results immediately. Fasting is a lifestyle change and is more sustainable than any diet. I always hated counting calories or worrying about what I can and cannot eat. Fasting gave me the freedom to not do any of that. It allowed me to enjoy food while still doing something good for my body.
But I must say it may not be easy to start fasting. I certainly had my fair share of struggles as I was starting out and depending on how you as a person respond to food, you might find it harder/easier too.
I wrote this article as a guide for anyone that wants to try out fasting for themselves. It will be a combination of things I wished I knew before I started and also some general advice.
You Need Some Solid Motivation at the Start to Be Consistent
Motivation alone isn’t useful for sustaining long-term fasting but it is good for pushing you past the hurdle of just starting out.
Fasting can be really hard depending on how you and your body handles hunger. Especially on days where the stress of life can be too hard to handle. Adding the stress of fasting on top of that can be devastating.
I remember when I first started fasting. There was a day where I was stressed out of my mind at work. I wanted something to relieve that stress. I was so used to grabbing a piece of chocolate or snacking on something but I couldn’t. I was fasting.
In times like these, your motivation will help pull you back, remind you of why you started fasting in the first place. In my case, I reminded myself that I was fasting because I was going to eat a really great and rich lasagna for dinner and I wanted to feel good doing it.
I ended the day enjoying that lasagna and was glad that I stuck to my fast. Fasting for the day also turned out to be the only win for me that day which made me feel less bad about myself.
Motivation becomes less important later when fasting becomes more natural. But it serves as a great tool for being consistent when you are just starting out. Reminding myself of my purpose of fasting always helps ground me on bad days.
Increment Your Fasting Window Slowly until You Feel Comfortable
When I first experimented with intermittent fasting, I tried out a simple 12 hour fast. That just meant skipping breakfast. If you’re like me, then the busyness of work would mean you skip breakfast anyways.
It felt too easy, so I increased it to 14 hours for the next 2 weeks and then 16 hours for another 2 weeks until 21 hours. I didn’t have a specific duration for fasting at the time, I just wanted to see how long I could go without eating anything.
It turns out, I had gradually introduced my body to longer fasting periods by accident. This is a crucial piece of advice I give to anyone. I don’t think I would have stuck with fasting long if I started out fasting for 22 hours immediately. When you are increasing your fasting window, fasting for an additional 2 hours doesn’t feel as hard. Especially if you are just starting out.
I found it difficult getting through the 16-hour mark
The difficulty of fasting is what puts a lot of people off. Gradually introducing that difficulty is what makes this sustainable. Fasting can get quite intense for some people especially if your body and mind aren’t used to it.
As I have encouraged my friends and family to try it. Some immediately try for a 21 hour fast normally hate it and refuse to do it again. Some try for a 12 hour fast first but then refuse to extend it because they can’t understand skipping lunch.
I think it’s important to be aware of when to push yourself and when to pull back. If you have been fasting for 12 hours, try 14 and see how you feel. If you have been fasting for 22 hours and hate it, reduce the hours and see how you feel.
Also, your daily mood and energy will greatly affect how you perceive hunger on any given day. So, don’t stress out if you aren’t able to fast as long as you were able to yesterday.
Take it slow and know that fasting is a lifestyle change. Not fasting for a day or two in the span of a lifetime is not a big deal. Also, it goes the same with fasting duration. If you find that you can’t fast for 20+ hours, then don’t, just fast as long as you feel comfortable to.
Tip: If you can’t seem to increase your fast duration, try adding more fat to your meals. Fat is a very efficient energy source and can provide you more energy for longer periods of time. Allowing you to fast for longer.
Your Mood and Energy Is Reliant on Your Sleep the Night before
As I mentioned before, your perception of hunger is very reliant on your energy and mood for the day. One very important factor to all of this is the quality and quantity of your sleep.
Sleep biologically governs our cravings and willpower. It does this through a hunger hormone known as Ghrelin and your prefrontal cortex (which for this purpose is in charge of your willpower). A lack of sleep increases the Ghrelin hormone and impairs your prefrontal cortex (Which means you have lesser control over how much willpower you can exert).
So if you’re getting 4–5 hours of sleep and wanting to fast 20+ hours, you are most likely not going to succeed or you’re not going to be in a good mood doing it. You will be too focused on fighting the hunger to be able to do anything productive. Not to mention, you will also be highly irritable and frustrated.
Taking the notion of being Hangry to a whole new level. I am speaking from experience. When I started, there were some days where I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. But because I was obsessed with being consistent, I would suck it up and stick to the fast.
I hardly remember anything of that day aside from fighting the hunger the entire day. I remember how irritated I was at the tiniest problem at work. I even found the lights of my apartment frustrating. I would have probably started a fight that day if someone told me off or made a comment on my work.
Thankfully they didn’t. After fasting for a while, you tend to notice when you are becoming unreasonably angry or annoyed. You can then either choose to acknowledge that it is part of the fasting process or acknowledge that you didn’t get enough sleep and should break the fast to prevent any unwanted trouble.
A lack of sleep already places immense stress on our body, adding to that the stress of fasting and life can be overwhelming. Acknowledge those moments and understand that it is okay to break your fast when you didn’t get enough sleep.
I find it better to preserve my relationships with those around me rather than trigger anything I regret saying. There is no point in fasting if it makes you angry all the time and if it makes you hurt the ones around you.
I know for a fact that it doesn’t feel good to skip a fast especially when we are trying to be consistent but I rather not burden those around me just because I didn’t sleep well. Sleep is vital to your daily energy and mood. Now, even more so when you add the stress of fasting too.
The Intensity of Hunger Doesn’t Increase, It Just Comes in Waves
Finally, the last point is more to dispel a myth rather than advice. Most people — including me — thought that fasting for more than 12 hours meant that we get hungrier and hungrier but from my experience and this paper. The feeling of hunger comes in waves and usually peaks around our regular meal periods.
Therefore, the most challenging part of fasting is getting through these spikes. But that also means that it isn’t a constant uphill battle. You don’t have to keep fighting hunger, it goes away.
I personally distract myself during these times by staying away from any hunger triggers like smells or sounds. Usually, I take my work elsewhere or I take a walk to distract myself from hunger.
The hunger peaks are also good indicators that I should be taking a break from work. Sometimes, if the hunger is too intense, I would make a cup of coffee or tea.
Final Thoughts
I have yet to experiment with longer-term fasting schedules like the alternate-day fasting or 3-day long fasts but I will try them at some point. For now, 20–22 hours, 4x days a week seems to serve me well for my own health and fitness goals.
If you do plan to try out longer-term fasting, my main concern has always been sleep. It is quite hard to get good sleep when you are hungry because your body is prioritizing the search for food instead of sleep. This is why I normally fast through the morning and afternoon, making dinner my only big meal of the day. Unsure how to tackle this, it would be interesting to experiment with it.
Finally, I think fasting is a fairly big lifestyle change, it can be very hard to get started with it and can be excruciating in the beginning. But it does get a lot easier and feels more natural later.
Gradually introducing it to your body is the safest and best way to go about fasting. Whilst you might be able to brute force your way through like some of my family members, you probably won’t have a good time.
To me, the benefits of fasting are huge and fasting becomes a no-brainer once you get over the hump of starting out.
If anything, it has taught me how my body and mind react to food and made me aware of my own mood and energy. There is also a certain pleasure in knowing that I can go a day without food and still function normally.
I hope that this helps anyone out there.
Thanks for reading.
Resources that I have found useful :
Fasting vs. Eating Less: What’s the Difference? (Science of Fasting)
Intermittent Fasting & Hunger — What the Science says
Intermittent Fasting — How it Affects Sleep
Is Ketosis Dangerous? (Science of Fasting & Low Carb Keto)
Disclaimer: This is by no means health advice. I am just writing about what I have experience in the last 2+ years. Please do your own research and consult your doctors if you plan to try out fasting.
