Breakfast has always been preached as the most important meal of the day, from mom forcing my brother and I to eat before school to the theory that breakfast should be the largest meal of the day to boost your metabolism and fuel your brain. My whole world was recently flipped upside down when I learned that this may not be the case after all. Enter intermittent fasting…

Intermittent fasting has become a buzz phrase gaining lots of popularity with raving reviews when followed correctly. Intermittent fasting is not a diet. It’s a method of changing WHEN you eat to trigger your cells to assist in weight loss, leanness and cognitive ability. In short, this pattern of eating will force your body to use fat and ketones for energy rather than using glucose.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to provide many benefits, including fast loss (especially stomach fat), improving insulin sensitivity, increasing growth hormones, boosting testosterone, increasing longevity and preventing disease. Medical News Today just came out with an important study showing that intermittent fasting may have profound health benefits.

Thinking about giving it a try? There are several types of intermittent fasting; the most popular are… 

• 16/8 Method: Fast for 16 hours, only eating during the remaining 8 hours. Water and caffeine are the only things that can be ingested during fasting hours. There are more detailed diets that restrict your calories and types of food you should eat during those eight hours, but theoretically, if you eat healthy during these eight hours, this method should still work.
• Eat Stop Eat: Fast for 24 hours once or twice a week to reduce overall calorie intake without limiting what you eat.
• The Warrior Diet: Fast during the day, eating only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, and eat one huge meal at night. This method, which IS considered a diet, also incorporates paleo concepts.

With all of these methods out there, I’ve been asked a few times recently about intermittent fasting and didn’t know enough to offer any recommendations. So after lots of research and learning, I’ve decided to give it a try, following a 90-day plan with the 16/8 method as your guinea pig! The first 30 days I’ll fast 3 days per week and eat based on my regular habits the remaining days and during eating times. The second 30 days I’ll fast for 4 days per week. The final 30 days, I’ll fast for 5 days per week and extend my fast to 18 hours with just 6 hours of eating to encourage ketosis. The idea is that this will turn into my permanent lifestyle. This plan is based off of Thomas DeLauer’s Science Based Six Pack. I’m approaching this with an open mind and no specific goals other than to journal results of energy level, fat loss, muscle tone, cognitive clarity, etc.

If you’re interested in giving this a try with me, here are a few tips to get us both started:

• Set up your fasting days to occur during busy days. This will keep your mind busy. You’ll begin to the learn the difference between head hunger and belly hunger. I think learning this difference will be my toughest challenge! I currently eat every three hours because I have always believed I truly need to.
• Drink lots of water. This will keep you hydrated and keep your belly feeling full during fasting periods. You are allowed to flavor your water with lemon or lime juice, and many sources even encourage throwing a pinch of pink Himalayan salt in your water to feed your body minerals and balance your pH while you are fasting. This will also help you avoid passing out if you have intense workouts.
• It’s okay to have caffeine while fasting. Since caffeine depletes your appetite (aka emotional hunger), black coffee or tea is good to have while fasting. Take this one step further with bulletproof coffee.
• Fast overnight. We do this already, so this is a little cheat to get you through the fasting periods more easily. I plan on setting up my 16 hours to occur 5pm to 9am, which will fall almost perfectly into my current eating, sleep and gym routines.
• Workout while you’re fasting. Working out will enhance your results. It will also keep your mind and body busy while fasting. BUT, very importantly, make sure to workout within the last hour of your fast to ensure you optimize your workouts while in ketosis. It’s also important to eat within an hour of your workout (high protein specifically) to aid in muscle recovery and muscle growth.

Have you already tried intermittent fasting? Tell me about your experience! Interested in it but never tried? Let me know if you want to do this with me! Continue to follow my blog for regular updates on how intermittent fasting is working for me. I’ll keep you updated on what I’m eating when, how I feel and what physical results I see. First day of fasting starts Tuesday!

UPDATE: Click here to read about my experience with Intermittent Fasting.