How to Start Intermittent Fasting

Starting Your Own “IF” Lifestyle

The biggest concern I have gotten since starting this blog in 2010, is emphasizing too much on my personal experience. There aren’t two Anna’s in this world!

In fact to effectively use Intermittent Fasting (IF) to achieve goals and maximum results can vary by each person with fat loss, muscle gain, better health, improved performance in your sport of choice and more. With that comes the individuality of what is a person’s insulin resistance, current body composition (body fat %), daily lifestyle, eating habits, type of exercise program, frequency and volume of training and so forth.

It is unlikely to find large groups of people with the exact same set of parameters and responses to an intermittent fasting protocol. My suggestion is to start with a basic intermittent fasting format, and then learn how to monitor results and adjust as you go.

Even down the road things will change as you will improve health, lower insulin resistance or losing weight. So nothing is really ever just one set way (as it shouldn’t have to be). Life is dynamic (always changing and evolving) and so should be the way we see our own journey for health and fitness.

What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

If you are new to the term, intermittent fasting is just taking “intermittent” times of fasting (no food) and working them into your lifestyle. This can be either daily or a couple times a week (will get into that more below).

How to Begin Using Intermittent Fasting?

Is there only one set way in which to use intermittent fasting? No, of course not.

There are many different IF protocols based on people’s individualistic needs, lifestyle, exercise, goal, macronutrient ratios, and so forth. I am going to keep it simple and give the 2 most frequent options.

• Longer IF 1-2x a week: This is taking a longer fasting period of say for up to 24 hours and repeating 1-2x a week. Note that 24 hours is not skipping a whole day, as stopping to eat on 6pm Tues and then having your next meal at 6pm Wed is 24 hours. I usually don’t talk about anything beyond 30 hours for using IF, as most research is usually based on that fasting window. There is a book called Eat Stop Eat detailing the ‘1-2x a week’ mode of IF.

• Shorter More “Daily” IF: This means that it is done more than a couple times a week with a condensed eating window such as eating their calories in a 8-6 hour window more daily (and the fasting does happen around it). There is a book called 2 Meal Solution detailing the ‘daily’ mode of IF.

With those approaches there are still many variables to include such as calories, activity/exercise, recovery needs, food choices, etc. In the end it is still about finding a way that does work for you. Picking the approach you think fits around your lifestyle best is going to lead to better results.

Wrapping it Up

Over the years I have adapted more of the “long” IF approach than the ‘short’ without really planning.

I eat anywhere from 12-24 hours without worrying about food all the time. I focus more on healthy foods and the results come, while still being able to enjoy other splurges when I go out and eat/socialize. I’m not a slave to some mentality of “needing” to eat all day and enjoy the freedom that comes with that.

Heck sometimes on occasion I may work in a 24+/- hour fast just because of my schedule, but there is more flexibility to how I eat now. I listen to my body and know what is right for me. Staying lean and healthy year round is easy once you can do that.

The key part of the IF experience is just starting with it and seeing how it works for you. Knowing how to change things up when they aren’t working. Making a lifestyle solution and not needing anyone to tell you how to eat again. That is how you find that freedom and results that last.

Personally I enjoy reading the The IF Blog which covers everything about intermittent fasting. And the author Mike O'Donnell answers questions promptly.

Intermittent Fasting - How to Start Using IF

Best Time to Workout

If you want to find out the best time to workout, this article may help.

Good and informative fitness articles are not easy to find. Mike O’Donnell’s blog is one among the rare blogs that contain original content articles. Mike is a professional personal trainer. His articles are insightful and inspirational which I always enjoy reading. Recently I read his article “What is the best time to workout” which I really want to share with you.

I always emphasis the benefits of exercising in a "fasted state" and encourage doing morning exercises. However after reading Mike’s article, I have changed my views about when and how to do workout.

Below are a few highlights from Mike’s article.

By Mike O’Donnell: In the past I have talked about the advantages of working out in a “fasted state”, which can easily be done first thing in the morning. However early in the morning is not the only time, as a “fasted” state (or the lowered insulin levels) can also happen hours after your most recent meal.

So it is possible to still workout later in the day and reap the benefits, assuming you didn’t eat too soon before your workout.

… it’s how your nervous system (and adaptions it makes) that determines your real strength and performance outputs for a workout during the day.

…So the answer to the best time to workout is based on when you feel optimal to do an intense workout. When is your body and nervous system working at peak capacity?

For me, that means later in the day. I feel stronger, flexible (less chance of injury), focused and my workouts are just more intense/productive.

But for another person, that optimal time may be first thing in the morning.

So whatever time of day you feel “optimal” for maximizing your workout efforts, that is probably the best time for you.

Consistency Matters Too
The other major factor to look at is if you will also stay consistent with the workouts. Doing an intense exercise program for 4 weeks a year isn’t going to get the results you are after.

Now doing some simple workouts consistently year round, now we are talking. Simple daily habits that add up for lasting results.

This can depend on your daily schedule (work, personal) and other things you have going on. Some people like getting it out of the way first thing in the morning before work and the day gets too busy, others rather would do it right after work before going home to wind down for the night.

Wrapping Up
So really it is just a simple equation to try and maximize your performance/ strength output while also making sure you stay consistent with your workouts.

Don’t worry about whether you can or can not get a workout first thing in the morning (esp with IF), as for some it may be more effective later on in the day. You can always get that “fasted” state by just having a long period of time (2-3 hours for example) between your workout and the last time you ate.

So just go with what best compliments your daily lifestyle! You can always change it up as you go along…but the goal is to just get started and keep going!

Click here to view the full article: What is The Best Time to Workout

By Anna Fasting: In terms of consistency, I must grant myself a distinction - simple workouts consistently year round plus simple daily habits. Due to office relocation, my lunch-hour swimming may not be possible but I just switch it to before or after work together with some simply calisthenics daily. No matter what, if you are determined to workout everyday for the benefit of your health, I’m sure you can find time to do it.

Back to Mike’s blog, I really appreciate his knowledge and passion in helping others to keep fit. He also answers email promptly. He is certainly one of my most respected figures in the fitness field. If you wish to take a look, here is Mike’s blog.

My simple daily calisthenics ideas come from this book Workout Without Weights.

For your information, Bodyweight Calisthenics are an incredibly effective and versatile form of exercise... You can do them anywhere and anytime, they do not require expensive equipment or costly gym memberships, you can do them in short bursts and you can effectively train the entire body by using only a few movements. For additional information, download this free report: Cardio Intervals

Intermittent Fasting Success - Best Time To Workout

5-day Mini Master Cleanse

I have just completed a 5-day mini master cleanse. Here is a summary of my story.

Background
I feel I need a spiritual renewal plus some cleansing and detoxification. I know I’m going to lose weight but I don’t have much weight to lose, so I decide to cut the standard period of 10 days by half.

Preparation
Although the actual fast lasted 5 days, I started to cut my food consumption ahead of time. In fact, I had 4.5 normal meals the week before I started fasting. 4.5 meals in a week sound unrealistic, isn’t it? Nope. I seldom eat more than 10 meals in a week. So I’m actually cutting 50% of my normal diet. If you have to cut your weekly meals by half, would it be possible? I believe it’s no big deal.

My preparation also included the mental part. To be successful, this is the most important. I kept telling myself, if I can’t control myself for 5 days, how can I control myself for the rest of my life? This feeling is really wonderful. I wanted to do it and I did it. I must say this is truly a good exercise to go through. I usually gather at the office pantry for social talk, but in the fasting week, I didn’t even walk into the pantry. I had a water machine nearby my desk, so drinking was not a problem.

Fasting Process
I drink the lemonade three times a day to replace breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rest of the day, I drink water only. What if I really feel hungry and wanted something to eat? Well, hunger has not been my problem for a long time. This may have set the background for my successful fasting lifestyle. However there had been moments that I really wanted to eat. Once throughout my 5 fasting days, I had a spoonful of the maple syrup which was one of the ingredients of my lemonade drink. Guess what. At that moment, if you ask me what the most delicious food in this world is, I must say ‘maple syrup’. No wonder people with fasting experience will eat respectfully, really enjoy the taste of food and without wasting any food.

Lemonade had no fiber in it. So I had a glass of laxative tea every evening which helped me go to the bathroom easier the next morning. The waste quantity wasn’t much, but very dark in color, much darker than usual. I guess this is normal as I’m cleansing out the stuff that had been clogging on my colon.

The Challenge
It was five years ago when I first encountered a 6-day fasting. Throughout these years, my fasting windows have been 24-hour most of the time and quite often 40-60 hours. However beyond that was a little challenge. Day 3 had been the most difficult. Once I past that, I felt great and much more optimistic. In fact, to enable the process run smoothly, I stayed calm on everything and thus picked the week when my boss was away and business was relatively slow.

Side Effect
Coated tongue – I had this for the first two days. But I know this is a normal side effect of fasting and cleansing, so it didn’t bother me much.

Weight loss – I lost 6 pounds and achieved truly flat ab. To many people this is a positive side effect but for me, not really. In fact I’m quite standard in terms of body weight and shape. I’m now actually a bit underweight.

Exercising
Daily swimming had been part of my life for many years. I thought I should remain less active during fasting and swap to hula hoop for the first 3 days. However on day 4 I felt really energetic, so I resumed my lunch hour swimming. So as day 5.
WARNING: DO NOT do this if you are fasting for the first time.

Breaking Fast
I break my fast with a bowl of fish and lettuces congee. A 5-day fast is not too long nor short, but still needed some care in breaking fast. Congee made me feel comfortable and prepare my digestive system for a slightly heavier lunch the next day.

NOTE: This is just a report of my mini master cleanse experience. It is not meant to be a proper master cleanse guide. If you are looking to do a full master cleanse, check out Raylen Sterling’s website about Master Cleanse Secrets. You can even subscribe her newsletter. Find out more before kicking start.

Intermittent Fasting Success Story

Here is an IF success story from one of my readers which was posted in my food blog on July 9, 2011. This is indeed one of the most encouraging comments that I receive ever since I blog on IF and food. So I’ve decided to copy this comment from my Hong Kong Food Blog and post it here.

Hi Anna, I didn't know where to drop this, so I'm just going to leave this here.

Back in September, I had this massive craving for Cantonese food while I was at school (without my parents' cooking). I googled around and came to your site. Then I read about IF. I've never made an effort to lose weight, but I decided to give IF a try. I did it for about three months. Then Christmas break came around. After that, I reduced my fasts and eventually stopped because juggling my semester schedule and IF was too much for me.

However, I just wanted to thank you so so so much, with every ounce of sincerity that I have. When I stopped IF, I started eating healthier (and I'm not just saying "eating healthier," I really mean it.

Lifestyle changing, healthy eating, not just dieting - "healthy eating", if that makes sense. I don't think I could ever ever have done this if I hadn't stumbled on your blog.

IF taught me how to look at food differently every single day. It taught me about hunger and bored eating. It taught me so much, in only three months that I did it seriously.

I'm down 30 lbs now. I lost 10 pounds on IF, then the other 20 lbs by eating responsibly. This is a leap for me because I had never lost more than 5 lbs at a time in my life. I have a long way to go, but for a girl who has never really put an effort into weight loss until I saw your blog, I really just wanted to thank you. I wanted to write to you for a while, but I didn't know how to thank you, and I really still don't. Thank you so much! Also, I just came back from Hong Kong and the food was delicious! :D

Intermittent Fasting Success Story

Calorie Restricted Diets - Good or No Good?

Calorie Restricted Diets have helped many to lose weight. But there is an argument that "You're just going to put all the fat back on... "

My friend Brad Pilon has recently written an article on this topic. I like his points and would very much like to share with you.

"Calorie restricted diets are pointless because they are hard to maintain and you just end up putting the fat back on once you stop the diet"

I have NEVER understood this argument against dieting.

To me, it's just a back handed compliment:

"Sure, you're losing tons of fat now and you look great, but as soon as you stop dieting and start eating like the rest of us again your just going to gain all that fat back! "

Funny how you never hear anyone say:

"Really effective weight training programs are pointless because they are hard to maintain and you just end up losing all the muscle when you go back to being sedentary"

or

"Getting out of debt is pointless because it's really, really hard, and once you go off your budget and start spending like crazy, you just end up in debt again!"

To me, this is just the arguments made by the defeated, the lazy and the jealous.

My advice? Ignore these arguments, and stay the course.

Eat less, move more, fast once or twice a week, ignore the naysayers. That's the approach people who transformed their bodies using Eat Stop Eat followed, and it will work for you too.

Your friend,

Brad

Eat Stop Eat

Juice Fasting – Benefits and How

If you’ve been following my blog, you may know that my fasting journey started with a six-day juice fasting.

To start with, I prefer juice to water for one reason – I like to have some taste, sweetness and at least something rather than nothing in my mouth. May be for this reason, people generally can stay through the first three days without much problem. In fact, there were more scientific reasons to backup my choice, but at that moment in time, I didn’t know. If you want to try juice fasting, let me walk you through some basic facts.

About Juice Fasting
While juice fasting, the stomach actually shrinks to its original size (the size of your fist). When you just drink your food, your stomach gets a physiological rest, allowing the colon to shed old compacted and putrefied material that was waiting there to cause future disease. Hence juice fasting is not only responsible for weight loss, but detoxifying and rejuvenating our digestive organs.

Please always include fresh raw fruits and vegetables. They require no digestion & almost all their vital nutrients are assimilated directly in the bloodstream.

Raw juices of fruits & vegetables are extremely rich in vitamins & minerals, trace elements, enzymes & natural sugars. They exercise beneficial effect in normalizing all the body functions. They supply needed elements for the body's own healing activity & cell regeneration thereby speeding the recovery.

Juice Fasting Juices
If you are technically interested in the nutrition value and benefits of the juice fasting fruits and vegetable juices, you may look up the internet and spend a few days reading overwhelming information.

I’m not a technical person, so my suggestion to do juice fasting is by color rotation. I’m sure you won’t miss anything in terms of nutrition. And that was exactly how I did it myself. Here are some of the fruits and vegetables generally available, delicious and economic. I’m sure you’ll love some, if not all of them.

• Acid fruits like orange, lemon, grapefruit, strawberry and pineapple.
• Sweet fruits such as prunes and grapes.
• Sub-acid fruits like apple, plum, pear, peach, apricot and cherry.
• Vegetable fruits, namely, tomato and cucumber.
• Green leafy vegetables like cabbage, celery, lettuce, spinach.
• Root vegetables like beetroot, carrot, onion, potato and radish.

I made the juices myself to guarantee freshness. Drink immediately after the juices are made. If you don’t have a juicer at home yet, buy one. A simple inexpensive home juicer will do. It is desirable to use juices individually. If you prefer to mix, I would suggest no more than three juices in any one mixture.

Who Should Do Juice Fasting
Anybody – whoever wants to start a new and healthy life. But you may say that ‘if it is easy, then everyone would be doing it.’ Right, each year, millions of people attempt to take control of their weight and health. And each year millions of people fail. If you don’t want to be the next one, you need to find out more about juice fasting and seek support from people with successful experience.

Generally people who suffered from pain and got recovered will share their experiences and hope to help others who had been suffering from similar pain. For me, I create this blog to share my fasting experiences. For Kate West, she has taken her years of overweight/unhappy experience into a simple handbook called Breakthrough Juice Fasting, in which she takes you by the hand and show you step-by-step how to do juicing fasting. FYI, Kate after mastering this system became a detoxification consultant and enjoying great joy in helping others to go through the journey she had.

Intermittent Fasting Sucess Report - Juice Fasting Knowhow

Why Bother With The Lemonade Diet?

Do you love lemon? A lot of us do. What do you love a lemon for, apart from its fragrant and refreshing nature? Have you ever associated it with weight loss, health and even a master cleanse? In fact, a Lemonade Diet which is also known as The Master Cleanse, is a life transformation exercise where many people enjoy a new and better life after going through it.

As someone who’s enjoying the benefits of fasting, I would like to introduce more fasting diets ideas to encourage more readers to go fasting. Let me begin with the Lemonade Diet.

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet. Lately it seems like every Hollywood actress or actor who needs to get in shape is turning to this decades old health system that involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

With all the diets out there to choose from why would anyone bother with the Lemonade Diet?

There are two main reasons people like the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet. The first (and most obvious) is that it works. The results people are getting with the Master Cleanse border on miraculous, and they are backed by thousands of devoted users who are living testimonials to the effectiveness of the Master Cleanse.

The second reason people choose the Master Cleanse over other diets and wellness programs is that it's fast. The typical person only spends 10 days on the Master Cleanse, compared to other diets that can last months or even years you can see why they choose the Master Cleanse. For urgent dieters who for any reason need to shed pounds in a short period, this method is widely used.

Another interesting thing about the Lemonade Diet lasting just 10 days is that you only need a short term burst of will power to get through it. Having to sacrifice for months is what makes other diets so hard to stay on, but most people can will their way through 10 days.

What can you expect from 10 days on the Lemonade Diet?

Even though most people are going on the Master Cleanse to lose weight quickly, there are many other health benefits to be gained by doing the Master Cleanse. Flushing out your system is what the Master Cleanse is really designed to do. Even back 60 years ago when the Master Cleanse was first invented people had health problems as a result of waste building up inside of them. Today with processed foods, pollution, and all around poor diets our bodies desperately need to be flushed out every once in a while.

When you flush out your body with the Master Cleanse the waste you eliminate will be abnormal. The smell, color, and texture of the waste that comes out of your body shock some people, so you should be prepared.

It's true the Master Cleanse can help you lose up to 20 pounds, look younger, ease chronic pain, cleanse your body of internal waste, and boost your energy levels in 10 days but...You know the saying - "if it was easy everyone would be doing it". Right. Some people can’t even do it for one day.

If you want to try the Master Cleanse, there's more you need to know than just drinking the lemonade mixture for 10 days. In fact most people who try the Master Cleanse without knowing all the steps fail. If you want to see whether the Lemonade Diet is right for you, there's a good book Master Cleanse Secrets that you should read before starting because it covers the common problems people face, and how to avoid them.

Go fasting! I wish you all the best!

Anna

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Lemonade Diet