I Did Intermittent Fasting And Exercised Every Day For 31 Days — Here’s What Happened

It was a New Year’s Resolution and totally worth it

One of my goals for 2020 is to be healthier and fitter than ever before. I know the Smart Method for goal setting isn’t applied here, but that’s on purpose because I didn’t know how to measure “healthy” in numbers.

I took measures of my body on the 1st of January, and as my goal is to get slimmer, these numbers are a great benchmark for me to measure if I got into shape or not. Yet, when it comes to “healthy” I struggled in setting concrete numbers for a whole year. What I finally came up with are the following daily habits:

Daily exercise or at least a yoga or stretching session

A big portion of vegetables

At least one piece of fruit

Fortunately, I’ve already been hitting the gym for the past four years, thus, exercising daily was not as hard as it might be for someone who is just starting. However, on average, I exercised two to three times per week, getting to every day was still a challenge.

Okay, so I decided to move my body daily, but what about intermittent fasting?

In short, intermittent fasting means that you fast for a specific time-frame during every 24 hour day. There are different fasts, ranging from 12 hours to 24 hours.

In the case of 12 hours, you don’t eat for a 12-hour time-frame, which is pretty easy as you’ll be sleeping most of that time. However, many people are also experimenting with 20 or 24-hour fasts. In these cases, they don’t eat anything for (almost) a whole day.

I already did intermittent fasting a few times in the past two years, yet I never stuck to it entirely. Mostly that was due to my irregular daily routines and a lot of travel. Yet, I was aware of the many (health) benefits that come with fasting before I started.

During most of the 31 days, I fasted for 16 hours.

Sticking to my New Years Resolution of exercising every day and practicing intermittent fasting was not always straightforward, but it was totally worth it. I learned a lot about my body, saw tons of benefits, and I figured out what exercise and eating patterns I want to keep for the rest of the year.

Here’s what I learned from moving my body and fasting every day:

It makes you feel happier

Exercising is known to increase happiness and wellbeing. It is scientifically proven that moving your body leads to changes in your brain, resulting in a regulation of stress and anxiety. Additionally, exercise is known to increase your level of endorphins, which are our “happiness hormones”. Being physically active, literally stimulates brain chemicals that make you feel better and lift your mood.

Even moving your body at a very light intensity, such as walking, can help to prevent depression and bad mood.

I knew that movement has positive effects on our mind, but exercising for 31 days in a row showed me how great the results could be.

Last year, I often skipped exercising, telling myself I don’t have time for it. This time, I found time for it, no matter what, and instead of getting stressed out, I felt happier and more balanced than ever before.

It helps you with weight loss

Through exercise, you burn calories, and through fasting, you save some, at least if you don’t eat excessive amounts once you stop your fast.

As a result, it gets easier to lose weight, as sustaining a calorie deficit becomes more effortless.

As weight loss is one of my goals, the combination of exercising and fasting is perfect for me.

Your energy level increases like…a lot!

I knew that fasting helps to increase the daily energy level, but I never experienced myself feeling that empowered throughout my days.

Also, engaging in physical activity can increase your energy levels, even if it’s just a quick home workout.

For me, the combination of fasting and exercise worked wonders. I felt super fresh and full of joy right in the morning up until my first meal at noon. As I am currently exercising in the evenings, the fasting doesn’t affect my workout at all.

While doing sports, your tissues and organs get pumped with oxygen. As a result, your heart, as well as your lungs, work more efficiently, and you feel much more energized.

I don’t drink much coffee at all, but what I’ve heard from people who do so is that intermittent fasting helped them to get rid of consuming too much caffeine throughout their days.

It can help improve your sleep quality

This one was a major gamechanger for me.

Throughout the past months, I often struggled with lousy sleep. I couldn’t figure out why, and I tried out any sleep ritual that I found on the internet, yet it didn’t help.

For many months I woke up extremely exhausted and not well-rested. I didn’t expect exercising and fasting to have a significant impact on the quality of my sleep at all. Yet, a few days after being into my new routine of exercising and fasting, I woke up feeling much better than before.

Many studies show how regularly moving your body can affect your sleep patterns and help with better recovery during the night.

Falling asleep became more natural, and my sleep is much deeper now that I’ve implemented fasting and daily exercising. This doesn’t only help me feel energized in the morning, but it also supports my body to recover itself, which comes with long-term benefits besides my daily energy level.

Your stress level will decrease

The combination of fasting and exercising helped me to lower my stress level tremendously. I became better at time management and started working more efficiently.

While I felt like I don’t have time for exercising for the most time last year, I suddenly managed to fit in a 1-hour workout every day without making any sacrifices on essential tasks or appointments. The only thing I reduced was wasting my time being on social media, arguing with my boyfriend, and thinking about what to eat for breakfast.

As exercising was a clear priority, I found time to practice it, no matter what.

I also experienced that having clear priorities helps in organizing your day and reduces the stress level we experience throughout our weeks.

You become more conscious and appreciative about food

The combination of sports and fasting helped me to become much more conscious about what, how much, where, and when I eat.

Instead of eating for the sake of staving off my hunger, I started viewing food consumption as a way of nourishing my body.

I took much more care about what I let inside my body. This was easier because the daily fast decreased the number of meals I consume per day and because I worked my ass off during the exercises, and I didn’t want to mess it up by eating crap.

You have fewer choices to make

If you struggle with decision making, this is for you.

Due to the fast, I don’t have to decide on what to eat for breakfast. For me, the eating period of 8 hours usually starts around 11 AM, and I eat dinner at around 7 PM. Thus, I don’t have to take care of a third meal. This makes life easier! Plus, you save money on one meal.

Additionally, deciding whether I go to the gym or not cost me quite a lot of time and energy last year. Every day I had to come up with excuses on why I couldn’t hit the gym while the reality was that I just didn’t want to.

Now, I don’t think about it anymore, I just do it.

Your productivity might increase

To be honest, I didn’t necessarily expect this to happen. I rather thought that I’d had to sacrifice my work as exercising might take a lot of time.

However, due to the fasting, and the fact that my energy level increased through daily exercise, my productivity also expanded.

Yet, the increase in productivity is also because you have slightly more time available. By skipping a meal (in my case breakfast), you save up valuable time that you can spend working on essential tasks.

For me, this was a major gamechanger because my most productive time is during the morning. Now, I have at least one more hour of time to invest in my work.

Plus, I have an easier time to entirely focus on what I am doing. That was something that I struggled with in the past months. I often sat down, opened my laptop, but couldn’t even focus for 15 minutes without getting distracted. Now, my worktime until the first meal of the day is super productive and focused. Only if I get really hungry, I struggle to keep my concentration, yet, that’s something that doesn’t happen very often.

You might have fewer cravings for sweets

I love sweets. I used to eat a piece of chocolate, a brownie, nuts, or a sweet protein bar at least once a day. It was entirely normal for me. Whenever I craved sweets, I grabbed something.

However, after one week into consistent intermittent fasting, my cravings considerably dropped. I still enjoy a piece of chocolate or other traits every now and then, but not daily. For me, that’s a huge bonus because it helps me to stay in a calorie deficit and lose weight.

Bottom Line

Fasting and exercising regularly are nothing more than habits. They are hard to establish, yet, once you succeed, they make your life much more comfortable.

What makes these two habits so amazing, however, is the fact that once you stick to exercising and fasting, you don’t want to quit anymore. You won’t want to miss any of the fantastic benefits that both routines have to offer.

Just like any habit, these also take time to establish, so even if you slip once or twice, don’t blame yourself but instead keep going. Skipping your fast or exercising every now and then won’t have any significant impact on your success anyway. Instead of punishing yourself, focus on all the positive benefits, and fasting as well as moving your body will come naturally to you.

For me, the results are obvious: Fasting as well as exercising improve the quality of my life in a great way, and I will give my best to keep these fantastic habits.

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