Intermittent Fasting: Top 5 Mistakes That People Make

You’re a fat-burning machine, but not if you make these mistakes

If you’re trying to start 2021 by dropping a few pounds, look no further than intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is utilizing a portion of your day to eat no food at all. Many people skip breakfast or even wait until dinner for their first meal. This not only reduces caloric intake, but more importantly, reduces the number of insulin spikes we get from things like snacking.

Constant insulin spikes are what really slow down your metabolism. Even from a genetic standpoint, our ancestors would go hours, even days without eating. There was no such thing as a McDonalds that’s open 24/7.

During the holiday season — which many of us consider “bulking” time — you can even stay lean if you incorporate daily intermittent fasting. For this reason, some call people who fast “fat-burning machines.”

Fasting is so popular today that all these people do it: Terry Crews, Beyoncé, James Clear, Joe Rogan, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Jack Dorsey, and Tim Ferriss all fast.

All this said, it can be very frustrating when you don’t see results from intermittent fasting. Often the case, however, many people make these common intermittent fasting mistakes.

1. Spiking Your Insulin By Accident

Anything that results in a metabolic response from your body, means you have broken your fast.

This means the following will break your fast:

• Coffee Creamer
• Almond Milk
• Accidentally swallowing Toothpaste or Mouthwash
• Vitamins or Branch Chain Amino Acids
• Pain relievers such as Advil which have sugar in the coating

When you break your fast you are no longer in fat-burning mode.

Furthermore, many other amazing processes that happen when you fast are halted. These include increasing longevity, cleansing out your body (i.e., cancer cells, damaged cells, and other wastes), and boosting growth hormone production, to name a few.

Remember: Even a splash of almond milk breaks a fast.

2. Not Drinking Enough Water

Fasting without drinking enough water could be worse than not fasting at all. The damaged cells or other wastes that sit in your body can not be excreted without anything pushing them out.

Additionally, your body is not taking in the water you would usually consume with food. If you’re not properly hydrated you will likely get headaches, muscle cramps, and intense feelings of hunger.

If you want to flush out toxins during your fast it’s important you drink the following:

• Plenty of water, preferably from higher quality sources like Pellegrino, Boxed Water™, and other filtered sources.
• 1 to 2 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar (which curbs hunger and puts you into a deeper fasted state)
• Black, herbal, oolong, or green tea
• Black coffee

3. Breaking Your Fast With The Wrong Foods

You have much more leniency with food consumption the longer that you fast. However, one of the most important times to watch what you eat is when you first break your fast.

Your stomach shrinks when you’re fasting and the stomach lining is thin, so overwhelming it with food is not a good idea. Furthermore, you want to break your fast with something very simple like a clean protein.

Examples include:

• Bone broth (sells for $2 at most stores and is pure protein)
• Clean protein supplements (read the ingredient labels first)
• Almond milk

The longer you fast the more attention you have to pay to breaking it. Your stomach lining is very thin and breaking it with the wrong foods (i.e. red meats, simple carbohydrates, high-fat foods) could leave you with a bad stomachache.

Those foods are fine after you break a fast and wait around 20–30 minutes of course.

4. Not Working Out When You Fast

Even if your workout feels harder, you are getting tremendous benefits from working out in a fasted state.

Exercise while fasted burns more fat since your body has nothing immediate to digest. The body then looks to itself for metabolic needs, and studies show the first thing it targets is fat.

Additionally, you do not have to consume food immediately after your workout. So, if you get your workout done in the morning, you can fast until the afternoon and you will not lose muscle.

The anabolic window has been disproved by many studies. Building muscle is about what you eat throughout the day, not what you have immediately after.

5. Avoiding a Long-Term Fast

The deeper the fast, the more benefits. If you’re new to intermittent fasting then don’t rush into long-term fasting. However, if you’re looking for more amazing benefits here they are:

• Weight loss: The body burns stored fat (higher amounts if you fast up to 20 hours) and automatically reduces your caloric intake. You won’t be able to overeat as much during your timed window (plus you can be more flexible with what you eat).
• Boosts Growth Hormone (GH): The main fat burning, healing, and anti-aging hormone increases as much as five-fold. Instead of seeking a $100/month injection of GH, you could fast.
• Insulin Sensitivity Improvements: Insulin Sensitivity regulates your blood sugar levels and fasting makes your body more effective at doing this
• Autophagy: The body begins to initiate cellular repair and recycles old damaged proteins through a process called autophagy. Typically, this happens in longer fasts.
• Brain Survival Mode: Your brain conserves neurons, so you become hyper-focused and stress-resistant.
• Reduced Inflammation: Many studies have come out in recent years that link fasting to reduced inflammation. A 2014 study concluded that intermittent fasting reduces inflammation, improves cardiovascular health and decreases risk for type-2 diabetes.

Methods of Intermittent Fasting

Now that you know the most common mistakes for fasting, here are the there are seven most popular ways to do it:

• 12 Hour Intermittent Fasting: An excellent option for beginners, and much of the fasting occurs during sleep. By the end of the 12 hour fast, the body will turn from carbs to fat-burning.
• 16 Hour Intermittent Fasting: One step beyond 12 hours, also known as the 16:8 method. Ideal for people who don’t see benefits during the 12 hour fasting period.
• 5:2 Fasting: You usually eat for five days, and two days of the week you consume a low amount of calories (around 500). You’re eating so little on the other two days that you still get some of the benefits of an actual fast (fat-burning included).
• Alternate Day Fasting: Consuming a small number of calories, or none at all, every other day. You can also do an alternate day intermittent fast, where you usually eat one day and eat within a timeframe on the other.
• A Weekly 24 Hour Fast: Choosing one or two days out of the week to fast for the entire day. There are more benefits to a prolonged fast, such as an increase in stem cell production and gut healing.
• Meal Skipping: Another good approach if you’re starting out. Skip a meal of the day, preferably either breakfast or dinner as it’ll extend the period of your fast.
• One Meal A Day (OMAD or Warrior Diet): It is what it sounds like, an intense form of fasting where you eat once a day. This should only be attempted by those who can consume considerable meals in a short time on a daily basis. The fasting window is usually 20:4 and fat-burning is intense as you might imagine. (Recommended for those used to prolonged fasting; not a good place to start).

Thanks for learning about fasting. Let me know in the comments below what you want me to cover next. Have a great holiday season ☃️

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