Let’s get unstuck through fasting. Here’s what we will touch on today…
- Benefits of fasting
- How to ease into fasting
- When to eat and when to train
- What to eat
An easy way to ease into it is by pushing breakfast back a bit…
But what does breakfast even mean?
It means, BREAK-FAST. You are breaking your fast since most of us don’t eat in our sleep. haha
So fueling yourself properly is important. This is why we are told breakfast is the most important meal of the day… but we aren’t told you can have it at anytime of the day…
I naturally have always fasted until about 10am.
I’m just not hungry in the morning. I rather get up and go workout, do some errands then refuel.
I have been like this my entire life until I had a trainer tell me I HAVE to eat before the gym…
So of course, I listened to her instead of listening to my own body since she was older and in better shape than I was.
I started having a protein shake with oats (typical bodybuilding diet) in it every morning and all the sudden, I gained weight, felt super tired, bloated and had no motivation to work out. I just figured I was getting older and that’s just what happens. So I stuck it out for about a year until I had enough of feeling like crap. I decided to go back to my old ways…My fasted workouts.
No breakfast in the morning. I would weight train then do interval cardio right after. I dropped about 15lbs in one month. I went back to having amazing energy and flying through my workouts. Then this whole intermittent fasting thing popped up and I was very curious about learning it.
As I did more research, I understood why I felt better not eating as much. Fasting allows your body to detox, heal and cleanse since it isn’t constantly breaking down food. Most people eat about 12-16 hours a day, every few hours so it doesn’t give your body a lot of time to recover or tap into the stored fat to burn as a fuel source.
Benefits of fasting:
- Balances Hormones
- Burns More Fat
- Improves Gut Health
- Anti-Aging
- Weight Loss
- Improved Performance
- Steady Energy Through the Day
- Detox
- Internal Healing
- Boost immune system
- Brings down inflammation
How to ease into fasting…
If you normally have breastfast at 8am, push it back to 9am then in a few days try 10am and so on. Then you want to stop eating 4 hours before you go to bed because once melatonin is released, it is harder to burn fat which is why late night snacking gets us into trouble. haha You want to make sure you pick an eating window that works well with your overall lifestyle. That way it is very easy to stick to. Remember, You can be flexible with your eating windows.
Now, working out in a fasted state. I recommend going for a walk on an empty stomach. See how you feel and if you feel good then continue to advance each week like next week do an easy workout fasted then continue to up it. Some people can’t do it because they get light headed and dizzy. If that is the case then obviously, I would say eat, get your workout done and stop eating at a certain time each night so you can still do some fasting.
How many meals should I do?
That is once again, your call! The more you eat, the more you spike your insulin which pulls you out of fat burning mode which is why I say.. STOP SNACKING! haha Eat solid, well balanced meals. We are brainwashed to believe we need to eat every 3 to 4 hours but that’s not true. You only need to eat when you are hungry.
Some people thrive with eating 1 time a day. I prefer 2-3 meals a day. Just depends on how hungry I get. I always fast with my hormone cycle to make sure I am getting the most out of my body without damaging it. The week before my period, I usually don’t fast as long and eat more carbs which is what our bodies need around then so don’t beat yourself up over stuff like that. Make sure you listen to your body. I usually start my clients off with 3 or 4 meals depending on their preference then adjust depending on how they respond to it. So I recommend doing the same!
Let me know how you do today! I look forward from hearing from you.
If you want to dive deeper on this topic, let’s jump on a call to see what you truly need and how to get you to your goal. Book your call here.
