So you’ve heard about Intermittent Fasting, and now you’re interested in what it’s all about. Here is a getting started guide to help you to decide if Intermittent Fasting is right for you. Intermittent Fasting will work, but you have to decide to do it and stick to it. Just like with most diet changes, getting through the first few days may be a little rough, but you’ll see results rather quickly so it’s worth sticking it out. I’ve been Intermittent Fasting for a little over a year now and have seen vast improvements to my health, including healing my gut, which helps to control my allergies.

Disclosure: This post not only shares how to start doing Intermittent Fasting and how it works with the Keto Diet, but also has Affiliate Links that I earn commissions from. This is how I make a living and keep this little blog running. Thank you for supporting me! I appreciate it. Much love, Kristi.

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What is Intermittent Fasting?

Breaking down the words intermittent and fasting makes it easy to understand exactly what Intermittent Fasting is, by definition. On a very basic level, it means you’re alternating cycles of eating and fasting. You’re naturally fasting every night while you sleep (let’s ignore those midnight snacks!), so Intermittent Fasting isn’t a whole lot different – it just extends the amount of hours that you spend fasting.

 

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

Intermittent Fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently, and your body will learn to burn fat as fuel when you deprive it of new calories to constantly pull from.

During your fasting periods, you can still consume water, tea, and coffee – hold the cream and sugar, please!

How To Get Started with Intermittent Fasting

Are you used to eating 3 to 6 meals a day, or you are used to eating when you feel hungry? Maybe you haven’t had a regular eating plan in the past, or you just eat when you think it’s meal time. Either way, Intermittent Fasting is going to be a game changer – and will be a big change for most people.

If you have been struggling with weight loss all your life, Intermittent Fasting can HELP, but it needs to be part of a well-balanced approach that works for your lifestyle, body type, lifestyle, experience, and goals. Getting started requires a little bit of planning and a little bit of will power. Your body will adjust fairly quickly to this new eating pattern and you will not feel a loss of energy or focus. The easiest way for me to start was to just skip breakfast. There are a few ways to do IF depending on your schedule and your life. If you work a 9-5 then fasting from 8pm until noon might be ideal for you. Working a different schedule? You will have to adjust the fasting and feasting period to suit your lifestyle and your needs.

Getting started with Intermittent Fasting is easy! Stock up on healthy foods and make a meal plan, then check out the time frames for fasting below.

How Intermittent Fasting Can Work for You

Here are a few examples of an Intermittent Fasting schedule. You can adjust the window of time to make it work for your life and your schedule.

If you start eating at 7am, stop eating and start fasting at 3pm.
If you start eating at 11am, stop eating and start fasting at 7pm.
If you start eating at 2pm, stop eating and start fasting at 10pm.

My Real Life Example

Wake up at 8am, skip breakfast, eat at noon. Then you have until 8pm to fuel your body. Some Intermittent Fasting schedules are a bit different as far as ratios go, but those are real-life examples that you can work with. If you’re fasting for 16 hours, or you work a strenuous job, you may need some low-calorie foods to get you through at first. Once your body gets used to your new eating schedule, and you get used to eating enough to fuel your body during that 8-hour window, you won’t feel as hungry during your fasting periods.

 

My Personal IF Schedule

I wake up early around 5-6am every day and make a regular cup of tea. By 8 or 9am though, I need a little something to get me through, so I make my Bulletproof Chai Tea (I do a medical Keto eating plan). The first cup though I don’t add in the Coconut Vanilla Creamer because of the carbs, but I do add the collagen peptides and Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil in it. Then around 11am, I make it just like the recipe. It’s so good! Typically, I only eat one meal a day. I work from home, so I tend to make a big lunch around 12 or 1pm. Then around 4 or 5pm I have a half an avocado. If I’m still hungry, I usually will heat up any leftovers I have and add them over a few handfuls of kale and arugula. I have berries in the fridge for a sweet snack too. By 6-7pm I am done eating for the day and am full. 

I also have found that if one night I have a couple glasses of wine or beer, then I will fast until about 4 or 5pm the next day. Emptying out the stomach helps to alleviate the stress that alcohol puts on the body. I do the same if I inadvertently have too much caffeine one day, I fast for 24 hours to get rid of it. 

Why Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is known to boost fat loss, increase muscle gain, heal an unhealthy gut, and improves brain function.

It can help you achieve your goals: Intermittent Fasting is much simpler than dieting. It’s more sustainable and easier to stick to. There’s no hard and fast rules on what you can and can’t eat, though the better your food choices, the happier you’re going to be with your results.

Also, Intermittent Fasting can be incorporated into pretty much any other diet you are following (like Keto or Weight Watchers!).

It can help you to save money: Most folks who do Intermittent Fasting eat two large meals each day. This makes meal planning and meal prep easier.

Intermittent Fasting promotes stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion, two keys for weight loss and muscle gain

Drawbacks To Intermittent Fasting

If you have an addictive relationship with food and you struggle with portion control, you may struggle to get the Intermittent Fasting down. Track your calorie intake in your meals to make sure you’re not overeating, if you’re worried about that. If you skip breakfast, you might be so hungry from this that you OVEREAT for lunch and this can lead to weight gain. Again, the important thing here is that with Intermittent Fasting you are eating fewer calories than normal because you’re skipping a meal every day.

Can You Do Intermittent Fasting and Keto Together?

As you know, I’m a huge fan of Keto and have been following the Keto lifestyle for a little over a year now. Most people I know that eat the Keto way also combine it with Keto and Intermittent Fasting. It’s worth noting that Intermittent Fasting keeps your metabolism high while helping you gain muscle. Keto can help ease the hunger pangs you may feel during your fasting. Read more here.

 

Here are a few of my favorite Keto-friendly recipes

Cider & Citrus Turkey Brine
Keto Pumpkin Milkshake
Bulletproof Decaf Chai Tea
Keto Peanut Butter Chocolate Cups
Keto Avocado Spinach Smoothie
Dark Chocolate Strawberry Bark

How to be Keto While on the Weight Watchers Plan 

 

What Intermittent Fasting IS NOT

Just like with some people thinking Keto is all bacon and fat bombs, some people will think Intermittent Fasting means not eating overnight and then pigging out during your eating time. Intermittent Fasting is NOT about eating unhealthy foods or overeating – it’s about eating healthy foods during your eating times, and fasting during your fasting times… that’s it! Yes, you get a little more wiggle room with this type of diet because it’s so effective, but you need to choose foods that fuel your body instead of junk food.

My Journey with Intermittent Fasting

For me, I was prescribed to start Intermittent Fasting from my gastroenterologist. If you’ve been reading me for awhile, you know I am allergic to trees and have 92 food allergies. Even while staying away from what I was allergic to, I was still getting so incredibly sick. I was referred to the gastroenterologist to figure out if there was another issue going on. Pretty much, my esophagus and stomach were a hot mess from all of the undiagnosed allergies. I had a lot of work ahead of me to heal my insides.

Intermittent Fasting + Medical Grade Keto & AutoImmune Protocol (AIP) Eating Plan = Healed My Damaged Insides

I am not a doctor, and highly suggest you consult one if you have questions and concerns. This has worked for me. I was hospitalized more times than I want to count in 2017 and given a serious diagnosis that left me in tears. In 2018, I practiced IF with the first two months eating AIP and then a low carb diet after. I was only sick a handful of times. I am forever grateful for learning about IF and eating low-carb. 

I have not lost a single pound and that’s ok. I’m not dead, and that is more important to me. My gut is not completely healed yet. My doc thinks that once it is, the weight will start to come off. My body was inflamed all.the.time. and it has taken a year for it to get back to somewhat normal. People tell me that I don’t look as puffy as I used to – I will take it. 

Let me know if you are going doing IF and what is your fasting/feasting window?

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