Just starting , have 30 lbs to lose. Starting with an 8/16 fasting schedule. Can you drink zero calorie diet soda or tea during fasting hours? Can you change the fasting timeframe each week, so if you know of upcoming special occasions? Is alcohol allowed (thinking an occasional outing) during the fasting hours? So many questions so any guidance or best practices that worked for you, would love to hear them! Thank you!
1- Zero calorie drinks are okay, although artifical sweeteners can affect your fast(depends on the person and the particular sweetener)2- Alcohol contains calories and will break a fast, also it will probably affect you in a more rapid and negative way with no food in your stomach to slow the absorption of it(going on anecdotal personal experience)
I would recommend water, coffee, and/or your tea of choice with no added sweeteners or anything to any of these. If you are alright with a “dirty” fast, lemon water can help to tie over your hunger(according to some posts I’ve read), but I’d stick with the good old h2o as much as possible :)
Honestly, if you can stick to black coffee, tea, plain water or plain sparkling water, the fast will be much easier for you. Anything flavored, even with natural flavors, could spike insulin and cause you to be more hungry, making the fast much much harder. I always think back to when I used to chew gum and I always wondered why it made me ravenous. While it was 0 calorie, the artificial sweeteners were spiking my insulin and causing me to be hungrier. The name of the game with fasting is to keep your insulin lower to access fat stores. For some this is harder if you have insulin resistance. It takes a few weeks of consistent, clean fasting. Good luck 😊
Start with 16:8 + 30-40 minutes of walking everyday (could be incline walking, jogging, running or dancing - whatever you genuinely look forward to) then work your way up to 20:4. Then if you’re comfortable with it, try 1 day fasts (24 hours) and monitor hunger levels, mood etc. If all goes well, slowly ease into Alternate Day Fasting (lots of resources on the sub). I did this for the 1.5-2 months and lost 11 lbs. I like to drink only water, black coffee or water + lemon + salt during fasting.