I’ve seen people say it is good to trick your body so it doesn’t become used to what you are doing, such as by changing calories consumed or fasting times. Can someone give me an example of this, like how often to change something? For example if I were to do a 20:4 normally, would one day a week do like a 16:8? Or just not fast at all? I guess my question is how long does it take your body to get used to something and then how long do you “trick” it?
I didn’t feel any need to ‘trick’ my body. I didn’t stumble on plateau so far. What I try to do is listen to my body. Sometimes, I just feel I need longer fast than my regular thing. Sometimes, I eat much earlier than I supposed, and my fasting app is not happy about it. Sometimes I eat my first meal much bigger than my second one and usually I try to eat them at the same size. It works for me. Love this flexibility on IF. I don’t like keeping in very stiff frames of eating. IF gives me this choice and freedom.
Do what is right for you.
You can’t “trick” your body. What happens is that when people experience a plateau, they get desperate and start trying a bunch of different things that they think will make the plateau end. And then when it naturally comes to an end like it always would have, they attribute it to whatever was the last thing they tried.
I’ve been curious about this too. In the book “Fast. Feast.Repeat” by Gin Stephens, he states there may be some benefit from changing things up, so body doesn’t become too comfortable with the same routine. Research shows keeping body guessing may prevent metabolic adaptation. So one day it could be 19:5 for a few days, followed by 16:8 (or whatever). I also try to take EeWuTu’s approach and be flexible and listen to my body…