The FastDay Forum

I found this online, of course on a bodybuilding site, but thought he had a really good handle on a logical way to ease into an eating window, or even regular 5.2, for persons used to eating all the time.

Several Ways to Adapt to IF:

When I first tried IF, as described above, I used the “cold turkey” approach. I just shifted my eating to the new plan immediately and dealt with the consequences.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are two other options you can take to ease you into this style of eating.

A) Expand Your Fasting Window

Each of us already fasts during the night while we sleep – usually somewhere around 7-9 hours depending on how much sleep you get, when your last meal of the night was, and what time you eat breakfast.

So instead of expanding your 7-9 hours fasting window straight to the full fledged 16 hour window, you would gradually expand it over the course of several days.

On Day 1, you might aim for a 10-hour fast by pushing breakfast back an hour.

Then on Day 2, you might aim for an 11-hour fast by pushing it back another hour, or even stay at 10 hours until you feel comfortable.

By gradually pushing your breakfast back, you’re never eating much later than you did the day before, allowing Ghrelin to slowly shift to this new pattern.

B) Shrink Your Early Meals

Another way you gradually adjust to an IF style of eating is to start reducing the amount of food you eat during the day, during the time that will later be your fasting window.

So for example, if you normally eat a 600-Calorie breakfast and a 300-Calorie mid-morning snack, you could start by dropping to a 400-Calorie breakfast and a 100-Calorie snack while adding those Calories to your evening meals.

After a few more days, drop the mid-morning snack and make your breakfast just a quick bite of 100-200 Calories, and from there it’s an easy shift to full fasting.

Thought this might be helpful to those who find jumping right into full fasting to be too stressful or difficult.