- So many people give up on fasting
because it simply doesn't work out for them.
In this video, I'm going to share with you
the most common mistakes
that I see people who are new to fasting make,
so hopefully you can avoid them.
(upbeat music)
Hi Carb Dodgers, I'm Dr Dan Maggs
and this channel is all about achieving lasting weight loss
through low carb, real food nutrition,
and of course fasting.
So if that sounds like something you're interested in,
then why not go ahead and subscribe to my channel
so you can find out when I release more videos.
Fasting is a fantastic way to boost our weight loss efforts.
It enables us to tap into our stored fat reserves
and use them for energy instead of from the food
that we normally would have eaten.
And it works really, really well.
I've been practicing intermittent fasting
since I started my own weight loss journey back in 2016
and it's something I've been coaching
my clients on ever since.
But there are some key mistakes that I often see being made
which cause people to see underwhelming results,
or worse still, give up altogether saying
that fasting doesn't work for them
or it's just too difficult.
So let's find out what they are.
Number one is: too much too soon.
It's easy and understandable to get all excited
about your new health hack
that's going to help you finally lose weight.
You dive straight into a 24-hour fast or even longer,
and then really struggle with your hunger
because you're used to eating frequently
for 14 to 16 hours a day.
You just can't do it, and it's far too difficult.
And sometimes it goes beyond this,
because people who are starting to experiment with fasting
are often on a big health kick
and are also starting exercising
and perhaps even some form of restrictive dieting too.
It's often just too much for people
and they end up feeling way too hungry and giving up.
What if you start really slowly
just as you would do with exercise?
Perhaps start by delaying your breakfast
by an hour each morning for a week,
and then by two hours for another week.
Not necessarily every day, but maybe every other day.
Then start by having your evening meal a little bit earlier
to extend that time of not eating.
Yes, you might see slow results.
But if it means you can stick with it instead of quitting,
then your longer term success is much more likely.
And any reduction in your eating window
to under a 12-hour period allows time for digestive rest.
And in doing so helps improve
the health of the gut microbiome
and will help your hunger hormones
and insulin levels to improve.
Building up gradually eases you
into the practice of fasting
giving you time to sit with these
gradually extended periods of not eating.
Number two is: fasting too frequently.
I see this with people who get great early results
with their intermittent fasting,
and then the next seemingly logical step
is some fasting is good, so more must be better, right?
Wrong!
It is completely possible to overdo fasting.
And I've seen this with so many clients
because it's such an easy trap to fall into.
Fasting has so many positive effects on the body
such as increasing your metabolism,
helping you burn fat,
but fasting for too long or too frequently
has exactly the opposite effect.
And very much like chronic calorie restriction,
your body will start to down-regulate hormones
like your thyroid hormones
which will slow down your metabolism.
You're going to feel lethargic, lose muscle strength,
you might notice hair loss, and just feel plain awful.
And women of reproductive age should be particularly careful
and look into how to match their fasting
with their menstrual cycle,
but should avoid any fasting in the week
before their period,
as this is a time when the female body
is very sensitive to calorie intake,
as she prepares for the possibility of pregnancy.
So remember, some fasting is good,
but too much fasting is definitely not better.
I'd love to be able to give you a schedule for fasting,
but that's just not possible in the context of this video.
It depends on you as an individual, what your goals are,
where you currently are with your health,
your eating habits, and your nutritional intake.
This is the kind of support we offer in our online programs.
So do check out the link in the description
for more details about that.
And if you're watching this and you've been experimenting
with fasting for a while, let us know in the comments
what schedule worked for you when you started out
and where are you now.
Number three is: under eating.
This is very much related to the last one
and sometimes occurs in combination with it.
For some people fasting can cause appetite problems
and you don't eat enough.
Similarly, if you're consciously restricting yourself
when you do eat,
this is also not great
because this kind of chronic calorie restriction
is not good for you.
As before, you might feel lethargic, notice hair loss,
decreased muscle mass, and strength.
So when you do eat,
remember you're nourishing your body,
getting all those essential vitamins
and minerals that you need,
getting that protein that your body needs
for growth and repair.
So focus on high quality, nutritionally dense food
when you are eating.
Fasting is great but you do need to ensure
that you're meeting your body's nutritional needs
when you do it.
Number four is: overeating.
Yes, I realized that three was under eating,
but overeating can be a problem too.
This is a really easy mistake
that I've seen many people make.
You get to the point where you're just so hungry
that you eat everything and anything in sight
and end up just taking in far too much food overall
and stall your weight loss.
This can happen because, as in number one,
you've just done too much too soon
and simply not being used to fasting,
you just get too hungry.
It also happens when you continue
to eat a high carbohydrate or processed food diet.
Lots of low nutrient dense foods
means your body is not well nourished
so will drive you to eat more food.
Poor food choices are also more likely to cause cravings
and so make fasting that much harder to stick to
than it would otherwise be.
And for some people, it can simply be a reward thing.
I've fasted for this long,
so now I can treat myself to this chocolate bar.
Clearly not a great plan.
Number five is: using fasting as a punishment.
Now for me, developing a positive relationship with food
is a really important thing.
I've seen a few people fall
into this negative way of thinking
when it comes to fasting
and it goes a little something like this:
"Ah, I've completely fallen off the wagon this weekend,
so I'm going to have to do a really long fast
to get back on track."
So can fasting be a useful tool to help us get back on track
when we fall off the wagon?
Yes, absolutely.
But please, be kind to yourself
and think of fasting as a useful tool,
not as a punishment for doing something wrong.
Number six is: not flipping the metabolic switch.
What do I mean?
Well, weight loss occurs with fasting
when your insulin levels are low
and you burn through your glycogen stores.
This enables you to access your fat stores effectively.
And we can call this change from burning carbs
to burning fats, flipping the metabolic switch.
Your glycogen stores which are in your liver
are very easy for you to access
and will always get used before you really start
to burn significant amounts of fat.
If you're eating a diet high in carbs,
then you will continually be refilling
that glycogen stores after every meal.
Therefore, you're going to fast for longer
in order to burn through those glycogen stores
and flip that metabolic switch.
Compare that to if you're eating a low carbohydrate diet
where your glycogen stores are low,
you're going to flip that metabolic switch much faster
and be burning fat far more quickly.
So in summary,
if you're on a high carbohydrate diet,
you're going to have to fast for longer
to get the same effects of somebody
who is on a low carb diet,
which leads me neatly onto my Carb Dodging top tip.
If you get your diet right first,
fasting becomes far easier.
And Matthew who left this comment
on one of my previous videos discovered this as well,
as did the 350 people who liked his comment.
When you start a ketogenic diet,
one of the things you'll notice in a short space of time is
that the hunger you previously had before
simply isn't there.
And that's because ketones themselves
actually inhibit hunger and you're allowing your body
to access your own fat stores.
Then if you follow the rule: only eat when you're hungry,
you may find yourself falling into a pattern
of regular fasting simply because you're not hungry.
I often say that the ketogenic diet
and intermittent fasting are like yin and yang,
they perfectly compliment each other.
The ketogenic diet creates the perfect environment
for weight loss by changing what we eat.
And intermittent fasting creates the perfect environment
for weight loss by changing when we eat.
So like all things we need to balance our time of fasting
and our time of feasting,
a balance for cellular repair and cellular growth,
for fat storage and fat burning.
Get your diet right to start with
by eating nourishing real food.
Remember that a low carb ketogenic diet
can really help with this.
Start slowly and gradually adjust
to periods of longer fasting.
Be patient, give yourself time, and the results will come.
That's it for today's video.
I do hope you found the information useful.
Let me know in the comments down below
which your biggest takeaway was from this.
And if you've enjoyed this video,
I'd love it if you could click the like button
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for more information like this in the future.
And hopefully I'll see you in the next video.