At 14 hours, you will be stopping your fast just as your body is starting to break down and burn fat.
This is why you see majority of people doing a 16:8 at a minimum.
You can of course start with 14:10, but to reap the benefits you should extend.
Honestly, once as you get into it, even an 18:6 isn’t as radical as it seems. For me personally, once as I started seeing food as fuel and not a hobby, fasting became the most natural thing.
I started with 16:8 and was too cranky in the morning. I switched to 14:10 and found that to be easier to stick with. I lost 7 lbs in 2 months but then stagnated through the holidays because I love sweets and paced myself but didn’t deny myself all treats. Since Christmas, I’ve lost another 2 lbs. My issue has always been after dinner snacking so having an eating window that ends at 7 works well.
Fasting is very synergistic with circadian rhythms. In time you will adjust your eating window to what makes your body feel best. As a rule of thumb, you can leverage your sleep time as part of your fasting window. So if you sleep 6-8hrs, then put off breakfast as long as you can you will consistently hit your windows. Also having an early dinner helps get more fasting time prior to sleep. Most of the discomfort with fasting is related to being under hydrated and low on electrolytes. So drink lots of water and sprinkle in some pink himalyan salt, potassium (Morton’s No Salt Salt), and magnesium (Magnesium water can be made at home using seltzer).
If you take a medication for GERD that requires you to eat, then please do so.
So is 14 long enough?
This depends on what you eat.
Eating foods that fill you up but do not pack a ton of calories is probably the best way to leverage a 14:10 fasting protocol with hopes of fat loss.
Water foods: Cucumbers, Watermelon, Celery, Leafy Greens etc are pretty good at being filling without huge calories. Also recommend eating this stuff raw. Protein and Fat are whatever you like. Protein , Fat, and Veggies are low glycemic, Fat gets stored directly as fat. Limit carbs and sugar, which should be easy if your plate is full of water foods.
Otherwise welcome to fasting!
You might want to check on your diet and see if you have a food intolerance or allergy or make sure your eating healthy good. I recently went vegan as a fast for 3 weeks. When I brought dairy back in I noticed I woke up with heartburn. Did some research figured out I probably have milk protien intolerance.
Idk something to look into. Because I used to have heartburn when I didn’t eat also until I was on a solid diet.
Everyone else covered why the longer fast is better, but I’ll just add that start with 14:10 and just try to extend it bit by bit. I started with 16:8 and at the beginning I couldn’t wait for my eating window to start. Then over time it just got easier and easier to wait a little longer. Most days now I’m somewhere between 18:6 and 20:4. I don’t over think it. I aim for a minimum of 18 and then go from there.
I do good on 16/8, dont need to do anymore. After about 2 months, hunger while fasting just fades away like magic. Give it a while and then add a few min at a time. Also, if you add keto, you can play around with times more. Like i only fasted 12 hours last night but i stayed under 20 net carbs. I needed a little extra food when i dont normally.
Yeah My issues is that too post dinner snacking because there is roughly like 5 hours till bedtime and you tend to get hungry. Yesterday I was so hungry but I kind of managed to not eat post dinner but I can’t count on will power forever to carry my through so I guess sticking to 14:10 for a bit and then going with automatic increments should work.
Lots of great information here, but I do want to caveat that you can still totally lose weight with 14:10 and watching how much along with what you eat. You don’t need to hit specific phycological states exclusively to burn fat.
Haha I wouldn’t call 18:6 or OMAD hardcore. I would call them the natural progression of other fasts. You will naturally adapt and your body overtime will find 14:10 easier and easier. So, if you, like us, like pushing yourself and testing things, then you might even do 16:8, and once that becomes the new normal, you might go 18:6 and who knows even OMAD.
I would say, just relax, don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Read your body. Test things. What’s the worst that happens? You eat! Haha
Also if you are struggling with your fast, remember! Carbs and sugarie foods spark hunger! So simply reducing carbs and sugar will let you fast for as long as you want. I managed to move from 16:8 to OMAD after two weeks by just doing keto alongside of IF