How do you decide what kind of routine you should do for fasting?

I am trying to get into a regular routine for fasting. I am not new to it but I have never done it consistently. I was thinking about not eating one day a week. But a lot of people are saying you need to go longer to get all the benefits. On the other hand, I am in college and don't know how well that would go during school. I also started exercising regularly and I haven't found much on how to manage that with fasting. I would assume you don't want to do it during a fast, but what about fasting the next day when your body is recovering, is that ok? I apologize I just have a lot of questions.

Answer

Personally I adapted my routine to fit my life. I purposely did not try and build the most optimum plan because if I can’t stick to it, it means nothing.

Also think about your goals. Long extended fasts are great for many health concerns but not all. For example, many tout autophagy as “killing” tumors but it also upregulates tumor growth; I have a strong personal and family history with cancer so I choose to not worry about inducing or depressing autophagy and don’t care for super extended fasts.

For weight loss, short or long fasts can work. I find the first 2 days are the hardest, so an extended fast can be efficient but others may not experience that.

I prefer a very loose OMAD approach where I fast for 20-24 and then break for 1-4 hours as my social calendar dictates. Shorter fasts are still effective and I can keep it up with less stress.

I’ve dropped almost 20lbs in the last month and I am not having issues staying on track so I am taking that as a win.

Answer

Exercise on fasting is good. Any general problems are going to come from you feeling shitty if you’re addicted to carbs. I have a very active job and can fast right through it just fine, but I also eat keto so I have zero carb withdrawal.