Fasting tips
Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
Drink 16 ounces of fresh water first thing when you wake up. This is the perfect way to start your day. Then continue drinking water throughout the day. This keeps hunger pangs away and prevents dehydration. Plus, it’s simply healthy. When you’re fasting you may find it helpful to add a pinch of pure sea salt or, my personal favorite, Himalayan pink salt to your water for the electrolytes. Related: 9 Surprising Benefits Of Lemon Water You can check out our Intermittent Fasting shirts and apparel in our Wellness Lori shop. Simply click on the t-shirt below.
Use The Right Mindset
I might sound like a broken record sometimes, but often the most important points need to read multiple times before they really sink in. This is one of those points… intermittent fasting is not a quick fix or shortcut to reach your goals if nothing else is working for you. It’s purely another dietary setup than can work very well for some people if it’s used properly and fits in with their lifestyle.
Give Yourself Time To Adjust
It’s only normal to want results straight away… To skip the awkward beginner phase and go straight to seasoned pro. However, to skip this initial learning stage is to set yourself up to fail. You need to give your body time to adjust to fasting, particularly if this is your first time. It’s only normal to get hunger pangs when your first start and chances are you’ll slip up a handful of times too, this is also OK and normal. It doesn’t mean you need to give up or that it won’t work for you. Instead, it’s an opportunity to learn, to question why or how you slipped up and take steps to stop it from happening again. By going through this process you’ll be better prepared for future difficulties that may arise in the future. Trust the process and follow through even when it gets tough.
Blunt Your Appetite
This is the most essential tip when you are hungry. Without a doubt, hunger pangs will set-in from time to time when fasting. When this happens, the trick is to blunt your appetite and the best way to do this is with 0 calorie drinks that help provide satiety and keep hunger at bay until it’s time to break your fast. You should also avoid zero calories stimulants also. As long as the drink is 0 calories you’re good to go, examples include;
- Water
- Black tea
- Green tea
Stay Busy
Boredom is the enemy. It’s the silent killer that creeps in to destroy your progress little by little, slowly wearing you down and pulling you backwards. Think about it for a moment… How many times has boredom led you to eat more than you should do. It’s really not surprising that you eat more when bored, you’re practically hardwired to chase that dopamine high.
Eat More Satiating Meals
The food you eat can influence your ability to both, first: stick to your diet and second: stick to your fast and this is where IF can help you out big time. This is the difference between IF and other dietary protocols, the freedom to include the foods you like and generally eat a more satisfying and therefore satiating diet. Good satiating foods include;
- Potatoes
- Yogurt
- Eggs
- Bananas
- Oatmeal
- Soups Or other foods that you can eat a lot of without consuming a ton of calories;
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Legumes This isn’t an excuse to go crazy but instead, it’s an opportunity to create a fat loss diet you enjoy and can stick to over the long-term.
Start Your Fast After Dinner
Where you’re doing daily or weekly fasts, one of the best tips I can give you is to start your fast after dinner. Doing this means you’ll spend a big chunk of your fasting period asleep. Particularly when using a daily fasting setup like 16:8 if you start fasting after dinner and then;
- Spend 1 – 3 hours watching tv or other evening activities
- Spend 6 – 7 hours asleep You’ve already fasted for anywhere from 7 to 10 hours, making a 16 hour much more manageable. This means;
- Increased dietary adherence
- Easier lifestyle
- More manageable hunger
Forget the right answer—find the wrong ones.
Multiple-choice tests offer one great advantage: They provide the correct answer right there on the page. ACT hides the correct answer behind wrong ones, but when you cross off just one or two wrong answers, the correct answer can become more obvious.
Choose a “Letter of the Day.
Just because you don’t work a question doesn’t mean you don’t answer it. There is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT, so you should never leave any blanks on your answer sheet. When you guess on Never questions, pick your favorite two-letter combo of answers and stick with it. For example, always choose A/F or C/H. If you’re consistent, you’re more likely to pick up points.
Work questions out of order.
Spending too much time on the hardest problems means you may rush through the easiest. Instead of working questions in order, ask yourself whether a question is a Do Now, Later, or Never. No need to agonize—this decision can be made very quickly:
- NOW: Does a question look okay? Do you know how to do it? Do it now.
- LATER: Will this question take a long time to work? Leave it and come back to it later. Circle the question number for easy reference.
- NEVER: Know the topics that are your worst, and learn the signs that flash danger. Don’t waste time on questions you should never do. Instead, use more time to answer the Now and Later questions accurately.