Whether 5:2 or 16:8 – interval fasting is in vogue. But there are a few traps, into which you should not fall with chamfering in no case.
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Intermittent fasting is one of the big diet trends. Fasting for a period of time can help with weight loss and is said to have many positive effects on health. It relieves approximately your metabolism and promotes the Autophagie, thus body-own recycling processes. Since intermittent fasting doesn’t have complicated rules and schedules, you can easily integrate it into your daily routine – if you avoid common mistakes.
What is Interval Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is not a diet and also not a classical fasting cure, with which you eat usually several days at a stretch nothing. There fast in intervals. The phases without calorie intake are therefore very limited in time – and thus easier to endure than the other variants. Another advantage is that the yo-yo effect does not occur, since the body does not go into a kind of energy-saving mode like it does with diets and shuts down the metabolism. On the contrary: Intermittent fasting even activates the sugar and fat metabolism. Often one hears also that chamfering does not affect only positively body and health. Your well-being should also improve, and your mood should rise.
Have you had any experience with interval fasting?? Then feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
Share your experience with us
Intermittent fasting – the most popular variants
There are different forms of interval fasting. The two most popular are the 5:2 and 16:8 fasts. In 5:2 fasting, you eat normally five days a week, and fast on two days of your choice. On these two days, eat a maximum of two meals that are strictly reduced in calories. Women should only eat 500 calories and men a maximum of 600 calories. With the 16:8 variant you eat daily in a freely selectable time window of eight hours and fast then 16 hours. Do not eat anything at all during this time.
For whom interval fasting is not suitable?
Although interval fasting is good for most, people with pre-existing conditions should be cautious and talk to their doctor beforehand. This is especially true for people with low blood pressure, chronic diseases such as diabetes, and cancers. Elderly people, pregnant women or mothers who are breastfeeding should also not fast.
5 typical mistakes you should avoid when interval fasting
Even though this all sounds easy, there are a few things you should keep in mind if you want to start interval fasting.
Here are five mistakes that many make – and that you’re best off avoiding in the first place.
Mistake 1: You choose a fasting method that does not fit your everyday life
The great thing about Intermittent Fasting is that it can be easily integrated into your daily routine. But only if you choose the right variant for you. Otherwise, frustration is pre-programmed and you will not be able to keep up the interval fasting – which in the best case should be a permanent change of diet – for a long time. Ask yourself in advance whether it is realistic for you to eat very little on two days, as in the 5:2 fasting method. Note: This variant is difficult for all those who have a lot of stress or many appointments and always need a small snack in between. Or whether you can rather do without food for a few hours, but every day like in the 16:8 fasting method. This one is sometimes hard for those who can’t get going in the morning without breakfast and can’t give up dinner either.
Tip: If one fasting method doesn’t work for you, be sure to try the other – it usually works out that way.
If you eat only in a fixed period of time, the body needs time to deal with the feeling of hunger. © Getty Images Plus / Yummy pic
Error 2: You want too much and too fast
To start interval fasting from one day to the next is not a good idea and rarely crowned with success. Because if you put too much pressure on yourself, you’ll quickly give up again. Give yourself and your body two to three weeks to get used to the change in diet. With the 16:8 fast, you start more gently by fasting for twelve hours at a time (e.g., a week). B. from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) and then gradually increase to 16 hours. With the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting, you can initially eat about 1.Eat 000 calories and then gradually reduce to 500 and 600 calories respectively. In this way you also learn to deal with the feeling of hunger and notice that it becomes less with time.
If you eat too little, your metabolism will go into overdrive. © Getty Images/PeopleImages
Mistake 3: You eat too little – or too much
It is very important that you do not go hungry during the eating phases and that you eat enough. Otherwise your metabolism will go into overdrive, because your body will think it’s in a famine. Your muscle mass will also be lost faster. However, you should not eat too much either. Because in the end, the calorie balance of calories consumed and calories burned in a given period of time determines whether you lose weight, maintain your weight, or gain weight. So don’t see the eating phases as a free pass to gluttony, but stick to eating normal portions even during interval fasting, and get enough exercise.
Eat healthy during the eating phases of interval fasting to succeed. © Getty Images/Deagreez
Mistake 4: You eat unhealthily
Even though it is often said that intermittent fasting does not require you to follow any rules during the eating phases, there is one very important one: Eat a healthy diet! Of course you can also treat yourself to something, but make sure you eat a balanced diet rich in vitamins and nutrients. Because chamfered can accomplish no miracles. You cannot compensate for the consequences of too much sugar, fast food, convenience food and alcohol, even with targeted breaks from eating.
Drinking too little during interval fasting can lead to headaches and dizziness. © Getty Images/fizkes
Mistake 5: You’re not drinking enough
Water is an elixir of life that we also take in through food. Fruit and many types of vegetables contain water, for example. Since you don’t eat anything for long periods of time during interval fasting, you should drink enough water throughout the day. Two liters of water and one liter of tea are optimal. Drinking too little can lead to headaches and dizziness. A glass of water is also great against the small hunger between meals.
Keep an eye on your fluid intake
To make sure you don’t forget to drink regularly, use the Garmin hydration tracking app on your Garmin watch. With the hydration tracker, you can log your fluid intake throughout the day, have your smartwatch remind you to drink, and even set automatic goals. This adapts the drinking target to your activities. For example, if you complete a sweaty cardio session, the widget will automatically adjust your hydration goal upward.
By the way: only calorie-free drinks are allowed during the fasting period. So water and unsweetened teas, in moderation also black coffee. coffee with milk, juices, spritzers, smoothies etc. on the other hand are taboo.
One fasting day per week: This is how intermittent fasting works
You want to purify your body and boost your metabolism, but don’t want to go weeks without solid food? Already one fasting day per week can help you.
Chamfered and sport, go that?
You want to fast and exercise, but are undecided whether it goes together? Yes, it works – as long as you keep a few things in mind.
Nicole Benke loves good food – preferably home-cooked from fresh seasonal produce. The food journalist doesn’t think much of crash diets. She thinks: A healthy diet should be fun, should not be cramped and must also offer space for enjoyment. Because strict prohibitions only put you in a bad mood. And who can use them?
Jule Fuchs, born in 1979, reported for several years for various news magazines online and in print. Now the editor writes on #BeatYesterday.org about passion and sports. She loves riding bareback and trains to dance on horseback. With her daughter Hanna, she can be found in the barn and garden every day.
I’m currently doing 18/6 but somehow I’m always so hungry in the morning when I get up :-(.. whether that is good?
In my daily routine 16:8 is to be accommodated only in such a way:
Eating from 1pm to 9pm and fasting from 9pm to 1pm… So at least I get 2 meals incl. a snack.
Only how do I do that with my calorie consumption?
I am currently very active and consume 4,500 to 5000 kcal on quieter days. on more exciting also times 8000kcal.
Dear Jorg,
with a need of 8.000 calories you must really give gas! Glad you are so active. However, you should actually weigh whether interval fasting and your sport fit together or test another method like the 5:2 method. Then you can eat normally on 5 active days and on the regeneration days you fast the whole day.
Kind regards
Jule
I drink a glass of lukewarm water with a whole squeezed lemon every morning. Does this break the interval fasting and autophagy? I fast 16/8 so from 8pm in the evening until 12 noon the following day nothing.
unfortunately already a squeezed lemon interrupts autophagy.
I would recommend you to drink the lemon water half an hour before lunch. You have through your fasting window then still an empty stomach and benefit so still from the benefits of lemon water. Also, your teeth will not be as affected by the acid by that time because some time has passed since you brushed your teeth.
Hello dear friends of Interval Fasting, I have been fasting for approx. Started 4 weeks of 8/16 interval fasting and do best with breakfast and lunch between 08:00 and 15:00. My question is whether I can also change the times sometimes when I z.B. I would like to have a visitor in the evening and offer something to eat, or does this have a negative effect on the organism, weight loss and the fasting process??
Dear Anton,
that is no problem. You can also shift the fasting window sometimes during interval fasting. It is only important that you keep the 16 hours fasting time per day so that your body can start with autophagy.
Love greetings
Jule
I started doing 16/8 in 2019 at 120 kg at 1.90 height and completely unathletic. Additionally I have started running. At the beginning 1 km a day. Today 2021 I weigh 90 kg. run 5 times a week 5-10 km each day and still do the 16/8 interval fasting. Although I could really eat everything that has calories because of the running, my body has completely changed, I don’t know cravings anymore. Sure I still like to eat chocolate, but one piece a day is enough for me. My body also subconsciously demands certain nutrients, so I get hungry for foods that I have never eaten before. I have completely cut out pork and white bread. I am happy with vegetables, rice, opst and yes still chocolate, I will never give it up.
that sounds like a very personal success story. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Further much perseverance.
Greetings from the editorial office of
Jule
Hi, my wife and daughter pointed me to this website.. in addition a question: How good is the intervallfasten with shift work he.. . . With 3 layers… . Early late night.. . . .
only you can answer this after trying it yourself. There is no blanket answer there. I could imagine that – besides your daily rhythm – it is another stress factor for you that will not really help you.
But try it for 6-10 weeks and just see for yourself.
I, 61, would like to get my blood pressure down without medication and have 3 questions:
Who can report success with 5:2 fasting ? Since I like to drink my 1-2 glasses of red wine in the evening ( is supposed to lower blood sugar levels and be beneficial in burning fat), on weekends, even when eating later, it would be easier for me to do a cleanup 2 days within the week. In addition the 2.Question: Is red wine, in the quantities found to be harmless, to be strictly omitted during the fasting phase?
3. Does sweetener in the morning coffee, during the fasting phase, have an effect on the authopagia, resp. body cleaning?
Thanks for your answers
Werner
I have been doing 16:8 for a few weeks . It is fun and I feel good about it. I do without breakfast and eat only at noon and in the evening. Now to my question:
Interrupts in the morning a glass of water with 30ml. Lemon juice the fasting ?
Thanks for the support
Dear Simon!
Glad you are having success with fasting.
Regarding your question: 30 ml of lemon juice breaks the fasting metabolism, as such an amount already provides calories. My tip: If it’s only about the taste, you should add a lemon wedge to the water.
Greetings from Jule
I drink my coffee even with sugar and lose weight. But the autophagy does not work there I think.
So I get after the 16 hrs.
Fasting and I then drink coffee heart racing not very fast 78 something like that. Did not have that without fasting. Have normal pulse around 55.
Hello, I drink flavored tea during meal breaks, which has 1 calorie per 100 g.
Can this be the reason that I do not lose weight?
Hello Petra,
someone once told me: "The quantity makes the poison". With one or two cups of tea nothing will happen. But are we talking about several jugs a day, of course this can also have an influence. In the end it is a holistic view and not that of 1 calorie.
Greetings, Alexander.
I have been doing interval fasting for 6 months now 14 kg are gone I feel happy and high blood pressure is no problem anymore I can only recommend it I don’t have to starve I eat 2 meals so 18/6 started 16/8 just good
I started this diet in December 2019 and have lost 25 kg so far. In these almost 13 months I have consistently lived according to this diet. In addition, I have started to run every day at least 8 to 10 km, not jogging, but just walking tightly. In the morning I drink a cup of lukewarm water first thing and then a cup of tea.drunk . I have a normal lunch around 12 o’clock. Dinner consists of protein foods and must be done by 8pm. I have drunk as little alcohol as possible during this time. Throughout the day I drank at least 2 liters of water. The 16 to 8 diet is most likely to work if you eat the last thing at 8pm in the evening and don’t eat the next meal until 12 noon the next day. Advantage ; in the night hours you get less hungry, because you sleep almost 8nhours.
Since June 2020 I "live" (57)Interval fasting 16:8. In half a year I have lost 9 kg. The first days were difficult because I drank too little. Then it went better and better and I have resolved to continue to live according to it. I want to keep my weight and not lose more weight. Drinking a lot and exercising regularly is important. I am happy and feel much better.
I am fasting in 8:16 rhythm after an operation. I have the feeling that the wound healing is progressing better.
I do the 16:8 interval fasting now since January and I have now lost 15 KG in 6 months. Now I’m at the point where it is about keeping the weight, I have to experiment now how I do that to maintain the diet style but not to lose more weight. It remains exciting.
Hello,
I came across this website by chance, and have now made the decision to start again.
I have already done it successfully, so I would like to share a few more experiences and tips here.
When I was in Australia after graduating from high school, I came across the 16/8 method and was immediately taken with it. It is easy to integrate into my everyday life as an au pair and you don’t have any major restrictions in terms of WHAT you eat.
I was never really overweight, but I certainly always had 10kg too much, but above all I liked the side effects, which I can also confirm almost all of them.
I had more energy in the morning (because no full stomach by breakfast), I felt more awake and fitter, the fight against the hunger feeling settled with me after a week.
I feel more vital and my skin has improved a bit.
All thanks to the larger time window, so that the body can regenerate and sort out what it needs and what it does not need.
Water is important, I can only confirm!
Of course I spent a lot of time outside and moved a lot because of the au pair kids.
Very important – it is a change of diet not a diet, if you become aware of it and think about it and understand it, it goes much easier by hand.
Anyway, I have lost 15kg in 6 months … No yoyo effect!! And the corresponding more vital feelings.
On the problem often pointed out in the comments that you are there for two months and what you would do wrong..
The body needs 1-3 weeks to get used to the feeling of hunger and to change the metabolism.
Men and young people gain weight faster than women and older people.
Integrate some sport into the week, does not have to be every day, even an evening walk is motivating.
Meanwhile 5 kg are again on it, since I, when I was again back in my family, lost sight of the new eating habits, since one adapts again to the environment.
By the way, I’ve also been a bit stricter with 18:6, also right from the start…
That goes fast with a healthy portion self-discipline, the creeping procedure is nothing for me.
My time frame for eating was between 13:30 and 19:30 sometimes I ate a little earlier, but it is not bad, because the remaining time frame was still big enough for body cleansing.
I ate for lunch and dinner, normal portions (so for me as an adolescent young man).
In between fruit or a cheese sandwich.
My desire for sweets has become much less, because I eat more consciously and above all got more desire for nutritious food, not because I have convinced myself, but that came somehow automatically subconsciously. The body knows what it needs.
Since I had really positive successful experiences and by moving out of the parental home lead my own life including cooking for myself, I know that it will work..
Thank you for your detailed description. With it you make others courage! Also with your tips from your own experience. Thank you very much for this and keep it up!
Stay healthy and take care of yourself!
Best regards from the editorial office of
Jule
I have been doing 16/8 for at least 2 years. But at the moment it does not work with losing weight, it’s as if it was blocked. Normally I eat 1-2x / day. I also try to eat only when hungry. What am I doing wrong? Is it perhaps that the body is on the back burner?
I started two months ago and unfortunately I did not really lose weight why I do not know I keep to it but somehow it does not work out. Maybe because I shift.? Nevertheless it is good because I have no flatulence and no well-being
I chose the method 16/8, 5/2 did not work, because it is very difficult to stay below 600 KC. 16/8 I manage well, after getting up 0.5 lt tea, at noon my first normsle meal and in the evening a protein meal. Goes great and I take approx. 2 kg a month off.
I have been doing Intermittent Fasting 16/8 for two months. I have not lost a single kilo so far.
What am I doing wrong?
this can have many causes and is quite difficult to diagnose remotely. The most common mistake is to eat too much in the 8 hours. Again, eat only until the hunger is gone. Everything more literally falls into the weight. Perhaps there again look, what and how much you take to you. But there are also many other ways that prevent weight loss.
Kind regards,
Jule from the editorial office
After getting up drink a big glass of water, very important! During the acclimatization phase, gradually change your diet; there are lots of suggestions and recipes for this on the internet. For me it works wonderfully and my doctor is absolutely satisfied.
Dear Barbara
May be you eat too much calories? Happened to me at the beginning, too, I had a snack and ate too much. I don’t count calories, but I make sure to eat a lot of vegetables, 2 portions of fruit per day and a protein meal in the evening, the carbohydrates I eat at lunch. And do not forget to drink
Try it, I wish you good luck.
Greetings Luise
Great article, me and my wife are still missing a suitable widget for the Fenix 6X&
Would this still be programmable by Garmin?
Keep up the good work, greetings from the Sauerland
Dear Martin, thank you for your feedback. We forward this to Garmin. &