The dieting method of keto intermittent fasting has gained enormous popularity. There are a number of reasons why skipping meals may be so beneficial for many of us, despite the fact that it may appear like another diet craze.
First and foremost, intermittent fasting can assist you in breaking through weight reduction plateaus. Have you lost the final few pounds or have you been stuck at the same weight for weeks? Try this out.
The other factors are related to fasting’s inherent health advantages. When you exercise, you have better metabolic adaptations, better muscle development and synthesis, and better reactions to post-workout meals. Worms have much longer life spans than previously thought; well, we realize they’re only worms, but still!
It has also been demonstrated to improve mental acuity and provide more attention throughout the day.
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Intermittent fasting: What Is It?
An eating habit is known as intermittent fasting cycles between periods of ingesting calories and not eating any calories (i.e., feeding and fasting). There are several techniques for implementing intermittent fasting, all of which divide the day or week into eating and fasting windows.
Most people simply prolong their nighttime fast to practice intermittent fasting (i.e., the period of time between dinner and their first meal the next day). The 16/8 approach, which is the most often used type of intermittent fasting, calls for a person to fast for 16 hours a day and then take all of their calories in the last 8 hours.
Other popular intermittent fasting techniques include alternate-day fasting and missing both breakfast and lunch (for a 21-hour fast) (24h fasting and feeding windows).
Contrary to popular belief, incorporating intermittent fasting into your lifestyle is not as difficult as you would believe. During a fast, many people claim to feel better and have more energy. Although it can be a difficulty at first as your body adjusts to your new meal schedule, hunger is often not a major concern.
Generally speaking, intermittent fasting is a healthy and productive dieting method that can assist us in achieving our body composition objectives. In order to help us reach and maintain our objectives, many keto dieters (including myself) include 16–21 hour fasts into our schedules practically every day.
Having said that, skipping breakfast won’t help you get the most out of the keto diet. Intermittent fasting is only another tool in the arsenal for health improvement; for some people, it will be a need, while for others it will be of little help.
Should Your Keto Diet Include Intermittent Fasting?
The past several years have seen a huge increase in the popularity of intermittent fasting. Famous medical professionals and academics vouch for it.
Contrary to popular belief, intermittent fasting is not a miracle cure for weight reduction and good health. Being in a calorie deficit may be used to explain the majority of the advantages we experience from limiting our eating window.
We find it far simpler to sustain a calorie deficit when intermittent fasting, which leads to weight loss and better metabolic health. This is perhaps the fundamental factor behind why skipping meals can improve so many elements of our health.
Given that fasting promotes autophagy and ketone generation, intermittent fasting can provide us advantages that go beyond a calorie deficit.
What does this imply for you, then? It relies on your lifestyle preferences and the outcomes of your current dietary efforts.
For instance, some keto dieters are already seeing excellent results, so I usually advise them to keep doing what they are doing and only resort to intermittent fasting as a plateau-busting technique when necessary.
On the other hand, some keto dieters just feel better skipping one or two meals, thus they would benefit from an intermittent fasting plan that matches their energy requirements.
You can achieve your goals with or without intermittent fasting, depending on what you decide to do. This is due to the fact that how much of each macronutrient you consume, rather than how long you fast, is the most crucial factor in determining your body composition.
How to Find Your Macros?
Although you may learn how much to consume via trial and error, utilizing an online keto calculator is the quickest and easiest method.
Keep in mind that while including intermittent fasting in your diet plan, you may need to consume a substantial number of calories at each meal.
You could need to consume 1,000 calories or more in a single meal, and if your fasting window gets longer, you’ll have to eat larger portions. Our intermittent fasting meal plan begins with a longer feeding window to aid in your adjustment to this shift.
Daily Summary
Ketoproof Coffee for Breakfast
To feed you for the day, combine coffee, oil, and fat.
Therefore, why consume Ketoproof Coffee? It jump-starts your metabolism and provides you with a hunger-suppressing energy boost without requiring you to eat as many calories as you would typically ingest for breakfast.
Your ketone levels will be raised by the medium-chain triglycerides and caffeine in the coffee, and the fats will make you feel full while providing you with a ton of energy. Nothing can go wrong!
Remember that we are stocking up on fats in this instance. Consuming Ketoproof Coffee will, therefore, technically end your fast. However, you will experience most (if not all) of the advantages of intermittent fasting as long as the only calories you consume come from fat.
You must not eat or drink anything during your fasting window if you wish to observe a real fast. To put it another way, you would have to substitute black coffee for Ketoproof Coffee. Do whatever works best for you, although I doubt there is much of a difference between the two.
We won’t be adding fat to our coffee during week 3 of this meal plan, so if you’d prefer gradually extend your fasting window over the next weeks, then continue with the plan as is.
You won’t be consuming any protein in the morning in either scenario. As you prepare your meal, keep this in mind and make sure you receive adequate protein.
Water, tea, and black coffee for lunch
Whatever you drink, as long as it doesn’t include any fats, proteins, or carbohydrates, is OK. Caffeinated beverages are OK, but remember that too much caffeine later in the day may disrupt your sleep patterns and harm your health and dieting efforts.
I strive to consume a little over a gallon (4 liters) of water per day when intermittent fasting and the majority of it is consumed between my “breakfast” and my mealtime window.
You won’t need to use the restroom as frequently as you did to after your kidneys and bladder adjust to the increased amount of water you’re consuming. Although drinking so much water for the first two weeks might be challenging, it is really beneficial for you to do so, especially as you adjust to the keto diet.
Follow the meal plan below for dinner
If more calories are required, add cheese, butter, dressings, or oils. We also need to consume the protein our bodies require, which we haven’t done all day. Here, consider lean fish or beef. Chicken is excellent since it has a lot of protein without having a lot of fat.
I assumed this diet was rich in fat, but wait, wait, wait. Yes, it is, but there are other places we may obtain our fat. Don’t be concerned! Protein is more difficult to incorporate than fats.
Many sides, sauces, dressings, and even the spoon itself may provide us with fats. Simply add additional cheese, and a knob of butter, or create a side salad and garnish it with a high-fat dressing and some olive oil if you need more fats.
Snacks? Not a Snack!
No munching! You may, of course, munch, but try to avoid it as much as possible. Your body should continue to speed up to the start of your eating window. You will disrupt the process if you are munching.
Having said that, if you feel like you have to, you can munch on some nuts or shakes. If you do decide to eat some nuts, be careful to do so only once rather than often throughout the day.
Keto Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan
We are now prepared to start the food plan. If you’re short on time you have to think about how to optimize your process of preparing the ketogenic diet.
The menu for weeks 1 and 2 has been created. We chose it because we believe that most people would like this kind of meal. Not to mention, some of our favorites are included.
Eating a variety of foods is the MOST IMPORTANT component of this. Lack of diversity causes boredom, which leads to your thoughts wandering to other… lovely, sweet places. What we do not want is that!
This is a basic meal plan and should not be followed precisely. Sorry, but you’ve got some work to do here. Figure out how many calories, fat, and protein you need each day, and then break that number down into what you should consume. Remember that you’ll be drinking Ketoproof Coffee for breakfast every day (for the first two weeks), which subtracts 500–600 calories from your daily calorie intake and makes it simpler for you to achieve your fat requirements.
Pizza with a buffalo chicken crust, days 1 and 6
In the refrigerator, leftovers can be kept in an airtight container.
Chorizo and Cheddar Meatballs on Days 2 and 5
Serve with your preferred low-carb veggie side dish or side salad. Whenever feasible, I typically advise attempting to consume leafy greens.
Day 3: Chicken bombs wrapped in bacon
Add a serving of your preferred low-carb vegetable if you discover that you are still hungry.
Fourth day: Sweet and sour chicken
Serve this with some cauliflower fried rice on the side.
Eggceptional Sausage Keto Frittata on Day 7
Serve with low-carb veggies or a side salad.
We will do business just as we did during week 1 throughout week 2 as well. You are welcome to substitute the scheduled dinner for something you already have if you have more leftovers from one recipe than another.
Weeks three and four adjustments
We’re going to start being more aggressive with our fasting window here now that you’ve had a chance to become used to a pseudo-fast. It will be changed to a 21/3 or an 18/6 fasting regimen.
What do these figures indicate? 18/6 denotes 18 hours of fasting followed by 6 hours of eating, whereas 21/3 denotes 21 hours of fasting followed by 3 hours of eating.
It goes without saying that you won’t be eating continuously for three or six hours, but this is your “window” of opportunity to consume all of your daily calories. Pick the 6-hour timeframe if you’re not the best at eating a lot of food at once.
Breakfast
We will no longer have Ketoproof Coffee in the morning and will limit ourselves to one meal per day. Just settle for a black coffee (or tea) with nothing extra added as a substitute for your typical Ketoproof Coffee. If you wish to practice a real fast, nothing containing calories is allowed.
Lunch will be served in the same manner as before. Tea, coffee, water, or any other beverage that has no carbohydrates, fats, or proteins. Keep drinking water as you have been.
Keep in mind: no snacking! Your metabolism should have begun to adjust to your fasting regimen at this point, so we need to become more rigid. To give your body a chance to fast, try to avoid munching at all costs. You’ll be able to maximize your speed by doing this.
Dinner
You have a few options when dinnertime arrives. Your meals may now be divided into supper and dessert. This is how I usually operate.
I sometimes find it difficult to eat more when I consume too much protein and fat. As you are aware, meeting our calorie demands is crucial. Keto sweets will come to the rescue in this situation. Sweets are simpler to consume.
Alternatively, you might continue eating the same meals but increase the portion amounts. In this manner, you may obtain the necessary calories without exerting additional effort.
If you decide to go with supper and dessert, be mindful of your macros. When your meal is rich in protein, choose desserts that are heavy in fat. If your meal is heavy in fat, on the other hand, choose desserts that are high in protein. Be wise about it and keep your macros in mind at all times.
How is the food plan going? Well, nothing has changed from last week. You will need to eat more this time around. To make up for skipping the Ketoproof Coffee, you may continue eating your regular meals while making changes to your dessert.
Similar to previously, you may add oils, dressings, cheese, butter, or whatever else you need to in order to reach your macros if you need extra fats.
Desserts are picky, and I don’t enjoy advising others on what to eat because, typically, everyone has different preferences for sweets.
Future Plans After the Meal Plan, Intermittent Fasting & Keto?
Please take the time to evaluate our meal plan after you’ve used it.
- What were your feelings during your fast?
- Or were you able to maintain attention throughout the day, barely making it to your next meal while daydreaming about food?
- Is eating small, frequent meals more convenient for your schedule and lifestyle than intermittent fasting?
- Is following an intermittent fasting schedule a more effective weight-reduction plan for you than what you were previously doing?
The answers
Your responses to these inquiries will provide you with enough information to decide whether or not intermittent fasting is a healthy eating plan for you.
Some people just can’t handle fasting and require regular meals spaced out throughout the day, while others find that skipping breakfast gives them greater energy and concentration.
While some keto dieters feel worse and don’t see much of a benefit from intermittent fasting, others are able to achieve amazing results.
There’s no need to push yourself too fast intermittently if you don’t think it’s a good fit for you. Most of the advantages of intermittent fasting may be obtained simply by maintaining a calorie deficit and adhering to the ketogenic diet. Utilize the guidelines in our article on “How to Lose Weight on the Keto Diet” to lead you on the correct path and stick to whichever meal pattern works best for you.
The next step for those of you who, like me, find it much simpler to lose weight, keep on track, and have energy when intermittent fasting is to determine which fasting window is most suitable for your schedule and needs. While some people have no trouble waiting till supper, I usually stick to a 16–18 hour fasting window with two meals throughout my feeding window.
By consuming Ketoproof Coffee in the morning and delaying your remaining macronutrient demands until supper, you may also do a pseudo-intermittent fast.
Final thoughts
In general, you will be able to attain the outcomes you desire as long as you are consistently going near to fulfilling your objectives (for the most part). It is up to you to decide what fasting plan works best for you because how long you fast each day has little bearing on the outcomes you achieve.
