Haha! As I write this title, the question Should you fast without keto? It almost feels like a rhetorical question!
Of course, not everyone who will land on this content knows how I have been preaching metabolic flexibility! How do you become metabolically flexible? By switching over from glucose to ketones regularly. You would not switch back to glucose if you were on a keto diet, so I recommend that you do fast without eating keto. Today, I will explain how fasting without keto works and how you can use the keto diet occasionally to speed up your weight loss results.
How Intermittent Fasting Without Keto Works
Now that you know that you can, in fact, fast without keto, let’s quickly go over how it works and why it’s effective. It’s all about metabolic flexibility!
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting Without Keto
When you fast without keto, your body uses glucose for energy when you are eating. And what that does is that it teaches your body to switch from using glucose to using ketones for energy with ease. Here are some benefits:
- You become metabolically flexible. You are an efficient fat burner but also learn to thrive when your body uses glucose.
- You learn to listen to your body. You will notice sometimes you need more carbs, and sometimes you do well with fewer carbs.
- You don’t need to track your macros.
- You enjoy all your favorite foods, including carbs.
- You put less stress on your body (fasting is a stress, calorie restriction is a stress, exercise is a stress, and carb restriction is a stress).
- Your lifestyle becomes more fluid as you don’t have to follow a restrictive diet.
I don’t know about you, but I find these benefits compelling! I have never felt better, and I have discovered true food freedom!
How to Practice Intermittent Fasting Without Keto
Practicing intermittent fasting without the keto diet is simple: restrict your food intake to a predetermined eating window and eat all your favorite whole foods within that window. However, there are a few more pointers I would like to share. Select a fasting window that is long enough to get your body to use more ketones than glucose for energy, and don’t fast every day.
Selecting Your Fasting Window
How do you determine if your fasting window is long enough to switch to ketones for energy? First, it’s helpful to understand that your body starts producing ketones after fasting overnight (around the 12-hour mark). However, this low ketone level will not affect how you feel. I have noticed that I start feeling different after fasting for about 16 to 17 hours (coincidentally, when your body uses less glucose and more ketones for energy). Your ketone production will keep increasing, and your body will use less and less glucose until about 28 hours into your fast when you rely only on ketones for energy.
How Long to Fast to Feel the Metabolic Switch
Ultimately, the right fasting window for you is the level of ketone production that you can feel. Here’s what you will notice:
- Your appetite decreases (this is a general trend you will notice over time).
- Your hunger doesn’t make you feel miserable. You feel hungry.
- You don’t struggle with as many food cravings.
- You feel energetic.
- You sleep better.
If you have a ketone monitor, this will usually happen if you maintain your ketones at least 1.0 mmol/L for 2-3 hours on your fasting days. If you don’t have a ketone monitor and would like one, I recommend the Keto Mojo. Receive a 15 percent discount with my affiliate link.
How Often to Fast
Again, I want to ensure you avoid stressing your body too much. That’s why I don’t recommend fasting every day. Not fasting daily means you are less likely to sustain too much of a calorie deficit. Yes, weight loss will be slower but more sustainable. If your fasting window is 20 hours, don’t fast more than five days a week. If it is 24-28 hours, don’t fast more than 2-3 days a week. That’s my recommendation. Obviously, you do what works for you. I know many intermittent fasting experts who thrive on OMAD every single day (22-23 hours fasting window).
How to Use the Keto Diet to Boost Your Results
We answered the question should you fast without keto right in the intro, so why am I still writing? Well, as you saw, there were some considerations to remember to reach your health goals successfully using intermittent fasting without keto. I would also like to explain how you can temporarily benefit from the keto diet to kickstart and boost your results.
Benefits of the Keto Diet
Suppose you read my Ultimate Guide to Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss. You will notice that I recommend you become fat-adapted before selecting your intermittent fasting window. The keto diet is one way to do that. Here are the benefits of becoming fat-adapted using the keto diet:
- You will not have to learn to deal with hunger like intermittent fasting because your body will already be trained to use ketones for energy.
- You will get to eat as much as you want during your keto phase so that you will feel satisfied.
- You will notice that your appetite decreases naturally.
- Your food cravings will dissipate (after the initial “keto flu.”
- You will feel an increase in energy.
If you want to use the keto diet to kickstart the process, download my free 7-Day Keto Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan to get started.
How to Boost Your Results With the Keto Diet
If you use the keto diet to kickstart your weight loss or boost your results, I recommend a 7-14 day keto cycle. Then, proceed with your regular whole food diet as you experiment with intermittent fasting to determine your eating window. Here are some tips I have to give you:
- You can have a keto coffee on the keto diet for breakfast, but you can also have a regular breakfast in addition to your coffee (like eggs or any other keto breakfast).
- Plan your keto cycle ahead of time. If you are a woman, pick days between day 1 and day 18 of your cycle. There is a reason you tend to crave carbs in the second half of your cycle.
- If you get sick with the keto flu, replenish your electrolytes with half a teaspoon of Himalayan salt in your water.
- Don’t worry about counting calories. Eat whenever you feel hungry.
- Use my 7-Day Intermittent Fasting Keto Meal Plan or make your meal plan. If you make your own, keep your carb intake at around 20 grams of net carbs or less a day.
- Do one cycle to kickstart your intermittent fasting journey and experiment with doing another if you feel the need after a few weeks or even months.
Should You Fast Without Keto Video
In Summary
So, should you fast without keto? YES! In fact, I think it is preferable! That’s not to say that the keto diet has no benefits, but intermittent fasting without keto is fluid and freeing. It also ensures that you provide your body with the carbs for proper hormonal function. A sustainable lifestyle will train your body to use glucose and ketones for energy. It won’t require limiting your veggies, grains, and other whole foods consumption, which makes nutrition a whole lot simpler! There you go! Enjoy!
