Video | Timing Your Fast | Adding Fat to Coffee | Become Fat-Adapted

Intermittent fasting is a great tool for accelerating fat loss, but it is intimidating to think about going without food for 16 hours or more.

In this post, I share three tips that will help you comfortably add intermittent fasting to your weight loss strategy.

3 Ways to Make Intermittent Fasting MUCH Easier [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• The value of not eating three hours before bed.
• The benefits of adding a little bit of fat to your coffee or tea.
• How to break free of the blood sugar swings produced by high-carb diets.
• Practical steps to achieve your low-carb and keto goals.

1. Stop Eating 3 Hours Before Bed!

You’ll find it much easier to complete your fast if you make it a rule to stop eating three hours before bedtime. Think about the normal time that you go to bed, count back three hours, and declare that time the end of your eating day.

This has a couple of benefits. It provides time for your body to digest dinner, which helps you sleep better. When you don’t sleep soundly, cravings are more pronounced.

Dr. Satchin Panda is a founding father of time-restricted eating and a leading researcher on circadian rhythm. He shared that when you eat late at night, blood flow is directed toward your stomach. This raises your core temperature and makes it harder to fall into the deep sleep needed for full rest.

The three-hour-before-bed rule also allows you to avoid late-night snacking, which is a habit that can easily derail a weight loss plan. This rule is one of my four daily habits for weight loss, which many of you know as my 0,1,2,3 strategy.

2. Add Fat to Your Coffee or Tea!

Another way to make intermittent fasting easier is to add fat to your coffee or tea. The purists out there say that taking in fat calories breaks your fast and in the purest sense, I agree. However, fat causes little or no rise in insulin, which is the hormone that kicks your body out of fat-burning.

If you’re looking to use intermittent fasting as a long-term weight-loss strategy, that pure fat will help take the edge off of hunger. As soon as those calories are used, your body will return to burning body fat.

My husband and I tested many different fats, like MCT oil, coconut oil, heavy cream, and half-n-half to see how they would affect our bodies during a fast. The stand out by far was MCT oil. You can view our What Can I Have While Intermittent Fasting videos here.

When we consumed MCT oil, we experienced a rise in ketones and a drop in glucose over the two-hour testing period. That was a favorable state, which suggested that our bodies were staying in fat-burning mode.

I suggest starting with a teaspoon of MCT oil to see how your body tolerates it and then work up to a tablespoon if you’re feeling good.

3. Become Fat Adapted!

The third tip is to get yourself fat-adapted before you start practicing intermittent fasting. According to Dr. Stephen Phinney and the Virta Team,
being fat adapted means that you are restricting carbs enough to induce an increase in fat burning.

When this adaptation has taken place in your body, you are no longer subjected to the blood sugar swings that happen on a high-carb diet. It is these blood sugar swings that cause the rapid onset of hunger, which can force you to stop your fast.

When you’re fat-adapted, your body is able to easily convert fat to energy. Since we have a vast supply stored on our bodies, our energy stays steady and we become free of hunger and our dependence on eating quick energy sources like carbs.

The length of time it takes your body to become fat-adapted will depend on many factors. The most important thing that you can do to reach this state quickly is to reduce your daily carb intake.

About the Author

Dr. Becky Gillaspy, DC graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.