Some reminders about Eat Stop Eat
1. You still eat every single day.
With Eat Stop Eat you never fast for a full day. It’s 24 hours (at the most) divided between two days. If you were to fast for an entire day, the fast would be closer to 36 hours long (since you would fast through your sleep, fast through the day, fast through you next sleep, then eat). That’s a lot of fasting! With Eat Stop Eat we keep it to around 24 hours. You can play with your start and stop times, fast from noon to noon or 7 pm to 7 pm, but a key part of Eat Stop Eat is making sure you’re always eating at some point each day.
2. It’s once OR twice per week.
Sometimes one fast per week works best, sometimes it’s twice per week. Sometimes it’s once every 3-5 days. It’s okay to get into a routine (fasting every Sunday-Monday and every Wednesday-Thursday as an example) and it’s also OK to keep it flexible and fast once a week whenever it fits best into your schedule.
3. You still eat breakfast 5 times a week.
I get a lot of emails linking to the latest research on breakfast. Honestly, I’m not too concerned with breakfast. I don’t always eat breakfast, and I certainly don’t eat right when I wake up, but I’ll eventually have some form of breakfast on the days I’m not fasting.
4. You’re free to eat as often as you like during your eating days.
On the days you are eating you can have 3 meals per day or 20. As long as you are eating responsibly and keeping your overall intake in check, I’m okay with any pattern of meals that works for you. Just remember, you’re not fasting on these days… so don’t be afraid to eat.
5. You can follow any eating style you wish on the days you eat.
Paleo, vegan, all-carb, high protein, all-ice-cream… If it works for you and you enjoy it then do it. However, please remember your fasting is your calorie restriction, so on the non-fasting days you are eating responsibly, but not necessarily “dieting”. Two to four days of restriction (you don’t eat at all during your fasts) and three to five days of normal eating. On the days that bookend a fast you’d eat as if the fast wasn’t there. So you’d eat normally up until the start of your fast, then when your fast is over you’d pretend it never happened and continue eating whatever you normally would eat at that time.
6. Protein is important.
This is not a low-protein diet. (It’s only low to people who think 300 grams of protein per day is normal). Aim for 100 grams per day (Higher if you’d like), and as high as you can on the days you are fasting (You still eat protein on the days you are fasting because you are never fasting for a full day). It’ll take some effort but that’s okay.
7. Resistance training is vital.
I get several, “Do I really have to workout for this program to work?” emails per day. My answer is that you need resistance training for ANY program to work at its best. You don’t have to be a slave to the gym. Even two days per week will work – but you need to do something. It doesn’t have to be weight training, but it does have to be resistance. You must challenge your muscles at least twice per week.
BP
