Intermittent Fasting Timeline

Nothing changes overnight.

Why don't diets work? Because people on diets don't have a long term plan. 

If they did, they would never try diets like the cabbage soup diet or the pre-packaged chemicallized food diet. No one can do those diets long term. And to really succeed in weight loss you need to change something forever. Do you know anyone who wants to eat cabbage soup every meal forever?

Why don't diets work? Because people on diets have unrealistic expectations.

Their new diet plan sounds good on paper. But, is it really realistic that someone who is 100 pounds overweight is suddenly going to eat salad every day and work out 5 times per week? Absolutely not.

Intermittent Fasting is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change. Lifestyles do not change overnight. They change little by little, very slowly.

Do what works for you. 

Do a fast when you normally don't eat very much. If you eat most of your food at night, fast in the morning and afternoon. If you eat most of your food in the morning fast in the evening. If you don't think you can fast the whole 19 hours at once, break it up into two parts and eat in the middle of the day instead. Remember that 12 hours or so of your fast is evening wind down time or morning wake up time and sleeping. If you eat at noon, then you only have to fast a bit after you wake up and a bit after 5pm until bed. That is much more manageable than all at once.

Don't overdo it.

Some people have great success combining a certain diet with intermittent fasting. For example low carb or calorie counting. But I wouldn't recommend it if you are new to fasting. Get used to it, do it for a while, months, before you try to mix it up. You need to give your body time to adjust. When people overdo it they fail because it is just too much at once, too big of a change.

Don't give up.

Just because you have a day or week or month where you are off plan or off target doesn't mean it is all over. People who are thin are thin because overall they stick to their lifestyle. They may have a vacation where the alcohol and food is plentiful. They may have a day or two when they are enjoying celebrations where desserts are many and the wine is flowing. They may have a treat here and there, but just because they indulged for a while doesn't mean they give up everything they do most of the time. They go back to the lifestyle that has kept them skinny in the first place. They go back to what they know, and they don't beat themselves up.

Assess what you don't need.

Everyone has habits. They do things because they have always done them. If you ask them why, they probably won't know. I'm sure there are things you do that you could do without. For example, I gave up soda/pop. I didn't really like it, I just drank it because I always had. It was there and easy and something I would have in a restaurant when I didn't know what I wanted to drink. It was filler. When I realized I didn't need it, it was easy to give it up. Look at your habits, ask yourself if you really need them. You might be surprised how easy it is to give some of them up.

Accept what you do need, especially if it helps you get what your BODY needs.

I need croutons and my favourite dressing in my salad. They make my salad more enjoyable. The reason I love salad is partly because of them. If I had to get rid of my salad dressing, I don't know that I would want to eat salad every day. Yes, salad dressing has sugar and calories and there are better things I could use. But, if I was to stop using it and that resulted in me not eating salad at all, I would be much worse off. I read a great example of this in the book The Gabriel Method where he talked about adding greens and veggies to his diet. He said he hated them but knew his body needed them, so what he did was cut up a piece of pizza and put it in his salad. Or do the same with a burger and fries. It made the salad part more enjoyable and got him to eat the good stuff along with the bad rather than not at all. Baby steps that led to him eventually not eating the pizza or burger at all anymore.

Take it one step at a time and allow yourself to stand still as long as you need to.

Lifestyle changes happen over long periods of time and only become a lifestyle after you have adopted them as your routine for a long period of time without abandoning them. Who cares if you haven't lost a pound in over a month...you haven't gained either...and that is the real victory. It took a long time to put this weight on, and if you want to lose it and never find it again, it will take a long time to get it off too. That is ok, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep doing the steps above and you will slowly find your way to the perfect balance that takes no effort at all.

When you are ready, take the next step but remember to follow all the same advice above when doing so.

If you are ready to make another move, change some more, remember:

Nothing changes overnight.


Have a long term plan.


Be realistic.


Do what works for YOU.


Don't overdo it.


Don't give up.


Assess what you don't need.


Accept what you do need, especially if it helps you get what your BODY needs.


Take it one step at a time and allow yourself to stand still as long as you need to.

I have created a new lifestyle for myself that is a huge improvement over what I once was. It happened so slowly that it felt effortless, yet if I had tried to do it all at once I would have failed miserably. Only when I did what I described above, did I finally succeed. And it is still ongoing. I am always re-assessing and making small tweeks, tiny adjustments that over time make a huge impact.