24 Hour Fasting: A Step-by-step Guide (with Cheat Sheet)

Are you looking for another way to live a healthier life without riding a roller-coaster of fad diets that don’t work? You’re not alone. More people are looking for a safe way to lose weight, improve their overall health, and live a simpler lifestyle – even find mental and spiritual balance.  

How to manage 24-hour fasting? To start, drink 2-3 cups of water or 1-2 cups of green tea throughout the day, and at least every few hours. You should find things to do to distract from thinking about food, such as taking a drive. At the end of the day, eat a small, well-balanced, and nutrient-dense meal to break your fast.

Those who engage in regular or intermittent fasting, however, swear by it and stand by its many proposed health benefits.

24-Hour Fasting Benefits

Once you finish eating and your body begins to digest food, your stomach breaks down carbohydrates into sugar that cells use for energy. If your cells don’t use all the glucose, your body stored it as fat. Hence, when you fast, your cells use fat for fuel instead of stored glucose, which helps with fat loss.

During a fast, your body releases ketones into your bloodstream, and it plays a role in weight loss and brain function.

Ketones then trigger the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps with memory and learning and the growth of new nerve cells. Further, additional benefits of fasting include:

• Burns stored fat and sugar
• Human Growth Hormone (HGH) levels increase, aiding fat loss and resistance from chronic disease
• Changes in gene expression occur and are related to protecting the body against disease
• Insulin levels lower substantially
• Cells initiate waste removal, eliminating damaged cells 

The Benefits of 24-hour Fasting

24-hour fasting is part of what many people refer to as Intermittent Fasting (IF). In addition to the list above, proponents of intermittent fasting – including 24-hour fasts – say it promotes the following changes in the body: 

24-Hour Fasting: A Step-by-step Guide with Cheat Sheet

Although there are multiple benefits of 24-hour fasting, you should proceed with caution. If you take medications or suffer from chronic conditions, please consult with your physician before beginning any fitness or dietary program. Let’s look at precisely what a 24-hour fast entails.

1. Fasting for a Day

First, ask yourself: why am I fasting? Are you doing it for detox purposes, or is it spiritual? Are you doing it to lose weight? If you are, the IF 24-hour fasting plan starts at early as 72-24 hours before your actual fast.

1) PRE-FAST STEPS: THE DAY BEFORE THE FAST

• Slowly drink at least 2 liters of water the day before or at much as 72 hours beforehand. Water is essential because it helps maintain body temperature, aids in digestion, circulate blood, and assist with the absorption and transportation of nutrients. If water alone is too much, other liquids, including Gatorade, tea, and juice, will suffice.
• 7 PM: Eat your last pre-fast meal and drink 2-3 cups of water: Eat a well-balanced meal packed with nutrient-dense produce to help fuel your body during fasting. Don’t overeat either, instead consume a few smaller meals. Seek out water-based fruits and vegetables and avoid fast foods, baked products, and foods loaded with excess sugar and salt.

Note: some experts recommend eating a small number of calories the morning of your fast, as this activates your metabolism and ensures your body burns stored fats. However, with this IF version, you eat the night before.

2) THE 24-HOUR FAST SCHEDULE

Tips for the 24-hour Fast

• Water is an excellent option as it fills you up, dilutes stomach acids, and can restore energy. Green tea also acts as an appetite suppressant.
• Find things to keep your mind occupied throughout the day. Some people do yoga, watch television, go driving, or read. Avoid heavy exercise and high-energy activities such as lifting weights or jogging.
• When it is time to return to your regular eating habits, avoid overeating and junk foods instead eat another healthy, well-balanced meal filled with nutrient-dense produce. Eat only half of what you typically do, and focus on fruits, vegetables, soups, water, and juices.

For example, you might choose to start the day with an apple and glass of water, and 30 to 45 minutes later, have a bowl of soup and orange juice. Space meals out and stick to small portions.

Fasting for a Day: A Modified Version

If you suffer from prediabetes, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and fasting for a day will increase your risk for hypoglycemia, you still have options. Even if you have other ailments and need to eat, you can follow a modified version of the IF regime.

With the modified variation, you may consume between 100-200 calories at lunch. The pre-fast steps the day before your fast also apply to this amended version.

Here’s what the modified 24-hour fasting would like at a glance:

(Source: Intermittent Fasting Explained by Cyrus Khambatta, Ph.D., of Mango Man Nutrition and Fitness)

Variations of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting can include different variations of the 24-hour fast, as well as eating and fasting on alternating days. The chart below illustrates different versions of intermittent fasting and explains how the schedule for each one works.

How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

Intermittent fasting (IF) consists of whole-day fasting, alternate-day fasting, and time-restricted eating windows, and have become popular over the last few years.

The regimen cycles through periods of normal eating, fasting, and regulated eating.

There are variations with each version, and the timeframe and number of calories also differ. Here’s a complete break down of the categories and the type of plans they contain.

1. Whole-Day Fasting

The whole day fasting version is where you fast for 1-2 days per week. After you do the full fast for 24-hours, there are no food restrictions for the rest of the week. This is the Eat-Stop-Eat method.

2. Alternate-Day Fasting

Alternate fasting involves going back and forth between the days when you eat and when you eat far less, or next to nothing.

For example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday could be your fasting days, and on alternate days, you’ll have no food restrictions. This is the every-other-day fasting method.

There are variations where (during fast days) you eat 500 calories or less, or where you eat 25-percent of your daily calorie needs (which if you’re on a 2,000-calorie diet, is equivalent to 500 calories). On non-fast days, you eat more than your usual food intake (feast days). 

Modified Fasting: For two non-consecutive days a week, you eat 25-percent of your daily calorie needs or 400-600 calories. This is the 5:2 diet where there are no food restrictions for five days, but then you cycle through two restricted-calorie days per week.

3. Time-Restricted Fasting Methods

This involves following a meal plan each day during a designated timeframe. You eat at certain times and fast for the rest. You only restrict food within this specific window, and fast between 12-16 hours.

16/8 Method: The most popular version of the time-restricted approaches, where you eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours. You eat as many (healthy) meals during the time as you wish and can drink water, coffee, and tea to curb your hunger.

The Warrior Diet: Another version of the time-restricted eating module, is the 20/4 method, also known as the Warrior Diet. This is where you fast for 20 hours and eat for 4 hours only. You’re allowed to eat vegetables, fruits, and nuts during the 20-hour window, and have a large dinner at night.

Some proponents recommend the full 20-hour fasting without eating but say you should eat three full meals within the compressed timeframe.

Isn’t Intermittent Fasting Just Another Fad Diet?

Proponents of IF say it’s a lifestyle and not a diet. It doesn’t restrict what you eat, and in a sense, isn’t considered conventional dieting because of the eating patterns.

Yet, fasting and dieting follow a similar path in why people want to watch what they eat – from losing weight to managing chronic conditions.

That's why, across the spectrum, many are turning to IF for results. Intermittent fasting doesn’t deprive you of food or nutrients, and fasting can become a life-long practice. This kind of fasting does three things:

Sample Regimens for 24-hour Fasting Plans

To determine which plan works best for your circumstances and goals, a closer look at each plan and what it entails is warranted.

Here are a few sample regimes to choose from if you’ve ever wondered about what to do.

The 16/8 Fasting Meal Plan

The 16/8 method involves skipping breakfast and restricting eating to 8 hours, so you can eat from noon-8 pm and fast for the next 16 hours.

If you usually skip breakfast, this will be the easiest method. Another example is to stop eating at 9 pm and start again at 1 pm the following day.

During that 8-hour window is when you may eat 2-3 meals (coffee, tea, and water are allowed during fasting hours).

If you’re new to IF, it's recommended that you start with the 16/8. Your 8-hour eating window can be 9 am-5 pm, or 10-am-6pm, or 11 am-7 pm. You can always experiment with different timeslots to see which one fits your biology, schedule, and lifestyle.

16/8 Fasting Schedule

• 7:00 AM - wake up
• 7:30 AM - drink lemon water
• Skip breakfast
• 12:00 PM – have lunch
• 3:00 PM – have a snack
• 8:00 PM- have dinner
• 9:00 PM – fasting begins
• Fast for 16 hours

The 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan

With the 5:2 method, you eat 400-600 calories (though some sources say its 500 calories or less). You do this on two non-consecutive days and eat normally the rest of the week. It simple, but you may be fatigued on those low-calorie days.  

As you can see from the two-day menu, 500 calories aren’t much, that’s why it's on different days.

The foods you should avoid with the Warrior Diet include preservatives and foods with added sugars and sweeteners, including the following:

• Fast foods and fried foods
• Processed meats like bacon and lunch meat
• Refined carbohydrates
• Candy, cookies, cakes, chips, crackers, and canned fruits
• Artificial sweeteners
• Sweet drinks like fruit juice and soda
• Meal Options for the Warrior Diet

Conclusion

While there aren’t any quality studies of 24-hour and intermittent fasting in humans (yet), it might be too early to know the long-term effects. But one thing is certain: 24-hour fasting doesn’t negate the fundamentals of a healthy diet.

That is, consuming a diet filled with a wide variety of wholesome fresh foods, in portion-controlled quantities, and with reduced use of saturated fats and processed foods, holds true.

You’ve seen a step-by-step guide to 24-hour fasting, examined the tenets of different 24-hour and IF plans, and reviewed sample regimens. None of it rejects the thesis of a balanced diet.

Further, if used safely in conjunction with daily exercise, and if incorporated into a healthy daily diet, “intermittent” fasting can be beneficial. You have the facts. Now, you decide if it will work for you.