Are you struggling to lose weight while fasting? Weight loss occurs when you’ve made the switch from burning sugar to burning fat for fuel. We call this being a “fat burner”, and this switch is defined by the presence of ketones in the body. There are a few things that can prevent this switch from happening. However the good news is, there are five things you can do to make the switch and unstick your weight. 

Increase your fasting window

It’s possible that you just haven’t fasted enough. Generally it takes consistent fasting to see results. It requires that you try to make fasting a lifestyle habit, not just something you do once in a while. If you are fasting consistently, you may need to try increasing your fasting window. For example, if you’re typically fasting for 15 hours, try adding a 24 hour fast once a week. The best fast for weight loss has been shown to be a 36 hour fast. Try integrating longer fasting into your regular intermittent fasting routine. 

Eat high quality foods

Whenever possible, eat organic, locally grown and seasonal foods. My rule of thumb is to try to buy all my groceries at my local farmer’s market. When it comes to meats, look for grass-fed, and wild caught seafood. Most importantly, avoid these three things: bad oils, high carb-high sugar foods and chemicals. 

Vary your fasting

This means cycling between different styles of fasting and feasting. Funny enough, many people become so dogmatic about fasting, that they forget or feel guilty about the feasting part. But feasting is an essential part to getting results, even weight loss results. Of course, feasting doesn’t mean binging or over-indulging, it means eating nourishing, healthy foods that drive your microbiome, hormones and metabolism.

The fasting style that seems to work best is what I call the 5-1-1 Diet Variation. 

• Intermittent fasting (13-15 hours) 5 days a week
• One day a week do a 22-24 hour fast
• One day a week have a healthy feast day 

Open your detox pathways

The main organ affected by fasting is the liver. But the liver also has another job as well, and it’s detoxification. Congested liver detox pathways can prevent weight loss results. Make sure you’re having daily bowel movements, this indicates your digestive pathway is open. If not, you’ll want to support your gut microbiome by increasing probiotic, prebiotic foods and fiber. Also make sure you’re sweating, as the skin is another major detox pathway. I love the infrared sauna for this. Lymph movement is also essential, you can do this with manual massage, sweating and dry brushing.  

Add in HIIT training

In order to see weight loss results, you must first undo the years of high carb, high sugar living. What happens is your body stores sugar in fat, liver and muscle tissue. Sometimes it takes more than just fasting to get to burn those sugar stores. This is where exercise comes in. HIIT training specifically has been found to accelerate the release of stored sugar in the body. This can look like sprints, squats and jumping jacks that bring your heart rate up and down. I lead LIVE weekly workouts in my Reset Academy, you can join here.