TheFastingMethod.com /
Intermittent Fasting
Protocols
Once you’ve successfully eliminated snacking, the next step is to select an intermittent
fasting regimen. For best results, choose a fasting regimen that fits in your schedule.
What is the Ideal
Fasting Regimen?
The most important consideration is to fit the fasting
schedule into your life schedule. If the fasting is too
onerous, you will not be able to continue it long term.
Many people eat dinner with their families at night,
so regularly skipping dinner may not work from a
social standpoint. This makes the dinner-to-dinner
fast the easiest to fit into a normal working schedule.
Still try to avoid eating within 3 hours of bedtime.
Otherwise, a lunch to lunch or breakfast to breakfast
schedule is optimal for 24-hour fasting. Hunger tends
to increase later in the day leading to a higher risk
of over-eating. Overall, most people find the lunch
to lunch fast the easiest. Hunger is lowest in the
morning so a breakfast to breakfast fast may be
slightly more effective, but a little more difficult.
24-Hour Fasting Regimen
Best suited for people who:
• Have chronic illnesses
• Have to take medications with food
• Are slender type 2 diabetics
• Are just looking to lose the last few pounds
If the two consecutive meals skipped are dinner
(Day 1) and breakfast (Day 2), then you will have
fasted from lunch to lunch, or roughly 24 hours.
Fasting from breakfast to breakfast is also possible.
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST
Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch
Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner
Table 3 . Example of a 24-hour fasting regimen fasting from
dinner-to-dinner three times a week.
D
uring a 24-hour fasting regimen, two consecutive
meals are skipped. For example, if you skip breakfast
and lunch on Day 2, you have fasted from dinner
(Day 1) to dinner (Day 2) or roughly 24 hours.
When breaking the fast, try to eat a normal portion
and avoid the temptation to overeat.
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST
Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
FAST Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner Dinner
Table 4 . Example of a 24-hour fasting regimen fasting from
lunch-to-lunch three times a week.
TheFastingMethod.com /
30-Hour Fasting Regimen
A 30-hour fast means missing three consecutive
meals, for example skipping dinner (Day 1) and
breakfast and lunch (Day 2). This is a slightly more
intensified fast but still permits at least one meal
per day.
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch
FAST Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner Dinner
Table 5 . Example of a 30-hour fasting regimen fasting from lunch
on Day 1 until dinner on Day 2, etc.
How Often Should I Eat?
36-Hour Fasting Regimen
Best suited for people who are:
• Interested in losing more than 20 pounds
• Heavier-set type 2 diabetics
• Faster weight loss
The 36-hour fasting regimen is a more aggressive
regimen, skipping meals for one entire day (Table 6).
This takes advantage of the natural fasting period
when we sleep. By skipping one extra meal compared
to the 24 hour regimen, we gain an extra 12 hours of
fasting, during which our bodies are forced to rely on
body fat for energy. This is the reason people often
report a much more dramatic reduction in their
appetite and improvement in their weight.
4
2-Hour Fasting Regimen
Best suited for people who are:
• Interested in losing more than 20 pounds
• Heavier-set type 2 diabetics
• Tend to have much higher blood sugar levels
in the morning (the Dawn Effect)
• Faster weight loss
The 42-hour fasting regimen is recommended for
metabolic syndrome. It’s a more aggressive regimen,
similar to the 36-hour regimen, but you do not
consume breakfast the next day (Table 7). This allows
high morning blood sugar levels to stabilize before
their first meal of the day. Like the 36-hour fasting
regimen, people often report a much more dramatic
reduction in their appetite and improvement in their
weight control over carbohydrate cravings.
Generally, the longer the fasting period, the less
frequently it will be done. We recommend to do
these fasts three times per week, but it will depend
upon your own goals and your own results. You can
always start off doing just one a week and gradually
increasing. You can also mix and match these fasts
according to your schedule. For example, you could
do two 24-hour fasts and one 36-hour fast on one
week and then three 36-hour fasts the next.
Many people prefer to fast during weekdays when
they’re busy at work, doing a 42-hour fast on
Mondays and Wednesdays - but eating socially on
Friday evening with their friends and families still
allows a 24-hour fast on Friday. Fasting is completely
customizable and the number-one rule is to fit it into
your lifestyle to make it sustainable as a way of life.
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
FAST
Breakfast
Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch
Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST FAST
Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch FAST Lunch
Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner FAST Dinner
Table 6 . Example of a 36-hour fasting regimen fasting from dinner
on Day 1 until breakfast on Day 3, etc.
Table 7. Example of a 42-hour fasting regimen fasting from lunch
on Day 1 until lunch on Day 2, etc.
Common Fasting Protocols Continued
