Tribe By Noire

The Alternate Day Fasting Guide

What is alternate day fasting?

Alternate day fasting (ADF) is where you eat every other day and water fast on the days you don’t eat. An example of this would be where you eat mon, wed, fri, sun, and water fast tues, thurs, sat. Each fast should be 24-36 hours. 36 hours would be where you stop eating on Monday at 8pm and break your fast Wednesday at 8am. a 24 hour fast would be where you stop eating 8pm and start eating the next day at 8pm. The longer the fast, the better the results.

Why you should do alternate day fasting

ADF allows you to enjoy as much food as you want without calorie counting, or actively limiting portion size. The fasting days allow you to burn fat at an elevated level while retaining more muscle mass than you would with a daily calorie deficit.

During a fasted state your body is forced to tap into your fat stores for energy after the glucose from carbohydrates is depleted. ADF gives you a full day where your body exclusively burns fat. 

The 24-36 hour fasts come with a variety of different health benefits.

  • Fasting causes an accelerated production of a protein in the brain called brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). This is what creates new brain cells, repairs existing cells, and maintains healthy nerve function.
  • Fasting causes the body to engage in a process called autophagy. During this process the body breaks down and eliminates damaged cells in order to replace them with newer healthier cells. This is especially important for people dealing with autoimmune disorders and other pre existing health conditions.
  • Fasting increases insulin sensitivity and regulates by boosting pancreatic function and removing excess fat from muscle and liver tissue.

ADF can even benefit your wallet by cutting the amount of money you spend on food. For example, if you spend an average of $30 dollars per day on food, you can save $60-$90 per week by having 2-3 fasting days.

Training With Alternate Day Fasting

Your training week should be split up into 3 training and 4 active recovery days that alternate. The training days should revolve around resistance training geared towards muscle and strength. The active recovery days should be geared towards improving mobility and low intensity aerobic exercise like walking, or a light jog.

You should eat at a surplus of roughly 10%, or atleast to your heart’s content on training days. You don’t have to be strict with your food choices, but it would best practices for you to prioritize the most beneficial foods. Here’s a good checklist to consider.

  • 2-.3.5 servings of beans
  • 1 medium sized sweet potato
  • 4-5 servings of fruit
  • 1-2 protein shakes
  • 1/2-1 cup of oatmeal or buckwheat porridge
  • 1-2 servings of nuts
  • 4-5 servings of leafy greens

*this checklist equates to a maximum of roughly 2000 calories and a minimum of 1200 calories.

The fasting should be reserved for the active recovery days. This is where you really shed body fat and get the full benefits of ADF. Avoid anything with calories in it, even vitamin supplements can interrupt autophagy.

  • Start and end your fasting days with 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar diluted in 8oz of water for an additional boost in energy and fat metabolism. This isn’t required, but it does help. I’d avoid doing this if you have acid reflux.
  • Caffeinated tease such as green, black, and white tea help keep energy levels up and suppress appetite.
  • Try to avoid drinking these within a couple hours of bedtime.
  • Herbal teas like chai, dandelion, burdock, ginger, tumeric, etc are good for improving gut health and balancing gut bacteria.