Why I Practice Intermittent Fasting and Think You Should Try It Too

People often ask me for weight loss and nutrition advice. First off, I find that establishing a routine can help you make improvements or changes in most areas of your life. When it comes to nutrition, my routine revolves around time-restricted feeding – more commonly known as intermittent fasting.

As we enter the holiday season and some of the best foods out there become available to us left and right, I wanted to share what works for my diet habits.

I usually advise those looking to lose weight to adopt some form of intermittent fasting as the first mechanism of action, and then from there we then start to incorporate better dietary choices, and them from there we start to incorporate more movement and exercise. Everything else seems to take care of itself after that point.

At its essence, I spend 16-18 hours of the day with zero calories entering my body.

I wake up between 5 and 6 a.m. and have nothing but water until noon or 1 p.m., then I eat lunch and eventually dinner.

I started intermittent fasting in the tail end of my speedskating career and the changes have been incredible. It really helps me operate on a different level.

By shortening the hours in which I am actually consuming food during the day, I am able to restabilize my energy levels. I then feel better and I’m not even thinking about food as much. It takes me about 7-8 days to acclimate to this new pattern, but now very seldom do I wake up hungry and very seldom do I even want to eat something come 11 a.m. or noon. I don’t even feel hungry.

My body has shifted to a different type of reserve of using a different type of fuel source. My blood sugar levels are very stable, my cognitive focus and energy is very sharp, I feel very crystal clear because I’m not being dragged down by eating perhaps an excess of carbohydrates or some other type of fuel that will then just cloud my judgement and memory and everything else that goes with it. I also don’t have these fluctuations in the way that I view whatever tasks that I have during the day.

I eat this way – with no breakfast and fasting for around 16 hours a day – maybe 340 days a year, and the results are spectacular when I’m following it. I feel great, I’m leaner, my mind is better, I sleep better, my skin clears up, my eyes are clear.

Carbs have a crazy effect on us as well, so not having breakfast, which tends to focus on carbs, has helped too. When you consume carbohydrates in the morning, you absolutely will have a crash of energy level. The reason for the routine that I have is I’m just looking for ways to optimize my performance, so if I know that my brain and body work better under a certain type of fuel source, I need to try to control that mechanism the best that I can.

I spend maybe 65 percent of the year consuming lower carbohydrates, then there’s another part of the year where I eat whatever. But there is a huge performance difference in the way that I operate and how I feel from when I’m eating heavy carbohydrates to when I’m not. You’ll be able to see it in my skin quality, in my face, in my thought process – everything.

Everyone’s body type is different though. The way my body type is, I operate better with having minimal carbohydrates, and if I do eat them it’ll be at night. I very rarely eat carbohydrates during lunch. But then there’s days when I crush an entire pizza for dinner. The reason I do it for dinner is because I don’t have to work as much at night, so my brain doesn’t have to be as sharp. Whenever I eat pizza, I’m tired and sleepy, so at least at the end of the day I don’t have to do anything else.

There’s a ton of great resources out there surrounding the mechanisms of time-restricted feeding, including some from my good friend Dr. Peter Attia, and if you’ve ever been interested in learning more or are looking to try something new for yourself, I urge you to check it out.