✨ Your First Week of Intermittent Fasting: What You Need to Know!
Hello! This is SimFast, your app for a healthy start!
You've decided to start intermittent fasting with excitement! That's a wonderful choice. But frankly, the first week can be half excitement and half worry. Our bodies need time to adjust to a new rhythm.
Don't worry! SimFast is here to provide you with the 5 most realistic essential tips to make your first week a 'success road' instead of a 'struggle road'. Just remember these, and it will be much easier!
Tip 1. Warm-up is Essential! Start Lightly
If you jump right into a 16-hour fast from today, your body might be surprised. It's the same as having leg pain when you run suddenly without warming up.
- Try this: Start with a 12:12 fast for the first 2-3 days. Finish dinner a little earlier and start breakfast a little later. This alone will slowly prepare our body to get used to fasting. Don't feel pressured, getting started is half the battle!
Tip 2. Water Bottle Like a Best Friend! Consciously Drink Water
The culprit of mild headaches or fatigue you feel in the first week is often 'dehydration'. And our brain sometimes mistakes 'thirst' for 'hunger'.
- Try this: Always keep a water bottle within reach. When you feel hungry? Try drinking a glass of water slowly first. You'll be surprised how the fake hunger disappears. Warm water or sugar-free herbal tea can also be very good friends.
Tip 3. Real or Fake? Get to Know 'Hunger'
The feeling we feel as 'hungry' is divided into 'physiological hunger' when we are really hungry and 'psychological hunger' when we want to eat because of habit or emotion.
- Try this: When you think, "I have to eat because it's lunchtime," or "I'm bored," pause for a moment. Are you really hungry enough to hear your stomach growl? If not, divert your attention with other activities such as taking a light walk or listening to your favorite music. Just recognizing the identity of this 'fake hunger' will make the first week much easier.
Tip 4. Meal Time is a 'Nutritional Feast' Not a 'Reward'!
Put aside the thought, "I fasted, so I can eat this much!" What you eat at mealtime determines how comfortable you will spend the next fasting time.
- Try this: Make sure to include protein and healthy fats in your meals. Foods like eggs, tofu, chicken, fish, avocado, and nuts. These nutrients keep you full for a long time and stabilize your blood sugar, preventing the explosive appetite during fasting. Bread, cookies, and sugary drinks quickly make us hungry again, so stay away from them as much as possible in the first week!
Tip 5. Be Generous to Your Body's Signals
The first week is a time for our body and mind to adapt to new challenges. Anyone can have a little trouble, and it's okay if it's not perfect.
- Try this: If you feel a mild headache or lethargy, think positively, "My body is preparing to burn fat hard." But if you are too dizzy and tired, never overdo it. You can break the fast with a healthy snack and try again the next day. This is not a punishment but a gift for your body. Don't push yourself too hard.
The first week is not a period to do it 'perfectly' but a period to 'adapt' and 'learn'. Don't be impatient and try to practice the tips I told you today one by one.
SimFast will always support your healthy first step from the side! Fighting! 🚀