Intermittent Fasting with Keto – The Beginner’s Guide

(Last Updated On: January 5, 2020)

Intermittent Fasting is thousands of years old. Our ancestors, who lived as hunter-gatherers, didn’t have nourishment all of the time.

Nowadays, it is normal for humans to have food available on hand. After all, supermarkets have almost everything needed and are everywhere.

Before man settled down and learned to farm and raise cattle, food choices were not exactly guaranteed.

However, these involuntary days of fasting didn’t harm at all. They relieved the strain on the body and made it more resilient.

The keto diet and intermittent fasting have many things in common. The two can work together to bring you good health through effective weight loss.

You can achieve two things when combined. The first is that there would be fat loss or weight loss as well as better metabolic health.

Though there could be differences in diets, there are at least two things that hold them together. The two can lead to enhanced ketone production.

Secondly, when combined, you will burn excess fats stored in the body — facilitating weight loss, proving a powerful combination.

Healthy foods won’t help alone, Ketosis and intermittent fasting support organ function.

The elimination of toxic substances is just one of the many functions of the liver and kidneys, enabling the body to heal itself.

That’s why it’s important to let your body rest through intermittent fasting or fasting in general.

 

Keto Diet

Keto diet is also known as the ketogenic diet, and it includes consuming foods that are high in fat and low in carbs. When you do that, it will kick start what is known as nutritional ketosis.

There would be a lack of glucose in the body, and when that happens, your body would have consumed those fats reserved in it for energy.

The ketogenic diet involves a lot of things. It also includes reducing your carb intake to just 20-50g daily. There are other things, as well. There is a need to provide your body with the necessary nutritional requirements.

You have to change your dieting system to high-fat foods and combine that with moderate quantities of proteins.

Some of the proteins that you can eat are eggs, some nuts, as well as fish. Combine this also with other proteins.

When engaging a ketogenic diet, there are lots of good things that come with it, and one of them is achieving weight loss — one of the main goals to achieve.

There are several other great things associated with that, and you will see them at the cost of your disciplined efforts.

 

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is also known as IF. It is that cycle that exists between healthy eating and fasting period.

The best form of intermittent fasting includes 16/8, and this involves fasting for 16 hours and eight hours eating window.

When you fast, the only thing you are allowed to consume is just water.

There are lots of health benefits associated with intermittent fasting. One of them is that it could bring down the insulin levels in the body.

When insulin is low, fat burning is faster, and better results are possible. Most importantly, it can reduce free radicals in the body as well as facilitate the body repair process.

 

Combining Both Keto Diet And Intermittent Fasting

Now that you know the individual uses of the two concepts. Some may think that the two can be over-demanding. Not the case once you do it the right way.

Keto and Intermittent fasting can be combined to achieve a better result in weight loss. When you engage in ketogenic dieting, it would be challenging to gain more muscle mass.

When combined with intermittent fasting, the problem can be solved by enhancing insulin sensitivity in the body.

Furthermore, body glucose regulation is there, accompanied by more hormone production. When fasting, it is easier to achieve ketosis faster than when you’re not.

Another great thing is that a person in ketosis would be pretty more comfortable in achieving a better result during intermittent fasting; there would be fewer hunger pains.

Also, intermittent fasting increases your metabolism, further accelerating the fat burning process!

Perhaps the most important benefit you can benefit from combining the two is that body fats will be consumed more efficiently due to being the primary source of body fuel.

In the end, there would be fewer BF percentage, as well as a leaner body, and so on.

 

Is This Good for Everyone?

If you are living a ketogenic lifestyle, you can benefit from the combination of keto and intermittent fasting.

If you’re aiming to achieve weight loss, there are other advantages you can gain by combining the two. Research has shown there are many benefits to gain, which is a godsend to all who stick with it!

Research has also shown that it can lead to an enhanced mental focus. Furthermore, it is helpful when it comes to better satiation.

Most importantly, if you are finding it hard to deal with diabetes, this can make that process easier and faster. Most importantly, the keto diet makes for better cholesterol control.

 

Commencing A Keto And IF Diet

Combining the two can be called a hybrid diet. It may seem complicated, but if well planned, there are easy ways of achieving it.

Here’s a suggested meal plan that can help you very well to achieve your aims without difficulties. The program has to start in the morning as soon as you wake up.

When getting up in the morning, drink water, or have black coffee. After three hours, have another coffee; this is necessary when curving appetite before eating the first main meal, along with giving you more energy.

The new eating window will start at noon. If possible, start that eating window with 8 ounces of chicken breast combined with salad, as well as olive oil and feta cheese.

In the meal, you can add other foods such as avocado, salmon as well as hard-boiled eggs, and so on.

In another three hours, you can have another snack. This time around, you can have blueberries and almonds.

In another three hours, have 8 ounces of fish, accompanied by string beans as well as asparagus, and such vegetables like Brussels sprouts and so on.

In another two hours, you can make do with nuts and Blueberries as a light snack. Consider this is as the last food you can consume for the day.

This dieting plan depends on the number of days you want to run it.

If, for instance, you want to continue a weeklong IF with keto, you can have a weeklong plan on the ground, and it can run this way.

 

Meal Plan on Intermittent Fasting – Easy Meals for Newbies

Meal Example 1
Keto Salmon Meal
Salmon
kale-salad
Kale Salad
Keto Fat Bomb
Keto Fat Bomb

 

 

 

Meal Example 2
Steak With Asparagus
Steak with Asparagus
Nuts
Nuts

Meal Example 3
Chicken Avocado Egg
Chicken, Avocado, Egg
Sugar Free Peanut Butter
Sugar Free Peanut Butter (2-3 Tbsp)

 

Meal Example 4
Tomato With Avocado
Tomato with Avocado
Cheese Salami
Cheese & Salami
Keto Fat Bomb
Keto Fat Bomb

 

 

 

 

 

Remember -> 70-75% Fat / 20-25% Protein / 5-10% Carb

Eating order -> 1st vegetables and salad / 2nd protein / 3rd adjust fat

What has to be considered -> beef (grass-fed cow) / pasture-raised organic eggs / sugar free nut butters / organic fruits and vegetables / no sugar / sea salt

 

1st Step

  • Don’t be too hard on yourself in the beginning. Start eating fewer carbs (net carbs) 20-50g/day; your body will go into ketosis; therefore, you won’t be as hungry as you were before.
  • First, eat three meals per day, which are breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus leave out all the snacks between the meals.
  • Combine healthy fats and 7-10 cups of vegetables (vegetables have calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins, and other minerals, it helps in healing insulin resistance, also the fiber feeds the microbes in the gut).
  • Add sea salt in your food or your water. In the beginning, you’ll lose a lot of water, which includes electrolytes, sea salt will help stabilize your body.
keto-breakfast
Breakfast
keto-lunch
Lunch
Steak With Asparagus
Dinner

2nd Step

  • If you start to feel less hunger, reduce to 2 meals. Push your first meal back as far as possible, e.g., extend your breakfast between 11 am-12 pm.
  • Only eat when you’re hungry, your body needs a chance to burn fat; otherwise, your insulin will spike, causing low blood sugar, and you’ll be hungry still.
  • Eat another meal again in 4 hours (eating window) as a result you’ll fast for 20 hours until the next meal.
keto-breakfast
1st Meal / 12pm
Steak With Asparagus
2nd Meal / 4pm

 


1st meal 12pm

4-hours-break
4 Hours Break

2nd meal 4pm = 20 hours fasting


3rd Step

  • You can reach a point where you’ll only be eating 1 meal per day meaning 24 hour intermittent fasting. Of course this will be by choice, from our experience we’re just not as hungry as much in comparison to our former eating habits.
  • Eat certain amounts of nutrition and stop when you‘re full. Remember to eat healthy food, not junk food.
keto-breakfast
1st Meal / 12pm +
Steak With Asparagus
2nd Meal / 4pm =
keto-meal
1 meal/day / between 12-4pm

 

One-Week Combination Plan

Monday

The last meal of the day should be at 8.00 pm. If it’s possible, you can try a midday workout. Intermittent fasting can commence from noon to 8 pm.

Keto meals for the day can include an avocado plate as well as smoked salmon; alternatively, you can consume broccoli and cheese, along with a delicious buttery steak! There are many keto-friendly food varieties.

Tuesday

On the second day of the plan, you should consider this as a fasting day. You are not taking in any calories until 8 pm.

Wednesday

In the morning, you can begin with a fasted workout. Start eating in the afternoon, rewarding yourself with a chicken BLT salad, or something that’s keto-friendly of your choice along with eating a light snack at night.

Thursday

On this day, take it easy on the workouts, there will be brief fasting not lasting all-day. Because of your reduced activities for the day, your body may not require much energy.

Start to eat in the afternoon, and you can start with turkey meat, avocado as well as cheese for lunch. For dinner, you can enjoy asparagus and salmon.

Friday

There could be a workout in the day. As usual, you must eat your meal at 8.00 pm. You can consume more proteins from dinner. We enjoy roasted chicken combined with creamy broccoli!

Saturday & Sunday

You can carry out an extended fast for these days. You must prepare yourself before embarking.

Sundays could be productive meal prep, making the rest of the week more simple in achieving what you want.

This eating method is simple, and you can quickly achieve your purpose. It is much better if you consume more organic foods.

 

Intermittent Fasting Windows:

Daily:

16-8 (8-hour eating window / 16-hour fast)
18-6 (6-hour eating window / 18-hour fast)
20-4 (4-hour eating window / 20-hour fast)

Weekly:

1-2x per week (on a weekend)

Longer Fasts:

24-hour fast (one meal per day / meal to meal)
36-hour fast
48-hour fast

 

Eating Windows

One thing that matters when you talk about eating windows is the timing to eat, selecting certain times that you want to consume food.

You can determine the right time to eat, known as the eating window; it could be four, six, as well as the eight-hour time of the eating window.

You must consume food during that time, fasting in-between. Time variation weekly fasts vary. Some can dedicate 24 hours of fasting while others can spend 36 hours and so on.

Find an eating window that is comfortable for you, and that is best in achieving your aims of weight loss. 

Intermittent fasting, accompanied by sleeping hours, is essential. Ensure that you choose to your full advantage.

One thing that you need to know is that irrespective of the eating window that you choose, it may not alter your caloric intake as it is going to remain the same.

Choose a window that can work for you. If you decide to extend it to the whole day, it is up to you, but you must know that whatever plan you choose, you must be consistent with it so that you can achieve the acquired results.

 

Why Keto Is More Effective When Combined with Intermittent Fasting

brain function keto

Most people are taking to keto and intermittent fasting due to the vast benefits associated with them.

It focuses on skipping unnecessary meals, mainly when you stick with intermittent fasting. Research has shown that it can be more effective in solving your health challenges.

Accelerates fat loss: if you make an eating plan and stick to that plan, it is much easier to achieve your results. If you stick to intermittent fasting, you can expect significant weight loss; this is possible without counting more calories.

The vital information with this method is that there would be weight loss, no matter the eating window you adopt as well as the type of food you eat.

The possibility that you can achieve 3 to 7 percent of your accumulated body weight is quite real. The critical thing to note here is that you must resort to a high-performance diet, enhancing it with intermittent fasting!

Enhances muscle gain: one of the worries people have when they engage in fasting is that of losing muscle. Not the case because you can gain instead of losing muscle.

If you fast, it can improve the human growth hormone HGH, and this can increase significantly. When it expands, it can enhance your muscles. The importance of this is that it can boost your physique.

When you combine keto and intermittent fasting, two things are possible.

First is that it can reduce your body fat, as well as increase your lean muscle, and most importantly, it is going to enhance your bone mass. Furthermore, it is going to accelerate your recovery.

Improves skin and reduces the aging process: Research has shown that HGH reduces as you increase in age. When you combine the two, you will build your muscles and lose fat, as well.

Most importantly, it can enhance the thickness of the skin. Thus, it can become stronger and does away with wrinkles and other signs of aging.

It can slow down your aging process because it increases your cell production. Your body begins to produce new cells, replacing old ones. In the process, you’re becoming a younger-looking you.

Stem cells that come out of it are unique. Stem cells are fantastic and suitable for your body. They are quite helpful with the rejuvenation prosses keeping you looking fresh!

Enhances your brain function: another great benefit is that it is going to improve your brain activity.

When you combine Ketosis and intermittent fasting, you would observe that the combination can significantly enhance your brain function and makes it more effective.

This powerful combination improves memory, facilitates learning, as well when your brain runs faster and is more efficient than you have a lot to gain from Ketosis and intermittent fasting.

 

Brings about Autophagy

It cleans your cells when you combine the two ( ketosis and intermittent fasting) — shifting cells in the internal parts — assisting you in getting rid of those dead cells in the body and is more useful to the brain and other parts of the body. Everybody is undoubtedly going to benefit from this.

 

Why Intermittent Fasting Combine with Keto to Achieve Weight Loss

When you engage in a ketogenic diet, it means that you are reducing carb intake, making up the difference with fat — making your system more efficient in the burning of fat as fuel.

There are other benefits which can also facilitate your weight loss bid, and here are some of them:

Reduce Cravings

The Keto diet is impressive because it doesn’t spike sugar levels. When it comes to the stabilization of the body, it is quite adequate, leading to fewer cravings.

Furthermore, it does away with fatigue, as well as mood swings, which is very good for your health, aiding in your achievements in excellent results.

Leads to Hunger Suppression

Most importantly, Intermittent fasting with Ketosis suppresses hunger.

When you reduce your consumption frequency, it becomes easier to shed excess weight due to allowing the body to process fat stores along with intake.

Fat Loss

Moreover, it is evident from the result so far that intermittent fasting and keto remain the most effective way of losing your excess weight.

Individually, the two processes can lead to fat loss. It can do that even when you do not want to control your calories.

When the two work together, they can become more effective in fat burning. It can be regarded as a fat-burning machine.

Most obese people can achieve effectively, healthy weight loss with this powerful combination.

 

What Can You Drink on Intermittent Fasting

  • Almond milk: unsweetened
  • Apple Cider Vinegar: it helps to regulate blood sugar, it assists if you have a fatty liver and it’s good for digestion
  • Bone broth: you will get a lot of electrolytes and less calories
  • Coffee: only drink one per day ideal is in the morning
  • Lemon and lime juice: it has a lot of Vitamin C
  • Tea: drink small amounts, because it has caffeine in it, large amounts of caffeine can stimulate insulin

 

The 25 Benefits of IF (Intermittent Fasting)

  • Anti-Aging
  • Better concentration
  • Better immune system
  • Better memory
  • Better mood
  • Better sleep
  • Decreased blood pressure
  • Detoxification
  • It fixes metabolism
  • It helps to prevent diabetes
  • It improves arteries
  • It improves digestion
  • It improves dementia
  • It improves your discipline
  • It improves your muscle
  • It increases energy
  • Inflammation will reduce
  • Less hunger
  • Mental clarity
  • No more cravings
  • Save money on grocery and cooking time
  • Smoother skin
  • Stronger
  • Your body will turn to a fat burning machine
  • Weight loss

 

10 Intermittent Fasting Mistakes

  • Extremely stressed: go for a walk to free your mind, do something good for you.
  • Trying too hard: if you’re not used to fasting, try with lower hours first, then step by step add more hours.
  • Junk food: it will kick you out of ketosis, eat clean, healthy, etc.
  • Change the fasting: don’t change your fasting if it works, you need to stay consistent.
  • Not enough fat: if you don’t eat enough fat, you’ll be always hungry.
  • Not enough vegetables: for the balance of the fat burning effect it’s wise to eat high amount of vegetables or salad they are rich in high in vitamins and minerals.
  • Sugar free sweeteners: your insulin level and your blood stream will be elevated, skip all the sugar-free sweeteners for a while. Drink something fatty.
  • High carb: you eat too much high sugar/carb meals. Drink kale shakes or eat salads instead.
  • Not enough salt: to eat and to drink salt will give you the minerals and electrolytes needed. Use unprocessed salts like Himalayan salt.
  • Wrong time of fasting: you have to experience which fasting hour works best for you.

 

Conclusion

Bringing intermittent fasting and ketosis together is an excellent way of achieving your aim of weight loss and healthy living. If you do it the right way, you can observe that you can combine them synergistically.

During the eating windows, you must focus on keto. Theses two dieting methods are fantastic, and when you combine them, you will achieve faster and more reliable results.

The combination of the two consumes stored fats for energy. Furthermore, continuing to keep your body in a state of ketosis, also depleting glucose levels in the body very fast.

Your success depends on the eating window you choose. It depends on your eating habits, as well.

How much you eat can have a substantial impact on you? You can achieve a better result when you combine ketosis habit with intermittent fasting.

You can achieve excellent health again. This method is suitable for anybody who wants to shed excess weight and remain healthy and hearty.

The long term results of this plan are that you can achieve almost the same effects that you had desired with keto dieting and intermittent fasting independently than when you combine the two.

Intermittent fasting is suitable for when wanting to achieve your aim faster and more healthily. All you need to do is to stick to the eating window that works for you.

We recommend trying Intermittent Fasting; the most straightforward way is meal planning. It’s the easiest way to being healthier and in losing weight more efficiently.

We feel much better, more awake, and much more with intermittent fasting. Especially the increased levels of energy and higher concentration during the fasting phase is a significant advantage for us.

intermittent fasting feeling good
We are more productive and we can do more than we’ve ever done before. This is one of the biggest benefits of intermittent fasting for us.

Think positive and stay motivated. It is normal that withdrawal symptoms and cravings can come into effect in the beginning.

Always remember, fasting is about taking the time out for your body to recover, it helps with cleansing and burning fat.

The major plus that we’ve experienced is the tremendous amounts of mental clarity that we gain while doing so.

You’ll feel like a prophet or a Buddhist monk haha! Give it a try and we promise not to say “I told you” 🙂

For any further questions/information please leave a message below.

Cheers to Healthy Living,
Anh-Tu and Sigmund
Anhtu & Sigmund

“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” – Matthew 17:21

Sharing is Caring!

  1. Chars Lu

    You provide a step-by-step guide clearly, some good points here! Also, you offer everything that a person who is new should know. Thanks for the helpful information!

  2. Deb

    Love this post. Intermittent fasting is so under rated. I do a regular 16hr fast not for weight loss but for health. I have definitely found that I am less hungry and don’t have the sugar lows.

  3. Yenge Eric

    You have just done something most bloggers don’t do. By bringing God into the scene is taking this business to the next level. I have learned a lot from your article. Keto is fast becoming a problem with the world and people are seeing things from the angle you just mentioned.
    This article i believe will go a long way to help those who are able to get serious with life.
    Why i say so is because, with all the info out there, people are still so weak that they can’t take action on very little things that could get them back on their feet and make life better.
    But all the same, keep up the good work.
    God bless you.

    • Anh-Tu & Sigmund

      Thank you Yenge!

      We love the Keto lifstyle and the benefits that come with it. We’re taking preemptive measures against Diebetes, Strokes and whatever that may come our way. We are not doctors but we will do what works for us and will share our results to humanity.

  4. Irma

    Great post and a really great way to get started with ketosis. I have found that eating a protein heavy meal for dinner helps me eat later the next day. My goal is to only eat between noon and 6 pm and fast the rest of the time.

    I have had to stop eating artificial sweeteners because they spike my blood sugar.

    Do you recommend any supplements for the first couple of weeks? I take magnesium and use sea salt but sometimes I still get leg cramps.

    • Anh-Tu & Sigmund

      It’s never too late to start keto. The optional ketogenic nutrition is 70-75% fat, 20-25% protein and 5-10% carb.

      There are natural sweetener like Stevia, Monk fruit, Erythritol or Xylitol that won’t raise your blood sugar or insulin levels, but to leave out the sweeteners are still a better option.

      Here are some of the supplements for keto:
      Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, Omega 3, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin D, etc.

      Check out our link below, it shows how you can avoid the keto side effects with the right food including cramps, which also works for us.
      https://carblyliving.com/side-effects-of-keto-diet/

  5. Delimar

    I love this post. A healthy lifestyle is what me and my boyfriend we started to do. Connect more with God and have a healthy lifestyle even our kids need to eat right. Thanks for sharing this post it’s really helpful looking forward on reading more. Keep up the good work.

    Sincerely,
    Delimar

  6. Mallory

    Have been on keto for awhile now, and the benefits from it are absolutely amazing. Have been looking in to intermittent fasting, and this laid it out in such an easy way to understand. Thanks for the information!

Write a Comment

Your email address will not be published.