How To Optimize Intermittent Fasting With 5 Secret Tips | Ronan Oliveira 

I was watching my notifications like a hawk,please do more videos, am losing my period even though i am religiously following the tips am on 15 hours fasting this week... help

Ronan the analogies are uncanny, love the way you deliver the information and am not mad about the CCK, 😍😍😍sexy accent.

How to break your fast,and what foods not to combine when breaking your fast.

Freedom

@@shewholives3150 hi, Ronan here. If you're losing your period then please be careful and stop fasting. This usually a consequence of eating too little calories whether or not a woman is fasting but there could be other reasons too. I recommend that you do this together with a nutritionist to make sure you can get the benefits of fasting without getting any issue.

Hi Rosalyn, Ronan here. I read your comments and it made my day to know that this helped you this much, really :) You asked about how you maintain your weight after losing it in a comment above so I'll answer it there :)

Hi Paola, Ronan here. I'm so glad to know you got started :) I also loved that you started by doing 12h instead of jumping into something longer from the beginning. Now, you'll have the opportunity to test whether you like this habit and ponder whether you want to keep as it is or slowly increase the fasting window. You're in control :)

Hi Sabrina, Ronan here. Love your suggestion! Thank you :)

Hi Marc, this is Ronan. I love your suggestion for a video and already took notes of it - it's now in my journal where I brainstorm and list the next videos :) Let's address this question shortly because I don't want to leave you wondering. It's hard to say that we face health risks if we exercise in any way in a fasted state. Perhaps, if the intensity and duration are really high and you do it recurrently you could get there. For the most part the discussion is not whether exercising in your fasting window is healthy but whether it's optimal. In this sense, you hit the bullseye when you brought up glycogen depletion. If you're doing an intense type of training like lifting weights or sprinting then you'll rely quite a bit on your glycogen storages to perform the best you can - which will lead to the best improvements in your fitness. That doesn't mean that you can't do them fasted though. You can and some people enjoy more to do it this way. What some studies show is that people's performance (and thus, the results they get from training over time) are better on average when they're fed when it's compared to when they do periods of training fasted. I usually keep all my heavy training within my feeding window because I'm always trying to optimize my results. But I could probably still take some steps forward (or at least not backward) if I trained fasted. When you're talking about cardio or medium intensity activity, these are more fasted-state-friendly, let's say. And I love to go for a walk or a run when I'm fasting. Also because here I'm not trying to improve my results like speed or endurance. I'm just going for a run. If I was trying to reach my limit to improve my performance then I'd do it in a fed state.

Mindvalley Thank you very much Ronan for your Time and knowledge! Your response covers all my interrogations ! :) see you soon in another video

Hey Edgardo, Ronan here. I was really happy to read your comment, man :) So glad to know that these videos are adding value to you and that you feel like sharing them with a loved one. I also love the suggestion for a video and added to my notebook where I brainstorm the ideas for the videos. But to make sure this doesn't need to wait there are different ways I like to approach the daily intake of adequate protein. When I work with someone who has just started paying attention to their nutrition then I don't go all the way to quantifying things. The first easy win is to make sure that you have 1 serving of protein per meal, for all meals of the day. If you eat meat, then a piece of fish, chicken breast of lean beef that's about the size and thickness of the palm of your hand counts as 1 serving. This will work for most people. For someone who has developed more time exploring their eating habits and want to go deeper, then I can get more specific and estimate the amount of protein in grams that you need per day. It depends on your lifestyle and body weight ranging from 0.6g of protein per pound of your body weight per day for someone who is sedentary to 1g/lb/day for someone who trains heavily with weight lifting and is has an active lifestyle. This is a comprehensive and credible article that brings more details, all based on scientific studies: examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/ From knowing this amount, then you can split it more or less evenly across meals during the day and use a way to estimate the amount of protein per serving. For example, a palm-sized piece of a lean meat will give you 30-40g of protein. If you want to get more precise you can use a kitchen scale and enter your data on an app like myfitnesspal to check the amount of protein per any kind of food. That's not necessary but is more for someone who wants to go deeper into optimizing their eating habits.

@@Mindvalley Man, Ronan, I really sincerely appreciate how detailed in information your reply is! This is already super helpful for me and I can immediately start using this to better tweak my meal portions throughout the day. I think I probably need to lower my amount of protein a bit until I get more consistent with my training. I have a feeling I'm currently slightly above 1g/lb/day haha. Looking forward to implementing this! I'll check this article as well to complement the information too. Also, was able to enroll in your quest yesterday and took a peek at the first video and of course, loved the energy and delivery! So glad you did this quest. I'll also share that with my sis as well! Thanks again for your passionate work Ronan! :) Take care my friend and stay safe!

@@edgardosantana I'm so happy you enrolled, man :) We're about to do some training together then!

Hi, Ronan here. I'm glad to know you'll focus on that :) the great thing is that not only your intermittent fasting practice gets better but the way your body works as a whole gets improved with a regular circadian rhythm.

Thomas Delauer covers all these questions 😊

Hey Manoj, Ronan here. Love your list of suggestions, they made their way to my notebook where I brainstorm the next videos :) One quick thing though, we don't have evidence saying that IF lowers immunity in humans. The little scientific that we have in this area actually suggests the opposite: longer fasts (2 to 3 days) can be a great way to improve the function of the immune system.

@@Mindvalley very true. Thanks to autophagy immune cell function is enhanced longer term post-fast due to cellular recycling and reduced inflammation

Hey, Ronan here. My pleasure! I'm glad you liked it :)

Thank you, Rosalyn :) I added this one to my notebook too!

Hey, Ronan here. I love that you took the time to give me your feedback and explain that you almost gave up on watching because of the first analogy. I want you to know I took notes of it too because I want to try different ways of using analogies to see what works best. Cheers, man!

Hey, Ronan here. Breaking a 16h hour fast doesn't require any specific procedure or food type. It's not a long fast as to cause any digestion issue from your normal breakfast meal. Of course, you don't want to go hard on candies or sugary foods not because you have just fasted but because you probably don't want to do this in any normal situation. When it's an extended fast (there is no common agreement about what this means but most clinicians consider a 24h-fast and beyond an extended fast) things can be different. We don't have studies that compare meals to break a long fast and their effects so most of the knowledge here comes from doctors who have guided a large group of people in this process. For example, Dr. Jaso Fung advises people to make sure they're hydrated and break their fast with something light like a salad, a small portion of protein and cooked vegetables. His team has an article with more details about it here: www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/how-to-break-your-fast Your body can be temporarily insulin resistant after a long fast so it's a good idea to avoid high-carb (especially the high glycemic ones) foods when breaking a fast. In terms of alternate-day fasting, I'm familiar with it and practiced it for months a few years ago. Not only my personal experience but most studies done on it show that it can be very effective in the fat loss process. But there's a considerable variation in results that is due to personal preference. What we see in a lot of studies is that people who can see this becoming a long term practice do well with it. People who don't get along with this practice usually can keep it for a short period and lose some fat in the process but as soon as the study is finished they go back to their previous eating habits.

@@Mindvalley Wow, thank you very much for this detailed response, exactly what I was looking for!

Hi, Ronan here. Yes, you can. But whether you should do it this another thing to consider. Fasting too much can naturally result in eating too little. And if that happens, you get more negative consequences than positive results. How do you know when it's too much? First, start with a shorter fasting window. If you don't already practice intermittent fasting, then start with 12h a day and see how your body responds after 1-2 weeks. If you already fast for about 16h and want to increase the fasting window then first think about how are you doing with 16h of fasting? What are the benefits you're going after? Are you not getting them with your current practice? If you're feeling great with this practice but are not getting the benefits you wanted and want to give a longer fast a try, then increase from 16h to 18h. Have 2 meals within this time. Take a little step forward instead jumping straight into one meal a day so that you give your body enough time to show you whether this is being good or too much.

Mindvalley thank you so much for your advice, Ronan. I’ll take your word into consideration for my fasting schedule. I’ll take it step by step and be careful.

Hi, Ronan here. What breaks and doesn't break a fast depends on the benefits you're going after. If it's metabolic health and fat loss, which is the most common goal that people use intermittent fasting for, then you don't want to have anything with calories or that creates an insulin response while you're fasting. So if the creamer has calories in it, then it's out. Monk fruit sweetener and erythritol, on the other hand, can be used in your fasting window since they don't have calories or create an insulin response in your body.

Hi Rosalyn, it's Ronan here again :) Think this way, if you're losing weight this means that you are consuming fewer calories than what your body is burning (whether or not you know it or count them). If you're maintaining your weight this means that the calories that you consume in a day and what your body burns are matched. Now, let's say that you fasted for 16h/day for 12 weeks and reached a stable body weight you want to maintain. Your first option is to adopt that intermittent fasting window as a lifestyle habit. This is the solution I like the most because that are so many other benefits to fasting beyond weight loss that is a great idea to keep fasting as a lifestyle habit (and after 3 months doing it every day it'll have become your second nature already, it'll be smooth to just keep it). If you really don't want to and want to have a wider feeding window, that's ok too. Then, a good second option is to make some food swaps increasing the amount of vegetables and other high-volume, low-calorie foods in your day because then even by eating more foods you can stay at the calorie level that maintains your intended body weight. What you don't want to do is to come back to the same eating habits you had before you started fasting because it can then take you back to where you were. It's all about lifestyle :)

@@Mindvalley Thankyou Ronan, your advice is timely. I will follow your advice til I see my intended results of loosing weight since I'm obese and pre-diabetic and keeping healthy. Talk soon.

Hi Angeli, Ronan here. Thank you for pointing out to exercising. It's now in my notes for next videos. How I think about exercising and fasting is that it's fine to exercise in a fasted state but your performance can be better when you're fed in case you're trying to push things hard. Especially if you're doing an intense type of training like lifting weights or sprinting then you'll rely quite a bit on your glycogen storages to perform the best you can - which will lead to the best improvements in your fitness. Glycogen storages can be partially empty (or totally empty, depending on your diet) when you're in a fasted state. That doesn't mean that it's bad to do this type of exercise fasted though. Especially if you prefer to do it this way. What some studies show is that people's performance (and thus, the results they get from training over time) are better on average when they're fed when it's compared to when they do periods of training fasted. The thing here is not whether you're going to get results because you're likely to either way. It's more about optmizing them for anyone who's interested about that. I usually keep all my heavy training within my feeding window because I'm always trying to optimize my results. But I could probably still take some steps forward (or at least not backward) if I trained fasted. When you're talking about cardio or medium intensity activity, these are more fasted-state-friendly, let's say. And I love to go for a walk or a run when I'm fasting. Also because here I'm not trying to improve my results like speed or endurance. I'm just going for a run. If I was trying to reach my limit to improve my performance as efficiently as possible then I'd do it in a fed state.

@Mindvalley okay. Thank you. I’ll keep my weight train evening.

Hi Rosalyn :) I can't believe that! I love Kenyan coffee so much that if I were you I'd probably be out of business by consuming it all. In terms of what to drink during fasting, I usually stick to water, coffee, or tea and that's pretty much it. If you like sparkling water this could give you some variety every now and then.

@@Mindvalley waoo Ronan, my friends tell me I'm not Kenyan cos I don't take tea with them. But thanks to know I can take water.

During a fast you can only consume things without calories eg black tea or coffee, herbal tea, water etc

Hey Semi, Ronan here. Go for the rule that @Little Voice just replied to you that you're good to go. Anything that has no calories is suitable for the fasting window. The main options are water, unsweetened black coffee or tea.

Hi, Ronan here. It can be either good or bad. It's not so much about the diet itself but how you are doing it and how your body is responding to it. To start looking for this answer, I'd consider these points: 1- am I feeling good overall? 2- am I achieving the goal I want with this practice? 3- if I want to lose weight, am I losing it in a pace that is not too fast? (0.5 to 1% of fat loss per week is a great range to stick to) 4- how is my energy, mood, sleep, and performance in my training? These are not the only questions and ideally you want to do this work along with your physician. But it's a thought process to assess whether a way of eating has been good or bad for you.

@@Mindvalley Thank you so much man, for me till now everything is great i think I will continue this......but the real question I had was does this have any affect on health overall

Hey, Ronan here. That's a good point that you bring up because there's this popular belief that the body gets somehow "bored" or sluggish and we need to "confuse or trick" the body in order to continue to get results. This belief is present in nutrition and it's also present in fitness and sports. This is a common misunderstanding of a more simple and natural concept that has to do with the adaptations of the body to a stimulus. For instance, if you're losing weight and hit a plateau, oftentimes that happens because our bodies slow down its metabolism little by little after losing weight. It's nothing wrong but a natural response. A body that is now 20lbs lighter will spend less calories a day because it's no longer carrying those 20lbs around every time it moves. This lower metabolism can now be just enough to maintain your body weight with your current nutrition habits. But notice that this is not the body getting bored. The body doesn't get bored. The mind does. If you eat and move the same amount as you were before but just shift them around and change the timing of your meals to bring novelty or "confuse" the body you will still remain where you are at because that doesn't change the intensity of the stimulus that you're giving to the body. Instead, if you keep your meals at the same time as before but just eat a little less on each, then you will further decrease the amount of calories you feed your body with, and this will increase the intensity of the stimulus you give to burn fat. This is what will lead you to break a plateau. I'm happy you brought this up because we commonly face this belief on the internet and it sounds reasonable when actually it's not. And because you brought this up we have the opportunity of shedding some light to it :)

Hi Roshni, Ronan here. Rather, Jacksepticeye is a thinner version of me ;)

@@Mindvalley That works too. LOL :)

Hi, Ronan here. Thank you for your requests, I'll definitely keep the first one in mind. As for the second one, it'll be hard to fulfill it because there's no way to define what a perfect food combination is :)