How to Start Intermittent Fasting: Health Benefits + Surprising Money & Time Savings!

The Speaker's Experience and Health Benefits

The speaker, Brett, began practicing intermittent fasting around 2016. His personal experience showed a variety of benefits:

• Weight loss and more focused eating.
• An amazing amount of energy.
• Noticeably younger-looking skin due to the body replenishing and rebuilding itself.

He notes the primary health mechanism is cellular housekeeping (autophagy). After about 12 hours of fasting, the body's cells begin intercellular housekeeping, rebuilding protein structures and cleaning up cellular mess, which makes them more efficient.

A Simple Plan to Start

The speaker recommends a beginner plan of 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of feasting (16:8), which he found easiest by skipping breakfast.

• Fasting Window: Fast for 16 to 18 hours. A simple goal is to stop eating at 8 PM and not eat before noon the next day.
• Feasting Window: Consume all your calories within the remaining 8 hours (e.g., from 12 PM to 8 PM).
• During the Fast: You can only have non-caloric clear liquids like water, black coffee, or herbal tea. Any calories, such as creamer, break the fast.
• Food Intake: If you are eating only two meals (lunch and dinner), you should spread your daily target calories across those two meals.
• Important Companion: It is very important to pair fasting with weight-bearing exercise, especially as you get older, to maintain muscle and bone health.

The Surprising Benefits: Money and Time

The video stresses that the savings in money and time are even more valuable than the health benefits.

Financial Savings

By eliminating meals you don't need, you achieve significant annual savings:

• Skipping Breakfast Only: You can save between $1,000 and $4,000 a year depending on whether you eat at home or out.
• Skipping Breakfast and Lunch: If you are a restaurant eater for both meals, you could save $9,000 to $10,000 a year. The speaker suggests taking a portion of this money and putting it directly into savings.

Time Savings

The time saved from preparing, eating, and cleaning up meals is described as an even more precious asset:

• Skipping Breakfast Only: You save about 200 hours a year, which is the equivalent of 4.5 to 5 forty-hour work weeks that you can use for anything else.
• Skipping Breakfast and Lunch: The combined time saved is 7.5 work weeks a year, which is over 300 hours of time freed up for reading, starting a business, or spending time with friends and family.