In the constant search for ways to save money and to be healthier, I have come across intermittent fasting. Most people start intermittent fasting for the health benefits, but many people forget the economic benefits from choosing not to eat breakfast every day. In this post, I’m going to go over both the health benefits and why fasting can be a great way to save money as well. So without further ado, let’s dive in!
Let’s start with the question, “What is intermittent fasting?” Intermittent fasting is where you fast for an extended period of time, it could be a fast for 12 hours or it could be a fast of 20+ hours. During the fasting period, you are not supposed to have any calories at all. This allows your digestive system to recover and take a break so it’s not constantly working. Many people are starting to do this and more and more are finding the health benefit of this fasting. Because you are eliminating all calories for the majority of the day, you can see how it can be beneficial to your waist if you do it properly.
I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting for over a year now. I didn’t consult a doctor or anything and if you choose to try intermittent fasting, I recommend doing your own research or at the very least, talk to your doctor about it first. My wife recently joined me a couple months ago and we both are feeling great about it. We finish consuming calories at 5:00 PM every night and we can consume calories again starting at 11:00 AM the next morning. So we fast for 18 hours and I do it every day, but my wife just does it during the week. Just as a personal anecdote, I’ve gone from 228 pounds down to 213 in the past month and a half alone from fasting as well as playing pickleball every chance I get. Although these results won’t be there for everyone, you definitely can slim down a bit because of intermittent fasting.
Fasting is actually pretty easy once you start doing it more often. You soon realize that water, tea, and black coffee are you best friends. Tea and black coffee don’t have any calories unless you add sugar or creamer so if you like these drinks, you’re in luck! Coffee is a hunger suppressant so it does make fasting easier as well and I already told you about how to save money by making your own coffee every money. Along with promoting hydration by drinking more water, you are also cutting out all sodas that are full of sugar and calories that leave you severely dehydrated.
Now we reach the main subject of this discussion, how does it help you save money? Well, you are eliminating an entire meal per day… just let that sink in. You don’t have to go to the grocery store and get breakfast foods. Cereal, bagels, waffle mix, pancake mix, breakfast bars, and any other kinds of breakfast foods that are loaded with sugar, unhealthy fats, and refined carbs are eliminated and out of your house. I haven’t bought breakfast in so long, that I don’t even know how much these things cost. But if you regularly purchase $30 worth of breakfast foods every time you go to the store, you can see how these savings could add up and you can add that money to your emergency fund or even funnel it right into your investments.
My only exception to the breakfast foods is oatmeal. When it’s cold outside, there’s nothing better than having 11:00 AM come around which allows me the luxury of having a warm bowl of oatmeal. During winter, I always break my fast with oatmeal. It’s full of fiber and it keeps things moving and regular if you know what I mean.
When it comes to actually eating in the 6 hour window that my wife and I have, we have foods that have filling fiber, we might make a smoothie, have some fruit or a salad. On the flip side, we might eat absolute trash and have leftover pizza or some pasta or something frozen that we just threw in the oven or microwave. We don’t count calories as long as we just stay in the eating window that we have. As average people eating 2,000 calories per day, it’s hard for us to get over that number if we just limit our eating and snacking to 6 hours per day.
If you are looking to start intermittent fasting, I have a big tip that will help you. Drink. Water. A lot of the times when you’re “hungry”, you’re actually just thirsty. But you can’t tell hunger pains from being thirsty so you just think the best thing is to snack on something. I’m here telling you that drinking water will keep your stomach happy and not screaming for you to fill it. Along with that, most people don’t realize how dehydrated they are. If your urine is a light straw color, that’s a good sign. If your urine is a darker yellow or brown, that’s a sign that you’re dehydrated. I personally aim to drink at least 160 ounces of water per day. I usually stop drinking an hour before I go to sleep which is 9:00 PM so I can sleep without having to wake up and go to the bathroom at night.
Again, I am not a doctor. And before you start doing this, I recommend you consult with your doctor and do more research on intermittent fasting and you can plan for doing it better. Are the health benefits and money saving benefits worth fasting? In my opinion, the benefits far outweigh the downsides, if there are any.
I’ll end this post here. I just wanted to give you information and more money saving tips so if you’re looking to cut your expenses, that it’s a little bit easier to find ways to do so. If you don’t want to try intermittent fasting, no worries! There are plenty of other ways to save money and cut your expenses.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you find this information informative. I’ll catch you on the next one!
Marcus