By When preparing for a long fast, everyone reacts differently to specific strategies. My best advice for you is to try out a few alternatives and see what works best. Your body will become accustomed to it, and it will become a lot easier to cope with.
The strategies I offer come from an athletic point of view. Because I train hard 5 days per week, I have different nutritional needs than those who are more low impact. You can adapt these towards your own strategy experimentation if you like.
5 ways to prepare for a long duration fast.
- Eat straight after exercise, and then fast.
I prefer to exercise in the morning, then eat immediately after my session, as well as a couple of hours after it. This allows me to consume the much-needed protein and other amino acids necessary for muscle growth, as well as recovery. For my goals, it’s better to consume protein as spaced out as possible within a day, to top up my protein stores. - Make sure you eat enough before your fast.
When you are fasting for shorter, or longer periods, it’s important to fill up on enough food, without going overboard. I choose larger amounts of protein, medium carbs and vegetables. This seems to do the trick. Couple your protein with green veggies and fat, such as olive oil and avocado. You will need to experiment a little bit on this one, but don’t eat junk food at this time. keep your food as clean as it possibly can be. - Keep your mind active.
I find it’s best to complete all of my pressing and most concentrative work during this period. When you fast, your brain and focus level is at its optimal rate, and it makes more sense to use that to your best advantage. Before you know it, the fasting hours will be over-, and the result is production and completion of some difficult tasks. - Rest if you need to.
Some people do find longer fasts challenging. To those of you who are tired, rest and have a nap if you need to. If you are energetic, go for a walk, or get to the gym. Just don’t take on any strenuous exercise during this period, as you may hurt yourself. Just have a well-deserved break and allow your body to rest. - Drink lots of water.
Be mindful that you will need to consume a lot of fluids, in order to keep up with the demands of fasting. It’s easy to get dehydrated – but that won’t enhance the benefits of fasting, Drink water, coffee or tea when you need to. Water should be your most primary fluid and do keep up with drinking as much as you need to. It will also keep you full and alert during those fasting periods
There is actually no right or wrong here, but it does take a little experimentation and some work to find out what your body prefers. Stick with it and change as you wish. Feel free to keep in touch via my website or join me on fb and insta social. Please upvote this answer if it has been useful in some way to you