What is 19/5 Intermittent Fasting

19/5 intermittent fasting is an intermittent fasting method where you fast for 19 hours out of the day and have a 5 hour eating window. This is used as a method for weight loss or weight maintenance. Most people would lose weight using this eating schedule. I used this intermittent fasting method to lose 25 lbs.

How To Do 19/5 Intermittent Fasting

During 19 hours of the day, you would only drink water or zero calorie drinks. In this post, I explain what drinks you can have on intermittent fasting. In short, you would stay away from diet sodas that are laden with fake sugars that will spike insulin. Stevia is okay as it does not spike insulin, and some people prefer a fat source in their coffee such as butter. But all in all, you will be calorie free for 19 hours of the day, making sure you drink water as you are thirsty. You will get hungry. Expect it. Don't try to get rid of the hunger. Instead, get used to it and know that you are gaining benefits from intermittent fasting. Waves of hunger will come and go. Sometimes it will be stronger, but just know eventually it will die down again.

As I said, you would be fasting for 19 hours out of the day. The other 5 hours of the day are your eating window. During this eating window, you can have food and drinks with calories. You can choose to count calories if you want to. I never did that. I used intermittent fasting for the sole purpose that I wanted to be able to lose weight without counting calories. But some people do choose to count calories, carbs, or follow some other diet plan. Just know that you don't have to, and it's not required to do so. Eat as you want during this eating window, then stop eating until the next day's eating window.

An Example of 19/5 Intermittent Fasting

A typical day of 19/5 intermittent fasting would look like this:

Tuesday 8 p.m: Finish dinner and stop consuming calories.
Tuesday 8 p.m. to Wednesday 3 p.m: Do not consume anything besides water.
Wednesday 3 p.m: Break your fast with a meal.
Wednesday 3 p.m. to Wednesday 8 p.m: This is your eating window. Eat as you see fit.
Wednesday 8 p.m. Stop eating.

You can change the window to be during breakfast or lunch or any hours that work better for you. Many people choose to have an eating window that is around dinner so that they can have a meal with family, but what works for some does not always work for others. It's perfectly fine to change the eating window to earlier in the day. Just try to keep it at the same time each day so that you get the full 19 hour fast.

This isn't the only intermittent fasting method. There are other ways of intermittent fasting and some may suit you better, depending on what you are looking to do.