Can You Mix Intermittent Fasting Schedules?

I see this question a lot: Can you mix intermittent fasting schedules? So I wanted to address it in a post. But first I wanted to include some definitions.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

For those who don't know, intermittent fasting is when you have a period of fasting (only consuming water) and a period of eating. This can also be called "time restricted feeding." You essentially eat all your calories of the day within a certain time frame and do not eat outside of that time frame. It has many health benefits including anti-aging, cancer prevention, and lowered risk of disease. Here are some popular intermittent fasting schedules.

Intermittent Fasting Schedules

Intermittent fasting schedules are the schedule at which you eat/fast. Some majorly popular ones are 16/8, 18/6, 24/24, OMAD and 5:2.

16/8

16/8 is where you fast for 16 hours and have an 8 hour eating. It's essentially just skipping breakfast. This is one of the most popular schedules, especially for beginners because it's one of the easiest to stick to.

18/6

This is a schedule where you would fast 18 hours and eat for 6. So this is like eating lunch and an early-ish dinner, reducing late night snacking and skipping breakfast.

24/24

This is a schedule where you eat normally for 24 hours and fast for 24 hours. There are some popular programs that revolve around this intermittent fasting schedule.

OMAD

OMAD stands for One Meal a Day. Usually your eating window every day is just 1-2 hours, so you fast for 22-23 hours. This is a tough schedule, but some really like it.

5:2

5:2 is when you eat normally for 5 days of the week and fast for 2 days of the week. The 2 days should be separated by at least one day, since you are only fasting for 24 hours at a time. This is a more relaxed version of intermittent fasting.

Most people that do intermittent fasting will keep the same schedule every single day. But what if you want to have different schedules? Let's explore that further.

Mixing Intermittent Fasting Schedules

For most intermittent fasting schedules, you could mix and match to meet your needs. As an example, let's say you enjoy OMAD but can't do it every single day. Then you might choose to mix 16/8 with OMAD, doing each on alternate days. That would work very well for someone who just gets too hungry or weak on OMAD.

Let's say you want to have a relaxed weekend, but really buckle down during the week. So Monday thru Friday you could do 20/4 and on the weekend you could do 16/8 to give yourself a little extra treat. I've done something similar to this and it worked.

If you are choosing to do a more weekly schedule, such as 5:2, mixing may not work since you are scheduling weekly and not daily. Something you could do is switch it up weekly. You could do 5:2 one week and 24/24 the next week.

Benefits of Mixing Intermittent Fasting Schedules

If you mix your intermittent fasting schedules, it can provide lots of benefits. One of the big concerns I see with intermittent fasters is they have to go to this event, or that birthday part, or this company lunch and, "What do I say to my coworkers/family/friends?"

Some of them even feel like they have to come out and tell everyone they are intermittent fasting just because everyone keeps asking. As you may know, not everyone understands the science behind intermittent fasting and that it is truly a very healthy way of living. So when you come out with it, you can be met with a lot of criticism and lectures from others that you will have to endure from now on.

This can make you feel depressed and feel like an outsider. Suddenly your mom, sister, aunt, coworker is an expert nutritionist (even if they have weight to lose themselves). Suddenly they know all and begin to argue with you and try to "educate" you. This can be very frustrating and can cause problems with relationships.

Now, it's not always bad when people find out. Some people are more open minded or have heard of it before, so they are more apt to listen to you when you talk about it. And you may notice that some of them start doing intermittent fasting just because you told them you were doing it.

Benefit #1

Mixing intermittent fasting schedules might mean not having to tell anyone that you are intermittent fasting. On the day that you have to eat earlier than normal because of some social event, you can just choose to have a different eating window that day. It's okay to have different eating windows some days. You will still benefit and still lose weight.

On days like those, a 16/8 schedule would probably work just fine. And if you know ahead of time about the event, then you can plan ahead. All it would take is ending your eating window earlier the previous day. That way once the event comes, you will have fasted the full amount.

Let me give you an example so we can put this into context. Let's say you are eating a 19/5 intermittent fasting schedule. You have to go to a birthday party at 1 p.m. tomorrow. All you have to do to stay on schedule is stop eating by 6 p.m. the day before the party. When it's time for the party, you will have fasted 19 hours. Simple right?

If this helps you avoid telling everyone about intermittent fasting, then it's probably the way to go. Most people are not open minded about it yet, so telling them can be hard on you.

Benefit #2

Mixing intermittent fasting schedules could help you stick to intermittent fasting much easier. If you allow yourself to have more relaxed days here and there, you may be able to do this more long term. On your relaxed days, you are still intermittent fasting. You are just choosing a more relaxed intermittent fasting schedule than other days.

I would try hard not to fast for less than 16 hours, because you still want those benefits of intermittent fasting. So do your best to at least keep that rule going as you mix intermittent fasting schedules.

I hope this answered your question and gave you some tips for how to mix intermittent fasting schedules and still be successful.