Intermittent Fasting Schedules for Weight Loss: Which One to Choose?

When it comes to choosing the best intermittent fasting schedule for weight loss, things can get confusing as there are plenty of different schedules out there. Some like 16/8 and 14/10 fasting schedules are quite popular, but what if you’re not a suitable candidate to follow one of them?

So to put an end to this confusion and mess, we’ve listed the most significant features of almost every intermittent fasting schedule from 12-hour fast to controversial 36-hour monk fast. When you reach the end of this article, you’ll have a general overview of what fasting schedule is best for weight loss, especially for your unique physiological needs.

What is intermittent fasting?

Before getting started let’s remember what intermittent fasting is and how it works.

Intermittent fasting is a recently popular diet trend, which is essentially based on restricting the time during which you eat. There are two different periods in intermittent fasting: the eating period, when you eat what you like, and the fasting period, when you only consume non-caloric beverages.

The most amazing thing about fasting is, you can arrange your own fasting schedule to fit into your lifestyle. Depending on how long the fasting period is, there are many ways to integrate fasting into your daily routine. Men, women, beginners, people who want to go deeper into fasting… With different needs and goals, every individual can find the best fasting intermittent schedule that works best for them.

Here’s an intermittent fasting schedule chart to help you find the most suitable plan.

What is the best fasting schedule to lose weight?

Let’s start with an important fact: When it comes to weight loss, there is not a single best intermittent fasting schedule!

Experts agree that the key to weight loss through intermittent fasting is consistency. So the best plan for those who want to lose weight is the one they can follow regularly.

Here are the top fasting schedules, including beginner-friendly options. If you’re not sure about which plan is the perfect fit for you, just keep scrolling.

12-Hour Fasting

How to do a 12-hour fast?

The 12-hour fasting – a.k.s. circadian rhythm diet – simply involves fasting half of the day; so in other words you eat during the daytime, and fast at night.

As an example of a 12-hour fasting schedule, if you finish your dinner at 8 PM, you break your fast with breakfast on the next day at 8 AM.

What is it good for?

It’s ideal to get used to intermittent fasting and useful for regulating circadian rhythm disorders like jet lag.

Who can do 12/12 fasting?

The 12/12 intermittent fasting schedule is perfect for beginners as it is easy to follow.

14/10 Fasting

How to do a 14-hour fast?

You can finish eating your dinner at 8 PM and fast until you have your breakfast the next day at 10 AM.

What is it good for?

Another simple but still effective way of fasting is the 14/10 intermittent fasting schedule, which allows you to eat during the 10-hour eating window, and the remaining 14 hours is the period during which you fast. 14-hour fasting is highly recommended for women as prolonged fasting may not be beneficial for female hormones and the menstrual cycle.

Who can do 14/10 fasting?

The 14/10 fasting schedule is almost ideal for everyone, especially for women to not disturb their menstrual cycles.

16/8 Fasting

How to do 16/8 fasting?

A 16/8 fasting schedule is the most common one. It involves a 16-hour fasting window and an eating window of 8 hours.

Most people practice the 16/8 fasting schedule by skipping breakfast and not eating anything after dinner. For instance, if you’ve finished your dinner at 8 PM, your 16-hour fast ends with lunch the next day at 12 PM.

What is it good for?

Many studies show that following a 16/8 fasting schedule decreases appetite significantly and boosts weight loss (1), (2)

Who can do 16/8 fasting?

If you can easily fast for 14 hours and would like to extend your fasting period, 16/8 is the right one for you.

18/6 Fasting

How to do 18-hour fast?

18/6 fasting schedule includes 18 hours of fasting and 6 hours of eating. If you’re following an 18-hour fasting schedule, you can have your first meal at 12 PM and finish your last meal at 6 PM.

What is it good for?

The 18-hour fasting is a slightly rigid type of intermittent fasting and promotes more fat burn, as you’ll body slightly move towards the ketosis stage.

Who can do 18/6 fasting?

It’s absolutely perfect for those who get used to 16:8 and looking for a more intense version. It may not be suitable for women who’re on their period as fasting for this long may negatively affect their hormones.

The Warrior Diet (20/4 Fasting)

How to do 20-hour fasting?

You can have your first meal at 4 PM, eat whatever you want within a 4-hour period and stop eating at 8 PM. Then you fast for the following 20 hours. You can of course change the timing of your eating window. The earlier you finish your last meal, the better it is for your digestive system.

What is it good for?

It’s ideal for fat burn and ketosis boost.

Who can do 20-hour fasting?

As the name implies, the 20/4 fasting is also known as the warrior diet and is a challenging method for fasting. The 20/4 fasting schedule involves fasting for 20 hours and eating within a 4-hour window.

Eat-Stop-Eat Intermittent Fasting (24-Hour Fasting)

How to follow an eat-stop-eat intermittent fasting plan?

Eat-stop-eat or 24-hour fasting includes fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week. For instance, if you begin your fast at 7.00 PM on Thursday, your eating window begins at 7.00 PM on Friday, so you fast for 24 hours and don’t consume anything that can break your fast during that time. The best part is that you can choose when to fast. Just make sure that your 24-hour fasts aren’t two days in a row and start with light foods to your eating window after not eating anything for a very long time.

What is it good for?

The eat-stop-eat approach is good for weight loss and is also a good way to give your digestive system a break. It boosts autophagy and helps activate your body’s detox mechanism.

Who can follow an eat-stop-eat intermittent fasting plan?

It’s not an easy eating pattern, so you should have an experience with intermittent fasting with narrower fasting periods beforehand.

The 5/2 Fasting

How to do the 5/2 fasting diet?

The 5/2 fasting includes 2 days of fasting and 5 days of normal eating. You just pick two days a week that suit you and consume fewer calories on these days. Make sure that your calorie-restriction days aren’t two days in a row, just like the eat-stop-eat approach.

Unlike other fasting schedules, you don’t avoid food completely during the fasting period, instead, you only limit your calorie intake. The recommended calorie intakes on fasting days are 500 cal for women and 600 cal for men.

What is it good for?

As you limit your calorie intake, the 5/2 diet is effective at boosting weight loss.

Who can do the 5/2 diet?

If you’d like to try the eat-stop-eat approach, you may start with trying this method and proceed to the eat-stop-eat approach after a few weeks, if you don’t experience any significant side effects.

Alternate-Day Fasting

How to do alternate day fasting?

When following an alternate-day fasting schedule, you fast on one day and eat normally on the following day. To follow alternate-day fasting, you should consume zero calories on fasting days.

Who can do it?

This isn’t an easy schedule to follow. In fact, it’s a bit extreme and may exhaust your body. You can try it if you’re a super experienced faster and don’t have any health limitations.

36-Hour Fast (Monk Fast)

How to do a 36-hour fast?

Another advanced type of fasting: The monk fast involves 36 hours of fasting once a week. As an example, you can do 36 hours of intermittent fasting with a fasting period that begins at 8 PM on Monday and ends at 8 AM on Wednesday.

What is it good for?

If you’re ready for a real challenge, the mon fast is the best intermittent fasting schedule to boost ketosis and autophagy.

Who can do a 36-hour fast?

This challenging fasting schedule is definitely only OK for those who have previous fasting experience and has permission from a doctor as it’s not suitable for everyone.

The bottom line

If you still can’t make up your mind about which fasting plan to follow, you can start trying the easier schedules like 12/12, 14/10, and 16/8 to find the one that works best for you and gradually increase the duration of your fasting windows. Or simply download Fasting Kompanion and get your customized fasting schedule based on your needs and goals, whether you aim for weight loss or a health boost.

If you experience persisting side effects like dizziness, headaches, brain fog, or nauseousness even after weeks after switching your eating pattern to intermittent fasting, you should stop fasting and consult with a healthcare professional.