This is taking a longer fasting period of say for up to 24 hours and repeating 1-2x a week. Note that 24 hours is not skipping a whole day, as stopping to eat on 6pm Tues and then having your next meal at 6pm Wed is 24 hours. I usually don’t talk about anything longer than 24-32 hours for using IF, as most research is usually based on that fasting window (even if some studies have more frequency with alternate day fasting).

Longer (24 hr) Intermittent Fasting 1-2x a week:

Some of the pros for a longer fast are:

• Allows a person to make sure they are getting enough calories on the non-fasting days (as it is not supposed to be a quick “crash diet” or severely calorie restricted overall).
• Keeps meals simple on days that you use IF (usually just one small meal later in a day).
• Allows you to eat “as normal” on other days (perhaps a better starting point for those that don’t want to change much of the rest of their diet/foods up).
• Longer fasts may provide a deeper cellular cleaning (autophagy). Worth noting that this may also be achieved with exercise.

Some of the cons for a longer fast are:

• Chance of overeating (binge) after a longer fast, making weight loss benefits not happen (calorie excess overall).
• Less of a focus on daily healthier food choices (as I like to say that even a “skinny” person can get heart disease and cancer)
• Longer fasts are a bigger stress on the body, and may not be suitable for people who have already a high stress load or metabolic/blood sugar/health* concerns
• May not work well with high active lifestyle if calories are still too restricted overall.