Intermittent Fasting and Coffee

Intermittent fasting would be more of a challenge for me if I wasn’t able to have a couple of nice cups of coffee on those days when I’m not eating. I did wonder if consuming caffeinated beverages might be cheating, but it seems to be a common practice.

Calories in Black Coffee

I prefer milky coffee, but I stick to the black stuff on those days when I’m fasting. This means that the number of the calories in this drink will be negligible – instead of the 20 or so calories in the milky version.

I’d always assumed that black coffee didn’t contain any calories, but it turns out the brewed stuff (like I drink) contains about 2 calories per cup. I probably burn more than that carrying my cup from the kitchen, so I’m not going to worry too much about it.

I recently read Eat, Fast, Slim: The Life-Changing Fasting Diet for Amazing Weight Loss and Optimum Health by Amanda Hamilton, and she says that drinking coffee temporarily boosts metabolism. This is another reason for why I’m not worried about the 2 calories in my cup.

Drinking Coffee when Juice Fasting

I didn’t drink coffee at all during my 15 day juice fast. I wanted to give my body a good cleanout so consuming cup after cup of this drink would have been counterproductive.

I normally go through about six or seven large mugs of coffee a day. I did worry about developing withdrawal symptoms during my juice fast. I avoided this by permitting myself to drink green tea. Other than a bit of a headache on the first day, I didn’t notice any caffeine withdrawals.

I suppose I had about five cups of green tea on the first day of my juice fast, but by the sixth day I didn’t feel the need for it anymore. I cut down to one cup. It turned out to be an effective way to avoid the withdrawals I normally get when I stop drinking coffee

Drinking Coffee When Intermittent Fasting

There doesn’t seem to be much of a problem with drinking one or two cups of coffee when fasting. I made the mistake of drinking too many cups on my last fast day, and I felt a bit nauseous – it felt acidy in my empty stomach.

Today I’ve reduced my coffee intake to a couple of cups. I’ve also been drinking black tea, and a healthy beverage I make by adding bits of real ginger to hot water.

Second Fast Day of My First Week of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting

I had my 500 calorie meal (2 homemade beef burgers with no bread) at 08:30 am. I’m now seven hours into my second fast day, and I feel alert and energised.

I’ll probably get a few hunger pains later on when my wife and son are eating their dinner, but this isn’t such a big deal for me anymore. I enjoy the feeling of control over my body – it is empowering to know that I don’t need to be a slave to my appetite.

Last year I tried to do 10 weeks of intermittent fasting followed by juice fasting. I think it has worked out better this time because I did the juice fast first of all – a twenty-four fast doesn’t feel like much after 15 days of juice fasting.