Common Fasting Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
Fasting is simple. It is not easy. Most people who struggle are making one of a few common mistakes.
Dejan Koceski
Health & Performance Coach · Melbourne
Common Fasting Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
Fasting is simple. It is not easy.
Most people who struggle with fasting are not failing the fast. They are making one of a few common mistakes.
Mistake 1: Fasting Into A Deficit You Cannot Sustain
Fasting makes it easy to under-eat because the eating window is short. If you finish your window having eaten 1,000 calories when you need 2,200, you will lose weight fast - and then crash.
Under-eating produces hunger, fatigue, muscle loss, and rebound bingeing.
The fix: Be deliberate about eating enough in your window. Track your intake for a week to make sure you are not accidentally starving yourself.
Mistake 2: Not Eating Enough Protein
A shorter eating window means less time to hit your protein target. If you do not prioritise protein, you will fall short - and lose muscle instead of fat.
The fix: Build every meal around a solid protein source. Aim for 30-40g per meal. Use protein powder if you need to close the gap.
Mistake 3: Using Fasting As An Excuse To Eat Junk
"I fasted all day, so I can eat whatever I want." No. The eating window is not a licence to eat ultra-processed food.
Fasting with a junk-food diet produces the same poor results as any other junk-food diet - just in a smaller window.
The fix: Break your fast with real food. Protein, vegetables, whole-food carbs. Treat the window as the time to nourish, not just to consume.
Mistake 4: Fasting Through Warning Signs
Headaches, dizziness, lost menstrual cycle, sleep disruption, persistent fatigue. These are not things to push through. They are signals to adjust.
The fix: If you feel terrible, shorten the fast. A 12-hour fast you feel good on beats an 18-hour fast that wrecks you.
Mistake 5: Making Fasting A Religion
Fasting is a tool. It works best when it serves your life - not when your life serves it.
If fasting makes you anxious, antisocial, or obsessed, it has stopped being a tool and become a problem.
The fix: Be flexible. Fast on the days it suits. Eat normally on the days it does not. Consistency over months matters more than perfection on any one day.
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