How Many Calories Actually Break A Fast When You're Doing Intermittent Fasting?
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It's no secret that intermittent fasting has been having a moment (well, more than a moment) for a few years now. Proponents of the diet strategy swear intermittent fasting can have a slew of different health benefits, from reseting your relationship with food to weight loss. But it can be tricky to figure out what foods and drinks to consume after fasting (and how many calories actually break a fast).
For example, during a fasting window, can you have coffee and tea? What about healthy snacks? Is there some kind of calorie limit here? Also, what’s the best thing to eat and drink when you’re ready to break your fast?
So many questions. But don’t stress—dietitians have answers about what does (and doesn't) break a fast. Here's everything you need to know.
Meet the experts: Scott Keatley, RD, is a dietitian at Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. Jessica Cording, RD, is a dietitian and author of The Little Book of Game-Changers.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting focuses on following a particular pattern of eating and fasting—essentially, times when you eat and don’t eat. Intermittent fasting usually involves limiting eating and drinking for a certain number of hours, or even days, that are spaced out during the week.
There are plenty of types of intermittent fasting schedules to choose from. One of the most popular versions is the 16:8 diet, where you fast for 16 hours a day and eat only during eight hours (most people tend to stop eating at a certain time in the evening, like 6 p.m., and then wait to eat again until 16 hours later). There's also the 5:2 diet, where you eat less than 500 calories for two non-consecutive days a week (for men, it’s less than 600 calories) and eat normally for the rest of the time.
Intermittent fasting has been linked to lower insulin levels and blood pressure along with increased appetite control. Some people also claim to lose weight while intermittent fasting.
How many calories break a fast?
Technically, fasting means refraining from having any kind of food—so, as a result, any amount of calories will technically break a fast, says dietitian Scott Keatley, RD, of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. “The rule of thumb floating around the internet is that 50 calories will break your fast, but this is based on one random guy's experience and has been repeated so often that people believe it's true,” he says.
There’s unfortunately no hard-and-fast rule (or research) providing the set number of calories that are okay for fasting, says dietitian Jessica Cording, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers. Plus, everyone’s metabolism is different, so what jumpstarts you out of a fast may be different from what does the same for your friend, she notes.
“As soon as you consume enough calories to give your body energy to do anything, that brings you out of that fasting state because your body has been given fuel to work with,” Cording says. Basically, having any amount of calories means you're rolling the dice with leaving your fasting state.
What To Eat While Fasting
Again, fasting by definition means you’re not having food for a period of time. That said, some intermittent fasting schedules allow you to consume low-calorie beverages. Here's what you can drink while fasting:
Water. “Water is fine, for sure,” Keatley says. This includes still or sparkling water, although flavored waters get a little dicey because they usually contain some calories.
Coffee. Black coffee has about five calories per cup, which is technically not nothing, Keatley points out. Still, he says, most people have black coffee during fasting periods and do just fine. Just skip add-ons like milk, creamer, or sugar. “That will have an effect on your fast,” Cording says.
Tea. Brewed tea typically contains the same calories as a cup of black coffee or less. The same rules apply here as they do for coffee, Cording says.
Some people will drink chicken broth or bone broth, or add MCT oil, ghee, or coconut oil to their coffee during a fast, but all of these can technically "break" your fast, Cording notes. Foods like bone broth, specifically, have plenty of protein. “What can happen is, when you consume the broth, your body uses the amino acids as fuel and then you’re not longer in the fasting state,” she says.
What To Eat When Breaking A Fast
Time to break your fast? Experts recommend approaching this phase gently and choosing your foods and beverages wisely. Eating a bunch of food that’s high in carbs and sugar in a short period of time won’t make you feel great, Cording says. “If you drop a big load of carbohydrates into your bloodstream on an empty stomach, you’re going to feel uncomfortable,” she says. “It could set you up for glycemic instability throughout the day, causing problems with energy levels and appetite control. It could work against you.”
It’s easy to overeat when you break a fast (because, hello, you're hungry!), but planning out what you’ll do when you eat again can help. “If you're going to give this diet a try, plan, plan, plan, and cater it to your life,” Keatley says.
Cording recommends starting with “something on the smaller side” that also has a good amount of fat, like nuts and seeds, which she calls “a good starting place.” For example, you can have a handful of almonds while you make a bigger meal to ease your stomach into eating again.
Since you only have so much time in your day to fit in healthy foods, Keatley says it's best to focus on nutritious options. “I would recommend a complete protein that has healthy fats and is loaded with vitamins and minerals, like eggs,” he says. “You still need to get about 25 to 35 grams of fiber in your system, so having high-fiber products as well such as beans, legumes, and anything ending in '-berry' should be on the plate.” Healthy oils like avocado and olive oil can also give you energy, he says.
You should also "give yourself a few hours break and go again with the same formula but different foods," Keatley says.
Can you have vitamins while fasting?
This is slightly tricky. “Vitamins and minerals have no calories in them—it's the stuff companies put with the vitamins that have calories,” Keatley says. Usually salt, potassium, and “various sugars” are used to bind with the vitamins and minerals as a delivery system, he says, adding that “reviewing the ingredient list on your multivitamin is the only way to know for sure.” In general, most vitamins have between seven to 10 calories each, although gummies have more due to their sugar content, Keatley says.
There’s also this to consider: If you’re taking a fat soluble vitamin like vitamin D, you’ll really want to have it with food, because it’s absorbed better in your body with fat, Cording points out. Overall, it’s better to try to take supplements during your non-fasting state, just to be safe, Cording says.
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