How to break a fast — your plan

You fasted: 12 to 16 hours · An overnight fast, 12:12 or 14:10.

Eat your normal meal. There is nothing to be careful about.

How well this is known: This is the one band where the honest answer is that nothing special is required, and it is honest because an overnight fast is the baseline condition every nutrition study measures people in.

Straight away

A normal meal

No sequence, no waiting, no first-food rule. If you want one thing out of this band, make it protein, because protein is the macronutrient most people breaking a 16:8 fast fall short on across the day.
- Chicken or turkey with cooked vegetables a normal plate
- Oily fish with vegetables a normal plate
- Eggs with vegetables and toast a normal plate
- Lentil or bean stew a normal bowl

Avoid at first

A sugary drink or dessert as the first thingThe one avoid line that applies at every band, and not for the reason usually given: the longer the fast, the BIGGER the glucose rise from the same carbohydrate, because a fast lowers insulin sensitivity rather than raising it. It is a spike, not a crash. Nothing about it is dangerous in a healthy person; it is simply the most pointless way to spend the first thing you eat.

Portions are rules of thumb, not measurements. No study has established the right first-meal size after any length of fast, and this sheet says so rather than printing a figure it cannot defend. What is reliable is the direction of the error: people overshoot. Stop while you could still eat more.

Never skip, delay or adjust medication to protect a fast. If a medicine needs food, the food wins. Nothing on this sheet is medically reviewed; every guideline figure on it names the guideline it came from.

getfasted.app/tools/how-to-break-a-fast — every length, with the reason behind each step. Not medical advice.