Intermittent fasting is a technique that has become very popular in recent times for the multiple health benefits that include weight loss, cholesterol reduction, promotion of cellular autophagy, and also keeping you in ketosis (that is, using fat as fuel) and feeling full of energy.
Now, is it possible to do intermittent fasting when you do something as intense and demanding as the Camino de Santiago?
In this article, I’m going to tell you about my experiences with intermittent fasting on the Camino de Santiago, how I did it and what results I had, as well as other side effects.
This article also exists in video format.
Clarifications
And before we begin, I want to make 3 clarifications…
First, I am not a doctor or health professional and I recommend that before trying it on your own, you talk to a doctor and investigate the subject thoroughly to clear up all doubts.
Second, if you haven’t done intermittent fasting before, don’t go experimenting with fasting along the way. I have 8 years of experience doing intermittent fasting, which includes windows from 16 hours to multi-day fasts.
Third, my experiment is anecdotal and lacks scientific rigor. The scientific method requires precise measurements and a controlled environment and I didn’t have any of that (on the other hand, it’s the perfect way to do the experiment also because it’s ridiculous to think about having a controlled environment on the Camino de Santiago)
My reasons for intermittent fasting were mainly not to suffer energy drops during the stages and to second lose weight, if possible.
Experiment in 2022
During this experiment, I walked 26 days in a row where I rode approximately 700km (670km in official stages, plus post-stage rides).
My experiment included days of total fasting (water only), food fasting (only coffee or tea before starting the stage), partial fasting (broken in the middle of the stage, at km 20) plus some non-fasting days
I didn’t have any kind of dietary restriction, and I tried to cook and eat as healthy as possible, whenever possible…. (This selection of days was not intentional but entirely natural… Normally I don’t have breakfast but I enjoy having a tea or coffee during the morning but on the way it wasn’t always possible…)
The fasting windows were between 16 and 21 hours…
Let’s talk about the results.
Regarding hunger, I walked almost all the stages without hunger, which was not surprising.
Of the times I broke my fast in the middle of the stage… some was out of gluttony, and others were because he had food in his backpack and he didn’t want to carry it anymore.
About the energy levels, of the 26 days, I walked 24 feeling full of energy; Of the 2 days I felt low on energy, one attributed it to breaking the fast with poor quality food (more precisely, a supermarket potato omelette) and the second to not fully recover from having done a double stage the day before.
And about weight, I started the road with 86.4kg and finished it with 79.3kg, so I lost weight 7.1kg, in 26 days.
Experiment in 2024
After the success of the 2022 experiment, I decided to repeat it in 2024, but in a more relaxed way. We walked more than 1000km (about 960km in official stages), spread over about 40 days.
On this occasion, I had breakfast in almost all the traditional shelters that offered breakfast, which must have been about 9.
The rest of the days, if there was a kitchen in the hostel and it was possible, she would make me a tea; if not, he did not eat or drink anything other than water until he reached his destination.
This time, I lost approximately 5.5kg, from 90kg on day 0, to 84.5kg, on day 34.
Side Efects
Doing intermittent fasting on the road has other, non-health-related side effects.
On the positive side, you’re going to save a lot of money. Let’s say you stop 1 time a day for breakfast, and you end up spending 3-4€.
If you multiply it by the number of days (let’s assume 30 as is the French way from SJPP in France) it is a saving of 90-120€, and if you stop more than once, much more…
And it also simplifies and improves your oral hygiene, since you don’t have to brush your teeth as often.
On the downside, a good part of the socialization of the Camino happens in bars when we make stops; If you don’t stop at the bars, you’re missing out on those opportunities to meet and chat with other pilgrims.