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Written by Megan Ayala. Last Updated: December 27, 2023
The trend of intermittent fasting is a weight loss plan which has gained a lot of traction in the past few years. The practice of intermittent fasting encourages the dieter to carve out a fasting schedule for themselves every day.
This plan means that you will avoid eating altogether during your fasting times, but in all other hours of the day, you can allow yourself to eat.
The popularity of the intermittent fasting trend may be due to limited meal and food restrictions. This type of fasting program promotes weight loss by only restricting when dieters eat rather than what they eat. It is always best to talk to your doctor about your needs before beginning a new weight loss regimen or significant dietary change. Intermittent fasting is not for all people.
This review is for those who want to lose weight with intermittent fasting programs and have consulted with their doctor about integrating this type of lifestyle into their daily routines. In the past 6 months, the buzz about the DoFasting intermittent fasting application that bills itself as an easy-to-use fasting tracker lingered in the air, and all the talk deserved a closer look at this weight loss app.
DoFasting.com, the DoFasting app website, beckons users with information that presents the app as a personalized assistant and claims that its customized service for intermittent fasting is expert-approved. The DoFasting team opens its weight loss service and fasting programs to users with a minute-long quiz that the DoFasting app uses to generate a fasting program for people.
During this DoFasting review, we will take a look at the practice of intermittent fasting, its alleged benefits and drawbacks, and how well the DoFasting intermittent fasting app performs as a fasting timer and fasting plan in general.
What Is DoFasting?
DoFasting is a subscription-based intermittent fasting application that aims to guide users to their desired goal weight through the practice of intermittent fasting. The intermittent fasting lifestyle is one of a few trendy diet plans that revolve around the specific times that a person should eat. The time between fasts may vary between people based on the needs of their diet and how they would like to lose weight.
That team at DoFasting.com believes that anyone can benefit from intermittent fasting. They begin their process by collecting information about the people who want to start their fasting plan through a brief quiz.
This quiz asks about the user’s gender, current weight, and goal weight and then crafts a fasting plan that fits that user based on their input.
Here’s a quick look at how it works:
The 3-In-1 Solution
The DoFasting app isn’t just a fasting app, and it maintains itself as a 3-in-1 solution. As a part of the service that DoFasting offers, users will also receive meal suggestions and workout tricks that a fitness trainer might offer. The exercise routines found here might not rival those of dedicated fitness apps, however. Users looking for fitness-focused weight loss apps may need to look elsewhere.
As a part of the app, DoFasting tries to integrate healthy meals into the ideal lifestyle it paints for those who use it to track their fasts. Its meal suggestions attempt to find the line of delicious healthy options. However, as some users have suggested in their own App Store reviews, DoFasting spreads itself thin with features that may outweigh its services’ bottom line.
How Does the App Work?
After users signing up provide the bottom line they want for their goal weight, height, current weight, and gender, DoFasting creates a fasting schedule as guidance for them to reach that target weight. The app will provide a timeline that will track how fast you lose weight, too.
Fasting Routines and DoFasting Overview
The most common fasting plan is a 16:8 plan. This plan includes fasting for 16-hours. After the 16-hour fast, the dieter can then eat for the next 8 hours, after which, they begin fasting again. Other common plans are the 14:10 plan or 12:12 plan, allowing for 14-hour fasts with 10-hour eating periods and 12-hour fasts with a 12-hour eating period.
When you sign up for a subscription to DoFasting, there are four main areas of the app. The Home screen shows your current fasting times for your specific plan. Other sections of the app are accessible via the Home screen and include Meals, Workout, and Articles, leading to self-described content.
That is more or less the basics of what this has to offer. The Home screen, which is where you will mainly be as you use the DoFasting app, displays a circular countdown animation along with the current remainder of the time you have left before you can eat or before you must begin fasting.
Users will also find a button to pause the timer, a display for your current fasting plan, and your progression through the present day. Lastly, you’ll find an option to adjust the timer, allowing you to give yourself a little extra time for fasting or for eating if you need it.
Meals: When And What to Eat
In the Meals section, DoFasting provides different recommendations for recipes and a way to track your daily caloric intake visually. The recipes provided by the company allow filtering to accommodate for those who have specific needs for recipes in their diet. Vegan, vegetarian, and lactose and gluten intolerance filters help narrow down the recipes to fit the user’s needs.
RELATED READING: Noom vs DoFasting
Workout
The Workout section of the app displays options for exercises to encourage fitness along with your intermittent fasting regimen. While this feature may not offer some of the same niceties as other fitness apps, DoFasting gives users a way to plan personal fitness and track their progress. It also includes visual representations of the app’s exercises to help users review how each exercise should look.
Articles
Tapping on Articles will take users to blog-style content produced mainly by DoFasting. The company invites users to become “fasting experts” by reviewing these articles. They claim that this will put dieters in touch with scientific research that backs up the fasting practice and lead to healthy fasting.
App Setup and Installation Process
Download the App or Sign Up Online
You can begin signing up for your subscription to DoFasting by either downloading the app from the App Store or starting the diet quiz on DoFasting.com. Users can provide a registration email and other account information on the DoFasting.com website to begin their subscription with the intermittent fasting app. Alternatively, DoFasting is also available on iOS and Android.
Users who just want to try the service may favor the iOS and Android versions of the app. As odd as it may be, DoFasting does not allow self-cancellation in their website’s account options. Instead, users who sign up for a subscription on DoFasting.com must send the company’s customer service department an email requesting cancellation. The process can be cumbersome and is unacceptable for a modern company.
After signing up or downloading the app, DoFasting will ask a series of questions to gain information about your weight, exercise habits, target weight, work habits, if you work seated, and if you are male or female. You might need to answer questions about when you feel the hungriest during the day as well. The app will then offer guidance about calorie intake and a plan to track your fasting schedule.
Users should know that while the app does give a warning if it receives a dangerously low target weight, considering the other parameters it receives, it isn’t overly visible. In fact, the user may not see the warning at all. Additionally, when signing up for a subscription, users might see many ads for different services to add to the plan on their account.
How To Start Using the Fasting App
Dieters can begin using DoFasting as soon as they sign up for a subscription to the service. The app offers a subscription to the service in increments of 3 months, 6 months, or an annual plan. After the company verifies the subscription, the user can start fasting. This process should be done after proper preparation for a fast. Users should consider preparing by getting their desired calorie intake before beginning the fast the right way.
RELATED READING: Can You Lose Weight by Eating 1 Meal per Day?
Once you begin your regimen, all you need to do is follow the onscreen guidance. The timer will tell you if you are in a fasting period or if you can eat. In either case, the app will let you know how long you have before you have the option to eat again or the time before you must begin fasting again.
For users who want to take advantage of the other features, the company has added to the app to navigate the Workout area to find daily exercises meant to coincide with your diet. The app keeps a daily routine for activities to help dieters stay fit while they fast and alter their daily routine. Unfortunately, users will see ads on their home screen, but they can dismiss them for the day.
The app also offers users a “challenge mode.” This app feature is an option for those who want to use diet and health apps most optimally. Challenge mode will offer guidance for challenging exercises to pair with your fasting routine for 7, 14, or 28-day increments. The mode also provides a meal option selection for you to integrate into your challenge.
Learn more and check current DoFasting prices
Reported Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Though intermittent fasting has become a popular way to lose weight in recent years, some remain skeptical about its effectiveness. Some have criticized intermittent fasting and the DoFasting app in particular for what the critics believe to be a glamorization of starvation. Others still believe that the popularity of fasting is unhealthy for people who have or have had eating disorders.
When it comes to your health, the bottom line is you should always review your dietary plans with your doctor to find the best option before making significant changes. Although you may not be changing the number of calories you intake or what you eat when you fast, it can have adverse effects on your body if you are not careful.
On the other hand, there are some reported advantages to controlled consumption, too. When deciding if you want to begin to fast, you must account for all aspects of the practice and how it will affect you. It’s a good idea to review any medical information you can find on the method before taking up a new dietary regimen.
Reported Advantages
There are a few advantages that some people believe come along with the practice. For instance, there has been evidence of the fasting method assisting with the health of the gut. Some think that allowing the food in the digestive system to rest in the stomach before receiving another meal is beneficial by preparing the body for processing more food. Digestive health may improve when you fast.
Many people begin to fast to try and reduce the number of calories that they intake per day. However, the consumption of calories may not change with the controlled consumption of food at first. But over time, the number of calories that a person involved in the practice might consume could gradually decrease. By interrupting the digestive process, the body might begin to expect incrementally smaller portions.
Unfortunately, not many studies on the effects of controlled consumption exist yet, and many of the advantages may simply be speculation. However, out of these expected benefits, some believe the practice can be responsible for assisting with certain types of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Others have suggested that a daily or weekly fast can promote longevity.
Reported Disadvantages
Unlike the advantages associated with the practice, there are a few more substantial disadvantages. One of the first and most glaring disadvantages is that it is difficult. Assigning specific parts of the day when a person can and cannot eat is an entire rearrangement of one’s routine and lifestyle. It’s so challenging that out of all of those who attempt to fast, nearly 40% give up.
The gradual portion control reduction theory may also not be accurate. After long periods without food, humans tend to overeat, which could end up meaning that you intake more calories daily than when you began. While some free apps exist to help you keep a close eye on the amount of food you intake, human nature can be a powerful thing.
After examination, some dietitians do not believe that a person can sustain a healthy eating pattern when they fast. Additionally, evidence that controlled consumption has helped animals with diseases such as diabetes and cancer is misleading. There is no indication that the practice has restorative properties in humans, and it might actually be harmful to those who attempt to fast.
Pros & Cons of DoFasting
Whether you believe incorporating a daily or weekly fast into your routine is beneficial is entirely at your discretion. Effects of the practice aside, apps like DoFasting have advantages and disadvantages of their own.
In our review of the DoFasting service, we have taken into account the features and benefits versus the drawbacks of the subscription service. Hopefully, this comparison helps those who are curious about the service the company has to offer. For dieters who are considering similar apps, you can easily compare features between the different apps to decide what is best for you.
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In all honesty, however, most users may find DoFasting to be a skippable service. We’ll cover more of the disadvantages of this app and similar apps momentarily in the review. It isn’t necessarily that the app is terrible, but users may see many missed opportunities that overshadow the things that do work about DoFasting.
Many other reviews align with the pros and cons of the company displayed here. However, consumers should always be responsible and do their due diligence when researching any product or service they would like to purchase. Look into other reviews of the company as well before you decide to take the plunge.
Pros
- Platform Flexibility
One of the biggest pros of DoFasting is its availability. The app is available in both the iOS and Android app stores and the Google Play store. In addition to that, users can take advantage of the app in their browsers if they cannot or do not wish to download the mobile app.
- Presentation
For its primary purpose, which is to track the time of your fast, it is serviceable. The presentation of the information is acceptable. When you view the time left in your fasting period or eating period, you will see a circular representation of the elapsed and remaining time.
- Routine Flexibility
DoFasting also offers users a decent amount of flexibility regarding the dietary regimen they would like to adopt. Those who need to follow their 16:8, 14:10, or 12:12 schedules will enjoy the easy-to-use options that the app provides for switching between plans.
- Integration of Other Features
Additionally, it’s nice that DoFasting includes a few other features besides the central tracker. Since it is a paid app, having access to meal recommendations, workouts, and written content (even if it is all from DoFasting themselves) might make stomaching the fee easier for some users.
Cons
- Annoying Ads
Right off the bat, DoFasting makes the mistake of aggressive up-sell strategies. Even when first signing up for an account, the user is consistently bombarded to pay for more. And even though the service is not free, users still have to deal with annoying daily ads on the Home page. The company should remove ads for its paid users and consider collecting ad revenue by pairing them with a free trial of the app.
- Company Controversy
Something that needs addressing is the controversy surrounding the app. The company has explicitly been the target of skepticism from a few different sources. Some reviews say the company promotes unhealthy eating disorders. Other reviews mention a bizarre advertisement on the company Twitter account that claims the practice can even rid users of their inner demons.
- Cancellation Hassle
Aside from this, the company still has a few strikes against it from a user standpoint. Sometimes, users decide a product isn’t for them, and that should be acceptable. However, users who signed up for the app on their web browser may not feel like reciprocating that sentiment when they have to email customer service and request them to stop charging their credit card. It’s as if they deliberately make it difficult.
- No Trial Option
Not everyone can commit right away to a paid subscription fee for an app that they have never tried. It seems odd that there is not a trial option for this app. A free version with paid upgrades that unlock ad-free additional content might do well for those looking to add a daily fast into their routine.
- Features Spread Too Thin
It’s great that the app has a few different options outside of the tracking feature on the Home page. But as it turns out, not all of the features are great. Some of the filtering options don’t work correctly on the Meals page. There’s no autoplay option for exercises in the Workout section. Also, it would be nice to see content from other sources in the Articles section. You might not be getting what you pay for here.
DoFasting Price: How Much Does It Cost?
So, how much does DoFasting cost? Is DoFasting free? Unfortunately, it isn’t free, and there isn’t an option for a free trial. The DoFasting team expects its users to commit to its daily fasting plan and purchase the app without a chance to try the service first.
Not only is the service not free, but it’s relatively expensive as well. Without knowing the kind of boons the app might offer a user, the company expects its user base to invest a minimum of $33. This amount is a pretty steep bargain of faith, and unfortunately, is not one the app delivers on.
Out of the rights reserved by users, they should at least have some insight into what they will get from an application. A one-time payment for this service also seems like a reasonable market expectation. The content that the service offers here is not exactly subscription worthy, as the updates are minimal and humdrum.
Those who are looking for a free service should look elsewhere. As it stands, users may find even better alternatives from a free service.
*Price current at the time of publication – see most up to date pricing at DoFasting website.
How To Cancel if You Don’t Like It
If you’re wondering, “How do I cancel DoFasting?” because you have decided that the service isn’t right for you, you can always cancel through the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. This way should be easy enough for users who downloaded from these sources. If you signed up for the service through their website, the cancellation will be a long process.
For those unfortunate enough to have signed up for the subscription via a web browser, you will have to send an email to hello@dofasting.com requesting cancellation and hope for the best. Approval of requests may happen within 24 hours, but there is no guarantee on reply time.
When canceling, users should know that their service should continue through the remainder of their last pay period. So, a user who cancels within two months of their three-month subscription will still have a month of service after cancellation.
It’s a bit bizarre that the service does not allow for self-cancellation when using the browser. This setup comes off as an extra step meant to deter users from canceling. Perhaps the company’s mindset isn’t as malicious. Still, it is difficult to view it as anything but an intentional hurdle when there is no way for users to cancel the service themselves.
Alternative Intermittent Fasting Apps
Users may find better service elsewhere for getting into a controlled consumption routine. For something similar, Lifesum has a lot to offer users who still want to fast but don’t want to use this service.
Other great alternatives include Noom (read review), myWW+ Digital (read review), and MyFitnessPal to monitor caloric intake, dietary regiment, and personal fitness.
Review Summary: Is DoFasting Legit?
The bottom line here is that the service isn’t a scam, but it isn’t exactly legit either, as it may not be worth the amount that the company asks its users to pay. The additional parts of the program, such as the meal ideas, workout plans, and informational articles, could easily be found elsewhere without too much hassle. Plus, some of the company’s practices and communication with customers has been questionable, at best. The most glaring example of this is the requirement to cancel via email if you’ve opened your account via a web browser.
While some may find contentment with what this application offers, other dieters will have better luck finding personal fitness apps elsewhere. Consider skipping this uninspired subscription service instead of your next meal.