Intermittent Fasting

angie_nrs said:

What I also find very helpful (even now) is to remember that hunger isn't a constant feeling. It comes and GOES in waves. So, once you get used to ignoring hunger pangs it becomes easier.....especially when you know you only have to do it for a short period and it will go away. Once you recondition your body not to automatically become hungry at noon (or whatever schedule you have been on) then you will learn to recognize true hunger and not just conditioned hunger. But, even true hunger can be ignored. It takes some time to get used to, but eventually it just becomes second nature.

Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sense to me. My problem is that I've fainted from blood sugar drops - I keep a can of nuts in the house/car because I've been known to get wrapped up in something and forget to eat, then end up fainting. (I do not have diabetes - been tested - it's just low blood sugar) If I don't eat, I faint (at least, eventually).

There must be a way to work with this. I just need to research it.

I'm revisiting this thread again b/c I'm starting another fast. I've yet to accomplish a fast over 54 hours but I'm going to give it another shot. It's funny when you first make the decision to do it b/c then all you think about is how to get through it. LOL! I've just begun it and I'm already kinda anxious about it even though I still fast 2 days per week, so I'm not sure what I'm anxious about? The mind is a tricky thing.....

Anyways, I found this thread on sparkpeople that I thought I'd share. Wow!! A ton of information here and links to boot. This gal has done her homework!
https://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark...2637&strViewThisPage=1&strSortDirection=first

I learned quite a few things this morning that I did not know. The thing that made me stop my last "longer" fast (although it doesn't hold a candle to hers) is that I was experiencing heartburn which is something I never suffer from. It scared me, so I broke the fast. I found out that this is not necessarily unusual. The fix is to put 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water and drink it. The ACV will help restore the acidity in the stomach which will help solve the problem. I'm glad I found that nugget of info.

I'm attempting the fast this time b/c I want to "heal" from the inside out. I feel good and healthy, but I just want to cleanse.... I hope that makes sense. I just feel like I want to make a preemptive move to a healthier state. I like to try and do a longer fast at least once per year to get on top of issues I don't even know I have, like small tumors, ineffective cellular growth, liver health, etc. I'm just hoping to nip a potential health monster in the bud I guess. I grabbed the following paragraph off of the link above, which more clearly states why I feel the need to try a longer fast again. It basically is an explanation of autophagia that was discussed earlier in the thread.

* The innate wisdom of the body is such that, while fasting, it will consume for its sustenance superfluous tissues, and destroy needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel plaque, and other non-essential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential tissue, giving the fast the power to restore physiologic youth to the body.

I also found a recipe for chicken bone broth that I might try using the Instapot. Using the instapot, it only takes 2 hours to make the broth
2.5# chicken bones (or bones from 2 chickens)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 medium onion (halved)
2 stalks celery (cut in thirds with leafs attached)
2 medium carrots
2 smashed garlic cloves
10-11 cups of water (or fill until you reach the 2/3 max fill line)

Select the soup/broth option and set time for 2 hrs. After the 2 hours, wait 30 minutes and strain the liquid and discard solids.
Can refrigerate for 3-5 days or freeze.

Someone also suggested on the site to add an egg shell (not egg) to the mixture to create a clearer broth.
Some also state that they don't use the carrots or celery b/c they don't like the sweetness.....so you can modify to your tastes. Ideally to use in a fast situation, I'd think you'd want to keep the broth as basic as possible so I'd probably try it without any veges included.
Here's the link to the recipe:
https://natashaskitchen.com/chicken-stock-chicken-bone-broth/

Ramona, in the sparkpeople link above, does water only fasts. However, Dr. Fung does include water, coffee, tea, and bone broth in his plan to also achieve fasting results. Again, I think it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I don't deprive myself of coffee, but I've never added the bone broth. This time I'm going to try the water, coffee and tea method (like I did last time) and see how it goes.

OK - Gotta go and clean some cabinets and start on my long to-do list. I remember the last time I did this, the key for me was to keep busy! With the list I have, that shouldn't be a problem......if I can just find the motivation. I really don't like to deep clean. LOL!

Thank you for this thread here. I have been toying with this for awhile now. I have all Dr. Fung's books and watch his videos all the time over and over. I have done the dinner to dinner type of fast many times. But I need to keep doing it and yes, it makes you feel much better after you have a few of them under your belt. I have always only ate two meals a day so just eating later in the day is not that hard. I am going to try to get into ketosis first then the IF.

Interesting thread! Love reading about others' experiences.

I went keto about a year ago. Wasn't doing well physically... way overweight, headed towards diabetes with likelihood of heart attack and/or stroke looming pretty big. Wasn't good. Had to make a change. (Basically came from a vegan/vegetarian background. Yeah, I know, it's not supposed to be that way according to many, but it was for me.) Over the last year, I've dropped about 70 pounds and am doing a lot better in most every way. I do "lazy keto", which means I don't track every morsel of food and drink. I eat a large variety of foods including beef, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, non-starchy veggies, and small fruits. I do not go hungry and I eat desserts just about every day (homemade, keto-friendly).

There are a lot of variations in eating that take on the "keto" name, all the way from never touching a vegetable (carnivore) to never touch an animal product (vegan). Though I can't and won't try to do either of those, I do fall in the middle and now consider myself a healthy omnivore. I try very hard to eat good quality food (local and/or organic and/or home raised when I can) regardless of whether it's meat, eggs, dairy, veggies or fruit since there are some pretty awful things being sold in the grocery stores these days in all of those categories.

To the subject at hand, I don't do a lot of fasting. I do occasionally, but it's not anything regular and it's mostly not planned. It wasn't long after my wife and I started eating keto that we got away from eating three meals a day, just didn't want three meals. We've pretty much gravitated to two meals a day as our normal eating, breakfast and then supper. We don't snack. We don't feel any need to. But when we eat a meal, we generally eat very well. We don't leave the table hungry at all.

On some occasions, we will have something going on, could be numerous things, when we'll either be busy or making a meal isn't convenient, when we'll just skip it completely. As I said, it's often not planned. But that's completely OK. So when that happens, it turns into a 24 or maybe 36 hour fast. No big deal, really. It's a non-issue and almost unnoticed.

Before we went keto, skipping a meal would have been a very big deal. Our bodies were really not able to handle running out of fuel (carbs/sugar) and the 4-hour hunger monster was a very real thing. After eating keto for a few months, our bodies become much more accustomed to burning fat. And the thing about that is, our bodies have a ready supply of fuel onboard. No problem. I rather like that. The 4-hour hunger monster is gone.

Traveling became easier. We always used to HAVE to have snacks, sugary drinks, caffeinated drinks, plus we'd have to stop at least twice for a meal. Not anymore. Mostly, we have some water with us and maybe a few nuts just in case someone does get a little snacky. We've learned that the nuts often go unopened. We are just fine not eating.

(FWIW, I usually feel worse when I snack than when I just don't eat. If I eat a little, I want a big meal. If I eat nothing, I'm pretty contented. Grazing just doesn't fit well with me anymore.)

When I first started keto, I wasn't a big Jason Fung fan. But he's kinda grown on me to the point where I really like the guy. He seems to make a lot of sense in what he says. I haven't read his books but I have watched his YouTube presentations which are excellent.

A person doesn't have to go keto to do intermittent fasting. But I think it probably makes it a lot easier to do without undue hunger and stress. Fuel source onboard.

Sorry to ramble on... You hit on a topic that hits home.

BTW, I have about another 20 pounds or so of weight to lose. It came off very quickly in the beginning but the rate of loss has slowed to a crawl, which is exactly like I wanted it. I sort of have this picture of an airplane coming in for a smooth landing, touching down softly such that you hardly notice. It may take me another year to get rid of that last 20 pounds and I'm perfectly fine with that. It's like I'm at about 600 feet in a very slow descent right now. I like how it's going. I like how I feel. And this way, it's not a big deal about when I get there, how am I going to adjust to eating to maintain. Nope. I basically just keep on keeping on. And considering I like what I eat and how often I eat, it's really, really easy to just keep on keeping on.

I'm in the 48 hour window right now and it's going fine. Of coarse, I like to snack in the evenings (bad, I know) so I am fighting some cravings/cues right now. I'm drinking water to help, but I don't want to be up all night peeing either. Other than right now, I really haven't had to fight hunger at all. I've been super busy though. I've gotten a lot done but still have a list of things to tackle. I do enjoy the lazer focus of my mind, the mellowness of my mood, and the energy to get stuff done. Hopefully tomorrow will be easy since after the second day is over, it's supposed to get easier.

I did end up having that acid throat feeling again this afternoon and still have it a bit now. I drank 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar with some water. It seemed to help right after I drank it but not so much now, a couple of hours later. I will fight through it tonight and maybe go to bed early. If I still have that acid feeling in my throat tomorrow afternoon, I will probably break the fast.

I really should give Keto a whack. I have some reading to do first and I'll need to figure out some decent recipes. I love pizza, breads, sugar (who doesn't?), and fruits and veges.....so I'm not sure how successful I will be. Plus, I am super stubborn with diets as I always want what I can't have. Then again, I never thought fasting would fit into my lifestyle so easily. It's pretty easy for me now to do a 24 hour fast without dread. I'm thinking I might try playing around with an eating window next. I think that would be pretty easy for me since I don't like eating early in the day anyways. It's that night grazing I have a problem with.

I think for me, it takes some willpower to ignore the eating ques that many of us don't even notice, but compels us to eat. The pizza commercial on TV, the clock at a particular time, the sitting down to scan the net, etc. One thing is for sure, IF will definitely clue you into those subconscious ques! When you have to ignore them to meet your goals, you realize how strong they can be. And many times it's the ques making me walk into the kitchen and graze, not hunger!

I'm at the 60 hour mark. Woo hoo! I put in a horrible night though. I had some muscle cramping last night so I used some Magnesium spray. It seemed to help. I had a really hard time falling asleep and woke up early...only 5.5 hrs. of sleep. I kinda obsessed about food last night which was uncomfortable. I feel good now, although maybe a bit groggy this morning, but do not have the acid feeling, hunger, or cramping. I'm enjoying some coffee and plan to get to work so that I can distract myself. I'm hoping to hold out for at least another 12 hrs. to complete a 3 day fast. If I feel good tonight, I'll continue it longer. I'm hoping last night was the "hump" and it will be smooth sailing from here.

Autophagy is one of the main reasons I do IF, especially an occasionally longer fast like I'm attempting right now. Dr. Fung (and many others) state that autophagy is correlated with a lower incidence of Alzheimers and Cancer. It also stimulates Growth Hormone which helps to replace the old cells with new ones and has the nice side effect of promoting a youthful appearance. According to Dr. Fung, those who practice Keto can get the same benefits of autophagy as those who fast. It is interesting that he states that adding bone broth to your fast may inhibit the autophagy process. Generally speaking (depending upon the status of each person) autophagy can start after 24 hrs. of fasting. Thankfully coffee is thought to improve the process of autophagy.



https://idmprogram.com/fasting-and-autophagy-fasting-25/

And here's an article that states that autophagy hits a sweet spot between 18-24 hrs. of a fast. If that is the case, even shorter fasts can have a great impact on cellular regrowth and overall health, which makes me feel good about my short weekly fasts.

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-sweet-spot-for-intermittent-fasting-9aae12a2158c

Research on humans seems to be limited in the area of autophagy. From the limited research I have done, it looks like exercise and fasting help promote the process.

3 Day Fast in the past! At exactly 9 pm on the dot, I ate. The last few hours (between 2-9) were torture so I just pushed myself to make it to the 3 day mark and call it good. I did do a good muscle workout (body beast) in the late afternoon to help pass the time. I also wanted to find out how my body would react to a workout on day 3, burning only ketones. I didn't have any issues. It was very similar to any other time I would workout.

I did struggle with the acid throat thing again and right up to the end. Even after eating for a bit, it was there. Now that my stomach has something else to work on, I'm certain it will go away. I saw some posts from others on another site who have done a 3 day fast and one mentioned feeling like they had superhuman hearing and smell. I experienced that last night. I had the air conditioner on and could hear every little change in pitch and tone. It was almost irritating. I never noticed it before and I sleep with the AC on all the time. I'm thinking that maybe it might be mother natures way of sharpening the senses so as to find some food. I typically have a good sense of smell, but again I noticed a couple of things that I'm not sure I normally would have. There was also a buzzing in the brain, almost like tinnitus. It's difficult to describe. It wasn't unpleasant, just noticeable.

It'll be a while before I do that again. Although, I want to do a longer fast (likely not more than 3 days) at least twice per year. The next time if I feel the need to quit, I'll let myself. It's just that this time I really wanted to make it to 3 days, especially after I failed to do so the first time I tried. It's awfully hard to fast if you have family around. Hubs was on a fishing trip so I thought it was the perfect time to do it. I told him I was going to to it after he left and he thinks I'm crazy. Interesting how most people think that way. It was also interesting that today I saw a clip of a 107 year old woman. When asked what her secret was she said "well, I've never been much of an eater so I've never been overweight." "I also never had a car and so I walked everywhere." She also said "I always had a project going b/c you need to have a purpose or a reason to get out of bed in the morning". Wow - very wise woman at 107! And she looked like she might be in her 80's. I'd bet that she might have done some fasting in her lifetime.

PopPopT said:

Interesting thread! Love reading about others' experiences.

I went keto about a year ago. Wasn't doing well physically... way overweight, headed towards diabetes with likelihood of heart attack and/or stroke looming pretty big. Wasn't good. Had to make a change. (Basically came from a vegan/vegetarian background. Yeah, I know, it's not supposed to be that way according to many, but it was for me.) Over the last year, I've dropped about 70 pounds and am doing a lot better in most every way. I do "lazy keto", which means I don't track every morsel of food and drink. I eat a large variety of foods including beef, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, non-starchy veggies, and small fruits. I do not go hungry and I eat desserts just about every day (homemade, keto-friendly).

There are a lot of variations in eating that take on the "keto" name, all the way from never touching a vegetable (carnivore) to never touch an animal product (vegan). Though I can't and won't try to do either of those, I do fall in the middle and now consider myself a healthy omnivore. I try very hard to eat good quality food (local and/or organic and/or home raised when I can) regardless of whether it's meat, eggs, dairy, veggies or fruit since there are some pretty awful things being sold in the grocery stores these days in all of those categories.

To the subject at hand, I don't do a lot of fasting. I do occasionally, but it's not anything regular and it's mostly not planned. It wasn't long after my wife and I started eating keto that we got away from eating three meals a day, just didn't want three meals. We've pretty much gravitated to two meals a day as our normal eating, breakfast and then supper. We don't snack. We don't feel any need to. But when we eat a meal, we generally eat very well. We don't leave the table hungry at all.

On some occasions, we will have something going on, could be numerous things, when we'll either be busy or making a meal isn't convenient, when we'll just skip it completely. As I said, it's often not planned. But that's completely OK. So when that happens, it turns into a 24 or maybe 36 hour fast. No big deal, really. It's a non-issue and almost unnoticed.

Before we went keto, skipping a meal would have been a very big deal. Our bodies were really not able to handle running out of fuel (carbs/sugar) and the 4-hour hunger monster was a very real thing. After eating keto for a few months, our bodies become much more accustomed to burning fat. And the thing about that is, our bodies have a ready supply of fuel onboard. No problem. I rather like that. The 4-hour hunger monster is gone.

Traveling became easier. We always used to HAVE to have snacks, sugary drinks, caffeinated drinks, plus we'd have to stop at least twice for a meal. Not anymore. Mostly, we have some water with us and maybe a few nuts just in case someone does get a little snacky. We've learned that the nuts often go unopened. We are just fine not eating.

(FWIW, I usually feel worse when I snack than when I just don't eat. If I eat a little, I want a big meal. If I eat nothing, I'm pretty contented. Grazing just doesn't fit well with me anymore.)

When I first started keto, I wasn't a big Jason Fung fan. But he's kinda grown on me to the point where I really like the guy. He seems to make a lot of sense in what he says. I haven't read his books but I have watched his YouTube presentations which are excellent.

A person doesn't have to go keto to do intermittent fasting. But I think it probably makes it a lot easier to do without undue hunger and stress. Fuel source onboard.

Sorry to ramble on... You hit on a topic that hits home.

BTW, I have about another 20 pounds or so of weight to lose. It came off very quickly in the beginning but the rate of loss has slowed to a crawl, which is exactly like I wanted it. I sort of have this picture of an airplane coming in for a smooth landing, touching down softly such that you hardly notice. It may take me another year to get rid of that last 20 pounds and I'm perfectly fine with that. It's like I'm at about 600 feet in a very slow descent right now. I like how it's going. I like how I feel. And this way, it's not a big deal about when I get there, how am I going to adjust to eating to maintain. Nope. I basically just keep on keeping on. And considering I like what I eat and how often I eat, it's really, really easy to just keep on keeping on.

Click to expand...

I too just kinda fell into different type of eating lifestyle.
In the last 4 years I have lost 142 pounds, 96 inches of fat all over.
No more muffin tops waist line.
Back down to size 4.5 - 5.5 shoe or boot sizes.
For the first time in my life I am within 28 pounds of my goal weight of 155.
Would like to be 145 pounds, but we'll see.
My different lifestyle is I pretty much cut out all processed foods.
I make my own bread,pasta,relishes,sauces from scratch.
Is it a pain in the butt, yes, but am I better off because of it yes I am.
Not a diabetic, just overweight, tired, grumpy all the time.
At first I missed eating out with friends.
But now I can eat out with friends, just do a fast sort of the next night or two.
Usually do clear diet for those days.
Clear soup,broth,tea or coffee, juice for me water isn't my friend during this time.
Water gives me heartburn during a fast. Go figure.
Now I have more energy, still don't sleep well. But I suffer from CF and Insomia, and they do not cancel each other out.
The fact that I just had Total knee Replacement on my left knee, couldn't have done it 5 years ago.
Would have been too big a risk on my overall health.
Blood Pressure was 297/197. Now my blood pressure is 114/65 today.
Used to wear size 26 plus size clothes. Now I wear a Medium shirt size 14 ladies,pants size is 14 sometimes 12 regular sizes,shoes or boots are 4.5-5.5.

I took my blood pressure a few times yesterday just to see. I have a BP machine at home and it gets used maybe a half dozen times a year. Stuck the cuff on took it right away after sitting down and it was about 129/86, I think. Sat there and relaxed a few minutes and took it again, it was 122/75 with a heart rate of 62. My top number was closer to 140, usually in the upper 130's a year to a year and a half ago. It seems to be the one that's the most resistant to coming on down. So seeing that 122 yesterday was encouraging! (No meds of any kinda and would like to keep it that way.)

MoBookworm1957 said:

I too just kinda fell into different type of eating lifestyle.
In the last 4 years I have lost 142 pounds, 96 inches of fat all over.
No more muffin tops waist line.
Back down to size 4.5 - 5.5 shoe or boot sizes.
For the first time in my life I am within 28 pounds of my goal weight of 155.
Would like to be 145 pounds, but we'll see.
My different lifestyle is I pretty much cut out all processed foods.
I make my own bread,pasta,relishes,sauces from scratch.
Is it a pain in the butt, yes, but am I better off because of it yes I am.
Not a diabetic, just overweight, tired, grumpy all the time.
At first I missed eating out with friends.
But now I can eat out with friends, just do a fast sort of the next night or two.
Usually do clear diet for those days.
Clear soup,broth,tea or coffee, juice for me water isn't my friend during this time.
Water gives me heartburn during a fast. Go figure.
Now I have more energy, still don't sleep well. But I suffer from CF and Insomia, and they do not cancel each other out.
The fact that i just had Total knee Replacement on my left knee, couldn't have done it 5 years ago.
Would have been too big a risk on my overall health.
Blood Pressure was 297/197. Now my blood pressure is 114/65 today.
Used to wear size 26 plus size clothes. Now I wear a Medium shirt size 14 ladies,pants size is 14 sometimes 12 regular sizes,shoes or boots are 4.5-5.5.

Click to expand...

Wow! Very inspiring post Good for you!!!!!

angie_nrs said:

Wow! Very inspiring post Good for you!!!!!

Click to expand...

Thank you
But it was either change my lifestyle or drop dead.
Not much leeway there.
Now I have even a bigger reason to get healthy.

I don't want anyone to think this lifestyle change was easy.
Because it's not, I have to work at it daily.
Good thing I like most fruits and vegetables.
And that I am open to trying new ones.
Otherwise my diet would get boring fast.
I also took an online class about cooking with spices.
And was glad I did.
I don't particularly follow any one diet or new fad diets.
If it takes good I will probably eat it. Maybe.
Right now,for exercise I am doing chair yoga.
Not cleared by doctor to resume regular yoga yet.

Rarely is anything worth doing in life easy. That's OK. It's what makes us proud to accomplish it!

I've been meaning to experiment with dehydrating more, both with veges and fruits. I'm hoping to get one of those oven air fryers so that I can do smaller quantities instead of feeling like I have to do larger batches with my big dehydrator.

It's funny when you say yoga to people, those who haven't done yoga think it's easy exercise. lol! I have some Yoga DVD's that are as challenging as some of my HIIT routines. I have the Ultimate Yogi collection and those are really hard, even for a daily exerciser like myself! I'm soaked in sweat and my muscles are shaking by the time some of those routines are completed. Afterward though, I feel so good.

Just as a side note to my 3 day fast. I had (and still have) been fighting some of the reflux issues I mentioned before that was a side effect to the fast. It apparently is not uncommon for many folks to suffer from reflux when only drinking water. Since water has a neutral PH, when added to the stomach (which has an acidic PH) it lowers the PH of the stomach and causes the reflux. I'm thinking that the bile is not triggered into the stomach when there is no food there which allows the water to deplete the stomach acid. It has eventually gotten better each day. I had some beer last night and that has seemed to really help. Go figure. Ha, I found a great medical use for beer! Anyways, the throat feels much better today. Perhaps next time I do a longer fast, I will attempt a dry fast, which is a fast without water or anything at all. Without adding water to my stomach, perhaps I can avoid the reflux all together. I have been feeling the difference in my body well after the fast was over and not necessarily during the fast like most people. I really feel like my mid section is leaner and my skin feels great today. Old skin issues have really healed or flaked off this past 24 hours. It's like old slow healing sores (nothing major) have dried up and disappeared overnight. That is the result I was hoping for, although I'm not sure if it's a result of the fast or just normal hormonal fluctuations. I'm also not feeling hungry. I think the fast has reset what my body perceives as "hunger". I noticed that I'm not grazing as much and I really haven't thought of food much at all. But, when I eat, I really enjoy it!

I wanted to share an easy meal planning "hack" I found that is helping us to stick to eating keto.

Make a list of all the different types of meat you like and/or will eat.
Do the same for low carb veggies.
Another list of spices and seasonings.

Randomly pick one from each list and there is dinner. I use dice to select my options. Works well and I can plan a whole month of meals in no time.

Also wanted to remind everyone to replenish your electrolytes. I drink a potassium salt mixture in 32oz of water first thing in the morning and magnesium in 32oz of water at night. I try to drink 64-96oz of water in between. I might have to increase my daily water intake as I still feel a bit 'dry'.

PopPopT said:

Interesting thread! Love reading about others' experiences.

I went keto about a year ago. Wasn't doing well physically... way overweight, headed towards diabetes with likelihood of heart attack and/or stroke looming pretty big. Wasn't good. Had to make a change. (Basically came from a vegan/vegetarian background. Yeah, I know, it's not supposed to be that way according to many, but it was for me.) Over the last year, I've dropped about 70 pounds and am doing a lot better in most every way. I do "lazy keto", which means I don't track every morsel of food and drink. I eat a large variety of foods including beef, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, non-starchy veggies, and small fruits. I do not go hungry and I eat desserts just about every day (homemade, keto-friendly).

There are a lot of variations in eating that take on the "keto" name, all the way from never touching a vegetable (carnivore) to never touch an animal product (vegan). Though I can't and won't try to do either of those, I do fall in the middle and now consider myself a healthy omnivore. I try very hard to eat good quality food (local and/or organic and/or home raised when I can) regardless of whether it's meat, eggs, dairy, veggies or fruit since there are some pretty awful things being sold in the grocery stores these days in all of those categories.

To the subject at hand, I don't do a lot of fasting. I do occasionally, but it's not anything regular and it's mostly not planned. It wasn't long after my wife and I started eating keto that we got away from eating three meals a day, just didn't want three meals. We've pretty much gravitated to two meals a day as our normal eating, breakfast and then supper. We don't snack. We don't feel any need to. But when we eat a meal, we generally eat very well. We don't leave the table hungry at all.

On some occasions, we will have something going on, could be numerous things, when we'll either be busy or making a meal isn't convenient, when we'll just skip it completely. As I said, it's often not planned. But that's completely OK. So when that happens, it turns into a 24 or maybe 36 hour fast. No big deal, really. It's a non-issue and almost unnoticed.

Before we went keto, skipping a meal would have been a very big deal. Our bodies were really not able to handle running out of fuel (carbs/sugar) and the 4-hour hunger monster was a very real thing. After eating keto for a few months, our bodies become much more accustomed to burning fat. And the thing about that is, our bodies have a ready supply of fuel onboard. No problem. I rather like that. The 4-hour hunger monster is gone.

Traveling became easier. We always used to HAVE to have snacks, sugary drinks, caffeinated drinks, plus we'd have to stop at least twice for a meal. Not anymore. Mostly, we have some water with us and maybe a few nuts just in case someone does get a little snacky. We've learned that the nuts often go unopened. We are just fine not eating.

(FWIW, I usually feel worse when I snack than when I just don't eat. If I eat a little, I want a big meal. If I eat nothing, I'm pretty contented. Grazing just doesn't fit well with me anymore.)

When I first started keto, I wasn't a big Jason Fung fan. But he's kinda grown on me to the point where I really like the guy. He seems to make a lot of sense in what he says. I haven't read his books but I have watched his YouTube presentations which are excellent.

A person doesn't have to go keto to do intermittent fasting. But I think it probably makes it a lot easier to do without undue hunger and stress. Fuel source onboard.

Sorry to ramble on... You hit on a topic that hits home.

BTW, I have about another 20 pounds or so of weight to lose. It came off very quickly in the beginning but the rate of loss has slowed to a crawl, which is exactly like I wanted it. I sort of have this picture of an airplane coming in for a smooth landing, touching down softly such that you hardly notice. It may take me another year to get rid of that last 20 pounds and I'm perfectly fine with that. It's like I'm at about 600 feet in a very slow descent right now. I like how it's going. I like how I feel. And this way, it's not a big deal about when I get there, how am I going to adjust to eating to maintain. Nope. I basically just keep on keeping on. And considering I like what I eat and how often I eat, it's really, really easy to just keep on keeping on.

Click to expand...

Good job on the weight loss Pop.

MoBookworm1957 said:

Thank you
But it was either change my lifestyle or drop dead.
Not much leeway there.
Now I have even a bigger reason to get healthy.View attachment 8815

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I hear you MoBook!. Like this old song says, children are where its at.

Grimm said:

Also wanted to remind everyone to replenish your electrolytes. I drink a potassium salt mixture in 32oz of water first thing in the morning and magnesium in 32oz of water at night. I try to drink 64-96oz of water in between. I might have to increase my daily water intake as I still feel a bit 'dry'.

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I think this would be good advice for a novice faster. However, there are many out there who don't supplement with anything during a fast and are fine. A dry fast is when someone fasts without water or any oral intake for that matter. In fact, some folks consider an absolute dry fast to include not showering or brushing their teeth during their fast as well. From what I have read, it is not recommended to do a dry fast if you have not already done several smaller fasts first so that you know how your body will react. If you are healthy and have successfully done water fasts in the past, then a dry fast may be considered. I may try a dry fast on my next go around. I am curious if I will still experience reflux like I did with my 3 day water fast. If my theory is correct about why I encountered the reflux during my 3 day fast, then I shouldn't have to deal with that during a dry fast. I think I'll give a dry fast a whirl during my next 24 hour fast. I'm sure I'll miss my morning coffee the most.

Here's one article about it, but search "benefits of dry fasting" and there's lots to read through.......
https://spiritsciencecentral.com/health-benefits-dry-fasting/

With Ash Wednesday tomorrow, I am going to do another fast. I don't think I will do the 3 day fast, but perhaps a 36 hour fast. I will have dinner tonight and then fast throughout Wednesday and break the fast whenever I feel like it on Thursday. I still do the short fasts on Monday and Wednesdays, but I have noticed that I am not going quite as long on my Monday fasts like I used to. I need to get back to focusing on it. My schedule has changed since I started doing the fasting, so I really need to concentrate more on it now than I did before. Also, during this time of year, when the cold and snow are riding on my last nerve, I notice I sooth myself more with food and drink. Ack! Will Spring ever arrive?!?!?!?

Hubs went fishing so I stopped eating. LOL! I completed a 48 hour fast and then he brought fish home so we had a fish fry. I started the fast earlier than I had intended and went longer than I planned. It worked out well and I got lots of chores completed. Again I noticed that I have lots of energy, mental clarity, and no headaches or any other ailments or pains during a fast. On the second night, I only slept 6 hours until waking up fully rested. I typically require much more sleep than that. It seems that I only get hungry when I know I'm at the end of the fast, so it's a mind thing. It's not really that I'm hungry either......more like bored of NOT eating. I noticed the raw or burning throat/gerd type of feeling just an hour before the end of the fast. I had my coffee in the mornings and just drank sips of water hoping that would help with the throat issue, but it didn't. However, I love the euphoric feeling and the tons of energy I get during the fast.

I just completed my 85 hour (3.5 day) fast! Woooooo Hoooooo! I'm so happy about that b/c it is my personal best so far. I went from 10pm Weds through 11am Sunday. It was half heartedly planned, but I was dreading the thought of it so much at the beginning of the week that I was wondering if I was going to stick to it. I think I probably could've gone longer, but that darn gerd thing happened again starting about Saturday evening. I noticed this time around that it comes in waves about 2-3 days into the fast. I took oral Magnesium the first time it happened and it went away shortly thereafter. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the Mg or not? I tried it later and it didn't work as well, so I don't know. Anyways, I was a cleaning and organizing fool while fasting to keep myself busy, cross off the to-do list, and burn the extra energy off. I was cleaning fans this morning and I noticed the throat burning was bothering me, likely due to the standing and kneeling while cleaning. So, I decided to make sausage and eggs with some celery (for fiber) and a half serving of my keto pudding. My throat is still slightly sore, but not like it was before. I wish I could figure out how to squelsh it during the fast, but so far I haven't been successful with that. I'm still getting it even 4 hours after eating, which is really strange b/c I don't ever normally have any esophageal issues or gerd any other time.

I had my 2 cups of coffee in the morning and then just sips of water throughout the day, (hoping to avoid the whole throat issue). When I exercised, I'd drink a liter of water on that entire day. One day I had a half cup of coffee in the afternoon to help with the throat issue and it seemed to help a bit for a while. I got a little light headed the 4th morning of my fast and somewhat jittery but I had two big cups of coffee and I think it hit me harder than it normally does. One cup probably would've been plenty.

This time around, I had keto urine test strips. Right before I stopped the fast I was at the second highest color of purple on the stick. Hopefully I can stay in at least a medium range for the next few days to make up for Thanksgiving coming up. I had a few muscle twitches on the third night, so I did take Mg tablets which helped. I also took a small dose of melatonin for sleep. My hearing gets so acute during a fast that it's hard to sleep. I also don't sleep nearly as long as I usually do, so I thought the melatonin would help and it did. There was no lack of energy at all. In fact, things I typically might procrastinate, I just went ahead and did them when I was thinking about it. I hardly ever sat still b/c I just wanted to keep on going. I got sooooo much stuff done! The cold feeling in the evening was still there as well. Thank the Lord for electric blanket throws!

I also did a really tough muscle workout after about the first day and a half of fasting. I should have had some serious DOMS (delayed muscle onset soreness) the day or two afterwards and I barely had any. Actually, since I have been eating low carb, I haven't noticed many DOMS. I also lost 8 pounds (which averages about 2 pounds per 24 hr. period) during the fast, which I'm sure some will come back, but I was at a plateau for 3 weeks prior to this, so the fast definitely moved the needle.

This time around the keys to my success were.....I was alone at home and didn't have to cook for anyone. I also kept really busy. On Saturday I was not even home a good portion of the day. I was on the road running numerous errands. I never even thought about food the whole day. Also, when I started, I gave myself permission to throw in the towel without guilt. I'm a competitive person, so I make a game of it in my head. When I do that, I have found that I can accomplish pretty much anything. Competing with myself has always been a good motivator. Also, I told NOBODY that I was doing this fast. I'll tell them now that it's over, but I didn't want anyone to say stupid stuff like "you are damaging your body" or "why would you do something like that?" None of these people who would say this to me have done ANY research on the topic....clearly.

I got my hands on a book called "Metabolic Autophagy" by Siim Land. I haven't finished it yet, but it is loaded with good information.....some of it very technical. Still, he sums up the technical aspects of it and really breaks down how autophagy works. Even though I haven't completed the book yet, I highly recommend it along with the others I mentioned earlier on in the thread. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it and it's loaded with highlighter markings. I'm sure I will use this book many times as a good reference if someone asks me why I fast (in addition to the others).

Good for you! Fasting is a powerful tool to revitalize and rejuvenate our bodies. And yes, the ignorance about fasting is mind boggling. Too many people lead astray by the lies and marketing of companies and the medical establishment who make money off you eating poorly and then pretending to help you get in shape and lose the weight. Keep up the good work! I am going to try a 10 day fast this winter. The longest I have gone is 7 days.

Sentry18 said:

Good for you! Fasting is a powerful tool to revitalize and rejuvenate our bodies. And yes, the ignorance about fasting is mind boggling. Too many people lead astray by the lies and marketing of companies and the medical establishment who make money off you eating poorly and then pretending to help you get in shape and lose the weight. Keep up the good work! I am going to try a 10 day fast this winter. The longest I have gone is 7 days.

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Could you share what your biggest challenges were? How much weight did you lose on that 7 day fast? What are your secrets for those longer fasts? Did you plan on the 7 day fast and decide beforehand what day and time you were going to break it? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm in awe. 7 Days is sweet!!!

I can also say that the second night was the worst for me as far as needing willpower. After that, there really wasn't any hunger pangs.....it was the damn throat issue that got me.

First off I went on the fast for religious purposes as well as autophagy, so I really did not concern myself with weight before and after. Probably should have but didn't. I did not notice any change in my weight and I did workout 3x during the fast. The first 24 hours of any fast is both mental and physical, after that it is ALL mental. My brain kept telling me I had to eat or I would die, but my body was just fine. I actually could have continued past 7 days but once I reached it I decided to stick to my original goal. I knew I need to slowly introduce food so my first meal off the fast was a small dinner, then I did not eat again until the next day at dinner. I did supplement with magnesium and sodium during my fast, otherwise nothing but water. I actually felt cruddy after I ate the first night but not for long.

32 hours is my longest but many 24 hour fasts.

Dr. Christopher has suggestions for long fasts, cleansing fast of 3 days, or 5, or 7. I did a 3 day fast a few years ago, for health, and some juicing. The difference is the diet. Not complete vegetarian, but a very clean diet afterwards with slowly introducing food.
You go, @angie_nrs ! That's a great success!! Sentry, that's impressive to fast that long.
I also try fasting at least once a month for spiritual/religious reasons, skipping two meals. I say I try. It works best if I eat decent breakfast and lunch, then skip dinner and breakfast and have a late lunch.

But fasting long periods, I'm willing to try it but I think it'd take some prep and research and reading on my part first. Thanks for book recommendations

We also fast for 2 meals once a month for religious reasons. I can only go one meal though as I have a medical condition which prevents me from doing it longer but have got to one whole day. I also have a very fast metabolism so loose weight too easily and there is not a lot of me to start off with .

Personally, I do not believe in all the various magic diets - eat carbs, don't eat carbs, eat a ton of protein, etc. - when they say they will force your body to burn this, or not store that, or whatever. IMHO, the way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories. That's it. The secret is out. Now, despite knowing this, I don't do it at the moment. I'm fat. But I haven't always been. Maybe fifteen years ago I got myself down to my high school weight (I was a skinny nerd back then). I will admit that at half a century old, at my high school weight, I looked a bit like a prisoner of war long-timer. I did that weight loss with the help of Weight Watchers, and their methodology was based on "points" which pretty much equated to "calories". Eat fewer of those and lose weight. Someday I will lose weight again. Someday. It's pretty much a mental thing for me. If I want to do it, I know how, and it's actually pretty easy. My problem is finding the motivation to want to do it. It sucks to know what you need to do, but have no excuse for not doing it.

This intermittent fasting does sound a bit intriguing to me. If you don't eat for two days out of the week, then bam, you have dropped 25-30% of your calories without a whole lot of effort or thinking involved. I wouldn't look at it as a way to force ketoacidosis (although it may), but as a way to decrease my caloric intake without having to think about it. I am feeling a slight (OK, very slight!) motivational urge to try this.

Patchouli said:

But fasting long periods, I'm willing to try it but I think it'd take some prep and research and reading on my part first. Thanks for book recommendations

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It's funny that you mention this b/c I'm the same way. I was really apprehensive about trying it so I read books and researched online. Finally one day I decided to just give it a shot and it became a mind game for me. Once I got the hang of it, it was a no brainer. It just became my new normal to fast at least once per week or more. I picked my busy days to fast and it became easier to do the more I did it. Now I'll find myself fasting on days that I hadn't even planned to. I'd suggest just starting small and then extending your time from there. You can always throw in the towel if you get too uncomfortable. That "permission" to give up in my mind was what allowed me to go longer. Weird right? It's rough to do fasts during the holidays but it can be done if you don't have a lot of company over or parties to go to. Just plan accordingly so you don't torture yourself.

Haertig said:

My problem is finding the motivation to want to do it. It sucks to know what you need to do, but have no excuse for not doing it.

This intermittent fasting does sound a bit intriguing to me. If you don't eat for two days out of the week, then bam, you have dropped 25-30% of your calories without a whole lot of effort or thinking involved. I wouldn't look at it as a way to force ketoacidosis (although it may), but as a way to decrease my caloric intake without having to think about it. I am feeling a slight (OK, very slight!) motivational urge to try this.

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It is easier (for me) than trying to stick to a specific "diet" b/c I don't have to prepare anything or plan. Planning meals ahead of time is my nemesis! I had to be careful not to over-do or "binge" after a fast, so there is one meal you need to plan for and that is the meal you will have after you complete your fast. Otherwise, if you just eat whatever you want afterwards you won't have the calorie deficit. However, Dr. Fung and many others say that there are health benefits to fasting regardless of whether or not you lose weight.

Yesterday I just made some bone broth from my turkey carcass in my instant pot. It was the first time I had used the intant pot and I've had it in a box for a couple of years now. I just put it in the freezer for use on my next fast to see if it may help extend my fast time. Typically I only drink coffe, tea, and water on my fasts so having the broth might be a benefit to me.

Haertig said:

IMHO, the way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories. That's it. The secret is out. Now, despite knowing this, I don't do it at the moment. I'm fat. But I haven't always been.

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Eating less will indeed get the job done if you just want to weigh less and nothing more AND you have no hormone irregularities in your body. Of course weighing less will come at the cost of losing body fat, muscle mass, and bone density. But what most people want is to reduce body fat while maintaining or even gaining lean body mass and bone density. Of course if you didn't have any hormonal irregularities you would probably not be "fat". It's those hormones that result in cravings, appetite, stored glycogen, stored subcutaneous fat, stored visceral fat, etc. in the first place. Fasting (and keto) help control the hormones allowing your body to heal and release the stored glycogen and fat it thinks it needs to hold on to at all costs. This is not magic, it's how the human body has worked since the beginning of time. There's just no money in teaching people not to eat, or not to eat garbage foods.

Watch this video, it will provide you some good data.

Haertig said:

It's pretty much a mental thing for me. If I want to do it, I know how, and it's actually pretty easy. My problem is finding the motivation to want to do it. It sucks to know what you need to do, but have no excuse for not doing it.

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This is yet another byproduct of the hormones, or to be specific insulin resistance. It has been proven to be as hard to beat insulin resistance as it is drug addiction and often overwhelms a persons logical thought. The only real way to beat it is to go through a few days of eliminating foods such as sugar, process flours, fruits, etc. until your hormone levels begin to normalize and then maintain that diet along with fasting until your body is healed.

angie_nrs said:

Yesterday I just made some bone broth from my turkey carcass in my instant pot. It was the first time I had used the intant pot and I've had it in a box for a couple of years now. I just put it in the freezer for use on my next fast to see if it may help extend my fast time. Typically I only drink coffe, tea, and water on my fasts so having the broth might be a benefit to me.

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We did the same thing! We now have been, pork, chicken, and turkey bone broth in the freezer in double serving size containers. The wife and I are both going to try an extended fast in January. Not sure how long just yet, but likely between 10-14 days.

I started doing daily fasting 25 years ago, though I did it to "gain" weight. I was eating 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day and was still having trouble keeping my weight up.

For the last 20 years I have only eaten from about 8 pm to midnight each day. During the day I had some issues with low blood sugar so I started drinking cold coffee with a bit of sugar in it that I could sip on occasionally through out the day to keep my blood sugar up. As you can see from my picture it has worked pretty well, instead being a bean pole I am quite heavily muscled now.

For trying to lose weight I am not sure about fasting, fasting can put your body into starvation mode which actually makes you "gain" weight. I am now working on losing weight as at 235 I have gained a bit more than I really need.. I started eating more times during the day over the last 8 weeks since my doctors appointment and I am now avoiding eating after 8 PM. I have also increased my calorie intake from about 1,200 a day up to 1,800 a day. Over the last 8 weeks I managed to lose 15 pounds by eating more and changing how many times a day I eat as well as "when" eat.

It is my theory that most obesity in this country is caused more by malnutrition and under activity than it is caused by actual over eating. So many of the things people eat these days have absolutely no nutrition but are packed full of calories, the people eat and eat and eat yet they are slowly starving to death from a lack of proper nutrition.

As for fasting, I don't think there are any hard and fast rules to the process. My last foster would fast one weekend a month from Sundown Friday (start of the Sabbath) until sundown Sunday. They would concentrate on drinking plenty of water during that time in an attempt to "cleanse" their systems. Our foster mother was quite skinny but our foster father Cliff weighed in at around 245 at five foot 9. They were Seventh Day Adventists and did not believe in eating any kind of product that came from an animal, no cheese, no milk, no eggs, no butter, no meats of any kind, no oil etc. We grew about 98% of our own food there and ate a crazy healthy diet. I make this statement to show that even with regular fasting Cliff was "245" pounds....

Again my theory on weight loss is better nutrition and more physical activity rather than "less" nutrition.