Odd IF Question

KnitOrMiss

So, as background for anyone who isn't bothering to keep up with the oh-so-important-life-of-me....LOL: I'm doing a modified intermittent fast, from roughly 8:30 am - 7 pm or so, given dinner time adjustments, and then again from 9 pm or so until 7:30 am (including sleep). I can't skip from dinner though breakfast until later without having bathroom complications due to no gallbladder. Since i had noticed a crazy snack creep 2 hours after having eaten lunch, I decided to try mid-day fasting, and I've doing it M-Th now, last week, and so far this week....

So, my question is - I was wanting something to mix up my water. I need more fluid in today, and I'm just so over water. I'm not overly craving salt or anything, but I know from not salting midday yesterday that I will likely end up crazy-salting dinner if I don't do some salt during the day, but I don't know. I was entertaining the idea of doing a cup of bullion only broth, which is like 5 calories, ~1 carb. Would this break my water only fast? I haven't had anything else since 8 am or so, and I wasn't planning to have anything else until I'm home for dinner around 6-7 pm... I would do tea, but I always sweeten it a little, and I'm really not wanting to trigger my insulin resistance into a response. So I was thinking the tea might be low enough, but generally, salty savory foods can trigger a saliva response, which would possibly start the works of my body expecting food...

I've read general stuff about IF, but add in the IR, and I'm sorry if this question has already been asked.

I know that I don't want fat or calories or anything, but I just don't any to turn off the fat burning just to get in 12-16 oz of fluids, you know?

knackeredat34

I thought you were safe if it was under 30 calories, so i would say it was fine, give it a go and see how you feel?

Standsfast

I wouldn't consider drinking bullion only only to be breaking a water fast. I do have another idea for a hot drink: chamomile tea mixed with mint tea, one bag of each, 2 cups boiling water. The chamomile is flowery and the mint sweetens gently...(unless you think your IR would catch you.)
P.S. I am reading the book you recommended on habits. Thank you for the recommendation!

Sunny_Bunny_

I have the understanding that if its no more than 20 calories or so that it's not enough to break the fast. Though I'm not sure it would hold true if there were an insulin response... I think the broth sounds safer than the tea since you mentioned the AS issue.
What about lemon water or lime and mint?

DianaElena76

I actually thought as long as it was under 50 calories you were in the clear.....

Sunny_Bunny_

This may be another one of those YMMV kind of things.

KnitOrMiss

Yes, unfortunately the insulin resistance is like adding a whole other level of difficulty sometimes! LOL

It's more that I just don't want to set myself up to break it early. I need to figure our my morning at little better, or make sure my dinner has more staying power (last night was a clear, brothy soup with lots of cheese, but it didn't stay with me as I'd hoped)...

Bah, so complicated!

KnitOrMiss

Figure it out better, meaning normally I get a little hunger pang in the 3ish time zone, but water, pushing through, and I'm golden. Tummy has already started growling, and I'm not off work for well over an hour yet!

Kitnthecat

You know, most of us will have differing attitudes about fasting, what constitutes a true fast. I've done it so many ways over the years. Many people out there even consider drinking watered down fruit juices a fast, but of course those of us here would never do that !

I'm no scientist, and I'm not a purist either. I stay flexible and try various combos depending on what my goals happen to be that day or week, and depending on how I feel.

So I have considered some of my severe caloric restrictive days to be called fasts, even if I have had BPC, or homemade bone broth during the day. My body still feels benefit from the experience and the number on the scale will come down. I have a firm belief that limiting calories, while not considered to be a true fast, still has enormous benefits for our bodies and brains, and in my case my emotions too. I might even eat a bit of butter to sustain me, with the feeling that the intake of fat won't throw me out of ketosis.

However, when I am so moved, I also do water fasting, where I will only drink water, black coffee and herbal tea, and ingest no other calories or fat. During those types of fasts, I do not take in any extra salt.

That's an interesting idea about the salt stimulating saliva and the desire to eat. I stay away from my xylitol sweetened gum while fasting, thinking that a sweet taste would hamper my success, but never thought of salt. I'm water fasting right now, and my mouth is watering just thinking about the salt.

I don't sweat these details too much though. I just go with what feels right for me at the time. I have felt varying degrees of hunger and varying degrees of wellness during my various kinds of fasts, but that may be due to varying amounts of physical activity or emotional stress as well as who knows how many other factors I haven't considered.....and may not have as much to do with the type of fast I have committed to in terms of calories, fat, salt intake etc. And I don't beat myself up if I don't reach my initial fasting goal that week....I just accept what my body tells me and react accordingly....then do it again in a few days.

I should have said that I'm referring to longer fasts of 36 to 66 hours without eating. But if you are doing IF until supper, I say go with some broth if that's what you feel you need !

Sorry for the long post, but I am passionate about fasting. I started out by skipping lunch when starting keto, then found I no longer needed to eat breakfast, so naturally started doing IF. But what I really love is a longer fast, especially for the awesome way it boosts my energy and feeling of well-being, and the way it helps the number on the scale to continue to drop, and the way it has brought me increased control over what I eat.

Foamroller

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Figure it out better, meaning normally I get a little hunger pang in the 3ish time zone, but water, pushing through, and I'm golden. Tummy has already started growling, and I'm not off work for well over an hour yet!

You have come a long way since just a couple of months ago! Look at you conquering the fear of a hunger pang. If this custom tailored IF, skipping a meal works to find your stride, do it! There are no right or wrong how you do it. Only the expectations needs to correlate with execution.

Try avoid overthinking details, sweetie. The body has forgiven you for many years already. A few mistakes here and there, I'm sure it can keep forgive you.

Like @Kitnthecat, I do flexible IF now. But I've experimented a LOT! I recommend try stick to some sort of pattern for 3 weeks, like you found and tweak from there. That way you get a baseline of «results».

Somewhere else you mentioned same scale weight, but roomier pants. Yes, that's the real benefit of fasting, IME. Plus some other stuff. If done right, you get some HGH, sparing muscle, but also shedding a bit of fat. Two for one!

I'm proud of your willingness to take babysteps out of your comfort zone lately.

Keto_T

Mami1976D wrote: »

I actually thought as long as it was under 50 calories you were in the clear.....

That's my rule, less than 50 calories for a fasting period. I think I saw that in the KetoGains groups. In any case, 5 calories won't make much difference for the IF. The IR, however, is out of my knowledge base.

KnitOrMiss

Yeah, I'm all kinds of a mess as far as random oddness. I'm insulin resistant, have PCOS, suffer hypothyroidism, have no gallbladder, have severe allergies year round, have POP, take medication that causes me to need other medication (no other option currently available), and have chronic joint pain due to way too many years being too fat (see the first three items in this list) and too many "impact" sports in HS without properly caring for my body...

And that's just what comes to mind off the top of my head. That doesn't even begin to cover all the mental wiggles. So if someone figures me out, I'll happily grant them a doctorate in "Crazy Carly 101." LOL

EDITED TO ADD: Not to mention all the weird food interactions and reactions complicated or triggered by ALL of the above! LOL

Kitnthecat

Hhmm....I have hypothyroidism and take medication for that, as well as 3 meds for my allergies. I wish I could ditch all of those, but so far, I need them and I don't think the meds affect me negatively, so I'm OK with those. I have often thought that my hypothyroidism prevents me from losing weight as quickly as other folks. But since adopting this WOE, and incorporating fasting as well, my weight loss rate has sped up and I feel great. I don't think the allergies are as bad either, but still take the meds.

Also have no gallbladder, but my digestion is way, way better since adopting this WOE. And now that I have lost a total of 97 pounds, my joints no longer ache. I took *kitten* care of my body for too long. I trusted my doctor who prescribed all kinds of meds for my well-being, which have now been solved with better nutrition, omega 3 fish oil, vitamin C and D, and magnesium. Increased fat intake has improved the way my mind works and the way my emotions behave. I have stopped using 3 different prescriptions so far and have never felt more in control of improving my health naturally.

I also have both of my inner ears severely damaged, so suffer from loss of balance, episodes of vertigo, dizziness and tinitis. But miraculously, by eating this way, my symptoms are much improved and I seldom suffer occasions where I am not able to function. For years I was unable to exercise, but I am now gradually increasing my activity level, with the goal of surpassing my ear specialist's prediction that I will never be able to run again. I will prove him wrong ! It's scary for my feet to leave the ground for fear that I will lose my balance, but I am determined to build up the fitness in my whole body and mind, so that my muscles and my will, will enable me to face my fears, hold myself up and continually improve my health.

Wow, I didn't mean for that to be such a strong statement about exercise......but it's all related. My point is that I believe that this WOE can help us break those barriers of poor health. I have a few different diagnosis, but I don't want them to hamper my ability to have success with improving my health. I have learned so much about how my body responds to different foods. It's so much fun to be able to take note of how everything affects me, and keep tweaking according to what I have learned !

We will figure this all out ! And it may not always work everyday, but it is soooo much better than before, before we started working this out. It just has to keep getting better and better !

kirkor

O.v.e.r.t.h.i.n.k.i.n.g.

Kitnthecat

That may be easy for some to conclude. But some of us have to realize where we've been and how our new behaviours affect us, in order to understand what works. Some of us want to figure it out. I think that there is room here for different approaches to everything. It simply may not be as easy for everyone, but we all deserve support.

totaloblivia

Kitnthecat wrote: »

That may be easy for some to conclude. But some of us have to realize where we've been and how our new behaviours affect us, in order to understand what works. Some of us want to figure it out. I think that there is room here for different approaches to everything. It simply may not be as easy for everyone, but we all deserve support.

Well said