Does anyone do intermittent fasting with LCHF?
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Post menopausal here too. I have fallen into IF on days that I work. Will have coffee with butter on those days until my first meal around 3pm on those days. I use hwc in my coffee, otherwise, when not particularly fasting. No specific issues seen when doing this.0
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I drink around 8 cups of tea with Almond milk in the mornings and don't eat till around 1pm. Each cup of tea is around 10 calories. Will doing this break my fast? I have read as long as you stay under 50 calories then you are still fasting. Not sure how true this is??0
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I do IF unintentionally. I quit eating around 9pm, and skip breakfast on days I work out. I always have coffee right after. Something about the combo of exercise and coffee kills my appetite, so I often don't eat until 1 - 2pm. This puts me on an unintentional 16:8 cycle at least 3x per week.0
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Christine_72 wrote: »I drink around 8 cups of tea with Almond milk in the mornings and don't eat till around 1pm. Each cup of tea is around 10 calories. Will doing this break my fast? I have read as long as you stay under 50 calories then you are still fasting. Not sure how true this is??
How much almond milk per cup? Is it unsweetened? The 50 calorie thing is a basic rule of thumb, and ya I think with the amount you're drinking you might be pushing it. With something like coconut oil or butter you'd be avoiding the insulin spike so some fasting benefits would be preserved, but I don't think that'd be the case with the almond milk.
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Christine_72 wrote: »I drink around 8 cups of tea with Almond milk in the mornings and don't eat till around 1pm. Each cup of tea is around 10 calories. Will doing this break my fast? I have read as long as you stay under 50 calories then you are still fasting. Not sure how true this is??
How much almond milk per cup? Is it unsweetened? The 50 calorie thing is a basic rule of thumb, and ya I think with the amount you're drinking you might be pushing it. With something like coconut oil or butter you'd be avoiding the insulin spike so some fasting benefits would be preserved, but I don't think that'd be the case with the almond milk.
Probably around 70ish ml per cup. 500ml which = 80 calories all up0 -
Here's what Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple says about morning fasting (and coffee):
"Coffee is actually beneficial for fat-burning, especially during a fast. One study found that an infusion of epinephrine – a hormone which coffee increases – during “starvation” enhanced its lipolytic and thermogenic effects. In other words, fat-burning and metabolism up-regulated in response to epinephrine (more so than usual). Epinephrine also lowers appetite, which can be extremely helpful for people trying to stave off hunger during a fast. Tea, and anything non-caloric, is also fine.
Adding a pure fat source won’t “take you out” of the fasted state, and it may take the edge off the hunger, but it will reduce the body fat you burn by a bit."
(Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-questions-answers/#ixzz44oPAyrGt)
I agree with a previous poster - morning exercise and coffee make it easier for me to not eat till after midday - which is what I normally aim for. But we are all different.0 -
Thanks Claire, I so wish I liked coffee, because I get a nice energy boost from it and it does curve my appetite, but I just hate it
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I've been doing IF with LC/HF very successfully for about 2 months. In the morning I have a bulletproof coffee-coffee with grass fed butter, coconut oil and a little heavy cream. I blend until frothy. I don't eat food until 1 or later sometimes. Then I'll have a low carb dinner. My goal to start was 18/6, but sometimes it's as much as 22/2. It depends on my schedule. The crazy thing is that I rarely get hungry. If I do get hungry I'll drink a cup of chicken broth, and that holds me.0
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I do daily eating window. Usually hardcore black coffee in the morning. I maintained easily with this for a year. But I've started having lunch with my colleagues at noon...and I'm gaining now. Meh.
Ofc, it's about macros, calories and lower volume of exercise too. But in my experience, fasting is a great tool to keep everything else in check!
I'm less hungry when I fast. Go figure
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I've only been at this for a couple of weeks, but I'm starting to experiment with having a "bullet proof tea" for breakfast, just an iced tea with 2T of heavy cream. But they say you really shouldn't do IF until you're fat adapted, and I don't feel that I am yet.0
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lisawinning4losing wrote: »I've only been at this for a couple of weeks, but I'm starting to experiment with having a "bullet proof tea" for breakfast, just an iced tea with 2T of heavy cream. But they say you really shouldn't do IF until you're fat adapted, and I don't feel that I am yet.
@lisawinning4losing - I am not sure Dr. Fung and other fasting proponents would agree to postpone fasting, if that's your plan, until you're already in ketosis. It would seem to make sense to fast when you have plenty of glucose stored and you want to give your body a chance to burn through it; if your diet is ketogenic, won't your body use the fats you eat for fuel before it turns its fickle attention to what's already be larded away for future use?
BTW, yum on the iced tea with cream. (I'm sure adding coconut oil to your iced tea would be good, too. Assuming you like munching on chunks of cold fat in the morning.)0 -
>But they say you really shouldn't do IF until you're fat adapted, and I don't feel that I am yet.
Who is "they"? I haven't heard that advice before, and I've been IF'ing for a good long while now.0 -
Many many people who eat normal diets aka not low carb do IF. It is eating within specific times, and has nothing to do with what kinds of foods/macros you eat.0
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Fasting is very easy if you can get past the mental part. People will freak out when I say this but most of negative things about fasting are just plain wrong. I have been tinkering with LCHF for a while. If you killed your metabolism by dieting and gaining back, fasting can reset your metabolism. I am obese with a BMI of 34, but it has been in 42, I think. I am on a plan now when I eat dinner Friday then only water until Sunday dinner. Then 3 full meals, Mon, Weds, Fri, and only dinner on Tues and Thursday. I stick with LCHF meals. Now this sounds like madness I know, but only if you never fasted. Your first time you go 24 hours with no food, you'll feel like it's a huge accomplishment. On my last two day fast I could have kept going. I worked in the yard for a few hours Sunday and had a lot of energy all day. I drink water and I have some bone stock we made. I eat until I'm full when I eat and I try not to over eat. I think I lost the ability to know what full was. I was a clock eater, 3 times a day. When fasting if I feel funny, I drink a glass of water with salt in it. In 10 minutes I feel fine again. Hunger really doesn't hurt and goes away quickly. You don't burn you muscle like people say. I don't feel weak. In fact I feel like I have more energy. I'm not sick in the head. I love food. ha ha.
Disclaimer: This is my opinion and I am not a doctor. I don't recommend that anyone do this. I'm just telling you about me. I'm not preaching or advocating that anyone do this!
Cheers
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Fasting is very easy if you can get past the mental part. People will freak out when I say this but most of negative things about fasting are just plain wrong. I have been tinkering with LCHF for a while. If you killed your metabolism by dieting and gaining back, fasting can reset your metabolism. I am obese with a BMI of 34, but it has been in 42, I think. I am on a plan now when I eat dinner Friday then only water until Sunday dinner. Then 3 full meals, Mon, Weds, Fri, and only dinner on Tues and Thursday. I stick with LCHF meals. Now this sounds like madness I know, but only if you never fasted. Your first time you go 24 hours with no food, you'll feel like it's a huge accomplishment. On my last two day fast I could have kept going. I worked in the yard for a few hours Sunday and had a lot of energy all day. I drink water and I have some bone stock we made. I eat until I'm full when I eat and I try not to over eat. I think I lost the ability to know what full was. I was a clock eater, 3 times a day. When fasting if I feel funny, I drink a glass of water with salt in it. In 10 minutes I feel fine again. Hunger really doesn't hurt and goes away quickly. You don't burn you muscle like people say. I don't feel weak. In fact I feel like I have more energy. I'm not sick in the head. I love food. ha ha.
Disclaimer: This is my opinion and I am not a doctor. I don't recommend that anyone do this. I'm just telling you about me. I'm not preaching or advocating that anyone do this!
Cheers
@fatblatta How much weight and in what time frame have you lost eating this way?0 -
I've lost 9 pounds in 11 days I think. I started with a 2 day fast, skipped breakfast and lunch on Tuesday and Thursday, then another Friday to Sunday fast. I feel like I will average 3 pounds a week as I get further along.
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Thank you. I really still have about 70 pounds to go. I hope I can stick with it this time. I'll report back in 3 months
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Thank you. I really still have about 70 pounds to go. I hope I can stick with it this time. I'll report back in 3 months
I'd love to hear how you go, don't give up for a second until you've hit your goal weight :flowerforyou: Also keep in mind that your weight loss will slow the closer you get to goal. This is when so many people unfortunately give up, where as if they kept plugging away they would have kept losing and reached their goal eventually, just at a much slower pace.0 -
I love IF and keto. For me, it's practically magic and I wish I'd found this combo earlier. My natural eating pattern is 16:8 IF. For weight loss, I choose 17:7 or (increasingly) 18:6. In maintenance, 16:8 works well. I drink coffee with Splenda and a little Fairlife at breakfast and probably tea/Fairlife mid-morning. The morning coffee is non-negotiable and I'm not willing to change its makeup regardless of whether or not it "breaks IF protocol." I think it's important to find the minimum that works for you. If it's black coffee/tea, great. If you need to add 55 cals of cream to make it work, ok. It's *your* fast. You make it work for you and don't stress the minutiae too much.0
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I do 16:8 pretty much every day as I skip breakfast for just a glass of water. I have lunch late afternoon and dinner with family. I find with LCHF I don't have the cravings and the need to eat regularly so I have no problems sticking to it. When I first started and about three weeks in i had that period where I never felt hungry and easily went 24/36 hours without food. Even then I didn't feel hungry, I only ate to stop my non keto husband from worrying about me.0
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riaward1990 wrote: ». Even then I didn't feel hungry, I only ate to stop my non keto husband from worrying about me.
The good news is that fasting is getting more press, so hopefully it won't seem so weird.
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riaward1990 wrote: ». Even then I didn't feel hungry, I only ate to stop my non keto husband from worrying about me.
The good news is that fasting is getting more press, so hopefully it won't seem so weird.
True. Until then, don't tell people your fasting. They look at you like you're crazy!0 -
I did a 6:18 yesterday. I did want to eat at 5 and 11 pm but was not hungry and not even starving.0
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Hmm . . . I'm doing IF + LC.
I'm not very high fat at the moment, although I haven't been talking about my change in diet here, because I'm working on diabetic remission for the next 8 weeks on a diet lower in calories than I'm allowed to talk about on MFP.
The HF is what I eliminated when I switched to my current diet (my diary is open). The diet mimics the post-bariatric surgery diet - since 97% of people with diabetes go into remission nearly immediately post-bariatric surgery, and small studies indicate newly diagnosed diabetics may be able to induce remission by a similar diet (without surgery).
If I am successful, I will wind up on a moderate carb diet (still low enough to qualify as low carrb by the standards of this forum) + 16:8 IF. If I'm not successful (i.e. my diabetes doesn't go into remission), I'll be doing LC-moderate protein + 16:8 IF most days (and fats will likely make up about 70% of my calories).
So far, I've had several days of my lowest BG readings - as well as the lowest weekly average - since diagnosis. Keeping my fingers crossed!0 -
I've been eating keto for several months, and have been within 15 lbs of my goal weight for weeks, now. I just did an 18 hour fast. I had bulletproof coffee for breakfast, then a hard boiled egg around noon for lunch, then fasted until the following morning.
I lost 1 lb the first day, 1 lb the second day, and another half pound the third day following the fast. I ate normally after the fast with only moderate exercise on one of those days.
I'm now only 9lbs 8 oz away from my final weight goal. I'm going to do this once a week until I get there.
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because I'm working on diabetic remission
Check out Dr. Sarah Hallberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luhLv-bdT3E
and Dr. Jason Fung
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETkwZIi3R7w
(two really good example videos, but they both have a lot of content out there on the web)0 -
The diet mimics the post-bariatric surgery diet - since 97% of people with diabetes go into remission nearly immediately post-bariatric surgery, and small studies indicate newly diagnosed diabetics may be able to induce remission by a similar diet (without surgery).
So far, I've had several days of my lowest BG readings - as well as the lowest weekly average - since diagnosis. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I am thoroughly impressed both with reasoning as well as your resolve!
A couple questions, if I might:
1. What criteria are you using for determining whether you're in diabetic remission?
2. Are you on BG and/or BP meds, and have you lowered the dose(s) since you began LC? Is part of your end game getting off them entirely?
Thanks & good luck!
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GaleHawkins wrote: »I did a 6:18 yesterday. I did want to eat at 5 and 11 pm but was not hungry and not even starving.
It gets easier as you go!0 -
The diet mimics the post-bariatric surgery diet - since 97% of people with diabetes go into remission nearly immediately post-bariatric surgery, and small studies indicate newly diagnosed diabetics may be able to induce remission by a similar diet (without surgery).
So far, I've had several days of my lowest BG readings - as well as the lowest weekly average - since diagnosis. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I am thoroughly impressed both with reasoning as well as your resolve!
A couple questions, if I might:
1. What criteria are you using for determining whether you're in diabetic remission?
2. Are you on BG and/or BP meds, and have you lowered the dose(s) since you began LC? Is part of your end game getting off them entirely?
Thanks & good luck!
My criteria for remission (since the general wisdom is that there is no such thing) is the ability to eat an "isocaloric" diet (33.3% carb, 33.3% fat, 33.3% protein) without elevating my blood glucose out of the normal range. That's the standard used by Dr. Taylor, who has done the two studies demonstrating remission. The patients who achieved remission were able to eat an isocaloric diet for 6 months after the end of the study. I don't expect to increase my carbs that much on a regular baisis, but that is the basis on which I would declare my experiment a complete success. (If I had a cooperative doctor and all the money in the world to pay for lab tests, my real criteria would be the restoration of the first phase insulin response. It is possible that I might be able to do a secondary test for that by eating a very small quantity of carb-heavy food (a few grams), then testing my blood glucose repeatedly for the next 30 minutes or so. The first phase insulin response shuts down the liver's glucose-factory when incoming food is sensed, so there should be a dramatic decrease in BG in response to a small carb challenge if it has been restored. At least that's my understanding.)
I'm on 500 mg of Metformin ER. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about coming off of it. My understanding is that the dose is too small to make much difference in blood glucose. It typically is used as a stepping stone to a higher dose. By the first visit after diagnosis I had decreased my A1C from 7.2 to 5.7 (solely based on eating low-carb), so my doctor wasn't inclined to increase it. There may be some heart benefit to taking it. More research this summer before I make a firm decision.
No BP (or cholesterol) meds. My BP has always been low (119/60-ish), aside from a brief drug-induced elevation. Cholesterol was high, but is back in the normal range (all values) since I started eating a low carb diet in October.
Bottom line - I seem to be able to control my diabetes by limiting carbs. (108 mg/dl average since October). But it is intensive dietary management, and I don't do well with that long term (~3+ years out). If I can get to remission so I don't have to count and/or log everything I eat, and can eat a wider range of foods, I will be much more likely to maintain my weight loss (51 lbs to date) and BG control. So far, it is looking good. My current 7-day average is 95; my 14-day average is 99 (I've been on this diet for 11 days - and the plan is to stay on it for 8 weeks (the length of the study).)0
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