Anyone extended fasting?
BT_rescuemom
Posts: 284 Member
I'm doing an extended fast right now, my first one! I feel like I am fully fat adapted now. So far I feel great. I have had coffee (cold brew black) and heavily salted bone broth. My goal is to make it at least 48 hours, but ideally more like 72 +. But I'll just see how it goes.
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I've been looking into the benefits of extended fasts for immunity and cancer prevention. Those are 7 days. My mom had non-lifestyle cancer and it's a fear of mine.0
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I do IF but haven't tried an extended fast yet. How do you hit your protein goal for the day if you fast for 72hrs on water and coffee? Are you losing muscle? Just curious!
Edit: Nevermind, Google saved me https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fasting-and-muscle-mass-fasting-part-14/0 -
Yeah, not hitting any kind of protein goals. I'm just doing water, coffee, broth, tea, LaCroix, etc...
I'm doing it to continue to address my insulin resistance.0 -
Very interesting, let us know how it goes
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I have done a 24 hour fast but nothing longer than that. It wasn't nearly the struggle that I thought it would be.0
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I'd like to do an extended fast but 24 hours is all I can manage so far.0
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I've done over two days before. I haven't hit 72 hours... I felt like eating before then.
I enjoyed it at the time. It felt incredibly empowering and it was shocking how little hunger I actually had.
Blood glucose went lower. I was pretty much constantly in the 4's (usually between 80-90) which was great for me. My fasting BG is usually high and fasting was the only thing that knocked it low.
It's the only was I get above trace readings on ketostix too. LOL
I honestly think the thought of fasting is harder than actually doing it. KWIM?
Good luck. Are you testing BG during your fast?2 -
I am at about 19 hours and feeling fine. Some stomach grumbling but I anticipate that subsiding. Like I could eat something but I don't need to eat something KWIM?
I had broth at lunch time and that was extremely satisfying. Will do some pickle juice when I get home from work and maybe some tea.
I will be checking morning glucose, usually I am 80-100. I will also check if I feel poorly. I know all too well the signs of hypoglycemia.
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in
23 hours in and feeling just fine. Gonna drink some pickle juice and relax for the evening.
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I do 24 quite a bit and a 40 now and then.0
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My longest fast, which I do occasionally and in a specific setting was 96 hours. No problem if you're well prepared. However, this is in a wilderness retreat, where the entire environment is geared to focusing and spiritual practice. I would never undertake such fast in daily life because of my lack of focus. I did feel fantastic though on the few occasions I did this and with incredible energy.1
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I've gradually increased non-eating hours, so I often end up with a 24 hrs cycle, several times a week. But I don't sweat it if it's suits better due to social stuff to have 2 meals per day. I've done several 72 hours too. The most important thing during fasting is to get more salt! If not I suffer low electrolytes symptoms.
Oddly enough, the 48 HR mark is the toughest for me, psychologically, once I'm past that bump I feel like I could go on for a very long time. It's a state of feeling very calm, focused, light and very, very awake. Possibly due to higher ketone levels. The 2ketodudes use fasting to lower insulin and basal blood sugars vs T2D. They have interesting thoughts about it.
http://2ketodudes.com/show.aspx?episode=51 -
Foamroller wrote: »I've gradually increased non-eating hours, so I often end up with a 24 hrs cycle, several times a week. But I don't sweat it if it's suits better due to social stuff to have 2 meals per day. I've done several 72 hours too. The most important thing during fasting is to get more salt! If not I suffer low electrolytes symptoms.
Oddly enough, the 48 HR mark is the toughest for me, psychologically, once I'm past that bump I feel like I could go on for a very long time. It's a state of feeling very calm, focused, light and very, very awake. Possibly due to higher ketone levels. The 2ketodudes use fasting to lower insulin and basal blood sugars vs T2D. They have interesting thoughts about it.
http://2ketodudes.com/show.aspx?episode=5
Cool. Yeah, I'm doing lots of salt in my broth a couple times a day. I love listening to 2Ketodudes, they are the ones that got me interested in fasting for insulin resistance!
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Drink pickle juice??
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Morning number two and I feel just great! I'm 40 hours in. My blood sugar when I woke up was 67. Normally my morning glucose is 90, and if it went below 70 any time during the day I would feel shakey, sweaty...classic hypoglycemia symptoms. Keto agrees with me I think.
Yesterday I drank cold brew coffee, water, homemade chicken broth, pickle juice, tea, and more broth.
Today I'm starting with French press coffee and MCT oil, and I'll do more broth, water, tea and pickle juice. I add a lot of salt and lite salt to my broth to keep up on electrolytes.
If you would have told me a few months ago that I would be doing an extended fast I would have laughed in your face and told you to pass me that bagel over there. Keep calm and Keto on my friends. I'll keep updating on my progress and will end it with my stats.4 -
Crazy how things change like that. Going more than a couple hours seemed impossible recently. Now I've been on this 16/8 schedule for several weeks no problem. Thinking about just having some broth at lunch and pushing to 24 hours. Habit seems to be more of the challenge than hunger given right now is almost an hour after my normal lunchtime and dinner doesn't seem too far away.3
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Completed at 45 hours. I'll go longer next time, I just felt it was a good time to stop. I felt fine the entire time, it was never difficult, and I feel like I'll be able to extend my IF time because of this!5
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you inspired me, I'm just over 24 hours since the last time I ate and I'm going to take it into tomorrow to see how far I can get.3
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kimberlyb6682 wrote: »you inspired me, I'm just over 24 hours since the last time I ate and I'm going to take it into tomorrow to see how far I can get.
Awesome! I was surprised at how easy it was for me. But it seems now that I started eating tonight I can't stop. Lol. But I kept my macros good for the day.
I'll be doing another fast in a few weeks as long as I'm not pregnant. But I'll probably need to plan out some things to keep me busy, or I'll do it during the week while I'm working.0 -
I just listened to Primal Blueprint podcast interviewing Jimmy Moore about his fasting book. He says the second day is the hardest and if you make it that far you should just go ahead and push through to a third day because you got to the hardest part so why not push through that to see how much easier it gets after that?
I wasn't great at extended fasting but I haven't tried it much. It was easier the most recent attempt as compared to previous ones and Jimmy does say that it seems to get easier the more you do it.
I may plan to try more than 1 day after the holidays are over. Maybe even do a couple 24 hour ones before then to prepare.2 -
well I stopped at 45 hours also, I'm pretty used to a 20-24 hour fast. I find that the 22nd hour and last night the 28th hour was a little tough. but I wasn't hungry at all today. I could have kept going but I stopped at my mom's house and she wanted me to try her keto bread so I gave in. I'm going try for a 3 day fast after Thanksgiving.0
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I've made it to 46 hours with nothing but decaf coffee, decaf tea and salted broth. Like you, I have insulin resistance. Currently I do IF twice a week, but I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do a 36 hour fast. Once morning came, I wasn't hungry and just waited to see when I would actually feel hungry. I had been eating <20 g carbs for about 3 months at that point. I felt pretty good during and after the fast. Good luck to you.1
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Do you do any exercise during your extended fasting period?0
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gettinthere wrote: »Do you do any exercise during your extended fasting period?
I don't really exercise at all, but I'm interested in trying fasted exercise.
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I just listened to Primal Blueprint podcast interviewing Jimmy Moore about his fasting book. He says the second day is the hardest and if you make it that far you should just go ahead and push through to a third day because you got to the hardest part so why not push through that to see how much easier it gets after that?
Hmm, I can kind of see his point, but I would also wonder about the "moving the goal posts" aspect of it. I think *knowing* that it gets easier can help someone get in the right headspace when planning an extended fast, but deciding to extend a fast already in progress could lead to potentially negative stuff --- like feeling like a failure if one didn't keep going, or trying to beat someone else's time, or ignoring important body cues, etc.2 -
I lasted 5 days once. I had some outside unhealthy stress contributing, though. I really felt much better than expected physically. I finally caved when sleep became difficult.0
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I don't know how you do it. I can last until about 3:00pm, but then I'm ravenous, and can't concentrate on anything.0
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