Question about exercise while doing a Fat Fast

RobertHendrix

So I took a break last week from everything. I was just at a point that after 14 months of tracking and counting and calculating I just needed to step back and take a breath as I felt I was about to hit a point of just giving up. It was great, I feel it really helped me get my mind back on track for where I need to be to lose the next 100 lbs after already losing 150+ in this last 14 months. I weighed in this morning and to my surprise i am only up 2 lbs so that has me stoked even more. I am planning on doing a 6 day fat fast to jump start my self back into Keto but am not sure how to handle my normal exercise routines for that week.

I typically burn anywhere from 600-1200 calories a day and i don't eat exercise calories back. I had been staying between 1800-2250 calories a day and at times have felt that I was probably not eating enough to keep up with my exercise regimine and this could have been causing some of the stalls or slower progress than I was expecting.

During the fat fast I am supposed to stay as close to 1k calories a day as possible so my question is should I take a break from the gym for those 6 days (if I burn 1200 and only eat 1000 I would be at a negative intake for the day) or should I eat the calories back adhering to the 90% fat ratio?

kiramaniac

From what I've read on the Fat Fast, Atkins recommended this approach for only those that were severely metabolically resistant to going into to ketosis.

"let me make it clear that the fat fast is actually dangerous for anyone who is not metabolically resistant. for people who lose weight fairly easily, the rate of weight loss is too rapid to be safe. But it carries very little risk for people who can barely lose on any other regimen"

It seems like this question comes up a lot -- how to handle exercise when on a Fat Fast. My theory is that the good doctor did not address this, because it didn't occur to him that people would understake a Fat Fast while exercising. That's just my personal speculation though.

That said -- I'm a believer that if you have set up MFP with a calorie deficit, that you should ALWAYS eat back your exercise calories. I do TDEE-20% (roughly). I don't want to slow down my metabolism so I want to ensure I continue to eat at that level. Since you'd be eating even LOWER than that, you'd definitely want to eat back exercise calories.

Jasmine_James

I'm 5'5 and between 150-155 lbs. I did a 3-day fat fast and decided to keep my calories at 1200 calories because I felt 1000 was just too low for me. I didn't exercise at all. I lost a few pounds and a few inches, and got into ketosis and felt good. I made the decision to customize it for myself and what I thought would still be healthy and effective for me, and it was. To each his own, but I would think 1000 calories for 6 days would be dangerous for anybody. Especially since you are only up 2 lbs., maybe you could customize it by setting calories to 1800 and doing light exercise, or skip exercising and do 1500 calories? Personally, I didn't have the energy to exercise. I felt good, but I had pretty low energy. That said, others have exercised while fat fasting. I say customize it and do what feels effective and good for you -- if you eat 1000 calories and feel up for some exercising, go for it (but I would be dragging on 1000 calories).

I really like fat fasting as a way to refocus myself when I've fallen off the wagon, to quickly drop water weight and get back into ketosis after eating too many carbs. I just say make it work for you -- don't do anything too extreme or uncomfortable.