I am in my 2nd week of Keto and its going well. I haven’t eaten in 15 hours and I am not hungry. Any reason I shouldn’t continue to fast? I was planning on getting down to one meal a day, but not this early. I gotta tell yea, its pretty awesome not to be driven to eat.
Thanks in advance.
Honestly, if you are already naturally falling into doing IF, then by all means, do it. The key is to listen to your body. If you wake up in the morning and your not hungry, don’t eat. If you wake up in the morning and you are hungry, then eat. Its all about learning to listen to your body and eat when it tells you its time to eat for hungers sake, not due to boredom, or its “time” to eat. When you do eat, just make sure you get plenty of calories in so you don’t unintentionally be following a calorie restricted diet (even if it is keto).
As for longer, extended fasts, I would suggest you wait until you are fully fat adapted to start those, which can take (becoming fully fat adapted that is) anywhere from 6-8 weeks or more.
Yep, I agree with @Sheri_Knauer. The goal of this WOE is to eat when hungry not on a schedule. Then your body makes the most of your eaten and stored energy. Most people struggle with this in the begining. It sounds lie you may have an advantage!
I would start with simple stuff…miss breakfast…then move it to breakfast and dinner. I found that a gradual slide into fasting was a good way to not get overwhelmed. Not sure I could have done it at 8 days myself.
Thanks for the replies guys. I have made it 20 hours, I have felt hungry on and off but nothing very strong. Pork belly is on the menu tonight to break the fast.
I don’t know that I will do this again for a while, but its a wonderful feeling to know I can. I own hunger, hunger doesn’t own me.
Keep Calm and Keto on!
Great work Mitchell…what will happen is that in a few days or weeks you’ll start thinking more about a longer fast. Once you get to 20/24 hours you will see a different horizon. All the best
I disagree with Sheri when she says to be sure to get in enough calories, when you eat. I believe we should pay attention to our protein and carbs, then fat to satiety. When we feel full we should stop eating regardless of the calories consumed.
If we are to listen to our bodies’ signals, we should listen to the one that says “I’ve had enough”, and not to the calculator in our heads that registers a number.
I made it until dinner (22.5 hours) and it took a lot to fill me up, biggest meal I have had since starting keto. I had to keep going back for more after giving my body time to make sure It was full enough.
What I learned is that while I can fast for at least a day, my body isn’t ready for it. By hour 20 I had no energy and a headache I was running on pure stubbornness.
I love this experimenting to learn what works for me. Not working off someone else’s plan, but learning and testing.
BTW, I am starting to hate the term “diet” and now understand why we should use “way of eating” instead. I don’t drink bleach, but I’m not on a no-bleach diet. Some with carbs, my body can’t function well with them so I avoid them. Makes so much sense.
I think all @Sheri_Knauer meant was ro make sure the meal wasn’t restrictive. I know people who are trying to eat keto who think they still have to make each meal as small as they can. This could possibly be damaging to the metabolism.
Getting to a place on the ketogenic diet where I had no desire to eat felt like a miracle. Now I’m able to fast for days because I want to.
Later, when you’re well fat adapted, join us in a monthly group fast, for support.
Yes. Especially early on in the keto journey and that person may have been “dieting” i.e. calorie restricting for a very long time. Sometimes it takes a while for someone to get out of that, “oh I have to restrict my food intake or I won’t lose weight” mentality. I didn’t mean to have it come across that eating keto gives a person license to gorge on as much food as they want to as long as its keto. Just not have in the back of your mind that, "oh, I can’t eat more than 1200 calories, blah, blah, blah). Everyone should be mindful of the grams of protein, carbs, and fats you are consuming to make sure you are meeting your daily needs and eating what you find works for your body and will help you to achieve your goals. Eat when your hungry, stop when you are satiated.
I agree completely.
Like many people I have on CICO diets before I discovered Keto.
I lost 100 lbs on CICO over a period of 10 month. Great right ?
What people on (or promoting) CICO fail to notice is this:
When I first started my 100 lbs weight-loss journey I could consume 1900 calories and was losing rapidly.
But then my BMR adjusted to 1900 (from +/- 2500) and the weight-loss stopped.
So I reduced to 1700. On the next plateau I reduced again to 1550, then to 1400, then to 1300.
You can obviously guess that my life revolved around my next meal or collation. I was constantly hungry.
After reaching my goal weight, I “stopped” the diet. But I was careful to keep my calorie intake to a ‘normal/low’ level: 1900
6 months later, I had regained 50 lbs and my metabolism was still in the tank.
Then I met Keto. I don’t know how many calories I consume everyday… because I don’t count and do not care.
I feel better than I ever did, I’m losing weight and I’m never hungry.
I eat awesome and tasty food until I’m satiated.
(not to mention all other greats benefits I feel: inflammation pains gone, Blood pressure WAY down, etc)
So, yeah “it’s not a license to gorge on keto food”, but DO eat to satiety and you will:
a) Help you metabolism recover from the damage left from CICO (if, like me, that is your case)
b) Eventually see the results you seek on the scale, or learn to disregard the scale (as I’ve come to)
c) Find it VERY easy and unrestrictive and tasty and satisfying
d) Might have other great health benefits