A few questions about extended fasting

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #1

I’ve been researching extended fasts over the last few days.
I did my first 24 hour fast on Friday, refed and did another fast on Saturday, then I inadvertedly fasted again yesterday for almost 24 hours.
My body has adapted to it quickly and am finding it rather easy.
Though I do have a few questions regarding safety…

Is it safe to do multiple 24 fasts in one week?
If I were to manage to extend my fast for 36 hours, should I not fast again after I refeed for a few days?
I saw a post just now where someone mentioned you should only do an extended fast of 3 days once or twice a month, is that true?
Is there any benefit for extended fasting if I only have 14kg to lose and have never been on the heavy side?
Which types of fasts were more beneficial for breaking your stalls? 24 hour, 3 day, 5 day?

I had been playing with the same 2kg for the last month, and finally broke it on the first fast.
After 24 hours I weighed in at 72.9, refed and fasted again and this morning I am 72.9 again. I had a 1.4kg loss overnight which I was super happy about because I hadn’t seen 72 since 14 June.

Thanks for answering my questions and must I say, regardless of the absence of food I am LOVING fasting.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #2

Wish I were there. You are way ahead of me. Send new pics when you have your next break through moment!

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #3

You will get there Regina :slight_smile:
It took me 17 years to finally get here, lol. It’s all about perspective. Besides, you are doing so well! You will be joining the Zornfast in no time :slight_smile:

(Empress of the Unexpected) #4

The last two days, TMAD! Yaayy! I think it might be starting!

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #5

You will be there in no time. I really struggled with 2Mad, I tried to cut out the BPC in the mornings so struggled to reach lunch time, and then when I finally ate I was too full to eat dinner. I think you will find the transition to OMAD much easier.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #6

Hopefully. I think my stomach is shrinking. More progress on “Regina’s accountability thread.”

(Alec) #7

Katie

  1. Yes
  2. No. If you did ADF, then you would be doing 36/12/36/12, right, so subsequent 36s are perfectly fine and doable.
  3. You could do 3 day EFs as often as you like really. As long as you are fat adapted, and you take care of electrolytes, you could do 3/1/3/1 etc as long as you wanted.
  4. If you have that little to lose, I would recommend you go max 3 days EFs and see how you go.
  5. None so far! :sob::joy:

As ever with fasting, all the above is said with the caveats of going gently, and if you feel off, end the fast. There’s always another day to fast.

Take care.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #8

Thank you @Alecmcq :slight_smile:
I am yet to try the 36, will see how I go tonight when it’s time to end my 24 hour.
The first 24 fast I did, I could have kept going, but alas as you say, If I feel off I will stop.
It’s kind of addictive!

(Alec) #9

It absolutely is. If you are feeling good during a fast, this is a good sign. My recommendation if you haven’t done any 36 hrs yet, is to do quite a few of these before you try longer EFs eg 3 days. Get used to the feelings you have on a 36hr fast. It is really important to listen carefully to your body when you do this. And experience counts for a lot here. You need to know what things feel like before you go anywhere near a 3 day.

FYI, I have done close to 100 36hr fasts (they are my staple fast), and I have found them to be very effective for weight loss, and also extremely easy to do. I get into more trouble when I try to go longer. I have done a few 3-4 days fasts, but I don’t feel as good, and once or twice I have ended these longer ones early as I felt off.

I am on a 36 right now… drinking lots of electrolytes, chewing on pink Himalayan salt, and enjoying coffee! I will be cold tonight though, I always am! :snowflake::crazy_face::see_no_evil:

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #10

Thank you for all of your advice, @Alecmcq, you are especially helpful.
I don’t think I will attempt a solid 36 for a few weeks yet.
I have never gone this long before without food in my life so I think it’s sensible to ease into it as you suggested.

Do you find that you fast througout the day then break the fast at night as a dinner meal, or do you prefer to eat first then begin fasting?
I have just been eating at 9:30pm at night, then sleeping and fasting throughout the day. I find that easy for now, but I wonder if it would be difficult to eat a large meal in the morning then fast throughout the evening into the next day? Have you reversed it at all?

(Alec) #11

Katie
I have never done IM as defined by this site (ie 24hrs or less). I have always done 36hrs at a time, even when I first started (pre-keto!!). I have to say those first few fasts were pretty tough: I was not fat adapted, and I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing (compared to now, anyway! :smile:). I would have done it a lot easier if I had known about salt and electrolytes, and bone broth etc etc. But I grimaced my way through it!

So, alas, I can’t really answer your question, as I don’t have any experience doing 24hr fasts, or OMAD. Sorry.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #12

Thats ok, thanks for the response regardless :slight_smile:

(Ron) #13

I’m a late evening eater as well. I tried your morning protocol and found it extremely difficult when the evening came to not eat (psychological I think).
I decided that it is far easier to start my fast after an evening meal and get that nightly jump start while my mind is dormant. I eat OMAD mostly anyways so it is natural to me to skip breakfast so in my mind I have a 24 hour start on the intended fast. (again probably psychological)
It works for me though.
I also think the general suggestion is 5 days between EF’s so I usually do one a week . :slightly_smiling_face:

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #14

Thanks Ron! :slight_smile:

(LeeAnn Brooks) #15

ADF (alternate day fasting) is quite alright.

It is recommended that if you do an EF, you refeed normally for at least 2-3 days before beginning another EF.

You seem set on time spans for EF. Instead, listen to your body. Just go in with an open ended objective. If your at 48 hours and you still feel good, keep going.

However, never fight your body. So if you feel off at 32 hours (or whenever), just end your fast.

(Raj Seth) #16

Personally, I find EFs very easy to do, and 3 day EFs fit my schedule. I have tried to keep a ratio of 1:2, fasting to feasting. As of now, I hvae fasted 70 of the last 200 days. I figured I wanted to keep my metabolism ramped up and use the fasting to lower my insulin as much as possible.
Worked for me. While I still havent lost any lbs since February (a little too much bourbon, I think), I have lost a LOT of inches and feel fantastic. Hyper alert, active, and full of beans. I also cant sleep much beyond 5-6 hours daily - but am not suffering for it - 5-6 hours is all I need now.
I will do another extended after Ketofest - I am surely going to overindulge there!!

Now the trick is going to be to do a water/salt only fast - no coffee, sweetener, dt soda, etc. Maybe it is better for me - dont know…

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #17

I am not sure why I am set on them. Perhaps I should give your idea a go because again last night when it came to break my fast, I wasn’t overly hungry but did it anyway. I guess I was a little hesitant at what to expect beyond 24 hours and hadn’t really formulated a plan on what to break my fast with. I’m also broke as buggery this week and I don’t get paid til tonight so I chose to end my fast last night and fast again today, lol. You seem to save a lot of money fasting!

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #18

Thanks! :slight_smile:

(Alec) #19

You sure do, which is why there are are very few studies in the field. The folks that should be studying this is the govt (“The People’s Representatives”), but we are so far away from this, it is not funny.

In Aus, I would love to see the CSIRO do some research on fasting.
Cheers
A

(Empress of the Unexpected) #20

Is that an Australian thing?