A really extended fast: going for 46-days!

[Barbara_Greenwood]

Hey, I’ve got a great idea, @carl, @richard - @ron-coleman should be on an episode of 2KetoDudes!

[ron-coleman]

Day 47 and am feasting today—I broke my fast at 9:00 AM today after 1,115 hours fasting! I broke my fast with my usual coffee with heavy cream, ¼ cup macadamia nuts, and 5 olives. I also had a few tablespoons of sauerkraut juice to allow the fermented bacteria time to help to get my digestive system back up in good order. Here are my numbers from this morning while still fasted:

At first, eating was a pleasing experience as I hadn’t done it in so long, actually I didn’t need to eat so it was a mixture between pleasant and forced. It did not take long to feel satiated after eating only a few things. The idea of the small feed in the morning is to help my digestive system start up again after weeks of having nothing to do! I introduced mostly fatty foods not trying to invoke an insulin response. A lot of people advised that starting with something small as a kick start helps and to then eat something more in about an hour or so.

I still was not hungry, even 6 hours later when we had our Easter feast but I did eat as it was time for me. I ate quite a bit and really felt full as again I was going for foods that are high in good fats like butter, cheese and meat fat. We had a non-glazed smoked ham and I had about 4 oz of ham. I also made a dip with bacon, bleu cheese, walnuts, with a cream cheese base. I couldn’t eat much of it especially with the ‘bread sticks’ I made from mozzarella and cream cheese with ¾ cup of almond flour. All in all, a lot of fat and very filling.

I would normally try for 2000-3000 calories a day but could not eat that today! It is after 7:00 PM and I am still full. I had some things planned like eggs and bacon tonight if I need but I can already see that will not happen so my calories on this first day of eating since February 28, 2017, will total out at 1494!

I did meet my macronutrient goals today with 19 grams of carbohydrates (5% of total), 52 grams of protein (a bit low) (14% of total), and 132 grams of fat (81% of total.) This is the mix I’d like to have every day to help keep the weight off and even lose more weight painlessly. I use the MyFitnessPal.com page and app to track my eating to make sure I am getting the nutrients I need. I will include an additional graphic of what I ate so you can verify it.

I am no longer cold, as I was for most of my fast, but I am not ready to say I am back to normal temperature yet. I will continue with my feasting tomorrow and hope to increase my calories into my normal range of 2000-3000 per day.

I had a wonderful Easter Sunday as our son came over for the feast and we called a lot of family today. More calls to go though!

I am trying to figure out how to draw a vertical reference line on my graphs in Excel to delineate my fasting period from my feasting periods. I will have to research that but if anyone has a clue please let me know!

Have a Blessed Easter!

[carl]

@ron-coleman, @richard and I would be HONORED to have you on the show.

[Jeff]

Way to go! I enjoyed reading about your journey.

[NelleG]

@ron-coleman

when you say you were cold while fasting, does this mean you felt cold or were you activily tracking body temp? I apologize if I’ve missed something obvious that you have already posted.

[ron-coleman]

I felt cold, wore sweats most days (I work from a home office) and had extra black coffee to try and warm my fingers. I never took my body temperature.

[ron-coleman]

@carl, @richard, let’s make it happen!

[stacy]

Hey, I’ve got a great idea, @carl, @richard - @ron-coleman should be on an episode of 2KetoDudes!

Yes please.

[MKChitown]

Woot Woot!!! Can’t wait for that episode.

[beckyjoy]

I will attempt to make my own cheese crisps but the last time I did they were only mediocre in quality. I need a more fool-proof recipe if anyone has one!

I tried these last weekend and we loved them! Even made them with cheddar/mozzarrella because we didn’t have parmesean and they turned out great but did need to lower oven to 400 and they were done in more like 7 min:

Parmesan Crisps - KetoConnect

[beckyjoy]

I am planning to do fasts on a regular basis of maybe 1 or 2 monthly fasts of 3 to 5-days depending on how I feel and my schedule. These would be water, black coffee, and salt only fasts. Once a quarter I want to do a 7 to 9-day fast for better cleansing, and may allow heavy cream. And, of course, I am considering whether I want to repeat this 46-days of fasting for Lent next year.

This brings up a question I have about fasting - maybe others can also weigh in…fasting, I find, is a bit addictive. I also have a history of somewhat disordered eating with periods of restricting usually followed by binging…so I know to be very careful with fasting, and I always involve my husband in the process so he can help me monitor my sometimes not so trustworthy thoughts…but is there a point where you can fast too much?

I’ve done several types of fasting including:

• several extended fasts of 3-5 days + one 6-day fast (always supplemented with bone broth and fat in coffee),

• alternate day fasting (which, for me, usually involves IF on the every-other-feeding day even though I know you aren’t supposed to restrict on that feeding day…but I just wait until I feel hungry to eat, which is often not until about noon at the earliest and often more like 2 or 4 PM…so my “alternate day” fasting is usually almost a 2 day fast).

• daily 20/4 or 24 hour IF where I eat 1 or 1.5-2 meals – this is my regular practice when I am not “fasting” – I don’t even really think of it as fasting although it is, because it’s the norm for my hubby and me due our hunger being low from a ketogenic, high fat/low carb way of eating and extended periods of satiety.

So…overall, it’s kind of to the point where in terms of time spent feasting and time spent fasting… it’s at least 50-50 for me and maybe even tipping towards more time fasting that feasting.

I feel best physically, mentally, and emotionally when I fast…and when I do eat, I feel best when I keep it very low or even zero carb. I assume if I’m listening to my body and I have safeguards in place (like my husband monitoring me) to ensure I’m not overdoing it…this is OK? Or is there a point where you can fast too much?

I assume not since there are fasts of 180+ days on record? Some context to know as well - I am a 32 year old female on zero medications, other than a magnesium supplement at night when has really helped me sleep better, very active (cycling, boxing, running, yoga, etc. nearly every day - it’s a struggle to take a rest day for me, although I do try because I know it is important for muscles to repair themselves from workouts), I weigh about 120-125 lbs (varies with the fasting-sometimes I get down to about 117 but I almost always get back up to 125, sometimes even 127 once I re-feed)…

I guess I’m looking for reassurance to just keep listening to my body and trusting that it will tell me what is OK and what is too far? Thoughts?

[Jacquie]

Another fan looking forward to the Ron Coleman episode! Love that we’re breaking new ground on the forum with Ron’s extended fast. I’m not at my best absorbing a lot of details attached to data (details regarding people are more my thing) but Ron’s explanation with lots of graphs and information worked for me. Well done, Ron!

[beckyjoy]

WOOOT WOOOOT @ron-coleman – YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION How freakin’ cool was this entire lenten period for not just you, but every single person you educated along the way, including all of us here on the forums? I am so impressed and thankful for all of the great info you shared and can’t wait to hear your story on the podcast! Enjoy feasting and keep us posted please as you move into the next stage!

[Barbara_Greenwood]

@beckjoy Jason Fung says that people who are underweight should not fast - is your body fat in a healthy range?

Another warning sign would be if you feel unwell but resist eating.

Problems with low blood pressure or anything related to nutrient deficiency would be another indicator.

[MKChitown]

If you don’t have a lot of weight to lose, not sure you are benefitting from all your fasting. Do you feast during feast days/times?

If you’ve had some difficult eating patterns with food in the past, I would only do Keto and fast for shorter periods maybe once a month (like 72 hour fast).

If you restrict calories too much, you are reducing your BMR too much.

[beckyjoy]

@beckjoy Jason Fung says that people who are underweight should not fast - is your body fat in a healthy range?

Another warning sign would be if you feel unwell but resist eating.

Problems with low blood pressure or anything related to nutrient deficiency would be another indicator.

I would not say I’m underweight, nor overweight. I’m at a healthy weight and I feel very well when I fast (and fine when I feast). I do have issues with low blood pressure but they are diagnosed as being from a different disorder triggered by pain, surprise, fear, etc (vaso vagal syncope)

[beckyjoy]

If you don’t have a lot of weight to lose, not sure you are benefitting from all your fasting. Do you feast during feast days/times?

If you’ve had some difficult eating patterns with food in the past, I would only do Keto and fast for shorter periods maybe once a month (like 72 hour fast).

If you restrict calories too much, you are reducing your BMR too much.

I’ve heard on the “fasting talk” podcasts that there are health benefits from fasting even for those already at a healthy weight…building bone density, autophogy, etc.

I definitely am in it for that, along with the clear headed-mess, more than I am for the weight loss as I don’t need to lose any weight at this point.

Anybody know if, once you’ve perhaps mistakenly lowered BMR, if it can be re-raised? For instance if I do just feed / feast for most of a month…I fear I’ll gain a bunch of weight…but maybe not? Maybe that’s my old ingrained fear of CICO? And in reality it’s all hormonal and my BMR will adjust and rise accordingly?

[ron-coleman]

Day 48 of my experiment and am 2-days feasting today—had a very large lunch and more moderate supper with a couple of small snacks in the late afternoon.

I used the butter poaching method to reheat some grass-fed burgers to hopefully keep them a bit more moist and it worked a bit as they were pretty close to well done to begin with! I then put 4 cheese cubes on top of each and covered the pot letting the cheese melt while the burgers sat in the butter. I then added a couple slices of bacon and had a very fatty lunch that I could barely finish.

Obviously, I can still eat like a horse and need to work on limiting my intake so I don’t have to feel so stuffed although that lunch was close to 2200 calories and was in the target range for where I wanted to be.

This evening I went to a pot-luck and took a deli tray with sliced meats and cheese along with some of the Bacon, Bleu Cheese, and Walnut dip I made over the weekend. For bread sticks I used a fathead pizza crust cut into strips. The dip was a bit thick and it easily spread onto the bread sticks and everyone enjoyed it! My intake was over 3300 calories for the day and I was happy as my macronutrient ratios were good: Carb/ Protein/ Fat= 3%/17%/80%. My carbs were at 29 grams which is high so I need to find fatty foods with less carbs. The fathead pizza sticks had too many carbs plus the macadamia nuts have a bit at the quantity I ate.

Tomorrow I will try some simpler foods like egg salad with homemade mayonnaise for lunch and possible a sous vide steak for dinner (will be the first time using my new toy!)

I am pleased with my progress and am planning to start a 48 hour fast Thursday after a business lunch until later Saturday so I can work on my feast/fast cycling! I am actually looking forward to the fast as I really enjoyed it!

Hmm, the day of eating is starting to hit me and I can really feel it in my stomach!

[Barbara_Greenwood]

Anybody know if, once you’ve perhaps mistakenly lowered BMR, if it can be re-raised? For instance if I do just feed / feast for most of a month…I fear I’ll gain a bunch of weight…but maybe not? Maybe that’s my old ingrained fear of CICO? And in reality it’s all hormonal and my BMR will adjust and rise accordingly?

Megan Ramos covered this during an episode of Fasting Talk a few weeks ago. Essentially - prolonged calorie restriction will reduce your BMR, and yes, it can be restored, though it takes time (months or years). The key seems to be alternating fasting with periods of adequate calorie intake.

If you fast, fast fully ( no calories). In between, eat plenty. You might find the feast/fast cycling thread on this forum interesting.

[Barbara_Greenwood]

Looking good, Ron. Fascinated to see what happens to your stats over the next several days.

Are you sure about fasting again so soon? Still - you’re an adult.