Anyone else having decreased ability to fast over time?

(Bob M) #1

I started long term and intermittent fasting multiple years ago (maybe 3?). Originally, I started skipping breakfast, then having a small bfast and skipping lunch, then skipping bfast and lunch a few days a week. Then I graduated to 3.5 day fasts (eat Sunday night, fast until Thursday morning), then 4.5-5.5 day fasts (eat Sunday night then fast until Friday morning, Friday evening, or Saturday morning). I’ve done between one and two handfuls of 4.5-5.5 day fasts, and well over two handfuls of 3-3.5 day fasts. And I’ve incorporated intermittent fasting also, fasting 36 hours twice a week and one 22 hour fast for that week, for multiple weeks. I also rarely eat breakfast (no longer hungry), so even when I’m not “fasting”, I eat few meals per day, typically during windows. Today, for instance, I just did 25 minutes HIIT at 7am and won’t eat until probably 11am. I will have dinner, so two meals in one day.

Anyway, here’s the issue. This year, I’ve been having a difficult time fasting. I’ve done one 3 day fast and one 4.5 day fast. I have done multiple 36 hour (plus) fasts. But periodically, I get freezing when I try to fast. This Monday, for instance, I set out to fast 36 hours. I ate Sunday night, but by 10-11am Monday, I was FREEZING. It was all I could do to make it 22 hours and eat dinner. Wednesday, another attempt at 36 hours, freezing again and had to quit at dinner. Yesterday, trying to fast until dinner, freezing again, though I made it until dinner.

For large swaths of this year, I’ve been freezing to the point where I can’t fast. My 3 day fast was supposed to be 4.5 days, but I only made it 3 days.

(Note: It used to be that freezing would occur for me late in a fast, say 3-4 days into it. I’ve heard various theories - burning certain types of fat or reduced metabolic rate - as to what causes freezing, but don’t know what is really the cause.)

Anyone else have a similar issue? If so, what did you do about it?

#2

Hey Bob, since you didn’t mention energy level I’m assuming it has stayed the same. Has your body composition changed a lot during this time? I can see how decreased fat stores could result in this.

(charlie3) #3

May be you are being too agressive? Keto got me down to my highschool waist line and weight in a matter of months. I see no justification for me to be doing multi day fasts. What I do is I skip breakfast Monday through Friday, eat nothing on Saturday (today), then Sunday is early morning bacon and eggs and early evening dinner. I don’t snack. Over six months this has seemed sustainable and worth the effort. If I was retired and always home I would try breakfast and early dinner so the hungry time is when I’m sleeping instead of the hours leading up to lunch.

(Alan Williamson) #4

I had problems complying with doing 3-5 day fasts every week. I tried doing OMAD and found this to be easy to comply with. It is slow, but the progress is real. Further, it is easy then to do 2 or 3 day fast when possible.

(Todd Allen) #5

Though I’ve never gone longer than 5 days, I went through a period where fasting was reasonably easy. Now it is harder. Recently, I’ve found it helpful to begin a fast by first doing a day of zero carb/carnivore. I’ve been eating a more relaxed keto with higher carb intake and it may be making the transition into fasting rougher perhaps raising fasting insulin reducing the rate I can metabolize body fat. Or maybe it was just easier when I had more excess fat. When fasting more than a day I’ve also found it helpful to not do true fasts but consume some fat, mostly coconut oil and/or mct oil.

(Bunny) #6

“FREEZING?” You mean your cold? Not enough Vitamin B-1 in your diet prior to EF & IF fasting?

That is why my main source of B-1 comes from non-fortified nutritional yeast! The reason for the nutritional yeast (non-fortified) is the bodies ability to absorb it (gut lining)! Man-made B-complex supplements are absorbed poorly by the gut!

If your sitting their having little bouts of shivering (core body temperature drops) just short of thyroid problems that’s why!

B-complex vitamin deficiency can cause tingling sensations or numbness in your toes, feet, hands and fingers also besides not getting enough magnesium, potassium and sodium!

You might also experience constant bouts of dizziness and nausea with the tingling toes and fingers and you might be feeling pretty weird when doing IF or EF and what I described above is probably (most likely) the cause of it!

”…Dr. Berg talks about being colder when you do intermittent fasting and if this is normal. Actually it is a normal adaptation process and occurs to adapt to not eating. The core temperature will decrease so this is normal and you can take B1 to help offset this. As you do this longer, the coldness should lessen. …” …More

Help a newb out
(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #7

Getting cold like that is a sign you are not feasting enough before and after your fasts. I had some problems with getting too cold but once I cut down some on the fasting and upped my feasting meals the day before and after fasting. I no longer get cold when I do fast now, I do 36-48 hrs fasts a few times a month, the Zornfast, that I can go up to 90+ hrs. and IFing 4-5 times a week.

(Allie) #8

I always get cold on EF, even used to happen in the mornings when I first started IF. I know several others have the same problem when doing EF as it’s been discussed in the monthly fasting discussions. That cold feeling is the absolute worst. It’s not an issue at all when I’m not at work, but being limited in movement (desk job) makes it unbearable. Fasting is way easier when the weather is really hot and now things have cooled down, the thought of another EF is massively uncomfortable so I’m just sticking to IF for now, maybe until next summer.

(Bob M) #9

Sorry, I got sidetracked. Thank you for all the help.

It’s tough to say about the activity level. I think (relative to say 3 years ago when I started fasting) I’m more active now, exercising 3 days a week, usually lifting to failure + HIIT for two days and HIIT for one day. I also have more muscle and less fat, though I’m still technically “obese” (though I don’t look it with clothes on at least). Back when I started fasting, I used to workout while fasting 4.5-5.5 days. Not sure how I did that. Now, I would not attempt that (and I like to give my body a rest anyway).

The cold is sometimes shivering but mainly super cold hands. As in I can’t touch myself cold hands. Even my kids will remark how cold I feel.

I could certainly look into thyroid, though I did a search for thyroid issues and don’t have any symptoms. I could also increase my iodine intake. I used to not take any vitamins (I eat mainly meat with some veggies, sometimes some dairy), but I’ve started again only because I’m also trying a new “liver repair” set of vitamins, but my cold feeling started before this.

I do try to eat more when I don’t fast. But life gets in the way sometimes. I tried to fast on a Monday after working around the house (closing the pool, installing rigid foam in the basement) and working my butt off over the weekend. I was absolutely freezing that Monday can could only last until dinner. I tried to eat more over the weekend (I think I fasted 22 hours Friday, until dinner), but I was working so much I did not eat as much as I should’ve.

So, I’ll try to take some more iodine and fast only until dinner twice a week and see what happens. Today, I’m trying a fast until tomorrow, but I think I’m going to eat dinner again, as my hands are freezing again, though I’m not that physically cold.

My ultimate goal is to be healthy, but I feel some autophagy/apoptosis might be helpful, but that takes multiple day fasts. If I can’t make it a single day, multiple day might be out for a while.