April 2023 IF/EF Chat Thread (All Welcome)

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #1

Hope everyone is doing well.

I’m staying below my goal weight with a mix of 2MAD and a timed eating window.

Hope everyone else is doing well also.

March 2023 IF/EF Chat Thread (All Welcome)
(Chuck) #2

At this point I am working with 18-21 hours a day clean fasting. Mostly having a smoothie of my creation and a meal no snacks.

#3

I decided April will be different and better, I even was cautiously optimistic even about my weekend (I tend to be way more relaxed and earlier to get hungry in weekends)…
And things just exceeded my wildest dreams. As I am a boring adult and my dreams stayed on the earth :smiley:

I still eat every day but hopefully that will change too. My basic aim is skipping lunch if possible. I am a hedonist so if it’s hard, I won’t do it so it’s not actually “possible” without some good reason I don’t have.

Yesterday my eating window started at 16:40 and ended maybe 3 hours later not counting some coffee with tiny cream. (I planned to quit coffee too but this wasn’t that weekend when I do that. But I started to drink coffee around 8pm, it’s something.)
Today I decided at 17:45 that maybe I should eat already… I had some weekness before but nothing too bad. But being full is better, after all, not like it does much good to my focus, I feel sleepy now but decent sized meals often do that to me. And today was OMAD, yay! I can’t imagine I need more today, I am totally stuffed. Yesterday I had multiple meals, hard to count and who cares, they fit into 3 hours.

I keep up the good work. I do carnivore too now, by the way. So I expect OMAD, TMAD, maybe sometimes 3MAD days but I do my best to have my first meal around 5pm (and my last not too late either). If my body will be cooperative.

Good luck, everyone, has a nice month! My garden offers more wonders every day, I have multiple flowering trees (like my magnolia tree) and many bushes and little plants do the same. I will have flowers until December :slight_smile: But spring is the most flowery.

(Nash) #4

Hi everyone! I’m on my 3rd day of water fasting, and earlier i drank 1 cup of green tea in the afternoon and 1cup of keto coffee tonight as to prevent my cravings for food and being fed up of only taking water for 2days, my goal is to do a 5days water fast, Can you give me advise if it is safe to break my fast on my 6th day with natural tamarind soup?(unripe natural tamarind which is sour, with milk fish called sinigang in the philippines). Hope to hear from you guys, have a safe fasting journey and God bless :blush:.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #5

Welcome to the forums Nash. A light lettuce salad with vinegar and oil is a good way to break a fast, after an hr. or so, have a regular meal for you.

Have you done much fasting before?

(Nash) #6

thank you for your response, I did 5 days water fast last year, it’s my first time last year and I think I did the breaking of fast wrong, that is why I’m taking any advise now on how to break fast the right way, is the salad with vinegar safe in breaking a water fast? I’m afraid that its acid might harm my stomach

#7

It’s quite individual what is right in that situation. For some of us, it doesn’t matter, 5 days is too short and we can’t eat too much afterwards anyway. There is no food that would make me unwell (apart from certain sugary ones, at least), I especially love acidic food, even all alone. Why would acid be a problem with a properly working body? And what would it have to do with some not extremely long fast?
Maybe there is something and I just don’t know.

(KM) #8

I think the only caution is don’t eat a whole lot right away. Have a small amount and see what your body has to say about it first. Fish is protein and might be a little harder to digest, but most people don’t seem to have issues after a 5-day fast. What went wrong last time?

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #9

You could use lemon or lime juice. Just remember to keep the ratio oil to the acid you use 3:1. So 1.t teaspoons of oil would take 1/2 teaspoon of acid used. I have never had a problem with this after fasting. Megan Ramos is the one who I heard 1st suggest doing that. It is important to delay a heavy meal, but be sure you feast after that long fast.

Good luck sorting it out.

(Nash) #10

after my water fast last year I started losing hair and I’ve gain weight faster than before even though I’m eating healthy food and exercising regularly. Thank you for your response. God bless. :blush:

(Nash) #11

thank you! this meant a lot. I’ll keep that in mind. God bless. :blush:

(Jane) #12

Been trying to do a 45-hr fast with my hubby every other week, so will start tomorrow after lunch.

KCFO fellow fasters!

(Chuck) #13

I am happy with intermittent fasting, my short fast is 16 hours and my long fast is 22 hours, and I have managed my routine now since returning from our cruise the first of March. And I was doing the same routine before the cruise for about 4 months. It did take me sometime to go from a 14 hour fast to the 22 hour fast, but been glad I have stayed at it. I feel liberated at the fact that I am free to eat more of what I enjoy eating and still maintaining my weight and even slower slimming down and losing just a small amount of weight.

(Jane) #14

Almost 22 hours in on a 45-48 hour fast. No real hunder yet - not even a mild wave. Those usually come at my normal eating times - 11:30 am and 5:30 pm.

(Jane) #15

29 hours in and feeling ok.

Was a pretty day so finished putting one of my (5) watering systems back in service after being drained for the winter, planted some lettuce, basil and cilantro I had growing in my greenhouse and sowed some daylilly for my husband in my greenhouse.

Eta: Made it 33 hrs and will be going to bed early for 8 hrs of “free fasting” LOL.

Was an easy fast this time. Not all are.

Will break mid-morning for 45 hr or wait until lunch for 48.

KCFO

#16

Nice, I only can do easy fasts (I can push a bit sometimes but not much) but I don’t do them since ages as I often say. When was my last EF, 3-4 years ago? I don’t remember. Still haven’t given up on it.

I try not even to write here anymore. I started to have a few bites at noon. What is with me…? (It’s totally mental, it’s not like I need food then.)
But at least I have a single big meal, I just have these tiny meals too. I do my best to lose them already.

I start to wonder what if I collect my “had enough” feelings (I am a temperamental one, I can be patient for long but I have my limits) and just go for an EF out of the blue. Doing something more extreme when something mildly strict doesn’t work is something I have experiences with. When I was unhappy with only 40g net carbs on keto (it was less than minimal to me) several years ago, I had a 10g day or something…? (Still vegetarian keto, that surely didn’t make it easy.) I never looked at my 40g carbs with the same eyes anymore. It’s very different when I don’t even have extreme low-carb items, sure but maybe something positive happens. Even if I fail at EF itself. It’s somehow easier for me to go something stricter and then fail it in a way that I get my original goal… It pleases my self-sabotaging rebellious inner self (it doesn’t want to sabotage me, it just wants more freedom. I need to handle this part of me as it won’t go away for long. I can sate it for a while but then I need to work with it, giving it tiny allowances, extras).

I sowed lettuce and flowers and planted zillion tiny onion bulbs too… My veggie patch is tiny and has lots of flowers (cornflower, morning glory, calendula, petunia, daisy) but some plants don’t need much place.

(Max) #17

howdy! I’ve been trying to get into an EF for almost a full month…well last Saturday I somehow got started for real. Still trying to figure out why this time worked. I’m 121 hours into my fast so far, hoping to break it on upcoming Saturday just before Orthodox Easter, 1 week is not bad so far! Last time I did an EF was 12 days but I was not exercising, this time it is daily strength training at the gym and sauna after. Feels better this time. And one last thing, been drinking pickle juice for electrolytes and feeling much better if I sip it throughout the day.

Latest glucose reading was 56mg/dL with ketones reading at 5.4mmol/L. Feeling good!

#18

I have some wilder times (just a tad but right now I focus more on IF than carnivore as the latter doesn’t seem to happen, lingering effect of Easter, I am perfecting a recipe) but I really start to think about starting an EF on Monday. Or just attempt it but seriously.
I am writing here to give myself an extra push. If it’s just a vague though tempting idea in my head, that isn’t as strong… I do my best to get myself ready mentally. I have no hungry times, the bigger challenge will be my mind I suppose. Even if I fail, I will be somewhat pleased to give some serious effort. But I would be elated with 40-48 hours.

(Jane) #19

I broke yesterday at 48 hrs so happy with that!

KCFO

#20

YAY! Congrats! :slight_smile:

I think about my Monday fast often now. I am pretty much determined to do it and will (not) cook accordingly :slight_smile: We will see. I think I better go for skipping lunch until then (big meals are more satiating)… Hopefully it will result in 2 OMAD days but I can never know.