Hi all.
I don’t have a great deal of weight to lose (5kg?) and after 6 weeks of Keto, I’m noticing I’m slowly losing inches (particularly this past week, where I’ve FINALLY got my carbs under 20g!), so I’m happy.
I feel great, I’m satisfied, my energy levels are high, even though I don’t sleep well. I initially used Keto sticks but found them confusing, so I’m relying on how I feel.
I notice a lot of people seemingly frequently checking their blood ketones - is this necessary? It seems obsessive to me - and the last thing I need is a dietary obsession!
I find I’m eating 2 meals a day - usually a breakfast/lunch meal around 10am and then a second meal around 6pm. So I guess I am IF-ing without realising it.
My question is - is fasting necessary for someone like me? I know there are no rules, per se, but I’m reading about fasting and it doesn’t get me excited. Are people fasting for weight loss? As an experiment? Other reason? Do I need to do it?
Thank you in advance.
Are Fasting and Blood Checks Necessary?
Hi Mich. I am sort of like you, but actually I am not trying to lose weight but rather just trying to eat healthier. Fasting is not needed, but there are health benefits from say a 3-4 day fast. Usually people trying to push through a plateau in their weight loss would try a fast for say up to 7 days. You’re IF-ing should be sufficient for you to lose weight slowly. Since you and I don’t have metobolic syndrome based on your post, you mostly likely will lose weight by just reducing your carbs - that’s what happened to me.
Ketone strips are nice maybe weekly just to check that you are in nutritional ketosis, say 0.5 to 1.5. Since you are 6 weeks in to eating Keto, you may be fully fat adapted, but maybe not completely. Once fully fat adapted, your time of fasting will be easier too. You may not want to try a 3-7 fast yet if you never have before, and just stick with your IF-ing for a few more weeks.
I’m sort of new to this so I welcome a more experience person adding to this discussion.
Tom
OK, thank you for the quick replies! I’m clearly not mentally ready, and I don’t even think I’m physically ready (first few weeks was experimental and a bit “faily”!); but I’ll monitor how I feel and I may see you in Zornfast later this year!
HAHA -exactly how I felt too! HOWEVER, I had 100 lbs to lose & stalled at a loss of 40 ( my stall lasted over a year & I just kept calm & ketoed on!) I still had significant weight to lose, but got off metformin (prediabetes) & BP meds. I also was not sleepy & hungry all the time ( great NSVs!) so I did a 3 day fast about a month ago - & the scale moved-YAY! I’m just now breaking a 2day fast - even though I really didn’t feel I HAD to eat! I’m amazed at how easy this has been both times -so now it DOES excite me much more!
I’d say if you have no health issues, why even consider fasting? You are fortunate to have realized the danger of sugar & carbs long before you were in the same boat with many of us!! Many of us GREW UP being taught fat was BAD & " healthy grains" were good! It’s really hard to get over that mindset after 50 years of believing it to be the truth!!
Are people fasting for weight loss? -YEP that’d be me -& it’s much easier than I ever dreamed!
None of it is really needed, some of us like to see how it works on us so we measure, and some of us have health issues we need to monitor. I fasted just because I heard people talking about it and coming from carbs I thought there was no way I could go a whole day without food, then I did so I went a few more days. Just cool to see what you can do, but not required by any means.
I have never measured ketones or BG. When I started I was active on a Norwegian Low Carb forum, and using sticks to check urine was very common. To me it felt too much like being on a diet, to others it was a helpful tool, so I suppose it’s a personal preference. Unless you have some kind of medical issue where monitoring is required, that is.
As for fasting I feel a bit different. From what I gather, fasting has many health benefits beyond weight loss, so I will try and incorporate this as a lifestyle thing, just like my way of eating. I doubt I’ll do a several week fast, but at some point I would like to do a 5-7 day fast. Currently I fast 1 full day (36+ hours) once or twice a week, and vary between one and two meals the other days. When I do decide to do a fast for several days, I think I will allow some fats, as I’ve been made aware that I might not have sufficient body fat to cover my energy needs through this alone. I don’t want to compromise my BMR.