Happy Mealless Monday Fasters!
I’m 15 hours going for another 42 hour fast. I’m saving a fortune in grocery bills doing this alternate day fasting!
Have a great day everyone!
I’ve been hearing more and more that maybe Magnesium is the culprit behind leg cramps. It’s also a muscle relaxant so I take it before I go to bed.
Just stumbling in to say hi to everyone. I forgot today was meal less Monday but it worked out that way so all is good.
The month is almost over and I plan to get another day or two in. The Labor Day holiday is coming up and I never know what to expect so I will be forearmed.
34 hours in on the 72 hour fast, and feeling great so far. I took my lunch time yesterday to go for a 3.5 mile speedy walk, and got a new Personal best without really trying. My physical condition is improving, and I’m feeling great! Hope everyone else is enjoying a food-less fasting period!
I have mixed feelings about magnesium. I’ve taken a lot of it and taken none of it. I’ve used magnesium oil and not used magnesium oil. I’ve used drops with it in the drops and not used them.
And if you do any research on leg cramps, you instantly get overwhelmed with conflicting info. For instance, pickle juice almost immediately stops leg cramps. If that’s the case, then it’s not anything in the blood stream. I’ve also seen people say their leg cramps were cured by salt, potassium, magnesium, taurine, increasing salt and decreasing Mg, increasing Mg and decreasing NaCl, etc. I’ve also been running more with flat shoes, so maybe that is part of the problem (though I don’t do any exercise during extended fasting).
For me, it’s unclear. Nonetheless, I’ve been trying Mg oil every night and more minerals during the day. 36 hours fasting so far, trying to make it 4.5 days. Alas, my blood pressure was only 94/65 this morning. That’s low for me. The longest I ever made it was 5.5 days, and I stopped because when I stood, I got dizzy. I’ll keep track of my blood pressure, but I’m wondering if increasing my minerals, such as potassium, has an effect?
By the way, does fasting mess with anyone else’s sleep? Last night was fasting night #1, and I was alternatively cold and hot and woke up at around 3am and had a hard time going back to bed. If I make it another three fasting nights, usually by night #4, I’m getting up at 4am. We’ll have to see what happens. This is one of the reasons, though, that I’ve cut down these longer fasts to a few times a year.
Hey Bob, my sleep is on average an hour less since going keto, but I feel no adverse effects from the lesser amount throughout the day. I will have to document more of my sleep patterns when fasting versus non-fasting, as I don’t have data to fall back on for that. However, I would say that in general I do sleep less/wake up more when fasting, but again I don’t seem to be low energy or sleepy during the day as a consequence. n=1 data, but that is my experience.
I have a similar effect, I think. Assuming I make it 4.5 days, I’ll (likely, though not always) be sleeping less, but I won’t be that tired during the day. It must be hormones or other effects of fasting.
By the way, here’s an interesting study (posted by @gerdosi on Twitter) about alternate day fasting:
I think I sleep better when fasting. Or at least, my glucose seems to be more stable, according to my FreeStyle Libre.
I ate dinner on the 21st, 22nd and fasted on the 23rd and 24th, and then ate dinner on the 25th.
On the 25/26 I woke up twice…once around 5:15am to feed the baby and then again just before 8am.
Aw man, now I want a Libre… Realtime, continuous data! That is awesome! And the data does seem to show less variability on the days that you fast. Does that correlate to better, more restful sleep?
Possibly. I do wake to get water (I have a water bottle by my bed). And of course, I’m tuned into the baby’s crying over the monitor…
See if your doc will write a script for it.
I think the reader is about $70 out-of-pocket and a 14-day sensor is about $80 out-of-pocket, although its probably covered somewhat under your prescription benefits. It doesn’t hurt to try. You don’t actually have to pick it up from the pharmacy if its too expensive 
It is interesting how the medical community has basically no idea what causes leg cramps and how they can be controlled or ameliorated. They are so common, how have we not figured this out already?
Yes fasting means shorter sleep and I dress more warmly.
It is interesting. I had some tests done the day before I got leg cramps. The tests showed normal potassium, magnesium, and sodium in blood. So, what caused the cramps then? Some say these aren’t great indicators of magnesium level (in particular) in the actual cells. I’ve gotten red blood cell magnesium tests done, though, and those also show a relatively high magnesium level.
The other issue is, if I have no leg cramps this time, but did last time, is it the extra amount of minerals/pickle juice I’ve been taking in? It could be or it could just be random. For instance, I was running outside with flat shoes one day per week and doing treadmill 2 days per week in those flat shoes before my last fast. This fast is coming off vacation, so I only did one day of treadmill in the last few weeks. Maybe that’s it?
Day 3 of fasting. I had a better sleep last night, higher blood pressure (107/67) this morning. Not that cold, though I did sleep under covers. My wife says I sleep very soundly, with no kicks or shakes, which I sometimes get when I’m not fasting. She knows, because I go to bed shortly after 9pm and she comes up and reads until midnight.
The other thing that happens is that I’ll get super tired at 9pm. I was falling asleep on the couch last night. And that’s not unusual when I fast.
The second day is for me by far the worst. I also went home and sat through dinner while everyone else ate steak, shrimp, etc. That was tough.
As for the FreeStyle Libre, here’s what it shows me for one month:
I have months of data just like this. This graph is from a European model, though I now have a US model. To convert to US units, just multiply by 18. when I fast, the whole curve comes down, but the shape does not change. That is, I still have higher blood sugar in the morning, which goes up until near noon, then goes down all day until night. If I eat, the whole curve goes up. That is, my blood sugars all day long are higher than when I fast, but the curve shape is the same.
Also, I rarely eat breakfast, so that doesn’t affect the curve. In other words, my blood sugar, which goes up until about noon, is not affected by breakfast, since I don’t eat it. Coffee does not affect it, either, based on my delaying coffee intake until later in the day and my blood sugar still going up.
Ketones will be the opposite of this: lower in the morning, higher at night.
Often, I get home really late, which (theoretically) causes problems when eating. However, when fasting, it’s helpful. Tonight, I have something from 6-8pm, so I’ll be home about 8:15pm. Tomorrow, I won’t be home until 7:15pm or so. That means I have less than two hours to make it until I can get into bed!
Hey everybody! Just checking in. I’ve been doing great with the adf, and am down a total of 22 pounds since I started in mid July. The adf is really helping fast track my weight loss, as it looks like I’ve lost 6 pounds in the last 7 days. I always track after my feed days, so I’m absolutely thrilled! This last weekend I flew out to New York to meet up with my ex husband and fly my kid back with me. I did real good at fasting on the airplane, which was actually harder to do than expected. All the wonderful smells in the airport were quite enticing. When I arrived, I stayed true to the cause of keto, until the ice cream was pulled out, where admittantly, I did partake of 3 or 4 spoonfuls. I was super disappointed in my lack of willpower, and fasted the next day on the fly back to Washington state. I figured my 5 or 6 pounds of water weight would have shown up on the scale when I got back, but low and behold, I was down 3 pounds! Crazy how effective this eating pattern is!
Today is my feast day, and I think I’ll run it into lunch tomorrow, because I’ve got a 3 day weekend this weekend that I plan on trying to pull a 72 hour fast in. I will start at noon on Friday and break at noon on Monday. That will give me a chance to refeed before going back to work on Tuesday in case there are any bowel disturbances.
My son even wants to start fasting with me, as he’s amazed at how quickly I’ve lost weight. Unfortunately, fir his height he is about 30 pounds overweight. My thought was to have him do a modified fast with broth and salad? Does anyone have any input on this idea? I know they say children shouldn’t diet, but when a kid carries an extra 30 pounds, is it safe to incorporate a fast here and there?
Thanks for the input!
I wavered back and forth about fasting this week while I am in Ft Worth and decided to do a 48-hr fast. So black coffee for me this morning (boo). I just wasn’t that hungry and nothing appeals to me to eat so a good time to start a fast.
Hubby is driving over for the holiday weekend so looking forward to getting my appetite back and enjoying some good (keto) food.
This will be my first 48-hr fast. I usually do either a short 36-hr by skipping eating one day or a 3-4 day fast.
I am going to teach a lady how to make cold process soap on Monday and I found a place here in Ft Worth that sells the scents for candles and soaps where I can go smell them before I buy. Going to be a challenge because I am sensitive to smells and some smell like food! I don’t ever use those in my soaps so will be careful to avoid. 
Wow Kathryn, you are doing fantastically well.
Is your son a teenager? He might enjoy the posts by @Ketokid. There are a few other teens who have posted as well.
I would think simply cutting out the carbage, eating moderate protein and upping healthy fats should work even for children. I would probably go with IFing rather than EX fasts if he wants to fast with you.
Hope he can lose that extra weight and develop good eating habits while he is young.
Wow, I feel odd digestion-wise after my weekend away. All the restaurants? All the unknowns? Inflammation from the flight itself?
I did do a fabulous job of not cleaning my plate and letting the be waste. A hard but needed skill for me to work on.
This made me smile because you are not alone, I don’t think it’s the smell but for some reason my brain thinks that as soon as I am through TSA I should be looking for food. It is super odd. going thru security is slightly stressful, could that be the reason…
I started my fast last evening, and I am planning to go until sometime tomorrow evening or longer… again I feel so odd I can’t really guess what will happen with my body right now. Maybe it is seasonal allergies…
Wishing all a wonderful Wednesday!!
My old doc used to order full panels as part of my routine annual physical and I never came up short on any electrolytes in the tests. But taking daily potassium and magnesium supplements has virtually eliminated the problems I had with foot and calf cramps (sometimes even my hamstrings). On the few occasions they’ve started to emerge, I just take an extra dose of mag and potassium and drink some salt water and they disappear pretty quickly. So, I don’t know whether the tests aren’t accurate or the standard of what’s adequate isn’t very good, but I do know that I need more of all those things in my system than is generally thought to be enough.
Wow! Those are great results! Congrats. I agree that if your son is a teenager that it might be okay for him to try some TRE like 16:8 or 24-hour/OMAD. I think that @collaroygal is right that, for someone still growing, cutting carbs and getting adequate protein might be all he needs to hold his weight fairly steady, possibly drop a little and grow into those extra 30 lbs. If he’s not a teenager (which I’m thinking might be the case since you had to fly across the country to escort him home), then I’m not sure. It’s not recommended, but that’s probably just an abundance of caution and historically children probably did fast a little bit. Cutting carbs and getting sufficient protein should be a good option.
