Diarrhea and fasting

(August) #1

I have been eating keto since March this year, and I have done both intermittent and prolonged fastings to help me shed fat. I just had a holiday with my husband, and we had planned to eat garbage for 3 days while there. It was truly an orgy of carbs…

So I fasted from the evening before we left for home, and just broke my fast a couple of hours ago; about 42 hours of fasting. I have done fasting enough to not be bothered at all by it. I drink plenty of water with good quality sea salt added to every bottle. I get about 5-6 grams of salt per day while fasted. I also take 300mg magnesium, zinc and a herbal extract that is supposed to be good for the liver.

Now, today at work around noon I got a sudden attack of diarrhea. I made it to the bathroom in time, but after that I have just been flushing my guts out maybe 1-2 times per hour. It’s been going on for 7 hours now. It’s just water coming out - nothing firm.

Currently, I am puzzled what to do. Is it a natural part of prolonged fasting? I’ve fasted this long before without diarrhea. Could it be the salt I’m adding in my water? But should I stop taking salt now that I’ve shed so much of it through the hours of diarrhea? Could it be magnesium? I’ve only had diarrhea from magnesium once after taking a double dose (600mg). I’m usually fine with a 300 mg dose.
Could it be the copper supplement I got yesterday of which I took 1 pill yesterday, and 1 today?

The funny thing is that my body weight is increasing even after all this fasting. I was 90 kg when I came home on tuesday, and I’m almost 92 kg now. Am I drinking too much water?

PS! Even after 40 hours of fasting, and a small ketogenic meal this evening, my keto sticks are turning up white… I guess I really overdid the carbs lol…! It doesn’t usually take me more than a day of fasting to return to ketosis.

(August) #2

Sorry that none had any ideas so far. My diarrhea stopped around 9pm (after 9 hours straight) yesterday. Today my stomach feels sore, and I had a couple of smaller diearrhea attacks today. My poop is firmer.

Is it normal with diarrhea during a prolonged fast, and is it normally this “drastic”? I couldn’t believe how much water came out of me, and still my body weight seemed to increase…

Today, I am finally starting to see my keto stix change color and I am in light ketosis again. Took me like 4 days.

(Nicole Sawchuk) #3

I always get diarrhea when I fast whether it is a long fast or shorter fast (over 36 hrs) and I have been fasting for over a year. I just assume it is my body flushing itself out (like a detox) and I don’t worry about it. I just let it flow. At first it used to last longer but now I just get couple of flushes per day out and all is good.
After years of dealing with constipation to me, loose stools is no big deal.

#4

I wonder if you’re having too much salt. Both my partner and I had worked up to have 1 1/2 tsps of salt a day to stop cramps, but then it became too much and we each had a very close call with diarrhea while at work! We have backed off a great deal on the salt front and now have only a 1/2 tsp of salt (pink himalayan salt)/ day in addition to salting our food. No more diarrhea.

#5

Just in case no one else mentioned it. Magnesium is commonly used as a laxative. It pulls fluid into the bowels. If there’s not a deficiency of magnesium then that’s how the body gets rid of the excess. Good luck.