Did my first 3 day fast

(Todd Aaron) #1

last night I ended my first 3 day fast. I have done intermittent fasting for years (16/8 to 20/4) but this year I started doing longer fasts…
I’ve done several 24 hour fasts, and two 48 hour (2 day) fasts, but I fasted from Friday night, over the weekend and through monday night for my first 3 day fast.

I could have gone longer but I wanted to ease into the longer fasts, plus I am losing weight fast and I don’t have a ton of fat to fast on at this point.

I’ve been using the Navy method for figuring bodyfat for years and have found that to be consistent and easier then the calliper method. It may not be 100% accurate but with a baseline, all I am looking to see is a way to track progress.

It was a kind of goofy start as I intermittent fasted all day until late when I ate a meal and that was the last one before Monday night. So I started with a partial fasting day Friday…

I weigh every day same time in the morning and take measurement so I can figure body fat, so its easy to track.

Lost 7.8 pounds
Lost 7.4 pounds of fat
Only lost .38 pounds of lean mass
Lost 1 7/8 inch on my waist

#2

Congratulations, great results!

Aside from looking to lose bodyfat, do you have any pre-existing conditions?

Just wondering if you’re starting from a position of relatively good health because I wouldn’t expect someone with notable Insulin Resistance (IR) to have such good results in that time frame.

(Michelle) #3

Wow, great and encouraging as I will start an extended day fast this weekend. Can’t wait to see how much of the weight stays off. Will you also be able to calculate what comes back on as fat and muscle? And was it water only fast?

(Cathy Schroder) #4

Well done! I didn’t quite make it to three days when I last tried, but another attempt is long overdue. Thanks for providing the inspiration to try again!

(Todd Aaron) #5

Thank you!
I do not have pre-existing conditions… none that have been diagnosed yet anyway. My mother’s side of the family has a massive record of heart disease and most died from heart attacks or heart related issues, so I am interested in taking precautions in that area to avoid that. I am not familiar with my birth father’s family medical history so I have no clue what else may be out there waiting for me. As far as I know, I am in relatively good health, but was getting uncomfortable with the fat I have gained. I was in far better shape in the past 5-10 years. But life has gotten complicated and busy and I’ve let my health/physical condition suffer long enough.

I have had a really intense love affair with sweets for years, but exercise had kept the weight from getting totally out of control. I should have been diabetic based on the amounts and frequency of what I was eating. The idea of that coming likely was enough to make me want to do something to head that off before something happened.

Unfortunately I don’t have blood work from immediately before I started this, but I did get some done last year that I could dig out and possibly compare to something I could get done at some point in the future after being on keto for a while. Nothing was alarming about the previous blood work enough for my doctor to mention.

I am thankful for the good results… I think they are from determination to stick to it. My main goal is fat loss, then I want to attempt to add some lean mass. Secondarily I am interested in the health benefits because I would like to not run into issues rather than attempt to come back from them after if possibly. Trying to be proactive. And hopefully just generally improve my overall health.

(Todd Aaron) #6

thanks!
The key to sticking to it is staying busy. I broke mine more out of boredom than anything else. I think the mental ties to eating that have nothing to do with actual hunger or providing nutrition to the body are pretty strong.
Yes I will be able to calculate what comes back on as fat and muscle too. I actually ate out yesterday twice (once for a work deal and one was dinner with mom) and I was not able to track and calculate what I was eating because of no access to nutrition data from these places, so I winged it. I ended up apparently eating more than I needed and gained weight. But my waist measurement went down anyway, and my bodyfat% fell so it was a gain in lean mass and a loss in fat. I’ll take that!

Yes, it was a water only fast.

All in all as of today I am down 21.6 pounds. My bodyfat is down by 7.7%… that is 18.12 pounds of fat lost with only 3.48 pounds of lean mass lost. I’m not totally stoked about the lean mass lost but I think it happened on the couple of times that I fell off the diet and was attempting to get back into ketosis after by fasting before being in ketosis which may have allowed it.

(Todd Aaron) #7

Thank you!
Keep trying! I found that not keeping myself busy enough was a problem. I connect eating with many activities and I need to break that connection.