Difficult to fast

(Dawn O Miller) #21

Thank you, This Keto Forum is great, but I think the people who mostly come to the forum are wanting to lose weight, but you and I are in a unique position that we want to reap the same benefits of keto & fasting but don’t have enough fat, or our bodies are doing everything it can to preserve what fat we have remaining. Shockingly I don’t feel hungry, and I would rather not be stuck eating 3 meals a day or even 2, I was far more productive eating OMAD, but I fear skipping a meal because I may get sick.

I totally agree with you about the flexibility theory, I remember hearing from somewhere that animals that hibernate actually undergo metabolic syndrome during the summer to gain weight for the winter. I think something similar would happen with our ancestors - gain weight during the summer because of the overabundance of fruit and root vegetable that would make the insulin levels go up, and during the winter, only eat meat and keep insulin down.

(Dawn O Miller) #22

If I go more than 16hrs without eating something I start to feel my heart pounding against my chest, and just a “low” feeling like my blood pressure has gone down…if I don’t eat soon after that than I’ll start experiencing terrible dizziness even if I’m lying down…what I’ve learned is if I start feeling that way, start eating little bits of fat until I start to feel better. Cooked bacon helped me a lot last time I felt that way.

I use to suffer from low blood sugars before going keto, which has pretty much resolved, but that feeling is nothing like low blood sugar, it’s actually a lot worse.

(Rob Grantham) #23

I don’t know about you dawn but I find that I really need to eat some protein and fat at almost every meal. I began eating keto but now I’m leaning more and more towards a carnivore way of eating.

The vegetables are simply not filling enough or satiating enough now and they just take space which could be taken with fatty meat.

I know exactly what you mean with this feeling. If I fast overnight for 12/13 or more hours no problem but if I start fasting on top of this 15/16 or more I begin to feel this way.

When I was 26% bf a couple of years ago I could fast two days straight. No problem. But now I’m lean it’s a different story. I think this feeling is some kind of adrenaline release which is an evolutionary response to motivate us to seek out food. Pronto. Either this or the body in the absence of fat will be forced to catabolise itself. I can only imagine as fat stores get lower proportionate to lean mass that the reaction will be stronger.

(Rob Grantham) #24

Also (and I don’t know if this is related) but if I leave it too long between meals and eat a large meal and often a lot of fat… I get dizzy. I’m experimenting with smaller portions of protein and fat. This way I feel generally better and don’t get sleepy or brain fog after food

(Dawn O Miller) #25

I was Keto than Carnivore, and recently switched back to Keto, although I guess I am now Keto/ mostly Carnivore? Pretty much 95% of my diet is meat, fish, shellfish, eggs and poultry, no diary and minimal plants (right now just seaweed -which I really just use as a garnish - for a suspected iodine deficiency, and 1 cup of berries after dinner for it’s fattening fructose). Honestly I agree with you about the vegetables, without them I can finish up the protein on plate in one setting, and all they have ever given me is bloating and flatulence, and acne. Honestly I will be quite happy not eating another vegetable for the rest of my life.

I wonder if you getting an adrenaline rush is because you are a man? I have not experienced that but I wish I would, it would be better than what I go through!

(Dawn O Miller) #26

I have to have both protein and fat, preferred would be a fatty protein like ribeye, otherwise I pair a lean protein with a fatty one. For the past 2 months I’ve been eating 2 proteins for at least 2 of my meals so like eggs& bacon, chicken w/ shrimp, pork w/ shrimp, ribeye w/ mussels, white fish w/ clams…I know the combinations don’t make sense, but it works for me…

(Andrew Jolly) #27

Hi Guys, I have been following this thread with interest. I too agree with a lot that has been talked about.
I am still keen to know if anyone with low BF is seeing benefits in fasting and what sort of fasts they are doing? Can you still get the fasting benefits without doing a strict water / electrolyte fast??

(Herb Martin) #28

First, they are your choice.

If you want help and ideas we can offer but our choices may not work for you.

One suggestion: PUSH the 3 square meals together tighter.

If you feel you must eat them then do them in 8-10 hours.

#29

I was Omad and mixed in 72 hour fasts 2-3 times a month and lost 60 lbs very quickly. Now that my body has adjusted and I’m a lot leaner, it is hard for me to omad. It’s even harder for me to fast longer than 24 hours. I might try another extended fast for some autophagy, but it has gotten far more difficult. I imagine I’m 15% body fat or less now.

(Herb Martin) #30

If you are doing OMAD despite difficulty then good on your.

I’m assuming you mean it’s hard due to hunger though you don’t actually say that…

What DO you eat? Is it a lot of (even good complex) carbs? That will make you hungry.

15%? What are you goals? That’s pretty healthy unless you are trying to do competition body building or run marathons…

How did you determine that? My scales give me a pretty good fat percentage readings. They agree with each other and agree over time fairly closely as my fat disappears.

(E.g., my lean weight no fat would be 150-ish lbs.)

I can find “15% fat weight” by division:

150 / 0.85 = 176.5 lbs.

This makes sense as my “best weight” in the Army (almost 50 years ago) when in really good shape was just a few lbs lower, i.e., 172-ish.

Consider Carnivore (with lots of added fat to keep from going non-keto from protein.)

Moving into and out of fasting from carnivore is trivial for me, but then I am still carrying a lot more fat than you.

(Rob Grantham) #31

I already do my last meal at 6pm and then breakfast at around 8am it equates to around 14 hours daily fast.

I know this seems quite small but If I do more than this over a few days I’ve noticed it affects my mood. I get more agressive and I can feel the adrenaline kicking in

(Herb Martin) #32

You sound like you are doing fine – better than many of us, me included.

What’s your current goal?

What happens if you just “tough out a 3-day fast”?

With your experience and what you have already accomplished then that’s likely very doable.

Also, if you get irritable or otherwise do yourself any type of harm (health, social, financial, etc.), then just don’t do that thing without a DARN GOOD REASON. :slight_smile:

(Rob Grantham) #33

My current goal I believe is to maintain my current weight and possibly tone up a bit for the summer.

If I tried to tough out a three day fast? I’m not sure I didn’t try but next week I plan to dip my toe into it with a 24 hour.

I can’t let my calories go too low because I’ve had it in the past where I’ve felt really lightheaded almost like I could pass out. This was when I was skipping meals. You have to be careful I think when you get leaner you’re presented with a different set of problems.

At the moment my body Is telling me to eat a lot so that’s what I will do. Thank you for the encouragement. I’ll try not to do anything too crazy.

(Herb Martin) #34

Lightheaded stands a far greater chance of being fluid/electrolyte than food/calories deficiency.

It could also be just straight low blood pressure either from general health improvements or again due to fluid issues.

You’re in good shape (both ways) so make yourself happy within the parameters you set.

(Herb Martin) #35

I don’t believe you want to purposely “My ‘theory’ is maybe gaining some visceral fat is needed to fast…well it’s still early days for me in figuring this out…”

Visceral fat is generally not a good thing.

Subcutaneous fat is not necessarily a bad thing.

#36

I’m still omad most days but sometimes end up eating twice a day.

My diet consists of eggs, cream cheese, salami, bacon, pickled jalapenos, hot sauce, pork rinds, and the occasional quest bar or two to satisfy a sweet tooth. I dont typically stray from those foods.

In my typical meal I eat 8-12 eggs, 1/2 lb. Cream cheese, 2-3 oz. Pepper Jack cheese, 15 strips of bacon, 3oz. Pork rinds, and maybe a quest bar.

#37

I did a super scientific Google search :man_shrugging:

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(Rob Grantham) #38

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I guestimated myself at around 14% what do you think? I’m not sure of the accuracy of thenavy test but it said 15

(Rob Grantham) #39

Holy crap dude I think id vomit id I ate that much. Don’t you feel sleepy after eating?

#40

No, not at all.