Do I have to Fast?

(Samantha ) #1

Finished my first week on Keto with minimal weight loss results, but I feel so much better. I am looking to drop a large amount of weight…170 lbs. Do I have to fast when going Keto? I have been eating 5 small meals for as long as I can remember and have switched to three meals a day with no snacking. When do people start fasting? Do I have to do it to see real results?

#2

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: You’ll find what works for you. I naturally fell into reducing my eating window and fasting because I simply wasn’t hungry and could go longer and longer between meals. You may find the same is true. Everyone is different.

Meanwhile, best of luck!

#3

What @Just_Todd said. Not a requirement but many people, including myself, worked our ways up to it. It makes a huge difference.

Get the eating basics right first. Then new vistas can open up!

#4

I accidentally found fasting when eating Keto for a few months and found I was not hungry. Just do what is comfortable for now and stick with 3 Keto meals per day then after some number of weeks you will feel comfortable skipping one meal. Maybe a few months later you can get to One meal a day. Don’t force it, it will come natural after you get the crap out of your system.

#5

I wouldn’t think/worry about fasting at all until you know you are fat-adapted (for most people at least a month). I did keto for almost 4 months before my first fast - although i have done IF for years because i value sleep more than i value breakfast. After a few months of keto-ing I think you’ll have a better feel for what you can / want to do.

I’m now at a point where I’ve done a couple of 7 day fasts, a couple of 5 day fasts and several 2-3 day fasts. I started working fasts in to my routine organically based on how i was feeling and a sense that i was ready to fast. I’m also not someone who ever thought I’d do a 7 day fast unless i was trapped on a deserted island.

(Samantha J Ross) #6

I was worried I wasn’t losing weight and that I was at a stall but I just kept going and I lost like 3 pounds in 3 days. This was after the water weight was lost. I basically cut back on fat from dairy. Cheese is hard for me to digest so it’s better altogether. I try to fill up on veggies. And I eat when I’m hungry. If I’m hungry at 2 am I’ll eat then. I can still maintain or lose weight the next day so I don’t feel IF is super necessary for me at this point. I think you just need to have faith and trust the process! Also someone mentioned it depends on what you have in your gut. So try a probiotic if you don’t already take one. Maybe add more fiber. And keep in mind that if you have a significant amount to lose you don’t want to lose it super fast because the skin might not bounce back. Healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.

#7

Another voice for: no, not necessary. Don’t worry about it!

But you’ll probably end up trying it at some point, either because it happens organically*
or because it’s a very handy tool for health, for improving insulin sensitivity, for breaking weight loss stalls and once you’re fat-adapted it just won’t seem scary at all.

(*hard to believe now, but this forum is packed full of folks who couldn’t have imagined fasting. They go keto, are motoring along happily - and then realize one night as they’re putting on their pajamas that they completely forgot to eat that day!)

(Tessy M.) #8

Best way to describe it! Me too!

(jay) #9

Since I gave up carbs my sense of hunger , what it is and how it actually feels, has profoundly changed. I never planned to eat once a day, it just happened, I remember not wanting to eat breakfast, and I had long stopped bringing or eating snacks at work. I found it most comfortable and easy to eat once a day when I got home. I have never felt hungry or famished, to the contrary, it’s been freeing and invigorating. That in addition, I am for the first time, in considered control of my appetite rather than the reverse. I’ve missed a meal from time to time due to the vicissitudes of life and found it was no big deal. Its hard to relate, and everybody is different, but I get the attraction to fasting. By the way, Ive spent most of my life at 200 or above and began keto at 245. That’s where a life of brutal dieting got me. I am now at 165 and am continually amazed at how stable my weekly scale measuring is. I’ve never fasted to lose weight. The biggest payoff of keto (besides bacon) is that without the cloud of carbs, you can better feel what your body is telling you and you can trust and properly respond to your body’s signals .

(Candy Lind) #10

… and the morning after the next night, they realize they forgot their pajamas, too! :smiling_imp:

(Samantha ) #11

Great info…thank you! I am definitely in the deserted island phase when it come to looking at fasting. :smile:

#12

It sounds kind of cult like to say this - but you won’t really understand how your desire to eat - and to not eat will change as you spend more time on a ketogenic diet. Many/most people experience this sort of change in the way the experience hunger and (most often) the lack of hunger. The easiest thing to do is not even think about it until you have got a handle on how you are going to change your food choices to fit a ketogenic diet - including how to deal with not everybody in your house being on a keto diet (my wife joined me but my two kids are definitely not on board) and how you will live a social life and deal with eating in restaurants, and how you will deal with times you need treats/comfort food/emotional-stress eating. Fasting is the last thing I’d worry about until you feel solid with a keto way of eating.

(Stephanie Sablich) #13

What everyone else said :slight_smile:

I actually started doing IF before keto, but my fasting ability/stamina has only increased as I’ve gotten more disciplined with my diet. A HUGE part of this process, for me, has been really and truly listening to my sensations. For YEARS my poor body was trying to tell me things and I just wasn’t listening, sold on what the doctors told me was right and wrong… and I ended up getting pretty physically messed up in the process. Not to mention the emotional toll it takes when you feel constantly like you simply don’t have enough willpower or aren’t disciplined enough to lose weight, or that there is something just messed up about my body, leaving me quite discouraged. Keto and IF (and EF) has given me hope, both in my own ability and in my health situation.

Don’t hesitate to reach out for support- these first weeks can be hard to navigate. Every choice you make is a learning opportunity- pay attention to your body, try to separate between feelings and thoughts, and hang in there. You’ve got this :slight_smile:

(Samantha ) #14

Great input. thank you! Thankfully my husband is on board with me and no kiddos to be tempted by. :slight_smile: Will not think of fasting until further into this process.

(Samantha ) #15

Thanks for the advice of listening to my body. I feel like I have not been doing that for some time…100% agree on trusting the doctors with what is right and wrong for me only to find out they are seldom right! For the past four years I have been paying thousands of dollars for little to no answers and only “get more fiber and eat whole grains that will help you lose weigh” to solve any ailment I may have!

(Dawn Comber) #16

You don’t have to fast but I think it brings benefits that the keto diet does not. For example, when I started IF, I was having trouble lowering my FBG. But now, I seem to be tracking lower sugars since IF’ing.

I still have to experiment beyond 24 hrs. I’m hoping to join the Zornfast this month :smile:

Good luck!

#17

Listen to your body for sure…I can’t fast for extended periods of time and that may be due to the fact that I don’t really have weight to lose and I’m just staying keto for health reasons and maintenance.

I can do intermittment fasting 16:8 or one meal a day but it’s hard for me to go farther than that. Did a 30 + hour fast once just because I wasn’t hungry and thought I would keep going, but don’t know if I’ll ever make it too much longer than.

It definitely is not a requirement of keto, but a lot of people fall into it for all of the reasons expressed in the other posts.