Doctor does two extended fasts - results

(Lisa ) #1

Hi all. Lisa here. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I’ll give you a quick summary. Been keto a while now, decided to try out fasting so that I could give patients proper advice using both my experience and the science.
First fast was 7 days long, consisting of coffee with a small amount of cream, bone broth, water and magnesium + himalayan salt. Day one really sucked for me. Got better after that. I found that doing daily high intensity exercise made me very hungry, but I ate a small amount of fat and got through that.
Started with a normal BMI, lost about 3.5kg or so. Then I had a wedding where I had some wine, and the next day a small amount of cake and Indian food. Remained in ketosis despite this. Ketones ranged from 0.6-4.4 during this fast.
Second fast, I started with the plan not to focus on weight. I dialled back on the exercise and spent more time resting. I had much less hunger. I also didn’t bother to check my ketones as often as last time - I could feel that I was in ketosis. Currently sitting at 1.1 after a workout.
Weighed myself this morning - total lost over the two weeks has been 4.2kg (just over 9 pounds). My waist circumference has decreased from 76cm to 71cm. I look a lot leaner. I have also found that medium intensity workouts of longer duration are better for me when fasting.

I have had zero migraines and zero hypoglycaemic attacks.
My clothes are too big for me.
My muscles are more defined!

TLDR; I would definitely recommend a keto lifestyle and fasting to everyone.

(Carl Keller) #2

And your grocery bill went down. :slight_smile:

Do you feel like your metabolism increased after say, the 1st or 2nd day? I haven’t tried exercise during a fast but I know I get a lot more things done around the house and work. I just seem to have a bit more motivation and energy.

Good job on your fasting experiment.

(Lisa ) #3

I felt like my metabolism ramped up on the second fast when I added in MCT oil (day 3) and decreased the dairy. Like, I felt warm all the time and demolished the house work. When I say I dialled back the exercise, I switched out a couple of gym days for a long walk to get my 10,000 steps. Gentle exercise didn’t make me hungrier, but certainly made me feel great!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #4

How was your refeeding experience?

(Lisa ) #5

It was good. I had a small fatty meal in the morning and I had about two spoonfuls of curry and a bit of naan bread and was stuffed. No problems there!

(Carl Keller) #6

Isn’t that just amazing and awesome? Everyone should experience that feeling at least once to realize what our bodies are capable of, if we let it.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about this lately. It seems ketones are just fine for low intensity activity but when we are doing high intensity exercise, the body prefers glucose for energy and draws whatever glycogen it can from the muscles and liver. Depleting that glucose reserve is why the hunger kicks in afterward.

I’ve read some articles that say don’t exercise heavily during a fast but when you are almost out of the fast, it’s a good time to work out because you can act upon that hunger and reload some of that spent glycogen.

(Lisa ) #7

Yeah, I looked at the science about that too. I must say, the day after having some carbs I was ON FIRE in my combat class.

(Lisa ) #8

Also, MCT oil is great. Would recommend 12/10!

(Carl Keller) #9

I’ve been using coconut oil regularly but I will give MCT a try. You’re probably the only doctor whose advice I trust. :wink:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #10

I had a nasty ED in my 20’s so I’m not planning any extended fasting but it’s interesting to hear the experience of others. Some people have to wrap their minds around eating fat because they’ve been told to never eat fat. Me, I have to wrap my mind around fasting because I was taught that doing that is so very bad.

Glad you had success.

(Lisa ) #11

Aw, shucks!!