Extended Fasting on a Regular Schedule?

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #1

Does anyone do extended water fasting (48 - 72 hours) on a regular schedule? Is once a week too frequent? How about twice a month? Any thoughts on how frequently it can be done?

(KM) #2

My personal experience was fasting for five days out of every month. It fit well with my husband’s work travel, he would be gone approximately a work week per month, I would have nothing to do with food during that period.

I also did 3 days out of every 10 for a while. Both of them were helpful in weight loss, and I don’t seem to have any lasting negative impacts, except that once I reached my maintenance weight, my fast would push me into a place that felt inappropriately thin, so it’s now a maintenance clean out thing once or twice a year.

(mike lisanke) #3

I did eating on a 2 days a week, fasting 2 and 3 days between. But I found noticeable changes in skin, nail, and especially hair regrowth. I’ve never had an overabundance of hair and so, I’ve gone to eating meals 3 of 7 days And using BHB and amino acid supplements on fast days (without lean body mass loss). Your milage will likely vary. QED (I think if you find the correct nutrients during fasting you wouldn’t need to have high calorie intake while you still had external body fat).

(Bob M) #4

In a good or a bad way?

I’ve been thinking of trying another 4.5 day fast, maybe every 4 months, so 3 times/year. I did fasting 36 hours twice a week, and a bunch of 3.5 day fasts (along with intermittent 4.5 day fasts), but the problem is that if you don’t eat enough (you don’t “feast”), your body starts to lower basal metabolic rate. I had to quit frequent fasting because I would become cold almost instantly while fasting a short time. To me, that means the body is lowering its metabolic rate.

(Ethan) #5

In 2018, I did a 5-7 day fast every other week. I’m going back to that now.

During that time, I did a lot of experimentation and medical testing. I found that my fasting insulin overnight was generally about 13. After two days of fasting, it would drop to about 10. After three days of fasting, it would drop to about 9. After four days of fasting, it would drop to 7. Extended fasting was the only way to actually get my insulin low enough. I also do really well with alternate-day eating by fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

(mike lisanke) #6

In a bad way. As we age our protein requirements actually Increase. We tend to breakdown and excrete it, I’ve since doing multiday fasts been doing shorter OMAD or OME2D. But I’m adding amino acids and Mg BHB to my coffee. I did try the butter coffee but don’t believe I have enough bile production which makes for stomach upset. The hair loss and collagen (skin and joint) concern is minimal with proper supplement and none of it appears to throw me out of ketosis (during fasting).

(Brian) #7

I have mixed feelings about extended fasts on a regular schedule. Is there a reason for them? If so, that is a primary factor. If not, what is it that you are trying to accomplish?

I fear that too many might use extended fasting as a substitute for other things they should be doing such as exercising, or quitting eating things they shouldn’t be anyway, or even good things in amounts they shouldn’t be. Not all, but I suspect it happens a little too much.

The body does require fuel and appropriate building blocks. And often, the body is perfectly capable of cleansing / healing itself if a person quits bombarding it with stuff it has to fight.

I’m sure there is a time and place for fasting. I’m just skeptical about the idea that it has to be often and for significant periods of time.

(Bob M) #8

I can only say that the lowest fasting/overnight insulin readings I got were when I was fasting a lot. I’ve gotten 3.7 (fasting a lot) to 33 (fasting a lot less), though I’m usually closer to 10.

That, and a few skin tags that I have(supposedly an indicator of higher insulin levels), are making me wonder whether a longer fast every once in a while would be a good thing. The only way to find out would be to test. Too bad they haven’t figured out a pin-prick insulin test yet.