Fast/Feast cycling

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(Andrea Johns) #201

This is probably a dumb question…what is a fat fast? Are you abstaining from fat to force your body to “digest” its fat stores? Or are you abstaining from everything but fat to encourage ketosis?

(G. Andrew Duthie) #202

Not a dumb question at all. A fat fast is a fast in which some amount of fat is allowed, to make the fast more bearable for those of us who may not be able to provide for our daily metabolic needs solely from our own body fat, due to limitations on how much body fat you can mobilize in a given time period.

The addition of fat isn’t necessarily to “encourage ketosis” but rather to allow additional energy in a way that is least likely to raise insulin, which would serve to limit ketosis. By contrast, carbs and protein both tend to increase insulin (protein about half as much as carbs), so those should be kept to a minimum during a fast.

(Andrea Johns) #203

Let me see if I understand…You eat some fat but no carbs or protein “if” you don’t have much fat on your body? If I have lots of adipose (my $10 word for the day) to donate to the cause just water/bone broth fast?

(G. Andrew Duthie) #204

Depends on your goals. Water and supplemental salt (search the forum for keto-ade) would be my recommendation, as bone broth can have some protein (how much varies). A small amount of broth is probably fine, and can help with minerals, but you want to make sure not to overdo it, particularly if one of the goals of your fast is autophagy.

@richard, one of the founders of the forum, has a nifty calculator that can help estimate whether or not supplemental fat would be helpful when fasting, which can be found here (apologies if it was posted earlier in the thread…haven’t time to scroll back up through 200 posts):

(Andrea Johns) #205

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

(Adam L) #206

Thanks Jeff, good stuff let us know how you go. Well done getting close to your goal weight.

(KCKO, KCFO) #207

Thanks for this link. I have learned a lot from it.

Wow Science, how can so many people be hating on it these days? It is amazing stuff. So glad the Ketonians are into it.

#208

Held on to my post fast weight (221) through my feast cycle. Stopped eating at 6pm, which seems to halt weight gain for me.

Began my new fast cycle today…length again undetermined. Hopefully I will have said a permanent farewell to the “220s” after this fast has concluded!

(Blyss (Old @Charmaine)) #209

Decided not to weigh again this week. I’m good with that. :slight_smile: Iextended my IF fasting time for the past 3 days (1 meal for two days, and 2 on the first of the 3 days). Did a killer leg workout yesterday and hit 2 PRs (yay). Today, I focused on hydration and broke my fast between 5:30 and 6pm. I look different, my clothes are even looser. But, I just don’t feel like weighing - I hate weighing as a matter of fact. It stresses me. And plus my scale adds at least a pound (tested it with weights) so, I just don’t feel like having that kind of negativity in my life today. LOL

(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!)) #210

I am questioning this for myself as well! Trying to eat before 7 PM for now.

#211

It kinda sucks Ron…I love my night snacks. Usually celery with cream cheese, cucumber slices, cheese, pickles, liverwurst, olives…sigh. All stuff I should be able to eat.

I miss it, but I’m determined to break through and get my weight dropping again. So far, so good. Let us know how it works for you.

Down to 218 this morning. My beautiful wife has been keeping to a short eating window for a good year with great results, and she never eats later than 6pm.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #212

After fasting over the weekend, I switched up with some IF, eating breakfast instead of dinner, for just this reason. Hoping that having more sleep time without digestion will help stave off regaining what I lost during the fast.

(Thomi M) #213

Wondering how everyone is doing for sleep? My feast/fast cycle started a week ago and I have been having terrible insomnia.

(eat more) #214

i am not experiencing insomnia but i am sleeping less…like 6 hours…
it’s sort of annoying me…i am thankful that i have no prob getting to sleep (i take magnesium citrate and valerian root extract) and am not up during the night but i want more than 6 hours LOL

(G. Andrew Duthie) #215

I’ve not been doing the cycle thing for long, but I don’t seem to be sleeping as soundly, at least based on what my Fitbit is telling me.

That should be taken with a grain or two of salt, however, as there was a recent update to the Fitbit in terms of sleep tracking, so that it now claims to track sleep levels, in addition to just asleep/awake. Which means it’s hard to tease out whether I’m sleeping less (for example, I turned the lights out a little after 10pm last night, and alarm went off at 6:30am, but the FB showed less than 8 hours of sleep, and claimed I was “awake” for 75 min), or whether the new algorithm for sleep detection is more sensitive to movement.

I used to take melatonin before bed, figuring it’d help me get to sleep sooner. I stopped, but haven’t noticed any real difficulty getting to sleep. Just restlessness…though I’d get that sometimes even when taking melatonin.

(Daniel) #216

I’m on hour 63 or so of a fast. Last night I went to bed around 11:30, and was wide awake at 5am. Breaking the fast tomorrow afternoon, I think.

(Annette) #217

I’m curious, siobhan, what does a slowing metabolism feel like? I’m pretty ignorant about this.

Thanks!

(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!)) #218

I started the fast/feast cycling last week and have seen some impressive results! First of all I did a long fast and then started feasting on Easter day so I feasted for 12 days.

I started another fast last Thursday evening and fasted about 70 hours until Sunday evening when I had a nice steak with a total of 1845 kCals. I then feasted Monday and Tuesday and began a fast last evening for a couple of days (will eat again on Friday.

So, what have I seen?

Thur. 4/27: A large feast day ate 3870 kCals. Gained +3.4 lbs. the next morning.
Fri. 4/28: Fasting with some heavy cream in my coffee for 559 kCals. Lost 0.8 lbs. the next morning
Sat. 4/29: Water only fasting day 0 kCals. Lost 3.0 lbs. the next morning.
Sun. 4/30: Fasting with 1/4 cup of heavy cream, broke fast at evening meal for 1845 kCals. Lost 3.0 lbs. the next morning.
Mon. 5/1: Feasting all day total 2041 kCals. No weight change 0.0 lbs. the next morning.
Tue. 5/2: Feasting all day total 2116 kCals. Lost 2.8 lbs. the next morning.

I lost 9.6 lbs in those 6 days!

Sorry if it is confusing as I told what I ate on a particular day and what the scale said the following morning.

From what I see, the intended effect we are looking for is a ramping up of our metabolism during the fasting and then a continued burning and fat loss during the feasting as well. I will try to create a graphic for this effect before I post my results again.

(Annette) #219

Curious about this as well. In Jason Fung’s Complete Guide to Fasting, he mentions it’s okay to have a tablespoon of cream in our coffee while fasting. I don’t know whether he meant throughout the day. I’ve added my tablespoon a couple of times during the day while fasting. I hope I’m not doing anything detrimental.

(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!)) #220

@TravelGal when I do heavy cream in my coffee I do 4 tablespoons once or twice a day! I do that as it is about the amount that Starbuck’s puts in a venti size as a ‘splash!’

I have been doing this for many months and have had no adverse effects in my fasting!

But, as always, YMMV!