Fasting if you're already slim

(Marc Colbeck) #1

Hi Everyone,

I’m doing keto mostly because of my BP - I’m 150/98 or so with medications, and I don’t like that. I was about 20% body fat when I started keto and I’m down to 17% now, which is wonderful, but my BP hasn’t changed.

I’m worried about trying intermittent fasting because I’ve heard that if you don’t have enough body fat to ‘feed’ off of then you’re just going to have a bad time of it. But I’d like to try it to see if I can get my BP to drop. 3 months into the diet and it hasn’t really changed.

Any thoughts? Should you fast while slim? Has anyone had any experience trying this?

(Cywgdave) #2

I’m relatively slim and fast, IF mostly but an extended fast once a year (Tom Seyfried’s cancer prevention thoughts)

But there are a few things I find I need to think about/do while fasting. I can’t do longer fasts in the winter, (I’m in Canada, it’s pretty darned cold here in Jan/Feb), the energy needs to stay warm are just too great and it leaves me feeling rotten.

Also I have to moderate my activity levels, if I’ve fasted for even 24-36 hours and do any form of a hard workout it just kills me for the rest of the day. So I need to plan to not do those or take into account that I’ll effectively be a couch potato for the rest of the day.

Other than that, I don’t find it a big deal. As has been said many times by others, the wonderful thing about fasting is that it is really easy to end it- just eat. I’d say give it a try and see how it goes. If you feel rotten, then eat. If you feel good, continue.

Cheers.

(John) #3

I started IF before ever trying keto(16-8 but had alot of 14 to 15 hr in the mix) I didn’t do it to lower bp but realized after seeing my doc a few times that my blood pressure that was usually about 138 over 85ish was now 118 over 74ish. I thought the machine was messed up the first time but after going a couple more times over a couple months and getting similar numbers I figured the IF did it. I was just over 20 percent body fat and really didnt have a problem after the first few days. Now that I have been doing keto for a few months my body fat is down to 16 and i still do at least 14 hr IF every day with no prob. Just make sure when you are eating that you are eating enough and you will be fine. I Dont know for a fact if my bp lowering was directly related to IF or not but it was all that I changed at the time.

(charlie3) #4

I’ve been doing exercise since Febuary and keto since March. I skip breakfast 5 days a week, eat nothing one day a week and am flexible about timing 2 meals the day after the zero calorie day. I don’t snack. My current weight is at the mid point of my BMI, 144.

Febuary 14th I recorded 161/85. On August 9th I recorded 105/51 and seem to be solidly in the teens. My assessment is the exercise gets the credit but clearly keto did not interfere. There were no medications in the mix.

My exercise consists of walking 1-2 hours 5 days a week at mostly 3.3 mph with HR at 55-65% of max, 3 30 minute sessions of steady state cardio at 70-75% of max HR, and 3 60 minute lifting sessions per week. I believe walking was the most important to BP but they all contributed. I walk and do SS cardio on the zero calorie day. Eating or not makes no difference I can see to exercise.

I suspect that losing weight without physical activity costs muscle mass. A well functing metabolism needs to be restoring energy to depleted muscle cells. That means they need to be depleted which isn’t happening much if you are sedentary.

I needed to lose 25-30 pounds and 3" of waist line to get back to high school trim. Mission accomplished. I would love to stay this lean and regain the 25 pounds as lean body mass over the next 2 years. Can a 69 year old do that? There’s only one way to find out, n=1.

(Marc Colbeck) #5

Interesting, thanks. I’ve started now doing an 18/6 IF (eating window is noon to 8 pm) and I think I’m going to start incorporating walking on my non-rowing days. I try to row a half hour most days and I really love it. Unfortunately, I work from about 9am to 6pm most days with a half hour commute, so by the time I get home and get to eat, it’s usually almost time for bed. The good news is my gym is at my work so I can get my workout in during the day.

#6

You may want to check out Dr Pompa’s blog and podcasts. He’s a big proponent of IF and block fasting and many of his followers are pursing optimal health, not weight loss. This includes his lean teenage son, who’s done multiple block fasts while continuing to grow and put on massive amounts of muscle (as boys his age are prone to do).

(Marc Colbeck) #7

Cool, I’ll google him. Thanks a lot.

(charlie3) #8

I’m at work 7 am to 6:30 pm plus 100 minutes of commuting round trip. I get 80 minutes per day of break time for the walking. My gym is at home, left over from fitness years in my mid 30’s. Walking has mostly fixed a weaker left hip. That’s the controling reason for walking. To make it more productive I listen to books plus run a metronome to keep the tempo and use a runners app to call out speed and heart rate. The last thing I’m giving up is a strong walk.

(Beth) #9

FWIW: If IF doesn’t seem to help, here’s what worked for one of my friends with high BP. She resolved the issue by giving up caffeine. She went from high BP even on medication into the middle of the healthy range within one week and has stayed there.

(Marc Colbeck) #10

Thanks for that tip, I appreciate it. Unfortunately I am EXTREMELY caffeine sensitive - one coffee when I wake up and I won’t sleep that night - so I avoid caffeine as much as I can, or else I don’t sleep.

(Nicole Sawchuk) #11

I’m slim and used to do a lot of EF (over 3 days for me) until I reached my goal weight. Now it is way harder. But I regularly do 42 hour fasts (just finishing one up now) at least once a week. It took some getting used to but I LOVE working out fasted! I did it last night at the 24 hour mark of fasting and kept on going. It gives me so much energy. But I have to supplement with a lot of salt throughout the day.

I do find some days I need more “training wheels” to get thru some fasts longer than 36 hours, which I think its due to hormonal shifts in my cycle. I will take a tablespoon of coconut oil covered in salt and that hits the spot or a cup of bone broth. I try not to force a fast but in those cases, I am usually swamped at work with no access to any decent food and don’t want to chow down on take out.

Worth a try and just remember fasting is like exercise and it takes some times to build up your fasting muscle.

(Nicole Sawchuk) #12

I also cannot have any type of caffeine. But my reason is more of an intolerance (gives me the worst gut pain). But fasting seems to be my energy kick I need.