Fasting questions

#1

New to this site. Need help with fasting there is a lot of conflicting info out there. I don’t eat anything after 7pm. I get up and take Levoxythyroxine at 4:30 and maybe drink water. I have a BPC at 7am /butter and MCT and then maybe water or more coffee until 11am then I have lunch. Am I fasting and what kind of fasting is that number wise? Also did a 24 hr fast last week with straight water coffee (black) and some chicken broth around lunch and got super cranky/hangry is that normal?

(Casey Crisler) #2

Do you have anything after lunch but before 7pm? Sounds like you’re doing pretty much the same as me. Although I only have two cups of have straight black coffee in the AM. I think that is called the 16/8 method. 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours to eat your meals. As far as being cranky, I can’t speak to that since my crankiness factor has increased ten-fold since starting the diet. :frowning:

#3

I do dinner before 7pm. I wasn’t sure if my meds or the coffee with fat in it counted as breaking the fast. Haha on the cranky piece and I would have to agree with you in that!

(LeeAnn Brooks) #4

I go by the rule that anything more than 50 calories breaks a fast. I actually stick to 20 or under, but I read the 50 in an article on fasting and it stuck with me.

So yes, some BPC’s can be a meal in themselves and not count as fasting.

(Robert C) #5

You are not fasting because you are having 3 meals a day.

But, your scheme will still help a lot if you are having zero snacks between meals and it will help because your breakfast (BPC) probably will not affect your insulin much.

(Alec) #6

So, at the moment you are doing a 12/12 intermittent fast. This is close to not fasting, so nothing to cheer wildly about! :joy:

If you dropped (or delayed to the afternoon) your morning BPC, then you would be on a 16/8 intermittent fast.

Your crankiness is maybe not being fat adapted? Do you feel hungry? Are you cranky because you are hungry? Are you confident that you are fat adapted, or do you just not know? How long have you been keto?
Cheers
Alec

#7

That is more in line to what I’ve been reading. I thought maybe the meds would count as breaking fast but wasn’t sure. The BPC gives me a lot of energy in the morning…

#8

I’m not fat adapted yet. Does this normally take a long time?

(Alec) #9

It can take anything from 6 weeks to 6 months, depending on a host of things. And it is a continuum rather than a switch, so you don’t suddenly become fat adapted, you develop fat adaption over time.

If you are not, then this would explain the crankiness. just ride it out, you will get there.
Cheers
A

#10

Long time and thank you! Down 72 lbs not all Keto but the Keto, recently started, has brought my blood sugars down consistently through the day to 86-98 eating or not. That proves to me that the science of it works. I will continue.

(Robert C) #11

@Alecmcq - that’s funny that 12/12 thing somehow called fasting but, it is really how people generally ate early in the last century.

I’ve tried to formulate a good idea of how intermittent fasting should really be described but I think it finally breaks down to case-by-case.

Essentially I think a person is not really fasting until they actually do not eat at a time when they normally would have.

For example, a person that has had dinner at 6 PM and breakfast at 7 AM for the last twenty years is not suddenly doing 13-hour fasts. But, if they decide on no food until 10 AM - now we’re talking fasting (three extra hours of lower insulin they were not getting before). Same with the people that normally munch on chips and ice cream until 10 PM and wake up to pancakes at 6 AM - if they could put off their breakfast until 10 AM (only 12 hours without food) in my mind they’re actually fasting longer than the first case (4 hours past their normal breakfast instead of just 3) yet their total time without food is less (12 hours vs. 16 hours).

Maybe some technical definition of fasting is when you are not actually chewing on something but that just means everyone not actually eating or not on an IV drip is “fasting”.

My other thought is just to stick with the “time restricted feeding” concept. This is because the numbers for fasting hours are sort of not comparable. I am lucky if I get more than 6 hours of sleep at night - how would my 15 hour fast compare to someone that has no trouble getting 9 hours each night?

Anyway - just thoughts I guess.

(Casey Crisler) #12

I guess the consensus is that BPC is counted as a meal? I don’t do BPC so I have no comment about it (as I’m commenting about it).

I can say this in reference to myself, since I’ve started IF 16/8, my weight seems to be ticking up. In 2 weeks I’ve not lost, which matches up with my IF’ing. Monday I’m back to 3 meals a day to see if anything changes.

#13

I think I will continue with what I’m doing and then a 24 hr fast once or twice a week for a few weeks and see how the numbers respond. Hopefully yours starts to head in the correct direction.

#14

Good thoughts and helpful this is the kind of feedback I’m looking for thank you!