Fasting Schedule

#1

Thank you for the responses to my weight loss stall.
I had been IF daily 18/6, 1400 calories and I stalled for about 3 weeks. I changed it up due to several responses about mixing it up.
I ate all day, and sure enough I dropped a lb. the next day.
My next question is, should I change it up each day or every third day? My longest fast has been 23 hrs. Does the longer fasts really have an impact healthiest or weight wise?
I dont foresee going over 36 Hrs, but if its very beneficial I would do something like that every 2 weeks or so.

(Chris W) #2

I have found that no pattern at seems to work really well or do nothing twice in a row. Fat has been the biggest game changer. When my fat intake is low before an EF I don’t loose and feel worse. I am currently on hour 60 of a fast, I ate almost twice my macro at mid day/last meal of fat and that has been working very well for me this time around.

If you push the fasting too fast or too far you metabolism will drop, fat adaption will take longer IMHO and you will be worse off than if you had worked into it.

Also at 1400 calories in general that seems a little low, but I don’t know your stats.

I know that the first couple fasts for me were amazing, I did the third one wrong and it was not pleasant(it reminded me of a diet with too little calories). I think that you reap the most benefits with the least pain in 48 hours if you are fat adatped. It also seems to depend upon your goal, my is goal is both loss and autophagy. I do not really concern myself with the scale, its only one part of the whole. If you get caught up on the scale you can easily loose sight of the bigger picture and put yourself at risk.

(Vivienne Clampitt) #3

Hi Chris,
How can you tell when you are fat adapted?

(Chris W) #4

That is a subjective thing, I think its also not a light switch but more of a like a pot of water this starting to boil.
For me 2 big things happened.

Exercise was the biggest difference, I was not able to exercise at the beginning of keto, around 3-4 weeks in I started again, I normally would previous to keto ride an exercise cycle for up to 45 minutes on a mid level, but more often 30. While I was in adaption to keto I might make 10 minutes at first on low to mid level and I hit a wall. After about 3-4 more weeks I could make it back at 30 minutes but I never tried to go harder or longer. Around this time I discovered LISS method of exercise so I had cranked my bike up to its highest one day and rode a couple minutes and then stopped. I never reset it, jumped on the next day rode like I normally would and started to listen to episode of the dudes, the next thing I knew I had finished the episode(like 50 minutes) on the highest level the whole time and I had more to give. That was a lot for me.

Number 2 I found that I would just not get hungry and not eating as much. I was pretty much three squares until about 8 weeks, around then I noticed a shift in hunger. I woke up one morning did my work out for about an hour, got busy and never ate. I did that like there or four times and then all of the sudden I went 24 hours without eating. I pretty much have followed that routine ever since, I IF and don’t eat until noon and stop at 6.

That is my experience, I also noticed foods started to taste better, and I really lost my cravings for sweets all together. Another thing I noticed is that I did not consume as much protein, and fat ingestion seemed to go up, or it took more to make me full. By then I was not tracking macros as tightly and even now I only audit myself now and again. I re do my macros every 10 pounds of loss, and I am about hit 60.

(Vivienne Clampitt) #5

Thank you.

(Chris W) #6

I might add that in the exercise my weight or resistance training was little effected by keto, only the more cardio. I still do about 1/2 hour of that 5 days a week.

(Raj Seth) #7

My signal for fat adaptation is hunger as we know it disappears
It is quite bizarre

(Chris W) #8

I would agree it had me really wondering, it was around then when really started to understand fat adaptation, until then I knew little of it or understood its meaning.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

BTW, if you have trouble getting started with your exercise once you are fat-adapted, Dr. Phinney says it’s probably because you’re a little dehydrated. He advises a cup of bone broth about half an hour before beginning, which is enough time to get your blood volume up but not enough to make you want to urinate.