FEB 2026 IF/EX Fasting

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #1

New month, so new thread.

Hope you all are doing great this year so far. I’m on track, playing around with mixing lengths of fasting, it seems to work for me. I’m at goal weight and feeling very good these days.

JAN 2026 IF/EX Fasting
(Bob M) #2

I bought a CGM, for 28 days. I plan to put one on a few days before a 4.5 day fast, and see what this looks like. Plan to fast the week of the 9th.

(Tracy) #3

Ooo let me know how you get on with the CGM. I’m thinking of getting one,
I’m IF most days. Eat about 1330 and 1730 most days (depending on work location and traffic) so about 20 hour fast. It suits me well and I don’t particularly get hungry . Weekends could be OMAD but more accidental than planned. I would like to do a longer extended fast but it would need some planning.

(Bob M) #4

Hi Tracy, I tried the Stelo (which is over the counter in the US), and had a hard time with it. I had a 50% failure rate, meaning that 2 of the 4 I purchased failed (a lot) early.

I’m trying the Lingo this time, and I used our health savings funds to buy 2 sensors. Here’s a comparison between the Stelo and the Lingo:

Personally, I don’t think I need to have blood sugar readings every 1 minute (lingo) instead of every 5 minutes (Stelo), but I was unhappy with the high failure rate of the Stelo. That could have just been something that I’ll never experience again if I ordered Stelo, but these things aren’t cheap --around $100/month. They need to have a lower failure rate.

I’ll let you know what I think of it, and I’ll post my data once I start fasting.

(B Creighton) #5

Well, my progress from last week continues although my overall weight dropped to 179 from 179.7. My lean mass was up to 129.9 from 129.2, although my skeletal muscle mass was down a touch. I believe that I am slightly dehydrated this morning even though my total body water percentage is up a touch. My BF dropped to 21.8 from 21.9%, and my subQ dropped to 18.9% from 19.1.

#6

Do they not replace the failed sensors?

#7

I managed to fast for 24 hours, during which I did a gym session and almost 20k steps. Rather disappointed that my ketones only raised to 0.4, 0.5 now I’ve eaten. Mind you, blood sugar is sitting at 5.0 now which seems reasonable.

I’m still hanging on before I pop the new sensor on though. Think I’ll be better waiting until I’m fully fit again so I know the results aren’t skewed by illness.

(Central Florida Bob ) #8

Just checking in.

It’s Monday and I didn’t fast on Sunday. Both yesterday and today have low temperature records here and one of the things I’m trying to understand is how cold I feel when fasting. The temperature numbers probably don’t mean as much as how different they are for me. Both Sunday and Monday (Feb. 1 & 2) were 25 for our lows, and with our central heater set to 66F I would find myself shivering during the afternoon.

I’m figuring on fasting Thursday if the forecast works out. I’m undecided on going back to Alternate Day fasting or just what for next week.

(Bob M) #9

I didn’t ask. I figured if 2 of 4 failed, not sure I would want more.

#10

Still maintaining but doing a 48 HR fast most weeks… doesn’t help having had a cheat weekend for my birthday, struggling to resist the sweet stuff at times!

(Bob M) #11

We all do.

(Central Florida Bob ) #12

I ended up not doing a single fasting day this week, with weather giving us two all-time record morning low temperatures and some others. Both our Sunday, Feb 1st and Monday morning temp.s were the lowest for those dates with Sunday’s also being the lowest ever recorded for the month of February. The odd part about that is the previous record was set close to the end of the month, Feb. 26 1967.

I noticed that I tended not to be my coldest right after getting out of bed at that morning low temperature, but I got coldest around 3 to 4 hours after getting up and out. I didn’t try anything like a small breakfast, but more fuel might make sense. I did notice getting warmed up after my first meal, even when that was a cold meal of leftovers out of the refrigerator.

@ctviggen Bob, are you still setting up to do a long fast next week with a CGM? We’ve talked briefly about longer fasts and the possibility of feeling colder meaning our metabolisms are shutting down.

My next fast is looking to be Sunday and back on the Every Other Day approach for next week.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #13

DH used a CGM for 3 months. He adjusted some of the foods he had been thinking were not hurting him. But it turned out they were driving his nos. up a bit. So he had doubled down on the things that were working great and gave up the things that drove his nos. up. Not sure what model but he did have to replace one of them a few days ahead of schedule. And they are not that cheap, so thankfully the replacements came free. Over all he was happy with the new data.

(Jane) #14

I wish I had seen your post before ordering the 2 Stelo’s!

Oh well - I will see how they do and if I have the same results as you will try the Lingo next.

(Jane) #15

I am starting a 72-hr fast today after lunch. My Stelo is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and would be fun to have it during part of my fast but deliveries have been so spotty and delayed lately it may not arrive until after I break my fast. No biggie. I will be fasting again in about 3 weeks.

At least the snow is finally gone and we can get trash pickup and deliveries to our house again. Didn’t get either for 2 weeks and couldn’t do a burn-pile either so we were getting a bit trashy up here on the hill :rofl:

(Bob M) #16

@CFLBob Hi Bob, I’m 1.5 days into what I hope will be a 4.5 day fast with CGM. My blood sugar is 67 according to the meter. I’ll post results after the fast.

Here in CT, it’s been well below freezing (below zero) for a while, with high winds. But when you’re subjected to cold for a long time, it gets weird. Freezing now feels warm.

I did have to have a long sleeve shirt AND short sleeve shirt and my normal long pajama bottoms at night last night. Also tried to use socks, but those had to go. I consider this the “normal” cold of a fast.

@Janie I might have got a bad batch. I ordered as soon as they came on the market. The Stelo has a nicer system, as they also include “tape” that goes around the already glued-down sensor. Let me know what happens.

#17

For two days in a row I’ve fasted for 16 hours, very happy with my restraint :blush:.

Had my first hypo warming with the CGM of 3.9 when I woke up getting ready for second night shift. Bath still increases blood sugar levels but not as high as before, probably because I’m no longer full of cold.

(Central Florida Bob ) #18

We had two mornings, Feb 1 and 2, that were 25(F) and stomped on the daily records of 32 and 33 resp. Feb. 3 was around the same as the previous record, but like 1 degree lower… All 3 days beat the monthly record of 27 on the 26th.

A 3 or more sigma stretch of low temperatures, but it’s now close to the “normals” for every day.

I had planned on starting my next fast that would have been ADFs on Sun, Tues, Th., like all of last month, but I was too cold on Sunday. So I ended up fasting one day yesterday, which means this week looks to be two fasting days, Mon and Th. Since I’m basically trying to keep my body from resisting me and being less predictable, it’s as good as anything for a few weeks.

It’s 75 at the central air/heat thermostat and I’m used to setting the thermostat to 75 once the sun is down to start getting residual heat out of the house. I think it’s along the same thing you mention about “Freezing now feels warm.” We have a digital clock with a temp sensor in it by the bed, and it has been 62 plus or minus a couple all week, but went as low as 59 over those cold days last week. That was definitely cold. In the summer, with the central air set to 73, it’ll be 74 or 75 next to the bed.

I like the idea of a CGM, but, well, you know. I don’t even have any unexpired strips for my Contour Next, but that’s either a quick ride to the store, or a visit online.

(Jane) #19

Got my 2 Stelo’s a day early so attached one a couple of hours after starting my fast. Kinda boring data during a fast LOL. But will be interesting when I break my fast Friday at lunch and see what data I get this weekend.

24 hours in a 72-hr fast:

Keto Mojo data:
glucose: 81
ketone: 1.6
GKI: 2.6
Stelo glucose: 85

So Stelo pretty close to KM reading so far.

(Jane) #20

One of the things I wanted to test when I wore a CGM a few years ago was:

100 cal fat (butter)

100 cal protein (beef)

100 cal carbs (rice)

Just to compare the glucose response between the 3 because ya know… a calorie is a calorie is a calorie according to dieticians :laughing:

Will try while my Stelo’s are still working.