Feeling My Impending Mortality - My Fasting Journey

(Raj Seth) #21

I know you didn’t ask me but… I dug out my old 10-15 yr old clothes boxes. Tried em on. Then did a happy dance when I realized that I had shot past them and had to give them away. I had to happily buy new clothes. My drawers and closet are very sparse right now. I am at a weight from 33 yrs ago - college junior. I wear my college ring - BECAUSE I CAN💪🏻 My wedding ring will have to be sized because it is too loose.
Life is good!

(Raj Seth) #22

I was about a 1/2 inch from needing the belt extender on flights. Now, I wear 36” pants and routinely have to shorten the belts a good bit to fit :call_me_hand:

#23

Yeah, I agree, I like shopping at the outlets. But at this point in time all the regular outlet stores carry clothes that are too small. So I feel limited in only being able to shop at Burlington.

#24

Well I’m depressed. I ran into a hiccup on my journey last night. Around 52 hours into the fast I gave into the cravings.

I fell off the Wagon. Drank a cup of instant Bone Marrow Broth, which lead to another and then a cup of regular broth “Better than Bouillon” then another and a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. I think drinking Bone Broth at Night for me might be like a gateway drug. I’m so angry at myself for my lack of self control.

Good news is that I climbed right back on and haven’t eaten anything today. I plan to fast until Friday evening.

Then on Saturday or Sunday I’m going to go back and fast for at least 5 days.

Just started a crockpot of Bone Marrow Broth to break my fasts with.

I am still determined to one way or another do this fasting thing and lose that 100 LBS.

(Rob) #25

You are kind of willfully ignoring the advice of the fellow fat guys. Go keto and get fat adapted first and then worry about fasting.

For context, I absolutely had your facing mortality moment after years of yo-yo CICO dieting and have ketoed on to my lowest weight in 20 years having lost 50lbs in 5 months (after 45lbs by CICO) and I’ve hardly fasted (10 days in that whole time), though I IF almost every day.

If you’ve read about peoples’ transformations you will see that the weight is NOT the most important thing. If you do keto, you will reverse your metabolic syndrome in 3-6 months, way before you lose the 100 lbs. You have to understand that the weight is NOT causing your illness and getting rid of it will NOT make you healthy. There are plenty of skinny guys with metabolic syndrome. Weight is a symptom not a cause, so fix the cause first. That is best done with keto. If you can’t stick to keto with your current motivation, then you are likely to be a yoyo dieter regardless of how much you lose. This won’t be because of willpower but because of your metabolism and what you have done to it and not fixed. The Biggest Loser guys and gals all lost far more than you have to and 90% put most/all/more of their weight back on because they did it the wrong way.

The fact that you are not finding others who have done it your way either makes you a visionary genius OR doing it wrong. Occams Razor suggests the latter.

Seriously consider going keto first and then worry about fasting or I foresee more slips like this one.

(Raj Seth) #26

No need to be depressed! easy to restart a fast - no major overhead.
However, as us the common thread in every other fat guys’ posts, it would all work better if you repair your metabolism, go keto and become fully fat adapted first.

If your CICO, yoyo dieting wrecked metabolism is running at 1600 cals/day then with an absolute fast you may lose 100 lbs of fat in 219 days (3500 cals x 100 lbs / 1600 daily) and you will be lethargic cold and blech for the 219 days.

If you repair your metabolism first with some fast feast cycling and full keto and fat adaptation, you may get your BMR up to lets say 2400 cals/day. Now, you need only 146 days (3500 x 100 / 2400) and you will be juiced up and full of beans the whole time because your body is running on high energy!!

the latter is the way to go! Going full keto and becoming fat adapted takes a couple weeks, at most a month

#27

Good grief. These last 2 comments are simply stellar.

Pay attention. Find your focus Fatguy, and feed it. Success breeds success, and be patient.

#28
Good news!

I just weighed myself  and in the past 3 days I've lost 5 Pounds. Also my shirt isn't straining as much toward my belly. Yes I know the majority is water weight but still it's encouraging.

 I really want to thank you for spending the time to give advice. I don't think that I mentioned that for the past few months I've unsuccessfully tried to go Keto then I came across Dr Fung and listened to what he said about fasting.
I'm  incorporating fasting  to reset my Mindset, Body System, and Eating Habits.

Below is my answer to your post.

You are kind of willfully ignoring the advice of the fellow fat guys. Go keto and get fat adapted first and then worry about fasting.

Everyone is different. I've been trying unsuccessfully for the past number of months to go Keto. The reason for incorporating Fasting is to break up my Mindset and reset my habits
The two going Keto and Fasting are not mutually exclusive. Based on the feedback on this board I've   decided to go keto at the same time as I fast.

For context, I absolutely had your facing mortality moment after years of yo-yo CICO dieting and have ketoed on to my lowest weight in 20 years having lost 50lbs in 5 months (after 45lbs by CICO) and I’ve hardly fasted (10 days in that whole time), though I IF almost every day
.
My mind is open and I may decide to go with some sort of short interval Fasting down the line.
I'm still too new and  So far I've only gone 2 days fasting. I have to see how my mind and body react to a longer fast. I plan to try different fasting intervals. My mind is still open.

 The fact that you are not finding others who have done it your way either makes you a visionary genius OR doing it wrong. Occams Razor suggests the latter.

Well I tried doing it the other way and now it's time to try something different.

Seriously consider going keto first and then worry about fasting or I foresee more slips like this one.

I am fully prepared to slip up along the way.  I figured out that the reason why I was so angry and depressed with myself was that I ate a high carb meal and threw myself out of entering Ketosis. As mentioned above Solution is to go Keto and Fast at the same time. That way when or if I slip as long as I eat low carb food, it won't effect Ketosis. My new overall goal  is to get that Test Strip deep purple and keep it that way (Mostly ) for the next 100Lbs.

 

 

 

#29

Going on 43 hours of fasting and it’s 5:00pm and I’m hungry. Stomach feels empty. I can feel the tension in my face and a really stressed feeling.

I keep thinking about the Beef Bone Broth that I have cooking at home. I’m planning on a cup now and a cup at around 9:00.

Since Dr Fung says you can have 2 cups of broth. (Thank You Dr Fung) so I won’t think that it’s a fail if I drink two cups.? I’m going to rationalize and say that I’m a beginner at fasting, so I can be a little more liberal.

I’ll make a commitment. I promise that I will only eat 2 cups (Maybe 3 at the most)of Bone Broth. Nothing else.

One day at a time sigh…

(Raj Seth) #30

Day 2 is the worst. It gets easier. Put a pinch of salt under your tongue. Let it dissolve. It’s like eating. Then drink water. Repeat as needed when hungry. Heed Fungs advice on the symptoms that tell you to stop your fasting. Other than that - KCFO

My first 36 hour fast I had umpteen cups of broth. Then did a 36 hour with no broth. Then a 6 day. Exercise that fasting muscle! It gets easier with practice

(Shantanu) #31

Hi. First off, all the best with the journey. You will be the better for it.

My n=1 take…
I am 48, 6’7" and started keto on Mar 6, 2017 at 285 lbs. Today I’m at 236 lbs. I started dabbling with fasting only after 3 months of strict keto when I was confident that I was fat adapted. Here’s what I have learned so far:

  1. Your time frame will vary but my humble advise is to not rush into fasting. Take the time to get confident about your hunger. What that means is that after a good ketogenic meal, your desire to eat should be significantly diminished. We humans are programmed to eat, and we live in a food saturated (1st) world, so more often than not, the desire to eat is mental not physical. Keto helps with the realization, and more important, the rationalization of this fact. I have fasted for as long as 5 days and have found the mind to be a stronger challenger than the body.

  2. I have changed my outlook on fasting. Initially I looked upon it as a way to drop pounds. When that didn’t happen to the level I expected, it brought me down. Now I look it as a way to repair metabolic damage which basically means lowering my fasting insulin level. I had that checked in Feb '18 and it, along with the HOMA IR score showed that I still have insulin resistance despite the low fasting BG. So now I’m in it for the long haul. If I can lower my fasting insulin level, I will eventually reach my healthy weight, whatever that is (I’d like it to be 200 lbs :grin:) . But more important, it will also restore some measure of metabolic flexibility for me to occasionally ingest some carbs. Fasting is my means to get there.

Here’s my current fasting strategy:

  1. I eat within a 2 - 3 hour window around 2 pm. I eventually want to get to OMAD
  2. I have stopped adding heavy cream in my morning tea and coffee. I think this will prevent an insulin response after nearly 16 hours after the last meal. Basically I am trying to stretch the window of time I for a low/no insulin response
  3. I have also eliminated bone broth for the same reason. I want my meal to be the main driver of the insulin response

My hope based on everything I have learned thanks to this forum, podcasts, books, etc., is that over time I will be normal i.e. insulin sensitive.

Good luck!

(Melis Jansen ) #32

I did intermittent fasting before I did Keto. I was losing weight by just eating one meal a day. I tried a few whole day fasts and they were difficult. I started reading about keto in some of my fasting groups and gradually started eating more and more of a Keto diet until I went fully keto on the first of the year.

I never had any type of Keto flu at all which I think may be because I went on it gradually. I have been doing at least one 40 hour or more fast at week and it’s a lot easier now. I’m not sure if that is from keto or just from having more experience fasting.

Anyway starting out with intermittent fasting and then easing into keto worked out really well for me so maybe it would be viable for you also.

#33

So it’s Friday, turns out I was mixed up by the days and Sedar is tomorrow. Decided to Eat Keto.

So I finished up my bone broth. Around 3 large cups worth. I then ate 2 sticks of Cheddar Cheese and two handfuls of nuts.

Good news is that I checked my Ketones and am now small (15) and my weight went down 5lb to 270lb.

#34

Well I binged this weekend and gained 1 1/2 pounds of it back. So I lost 3.5 lbs in a week. It will be interesting to see how I do when I go Keto for a complete week combined with a 5 day fast.

It’s Ok if I mess up , baby steps while I ease into it.

I’m going to shoot for 5 day Fast with a 2 Large Cups of Bone Broth a day. And if the Fast goes well I’ll extend it.

If I end up giving into the hunger. I’ll make sure that its Keto Snacks.

My wife complained about the smell from cooking Bone Broth in a slow cooker, so I just bought the Mealthy Pressure cooker on Amazon and I’m looking at all kinds of great recipes to cook on the weekend.

I think if I can make a variety of foods I’ll take to Keto easier. Over the weekend I made a version of greens in the slow cooker and it was delicious. Basically threw in some Smoked Ham Hocks, Mustard Greens, Chard , Onion and garlic. My son ended up eating 1/3 of it he liked it too.

Been listening to Dr Fung “The Aetiology of Obesity 6 part series” so fascinating to hear so much of group think is wrong.

(Joe) #35

Hey @fatguy I just got caught up on your thread since my last venture here. Glad to see your journey continues!!!
. I’m not sure if anyone asked this before but… How did you try keto last time? What did the meals look like? Did you get a healthy balance of whole foods or was it just meat and cheese? I started with too high protein… (after stopping being a vegan keto) It may make a difference, it did for me.

For example, I was kinda stuck for a number of days and getting cranky and hungry. My lunch was pecans salami and cheddar dinner was double cheeseburger eggs and more pecans. I started incorporated more keto friendly plants such as avacado, asparagus and broccoli and cut out excess cheese in the eggs and burger. Also liberally applied butter and salt. For me that set off the satiety alarm

Here is the thing too. There can’t be any cheating with the carbs that peanut butter and jelly probably just made the next day harder. If you fast without carbs for 36-72 hrs then dump in 90 carbs you are going to just feed the hunger fire. You may have been thirty minutes from getting past the pangs. If you must eat try an avacado or beef patty the plan won’t work if you are only one foot in.

Its seems your struggling with the empty belly. I routinely fast 48 hours now (1-2 times a week).I feel light and lean but don’t feel emptyanymore. Ever. Never a rumble in my belly and no pangs. Most the time only eat to enjoy a bourbon in the evening watching sports.

Alot of the successful ketonauts started very meticulous with counting macros and learning how to eat. For me it took a bit to figure out how to get the fat without overloading the protein. I under stand I can have more carbs than I do but I still keep them very low because I can and it works for me. I don’t count them anymore I just know I’m not eating them outside of veg. Now I just see what the meals look like and I stay in ketosis like clock work.

One final thing. As a previous poster alluded to, work on seeing the forest through the trees. You can lose weight on any diet, keto and fasting is about fixing your metabolism so you don’t need to diet anymore. Yes you give up sugar and bread and other carbs but once you feel healthy for the first time in years you will never go back.

Keep trekking on brother!!!

#36

Last time I successfully did it for awhile it was pretty much Meat and Salads. But I’ve been trying for the past number of months to go back on Keto and it just wasn’t working. I can already see that the fasting is doing a re-set of my system.

This Time I bought a Mealthy Pressure Cooker and have been perusing the recipes, I’m planning on cooking up a storm on my non fast days. Just reading through the recipe books there are some intriguing alternatives.

Cauliflower Rice, Substitute Jicama wherever you’d use potatos. Lots of exciting dishes.

#37

Interesting. I have a very similar experience, and regularly do 24’s, 48’s, 60’s. Since I’ve been fully fat adapted, ACTUAL HUNGER is mostly non-existent while fasting. Wanting food and being hungry are NOT the same thing…

#38

Well I’ve had 2 days of fail. One day just a little fail but last night epic fail.

Man I wish I could make my family not buy Hi Carb snacks and cakes. It seems like in the middle of the night when I’m 1/2 asleep that my resolve goes to heck. “It’s hard to be a Saint in the City”

So on Monday Night I had a small piece of Chicken.

Yesterday Tuesday I got in my new High Pressure MultiPot. Well I just had to cook a meal on it and I made Low Carb Beef Stew. I substituted Jicama for Potatoes. Tasted very good. Kept to a Keto Diet…

Than I woke up at around 4AM Finished the leftover Stew and sitting next to me was this bag of Cheddar Popcorn. Next thing I know I’m gobbling down the popcorn and than I remembered where the Banana Muffins were. I ate 1/2 and threw out the rest.

I am so thoroughly ashamed at my lack of self control.

I’m making a commitment on this forum, that tomorrow I will be able to honestly report that I have fasted a complete 24hours.

It seems like fasting is the only way to go, when I cheat even a little it’s a gateway to cheating even more. Sigh…

(Tubeman) #39

Get back on the wagon, man! Being able to see where you went wrong and start again is an important skill in all facets of life.

I bet people have better suggestions, but I feel like your best bet is to stuff yourself when you eat, and eat keto foods when you’re hungry. Instead of going for the carbs, have some bacon!!!

#40

I’m concentrating on staying in Ketosis. The first night it was just meat. No problem with a ketogenic diet. The stew was ketogenic.

It was the popcorn and Muffin that did me in. Well it’s 5:30pm and I haven’t eaten anything all day. I’m determined to go until Friday night without eating and then go Keto through the weekend.

I’m cooking a Pork Bone Broth bones sourced from a local organic farm and will use that to break my fast on Friday. Just got the Mealthy Multipot and am curious to see how broth made in a pressure cooker stacks up to slow cooked broth.

Also bought a Juicer and am planning on making home made V8 juice. And experimenting with green juices.

Boy I’m hungry right now. But going to stay strong.!