Hello,
My name is Jenny and this is my fist post here although I’ve been reading all the wonderful posts on here for awhile and they’ve been truly inspiring and uplifting! Thank you 
I was diagnosed as a T2D on June 30th 2017. Since then, my whole world has flipped (in a very positive way!) And I’ve gained and learned so much info about my body and health. I’ve been following a ketogenic diet since July 10th, so roughly 12 weeks. During this time I’ve done a lot of experimenting with IF And typically I do 16-18 hours everyday. Sometimes I throw in a 24 or 36 hour. Last week, I attempted my longest which ended up being 52 hours. I felt like I could’ve kept going except for this horrible, horrible headache I had! During this fast I had coffee in the morning with cream and other than that it was water or herbal tea only. At 52 hours (this Friday evening) I stopped the fast bc of the headache and I was very cold. I ate a handful of almonds and then dinner that evening. The headache significantly improved after dinner but was still slight. That night around 4 am I awoke with excruciating Charlie horses in both of my legs. I couldn’t get them to stop cramping for 20 mins. My legs are still sore 2 days later.
How can I make these fasts better for myself? Where did I go wrong? Was I dehydrated? No electrolytes? I want to attempt this again very soon and go longer but want to feel better during the fast.
Thanks!
First Extended Fast (and I failed!)
I got a headache at day 6, I think it was dehydration, low electrolytes.
That night around 4 am I awoke with excruciating Charlie horses in both of my legs. I couldn’t get them to stop cramping for 20 mins. My legs are still sore 2 days later.
Low electrolytes, especially potassium.
Use Ketoaid next time.
or maybe bone broth as Dr. Fung suggests in his Fasting book.
I’ve also been reading from the more experienced fasters that it actually takes time, practice essentially, to build up to longer fasts. So I’d hardly say that at 52 hours you failed. You did 24, 36, 52. You are progressing. I’ve also heard the more practiced fasters say that headaches and being cold or clammy is their indication that it’s time to stop that fast. And, one more thing, hormonally we are going to vary and may experience better success with one fast over another simply due to timing. I am currently trying to get into extended fasting. I try to make sure I eat plenty, really feast as best I can, the days prior to a fast. On the days I am fasting I take salt regularly through the day. I don’t wait for a headache to start, I make sure I just get it periodically along with my coffee and water. I also put the salt into my coffee. Your symptoms definitely sound like an electrolyte deficiency so keeping on top of that, before you feel symptoms, should help, and then just keep working on building up to longer fasts by listening to your body. Stop when it tells you to.
BTW, I think it’s really great you found your way to such a positive change (Keto) within such a short time of your T2D diagnosis. You really jumped right on taking charge of your health and I’m happy to hear of your great results so far.
If you are going to push long fasts then, to be blunt, get used to being cold. I’ve been fasting for over a year, IF for almost two years, have done a 20 day fast on water/black coffee and a few days of bone broth so I speak from a little experience. My wife and I both deal with being cold, when fasting for more than 48 hours or so you are running on body fat and no “excess” energy that the body is essentially burning off. It’s also not uncommon to be cold all day (so much so I wear gloves in 70 degree weather) and then wake up in hot sweats, similar to “meat sweats” one often gets when eating keto. My hypothesis is that your body is actually breaking down fat at that time, and the process generates heat, hence waking up warm.
As I stated above, stopping a fast due to being cold, to me, indicates you have not built up enough tolerance for the “pain” one endures when doing a long term fast. Maybe I’m a sadistic or something but I’ve had finger tips so cold that I had to heat up water as if I was going to drink tea and just hold the mug in my hands just to get enough blood flowing so I could keep working on whatever I had to get done at the time. Yes, it’s uncomfortable but, unless it’s severely out of the range of “bearable” then I say press through the cold.
This is great advice. Fasting should be preceded and followed up with ketogenic feasting. (I’ve done fasting and then ate tons of carbs afterwards, it’s not pretty, kicked me out of ketosis for up to a week). Eat well pre/post fast. We try and get lots of nutrition from vegetables, cooked and raw, organ meats, eggs, oils nuts, etc. Add in a few extra snacks to meals, such as a handful of nuts before a full meal, a few fat bombs as dessert. If you don’t eat enough on fast days, or get enough variance in nutrition, or consume enough fats, your fasting will get harder and harder as your fasts consume body stores that, not replaced properly through eating, will make follow on fasts even harder. My spouse tried to do a caloric restrictive diet between two seven day fasts and that led to failure of the second fast, about 4 days into it she had to stop and start eating again due to headaches etc. We learned then, you gotta “replenish” between sessions of fasting. That might not be true if you are doing less than 3 days but, more than that and I gotta think you have to replenish vitamins/minerals/sodium/electrolytes etc.
Same here. I take a mag supplement daily. Which one works for you will vary, I’ve got 3 different kinds that I play with, taking kind of randomly, I always take at least 250 mcg daily AND at least one keto aid (they are amazing). We also keep mag spray near the bed in case we get those night cramps, a few sprays rubbed into the calves and they usually subside.
There is a video linked somewhere on this forum, it’s a doc talking about how timing of cramps indicates what the underlying issue is.
Lastly, don’t sweat not finishing the fast, it wasn’t a failure, it was an experiment and you gained data. Now, you take that data and use it to move forward, to kick some fasting ass and keep losing that body fat, or achieving autophagy, or doing whatever it is that you are using fasting for. Now you know what feeling crappy when fasting is, so you’ve learned more about your body and what it’s telling you, that’s knowledge, use it moving forward and it removes the “failure” from what you’ve done. Don’t use it, give up on fasting, say it’s too hard, everyone doing it is crazy, that’s failure.
Good luck!
Thank you very much for your advice and knowledge, I will take all of this info and try again!
Thank you very much and for all of your suggestions and info. It’s always a learning game and that is part of he journey.
When I get cold I go sit in the sun or take a bath in Epson salts. Good job with the fasting. It does get easier.
Just to add another voice to the chorus: you definitely didn’t fail; it takes experience and experimentation; electrolytes; and congratulations 
Jen, you’ve gotten lots of good advice.
Roll with it. Don’t obsess over how many days you think you have to fast. If you fast for a day or two, great. If you never fast beyond a day or two, it’s not to say that you can never be healthy.
I recently had a 2-1/2 day fast, basically 60 hours. It wasn’t really planned. I just decided one morning that I wasn’t hungry so was going to skip a meal. Happened several times. And I felt fine. My body was OK. And I decided that I would just listen to my body. At about 56 hours, which happened to be in the week hours of a Monday morning, I woke up and was feeling my body tell me that it was time to eat again. And so on Monday morning, I had a good breakfast.
First, I did not tell my body how long to fast. It told me. And we were fine. When it told me I didn’t need to eat, I didn’t. When it told me it was time to eat again, I did. And we were fine. I didn’t pick 60 hours. I just went with the flow, almost like I was just along for the ride. There will likely be other fasts that will pop up. I often do just my coffee in the morning and have one meal a day at supper time. It’s not that I’m forcing myself to do that. I’m listening to my body. If it says it’s hungry at breakfast time, I will eat. And I’m not gonna get all excited about that.
As long as you’re moving in the right direction health wise, relax and enjoy the ride. If you feel like you need to fast, build your tolerance for it slowly and continue to listen to your body.
Fasting for 52 hrs. is not a failure. Your body allows you to fast however long it is adapted for, without supplementation (ketoaid or similar) you had a nice long fast, anything over 24 hrs. is a good fast, over 48 hrs. is even better. Congrats on being able to do all the fasting you have done so early on in your Journey.
Two things have helped me beyond supplementing salt.
- Calcium citrate
And
- Magnesium
Start slow. Try 12,24,36 hours
Towards the end of fast crucial to drink sea salt and water!
Try a magnesium supplementation at night also
It takes time really
I’ve been fasting for years and I’m up to 46 hours 2-3 times per week
Good luck