Gaining Back Fasted Weight - Advice Please


(Dawn) #1

Hi Keto Fasters;

I need some help. Strict keto hasn’t really gotten the weight off very quickly.
Keto and IF did a little better with weight loss but still not as quickly as I need for health reasons. However Extended fasting and keto really take the weight off at a good pace.

However, Every time I do an extended fast (3 days or more), I seem to gain all of the weight back…even though I am eating keto. I decided to do a 13 day fast which I really enjoyed. I lost 11 pounds, almost a full pound a day. When I started my feast cycle which lasted 7 days, I gained all 11 pounds back. I am so disappointed. I ate quite a bit and did alot of restaurants and fast food, but it was keto food and I kept it around 2000-3000 calories per day. I also IF during the refeed. My plan is to fast all the way down to my goal weight (which is still 70 pounds away) by doing 5 days fasting and 2 days feasting (thanks to @4dml for the idea). But right now, I seem to just keep going in circles. Losing weight at a pound a day during the fast, then refeeding and gaining it all back. Please help me figure out what to do to stop this cycle. Even when I was doing my 13 day fast, I stopped losing weight after the 11th day which is why I ended the fast on day 13

Dr. Fung doesn’t really address weight gain during the refeed in his guide to fasting. So I am unsure how to get off this roller coaster. Am I just eating too much? I thought we weren’t supposed to worry too much about calories (even though I still stay around the 2000 calorie range). Is it just a insulin problem? Is it an electrolyte problem? My logical self is telling me that my 11 pound weight loss in 13 days was inflated and I really only lost about 5-6 pounds during the 13 day fast and the rest was just water weight. My logical self also says that I probably ate a little too much protein and had some carbs sneak in during my refeed that may have contributed to the gain as well.

Can anyone give me advice? I know that fasting is the answer to getting to where I need to be, but I can’t keep negating my gains just because I ate. Confused =0(…

One additional point that I want to add. I do not really exercise. I do some slow occasional walks, but no real consistent focused exercising. Could that also be why the weight is coming back?


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Any possibility you’re getting too much carbohydrate? Too much protein? Sometimes stuff creeps in without our being aware of it.


(KCKO, KCFO) #3

In his Complete Guide to Fasting Dr. Fung states you can expect to loss about .5 lb per day. It is in the section on What to Expect During an Extended Fast. In the section on Refeeding Syndrom he recommends extended fast not be water only fasts, bone broth is recommended for those.

I have found that .5 lb. to be pretty true. I always put back a few of the lbs. that drop off in an extended fast. I have tried refeeding mostly from fatty meats with coconut oil in my coffee, that sort of stuff for refeeding, but I still seem to only keep off about half of what I lose during extended fasting. That is why I am continuing to fast a few times per month, 36+ hrs. Keeps me just below my goal weight so far, I’m in maintenance for over 6 months now. If I have over indulged, I will need atleast 2 fasts over the month, 3 is even better. If I have stayed more strict keto, the monthly Zornfast works for me.


(Dawn) #4

thanks @collaroygal. I am going to add the bone broth this time. Will that stop the weight loss or just slow it down so that I don’t lose so much water.


(KCKO, KCFO) #5

Don’t know the answer yet. That info was something that had not registered with me while losing my weight. I am doing the Zornfast currently and coffee with coconut oil and bone fast is all I will be having over the next few days.

I can’t believe how easy it is to let these bits of knowledge slip through our brains. I am on my third reading of the guide and it did not register before, only this time. Guess I wasn’t too concerned about refeeding syndrome when reading it before. Thanks to your question, the penny dropped for me.


(Mike W.) #6

Dr. Fung also advises to feast BEFORE the fast and afterwards act like it never happened and eat normally. Also, a lot of fasting weight loss and is water and inflammation. I always gain weight back but then seem to settle down at least a few pounds lower than where I started.


(Dawn) #7

Thanks @MiKetoAF.

@MiKetoAF just triggered a thought. I pretty much feasted for seven full days AFTER my fast. Some of those days I ate normally but for the most part, I ate ALOT. Maybe I should have just eaten normally - to satiety after the fast and only feasted the day before? Jeeez. This shouldn’t be this hard.


(Dawn) #8

I am going to read DR Fung’s guide again and see if I can find more answers.


(Mike W.) #9

I would try changing it up. Maybe try Alternate Day Fasting. That has worked well for me. Change it up every week. Keep the body guessing.


(Mike W.) #10

The purpose of the feast before is for your body to “set the thermostat” so to speak. The thought is that it will keep using that amount of “fuel” (your body fat) through the fast, burning as much as it needs to keep at that level.


(Dawn) #11

@VLC.MD I started a thread called:

gaining-back-fasted-weight-advice-please

But i have ALOT of weight to lose for health purposes in order to be able to have some surgery. I need to get off 70 additional pounds quickly. Keto did fine but not fast enough. Keto plus IF did better. But EF has been the winner. Lost about 1 pound a day on EF. Doing a 5 day EF with 2 days off. Recently did a 13 day fast and lost 11 pounds. Well when I went off the fast, I gained all 11 pounds back in 7 days. Not counting calories. I am currently doing the zorn fast, but the weight will probably go right back up once I start eating again


(VLC.MD) #12

Must be gaining water weight back.
Low calories for 13 days is definitely fat loss.

What do you eat ?


(Dawn) #13

I ate mostly keto but I really didn’t pay any attention to calories. I also had a couple of desserts. Since I only ate 1-2 times per day, it is pretty easy to give you a run down.

BBQ ribs and brisket with a little bit of sauce
Tablespoon of baked beans
Large Salad everyday with as many veggies as I could stand w/blue ch
Willys adobe chicken salad w. guac and alot of veggies
2 cans a macadamia nuts (oops, kinda fatty but i love them)
bacon and eggs for late breakfast
Baileys 8 oz
Prime rib for Ocharleys
Several small bites of dessert, but very very small
Water and lemon for drink daily
Crab legs with Kerry Gold butter
Piece of chocolate candy


(VLC.MD) #14

Sauce can have carbs. Hard to find BBQ sauce without carbs.
baked beans ? eww. carby.
veggies can have carbs, which ones ?
nuts have carbs, keep them low. macadamia nuts are good, but must keep portion sizes low.
eggs have 1 carb each.
baileys ? ewwww. bad for fat loss.
chocolate ?

Not really keto eating. :frowning:
Your plan is Low Carb and that is good for weight maintenance.

Review keto basics.
Buy a ketone meter and see if you are in ketosis.
Consider MyFitnessPal for macro tracking.


#15

Thanks for the credit, but that’s not what I am doing. I fast (for a typically indeterminate number of days) then eat a single meal (typically dinner) then continue fasting. So it’s more like continuous fasting with occasional pauses. This addresses the biggest problems fasting presents for me:

  1. Life happens
  2. Health risk of very lengthy extended fasting

If I eat for several days in a row, I will gain weight, regardless of the nutritional macros. I can gain weight even with high blood ketone readings (2+ mmol). On the other hand, a single meal will not cause me to gain weight (or bring me out of ketosis) regardless of its carb content. I don’t intentionally overeat, the meal (both timing and content) is determined by environmental circumstances not nutritional objectives.

The opposite of fast is not feast. The opposite of fast is feed. While some folks (like bodybuilders or healthy young males) may benefit from intermittent overfeeding, this most likely doesn’t include those who have become metabolically deranged.

Fasting is extremely efficient at fixing metabolic issues. And I am metric driven. I’m encouraged by seeing positive results (%BF and weight) on the scale. So I make sure my feeding gains do not exceed my fasting losses.

KISS principle: if you start gaining weight, stop eating.


(Allan L) #16

Looks like way to much protein & carbs. You need to clean up your diet. No dessert, no matter how small the bites, no shop bought sauce as can be full of sugar, bakes beans are loaded with carbs, remove alcohol, watch out for lemon as too much could push your carbs up, chocolate? NO NO!!

If the diet is not working for you then you need to measure everything and key it into a online tool. I personally use http://www.fatsecret.com/ and it will soon identify hidden carbs & excessive protein.

I had to lower my protein and get carbs as close to zero (only carbs from keto food, no veg etc) for the first month and the weight started falling off.


(MooBoom) #17

I would classify eating like that as a major blowout. Consider plugging all of those foods into a nutritional calculator and see just how many carbs you are eating. It could help you to go back to basics and track everything you eat to build your base knowledge of keto compliant foods. Almost makes my cry thinking of all your good fasting work getting undone with beans, baileys and chocolate.


(Jennifer) #18

When folks say feast and fast, they usually just eat a little more fat that usual just the day before and the day after. It’s not a license to eat all the things. Lol…

Two of the best NSV with this way of eating is the return of the normal hunger signaling and the lack of physical cravings. but it takes a while for this to return and for you to start listening to your body. I would track your foods and set your carb and protein macro and then add fat to satiety. And don’t eat when you are not hungry!!! You will naturally do IF as you get further along because your body is happy burning fat and you just aren’t hungry.


(Dawn) #19

Hi Pals, thanks so much for the feedback. You guys have a great way of simplifying things for me to help me understand how this works. I think the main lesson learned from all of your feedback is that I need to fast more and eat less if my weight starts to go up too much.

Forgive me though, I probably should have mentioned a couple of things. The BBQ, baked beans, desserts, sauces, super carby salad and Baileys were all on the same day at the same meal. I ate very little of it but I wanted to be social with my family. It was a very special occasion for my dad’s 70th birthday. So the feast was just one day. The other six days were all very strict keto eating to satiety. I use MFP and have been a member since 2012. I track all of my macros and keep all carbs below 15g. Again, this horrible eating day was just for my daddy’s party. I promise I don’t eat that way everyday. LOL!!! I am down 50 pounds because of keto/IF/EF combo.

My research has shown that when you eat that amount of salty food combined with sugar/carbs that your body requires alot of water to process the junk and this can explode your weight. So I believe that this weight gain was mostly due to water. I am three days into my five day fast and six of the pounds have already dropped back off. So I believe this may not have been as serious as I thought, but it still bothered me to see the weight go up. I am taking all of your advice and making sure to balance the fast and feed a little more carefully. I will also switch things up.

@VLC.MD To answer your question, my veggies consist of a big salad with spinach romaine lettuce mix and a few cherry tomatoes, gauc, cucumbers, olives, mushrooms, eggs, banana peppers and pickles. Is that too much to put into a salad? The carbs usually come out to about 10g

@4dml Thanks so much for the clarification. Your input is very valuable because I believe in the fasting model that you are using. I too gain weight if I eat for too many consecutive days in a row. I think that is why I ran into trouble here. I ate for 7 consecutive days with a really big carby/sugary feast in the middle. I will Fast a little more often (at least until I get to my goal weight). How many days in a row have you fasted consistently? What triggers you to eat? I believe you said you sip broth daily? Is that correct? I know you have explained alot of this to me, but I can’t find the thread where we discussed it. Thanks for the constant motivation =0)


(Liz ) #20

Following this thread for the great tips because I recently experienced the same re-gain issues after a 3 day fast. I’m Keto for life but it can be super discouraging if you think you are making weight loss progress but a week later you are back where you started or higher.