Guidance needed, new to EF and I think I might be a few marbles short of a set

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(Amanda) #1

Hi everyone, I apologize. I am about to ramble, share too much information and possibly embarrass myself. :blush:

A bit of backstory: I have embarked on this Keto path about 7 months ago and I feel that it is working well for me. I am 39 years old, SW 335, CW 255. I have been doing OMAD or IF 22:2 most weekdays since September, and mainly eating when hungry or socially dictated on the weekends. I have done a few 36-48 hour fasts without much planning, just whenever it happened due to circumstances. In the beginning, I NEVER would have thought that this was possible. I mean I read about people doing IF and thought “that would never be me”, now it is the case more often than not.

This past weekend I was at my parents’ Christmas party and overindulged in Keto foods (chicken wings, homemade garlic sausage, spinach dip, olives, dill pickles and cheeses). On Thursday before the party, I ate a bit less than normal (90g pro, 8g net carbs, 109g fat, 1408 cal). On Friday, I wasn’t feeling too great so I had a cup of salty chicken stock with heavy whipping cream and called it a day. Saturday I didn’t eat until the party. By my guestimations afterwards, I consumed 158g pro, 15.6 net carbs, 279g fat and 3272 cals. A crazy amount looking back, but even scarier is that this amount is nothing compared to previous years! Yikes :roll_eyes::open_mouth: Sunday I wasn’t hungry (I wonder why) so I didn’t eat, just had a black coffee, my daily vitamins and a tonne of water. Today the same. I am not planning to have a meal until I feel like I need to.

My questions are:

  1. Is there anything I should know to extend a fast past the 48-hour mark?
  2. How do you know it is time to break your fast? I need to do some more reading on how to do this.
  3. Is constipation a part of fasting, or is this due to the meat and cheese orgy I had on Saturday? I haven’t felt “backed up” but it has been a while since…
  4. Not to sound like a crazy person, although I might be, I was watching a documentary about a week and a half ago and felt a “calling” to do a 12 day fast. The doc was about a place in Russia, I believe, where they do 30 or more days at a retreat place, I am not sure why 12 days came to me. Any special advice for making this happen?
  5. How do you handle the social side of fasting? My wife is getting used to me not eating with her and my daughter. I join them, I just have my water and join in the conversation, but I am wondering about other people? Christmas parties, and weekend events? Any advice would be appreciated.

If you made it this far you have my sincerest thanks!

(Brennan) #2

@Daisytoad, I’m new to Keto (Oct.1/18) and even newer to fasting. So far I’ve done a ~3 day (70 hrs Nov. 15-17) and a ~5 day (118 hrs Nov. 26-30). So I can share my experiences but will deffer to more experienced people should they choose to contradict me. I’m by no means an expert :face_with_monocle:

  1. The ~16 to 18 hour hump seems to be the hardest to get by. That being said, I’m to understand once you get past day three it’s a straight shot to whatever target your going for. (Please do your research, check out the Zorn Fast thread (November 2018 ZornFast [Dec. 2018 should be created soon, one every month 3rd thursday typically]) and the IF/EF Chat (DECEMBER 2018 IF/EF Chat ALL WELCOME) for help and support here in the forum.)
  2. They say to break your fast if you start to experience “real” hunger, listen to your body. If it goes away after a few minutes, not hunger. If a bit of salt or salt water eliminates it, not hunger. I have not experienced real hunger myself while doing an EF. I usually find I break it as scheduled, because I start to really miss food and eating.
  3. This I’m not sure about, I did stop going after about day 1 or so… But I think it likely there was nothing to get rid of? I never felt stopped up.
  4. It’s not advised to do more than 5 days without medical monitoring. Though many do go longer than that. It also depends on what type of “fast” you will be doing. Dry fast <16 hours, water fast (black coffee & plain tea incl.) 5-7 days with supplementation (electrolytes & vitamins), bone broth or fat fasts - you should be looking into these for a 12 day I would think.
  5. Can’t help you here, I live alone and haven’t run into many social situations where this has come up yet.

Dr. Fung is one of the world leading experts on fasting and has many YouTube videos you can check out. I’m considering looking for his book as well. He’s based out of Toronto and you know Canadians are really smart LOL :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Good luck Canuck!

P.S. “Fasting brain” kicks in on day three if you’re lucky and that is sooo amazing! Also salted coffee mmmm… That’s the stuff! :yum:

(Amanda) #3

Thanks for the reply! I have been lost on the Ketoaide post. Should I have been drinking this the entire time? Off shopping tomorrow to find calcium and magnesium citrate.

(Robert C) #4

I have learned it is better to string multiple fasts together than to try to do long fasts.

A couple of 48 hour fasts a week is a moderate pace - up to back-to-back 5-day fasts (with 24 to 48 hour refeeds between).

The reason is that, at least for me, after day 5 or 6 - sleep issues start to go from moderate to severe - I will also start feeling cold and tired a bit too much (I could handle it at a retreat but not with regular work days). As well, social occasions come along - for which I’ll just make a 5-day fast a 3-day fast, shorten the refeed and start another fast.

This sort of assumes your goal is weight loss primarily and seems to be sustainable (similar to what the IDM program does) - you’ll still get autophagy with 3,4 and 5-day fasts but I guess not as much as longer fasts.

I have noticed the hardest thing about fasting is not the fasting - that is easy after you are over the 1 to 2 day hunger hump - you feel like you can go on forever.

The hardest part for me is making a plan to preserve the losses. It is very easy to congratulate yourself on a 7 pound weight loss after a 5 day fast and feel like you can refeed generously. Big mistake - fat loss was probably half pound a day so really only down 2.5 pounds and water. But the brain remembers the 7 down and overdoes the next couple of days of eating - all of the sudden the scale is back where it was (partially due to high stomach contents - again, fat won’t add that fast either) but you feel kicked to the floor. Think about your refeed - keep to normal eating and weigh at the beginning with a semi-full stomach and after a moderate refeed with a semi-full stomach to keep your sanity.

(Brennan) #5

Depends what’s in your diet for vitamins and minerals. I do an ACV, lime, salt and cream of tartar (Potassium bitartrate) with a magnesium & melatonin supplement before bed.

(Brennan) #6

I haven’t gone past 5 days yet, I found on the fourth night I had the best sleep I’ve had in years though. We are all different #n=1-4life

@RobC I thought I read that you should feast (keto) between fasts to make them a more effective tool for weight loss. Particularly pre fast to ramp up your metabolism to burn more during the fast.
Also I would think it’s better to track weight over time not micro manage it, most people (especially people with weight to lose) can fluctuate ~2-5 pounds in a single day. I haven’t been worrying about my weight, insulin and glucose more relevant to me at the moment. But when I was, I measured myself once a week, same time of day same day of the week and paid attention to the trend over time. Weight loss day to day isn’t super helpful I find.

(Robert C) #7

My discussion was assuming already fat adapted and would refeed purely keto - the idea is to still refeed moderately, enough to keep metabolism from thinking about calorie restriction but not so much that you gain back most of what you lost on a fast (my body feels like a sponge during refeeding - like it is maximally utilizing/storing every incoming calorie).

For me sleep is better for many of days 1 to 5 or 6 but then goes downhill. I start waking up at 2:30 AM feeling pretty hyper and cannot get back to sleep.

Yes - I think we’re saying the same thing - weigh under the same circumstances (same fed and hydrated state). Don’t weigh a few minutes before breaking your fast to see a low number and then do things based on that artificially low number.