In the midst of an extended fast, not sure when I'll stop

(Robin Lea Fritche) #1

Hiya. I was in here last fall, and I did some extended fasting, but then…the holidays. And I was mostly sick (different things, just terrible luck) for the first few months of the year, so I just gave up and ate whatever. Once I was okay again, I was so behind in my schoolwork and grading…

Anyway, I went back to keto a little over a month ago, and I lost some of the weight I’d regained. I am really, really interested in autophagy, though, and I want to get some of this weight off quickly (today, 262 lbs…I believe the number in the morning of day 1 was 269 - and I’m 5’2"), so I started my fast last Thursday (would have started sooner, but my mom, meaning well, made me several days’ worth of keto food and I didn’t want to waste it).

Now I’m on day 4. I even went on a date last night and didn’t have anything but water and unsweetened iced tea at the restaurant (after the movie). My guy is super cool about what I’m doing. When I asked him Friday how he would feel if we were out and I didn’t eat while he ate, he said he wouldn’t be bothered at all. So that’s what I did, and he was perfect. The only thing he’s asked me since is how I’m feeling today. He’s never questioned me eating keto, either (he’s actually really supportive), and he’s willing to listen to me talk about the science and all that. I really think this one might be a keeper. :sparkling_heart:

Anyway, I know I’ll go at least a week, unless I have any major problems. I am thinking I’ll try for at least two weeks, though, and if I feel good, I might continue into my camping vacation…and if I feel good the whole time, I’ll go through that whole experience fasted…and by the time I get home I’d be at 31-32 days. That would be freaking amazing. I’d maybe even want to go further, but I’m really not setting a firm goal besides a week (which I’ve done twice before), and a less firm goal of two weeks.

I’m going to make some snake juice and see if I can stand it. I couldn’t stand keto-aid, so what I’ve done in the past is just lick pink salt throughout the day and drink water. If I’m going a long time, though, I should do better. I took a multivitamin yesterday, but I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with that.

Would I like to eat today? Sure, but I’m too interested in dropping fat and the benefits of autophagy to stop now! I’m really hoping that losing some weight this way will help me to not have as much loose skin…

#2

Ketoade is whatever you make it. Mine is always a lemonade, tartness hides the lite salt and magnesium so it tastes like…Lemonade! But I’ve also done fruit punch’s and iced teas.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #4

I’m worried about flavoring it…wouldn’t that raise my insulin, if my body thinks it’s getting something sweet? Even if I’m not adding sweetener at all, I worry about that. There are a couple of tart fruit teas I really love, but I’m not drinking them while on a fast because they taste too good to me and I feel like my body might think it’s food. What have been your results using your flavored keto-aid for a fast?

Some on the fasting subreddit have said that the baking soda in snake juice cuts the salty taste somewhat. That’s why I thought I’d try it. I don’t have everything so I might now make it till tomorrow sometime.

(karen) #5

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. I’d be surprised if it made anything less salty, but hey, N=1.

#6

I honestly don’t worry about it, I’ve never had a negative effect from making it that way including weight loss during fasts. Our blood sugar fluctuates during fasts just like it does normally mine takes usually until day 3-4 until is starts consistently being lower than normal for me. I use Crystal Light most of the time and haven’t had any issues. I’ve gone through binges of testing my sugar ever 15 minutes after drinking them to (try) to catch an insulin response and never do.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #7

Yeah it doesn’t make sense to me, but I’ll try it once! Haha.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #8

I wouldn’t expect blood sugar to be impacted by that - it’s just that I’ve gathered from all my reading (Dr. Fung and others) that insulin levels can go up independently of blood sugar, so I personally wouldn’t trust blood sugar levels to tell me if my insulin goes up. Artificial sweeteners and protein have been found to raise insulin, and actually glucose given orally to a patient raises insulin more than the same amount does, given via IV.

In the long run, it may not make much difference, especially considering you’ve had good results, but I’m just not comfortable using flavors and sweeteners, I guess. :wink:

(Kerin ) #9

A combatant to this is weight lifting for muscular strength and lovely ‘good’ bulk.
On YouTube there is a documentary about a man who beat the world record, fasted for 55 days!
Guinness book wouldn’t accept it as folks might push themselves to the brink to beat that.
I’ve managed 22 hours since starting keto. Maybe I’ll get there someday.
It was cool to see the man learn how much free time he gets without food.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #10

Of course, building muscle can help fill the space. I know all about that. But there’s no amount of muscle that will fill the potential space I could end up with, and if it could, Lord, I’d look so strange. Lol. I don’t think lifting weights will be able to do anything for my belly, and I think my inner thighs would be trouble as well.

55 days of fasting actually isn’t a record. There are folks on this site that have gone longer, and there’s a published study about a man who fasted for over a year. I can hunt for the link if you want. Hell, I might even do 60 days myself, if I’m feeling all right. I’ll get through the first week first, though, and go from there. :wink:

(Robin Lea Fritche) #11

Re: free time

I have days the are so jam-packed that it’s not so much that it’s extra time as it’s almost enough time if I don’t take a break to eat! It’s also a money-saver. :wink: This year, when I’m on vacation, instead of spending $300 on food, I’ll spend way less…maybe even zero, if I don’t break the fast at all. If I do break the fast, I still probably won’t eat every day.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #12
(Robin Lea Fritche) #13

Starting day 5. I feel fine. I had a small bowel movement today, my first since, I think, the morning of the day I started. For some reason the scale was the same as yesterday. I know things fluctuate but that’s annoying LOL. I wonder if it has anything to do with deciding to take a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar last night, plus I got a lot more sodium than I have been getting, because I drank a couple of tablespoons of light salt mixed with about a liter of water. I added baking soda comma because of its inclusion in snake juice. I didn’t have the magnesium on hand. So, I could just be retaining a bit more water than I have I’m previous days, because I might have gotten enough salt after not really getting a decent amount. But it tasted so disgusting LOL. I might end up mixing only the potassium and magnesium into the water and see if that is tolerable. I can get the salt by measuring out a portion that I should get in the day and just taking a bit of it here and there. Maybe that would be a bit less gross.

Anyway, the point is that the scale is the same and that is disappointing. But it’s okay. I’m going to keep going. I don’t think going for longer than a week will be an issue at all. I hope I can make it through two. It doesn’t really bother me that much when people eat in front of me, because I know that I will eat soon, at some point, and that this will be worth it.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #14

For today, since I don’t have magnesium yet, I’ve put 2 tsp of light salt into one bottle of water and I’m planning to sip that monstrosity here and there throughout the day, just concentrated like that. According to the label, that’ll give me 96% of the government-recommended amount of sodium and 80% of potassium. It’s 320% of iodine, though, so that might not be good (I haven’t looked into it). I need to look into requirements a bit more. I’ve seen in some places that it should be more. I’m sure I’m fine for today.

Once I go to the store tonight, I’ll get No Salt so I’ve got straight potassium, and then I can use Himalayan pink salt for the sodium. The baking soda is supposed to be good for the kidneys, so I might add that back (I’m going to get Bob’s Red Mill if I can find it, so I’m not using Arm & Hammer), and I’ll also get some food grade Epsom salt for the magnesium. Basically, I’m gonna put the snake juice ingredients into 1/4 the water and see if I can stand knocking back a swallow here and there…then I can drink water and the occasional tea for the rest of my fluid. I’ll report back lol.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #15

I got a headache today. Grr. I still have it, though it’s less intense since I took some Aleve. I drank a lot of water and I’ve actually gotten more salt today than the previous days, so I’m not sure what’s going on. The hair wrap I was wearing was a stretchy one that often feels tight no matter what I do, but usually tight wraps don’t bother me too much. Today, though. Ow.

Hoping I feel better tomorrow because this train does not want to stop yet.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #16

Head still hurts. I’m licking some sea salt in hopes the pain will lessen, since it does feel like a headache induced by dehydration or lack of salt, but pretty soon I’m gonna have to give up and go to bed. I really hope it’s gone in the morning. I don’t know what else to do to fix it.

#17

Hope you are feeling better, if the headache persists after you are taking electrolyte supplements etc… might want to consider ending the fast and chalking it up as a success :slight_smile: then it’s done done on to the next one!

Take care

(Robin Lea Fritche) #18

Thanks! I’m doing all right. I definitely would have stopped the fast if the headache persisted, but I was fine in the morning. :wink: I know I can always stop and try again another time.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #19

Nearly finished with day 7!

I’m feeling good, a little hungry, but that’s normal. Haha. I was 260.2 lbs this morning, after being stuck at 262 for a few days. Dunno why that was - water retention, I’m guessing, since I’ve been getting more salt.

Yesterday I started snake juice (4x concentrate, so I could take a swig of the gross stuff here and there and drink fresh water the rest of the time). I was doing the recipe with magnesium, and I’m thinking I need to either cut that down or omit it altogether, because from about 5:30 yesterday through about 9 in the morning, there were certain bathroom-related unpredictabilities. Ugh. I mixed more last night (to chill it for today) but this morning I mixed up a magnesium-free version because I had to travel to record a subject for my linguistics study today and it was 3 hrs in the car, round trip. I’ve been fine since then.

I had planned on fasting 2 weeks, maybe up to a month or more, but I’m not sure now because I’ve found out about some women losing hair after an extended fast. None have been as heavy as me, so that could be a factor, but if it’s really the protein deficiency that causes the hair loss in some people, I don’t know if it’s worth the risk. I wrap my hair part time for fun, so I could easily cover it more without people noticing much, but since I’m in a new, promising, romantic relationship and although it’s already amazing that he’s cool with keto and fasting, I just feel like risking hair loss intentionally could be a shot in the foot at this stage. Maybe not. Dunno. What caught his eye initially was my hair.

Not sure what else to talk about. I am pretty sure I’ll fast tomorrow. I have at least one date with my guy this weekend, so it kinda depends on what there is to do, and what kind of time window we have. I don’t think he’ll want to do a date that’s just dinner if I’m not eating. Meh. Choices, choices, as my dad would say. My guy knows I want to go two weeks, so maybe he’ll encourage me to stick it out. We’ll see! I’ll check back soon.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #20

Day 8 is just about in the bag, though I did not drink enough water today! I may end up pounding some on the way home from work (I teach a night class).

This morning I was 258.8. Woot. I feel fine. I aim to fast again tomorrow, but it kinda depends on what I’m doing with my guy. I’m down 10.2 lbs since I started the fast, and 20-25 down from my start weight (I have been as high as 290 and I didn’t weigh myself until I was several days and a 36 hr fast into my keto restart, and that was 278 - I had to have been at least 280, possibly a bit more). I know I’ll gain some back, so I wanna keep it going…

Hope you all had a great day.

(Mary) #21

Following. This is super encouraging - you go, girl!