Cool - I certainly have never had a runner’s high and never will - I am not good at sports and get pretty crap asthma when I run.
My fasting high is a really nice level - strong but not too strong - but damn it feels amazing.
(Better than sex, haha, but don’t tell anyone I said that!) 
Is there good literature on runner’s high?
I assume that’s more well-documented than fasting highs.
I assume the mechanism could be similar?
Icky
I am sure there is, but I have not researched it. I agree the mechanisms are probably similar.
Cheers
A
per the Jedi’s of fasting, Fung/Ramos, fasting results in higher adrenaline, HGH and ketones. Of course you are high. on the good stuff. and you wont fail a drug test either. Win-Win.
I am on vacation, and I cant wait to go back to work - so I can be fasting again. My pattern is fast on travel for work, feast at home. this 2 week vacation, and the concomitant continuous eating is KILLING me 
I am now looking forward to the fast. it feels THAT good
Dunno if this background info is of any help:
I’ve heard the explanation that in nature animals experience “fasting” due to natural disasters, say to a drought, etc.
Their body goes into a special mode where the immune system is boosted and energy is boosted so they can walk for days/ weeks to reach new areas which are not drought affected, or similar.
I have a little different take. Sometimes, on my longer fasts, I will look for an excuse to extend. If I do not have 4 or 5 hours of clear runway to make my internals happy at the end, I will add a day or two until I do. Recently got lucky on a stop near a social calendar thing but do not want to depend on that luck.
Rajseth
Funny story: I went on a cruise 6 months ago and I was very committed to my 2 fasting days per week. I turned up to the very fancy restaurant on board the ship with my family, and the waiter gets to me to order, and I say “no thanks, I am on a fast day today”… silence… “you are on a WHAT?” Shakes his head, and looks at me like I am from Mars, “you seriously are not eating? Won’t you die?”
I was in hysterics. 
I was pretty damned scared on my first fast.
I think I fasted 3 days…?
I was sure it couldn’t be done.
I was like your waiter.
But still tempted/ curious to try it.
But very, very, very, very anxious.
EF confuses me. Do you consume anything other than water? When people talk about multi-day fasting, I’m always like “not possible.”
But I also thought that about TMAD and I do that regularly now. And about OMAD, which I’ve done only once, but it was quite natural.
I’m going to do OMAD at least once a week. But I’ve read too much about how OMAD can lower your metabolism if done regularly, so I don’t think I’ll do it more than twice a week.
How does EF work with metabolism?
I just drink water and a little broth for electrolytes. So do the people at the fasting forum I use. Some of them fast for 8 weeks straight. My longest fast was 3 and a half weeks.
I know it seems like logically it can’t be done, but yup it can 
Up to one third of the body’s daily energy requirement is actually for the hard work of digestion.
So that energy requirment is already “gone”.
Your body uses your own fat for energy, obviously.
And in long extended fasts, it does gobble up your muscle tissue too, to some degree.
It’s a choice whether you want the health benefits of fasting or the muscle or whether you want to compromise and drink something with protein content, I guess.
I’m not sure re metabolism.
I don’t fast for weight loss, so I’ve never thought about it.
As regards the duration - if you are doing fasting RIGHT then it should be a breeze. There should be no discomfort, not hunger, no cravings at all.
If there are, it means you’re doing something wrong and need to adjust.
For example, a TINY sip of fruit juice if your blood sugar gets weirdly low.
Or, your body is saying it’s done with fasting for now.
For long fasts, it’s really important to totally empty your bowels (fasting and gut-friendly laxative).
I got this on my last fast, on day four. It was the first time I had got to day four and suddenly feeling fantastic kinda scared me a bit so I decided to eat… if I get there again this time then I’ll try to go with it instead of freaking out…
Karen, I have exactly the same issue. I would guess that it would be helpful for you to try it to see what happens for you specifically, but here’s my experience.
I started an alternate day 42 hour fasting plan (with IDM counseling) about two weeks ago, and I sort of hit a roadblock. I know a lot of people say Day 2 is the worst but for me it seems to always be Day 1. On Day 2 when my 6 hour eating window arrived, I was never really hungry anymore. But it was my precious eating window and I felt like I had to eat something in order to fast again the following day. So I kind of forced down a little food at lunch, then still wasn’t hungry at dinner but still forced some food down. Then my next fast would start and I’d be really hungry and tired again on Day 1.
Not only that, but Day 1 of each fast was worse than Day 1 of the previous fast, maybe because I had eaten but not enough in the eating window? I was seriously eating as much as I could tolerate. But on keto foods, satiety hits me like a brick wall, there’s really only so much that I can eat.
So I talked to my counselor at IDM, and said maybe I’m not fat-adapted yet, maybe I should start with 24 hour fasts and work my way up, etc. Based on my numbers she said I was fat-adapted, and she said we could back off to 24 hours but the other alternative is that I could do a single 72-hour fast instead. This struck fear in my heart, but after a few days of regular eating I felt ready to go.
I had the same hungry Day 1, Day 2 was much better, and it’s now morning of Day 3. I get to break the fast in about 10 hrs. I’m pretty hungry at the moment, always am when I wake up, but we’ll see what happens when 4 pm rolls around. Based on what all you other peeps are saying, maybe I’ll keep going for a little while if I feel really good.
Since you’re another person, like me, who has a hard Day 1, I’d be interested to know how it goes for you on the ADF, please let us know.
I haven’t had this yet, but you’ve totally inspired me to try going beyond 72 hours to see if this happens. Sounds pretty great!
This thread has me completely fascinated! I definitely want to incorporate fasting into my routine - in fact I can’t stop thinking about it, for some reason - so I’m intrigued and interested in this thread. How long into Keto do you need to be to begin starting fasting?
Anyone who wants to try extended fasting - I’ve been doing long extended fasts several times a year for 10 years now and am in a non-English speaking fasting forum like this Keto forum, except for extended fasting, so I’ve seen and heard it all, pretty much.
If you are having trouble with fasting or feel crap (WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT - fasting should feel good at all times) then my single most important piece of advice is that you need to cheat at first, if you want to fast for an extended time.
When you have blood sugar lows, cravings, feel sick etc (assuming you’re getting electrolytes via broth or whatever) then what you should do IMO is have a glass of water with the tiniest sip of fruit juice in it.
This is using sugar in a medicinal sense.
In extended fasting, you need to train your body, you need to build up your “fasting muscle”, you need to help your body ease into it.
If you are super “strict” at first and refuse to give your body even a tiny bit of “help” when it is struggling massively, your body will “remember” and “learn” that fasting is horrible and to be avoided at all costs.
You need to make this a POSITIVE experience for you body at first, by giving your body medicinal doses of what it needs when it is in anguish intially.
You build your fasting capabilities over TIME. And not by being strict and mean to yourself at the outset.
Over time, you stop needing this “crutch” because your body is great at fasting and loves it. You’ll then only need it super rarely.
What I honestly do NOT know, because I haven’t been Keto long enough, is whether quickly-absorbed fats (e.g. butter) are also an option for those tiny / medicinal “cheats” in the early stages of extended fasting.
You could try this. Whether a teaspoon of butter helps your body recover from the low blood sugar/ feeling crap/ cravings.
If it does, cool.
If it doesn’t, I’d do the water with a sip of fruit juice thing.
So for the last year I have been doing 5 day fasts for my MS (which BTW is asymptomatic at this point) every month. Yes I do get a high by the 3rd day! I was working in a hospital until recently and I remember just being filled with awe at how God made our bodies to be able to do this! My coworkers struggled with being hangry constantly as did the patients.
Day 3 and on is pretty amazing and keeps me coming back for more,
Sarah
You can start fasting at any time, but if you are new to keto, go gently to start with.
I would suggest starting with skipping one meal for 2 days one week, then skip 2 meals on 2 days the next week, then the following week, skip all meals and all snacks for 2 days in the week (non-consecutive). This should be perfectly possible and relatively easy for most people.
Once you’ve done 2 full days for 6-8 weeks, you might consider a longer fast (2-3 days) if you are enjoying it, and you want to join the faster’s high club!
Cheers
Alec
Maybe this should have its own thread (and probably does, sorry, I’m lazy), but if you live and eat with other people, especially if you cook for them, how do you handle fasting? My husband knows I fast, but changing the whole dynamic of who is cooking and who is eating can get sort of … dramatic. I mean I don’t want a halo and trumpets around my head because I’M FASTING, I don’t want this to be seen as some self-induced sickness. But I also get just a tad resentful at being expected to be the cook when I’m not eating anything. (It’s just the two of us). Yeah, he will cook for himself and even offers to, but I feel he finds my fasting a PITA … or maybe I just feel like I’m unfairly stepping away from a job I always do, which stresses me out. Ah … such first world problems …