JAN 2024 IF/EX Chat Thread

(KCKO, KCFO) #1

Happy New Year everyone. Getting the thread started for a new year.

I was very happy to start the New Year a few lbs. under my goal weight. Hoping to stay around this level going forwards. I ended up getting in several EX fasts just before Christmas, DH ended up in ER with dehydration, after having a bout of stomach flu, which I had had a few days before his started. Between the two events, I had hardly any appetite for days and just didn’t feel like eating anything.

If anyone is starting maintenance or within a few lbs. of getting there, come and join us over on this thread:

#2

Happy New Year, everyone! :smiley:

My December had its wild points… I really tried to keep my IF in check at least but nope, holiday season and my SO being at home, me baking A LOT (I had a phase) made it not easy and I failed a lot. I didn’t eat all day, it’s really not my style and anyway, I ate too much at once for that but my eating window rarely was as tiny as I wanted (though it’s normal. I want it to be 30-60 minutes if possible. but I am fine with 2-3 hours as well if I manage not to overeat in this bigger one… I need the small one farther from carnivore I guess).

So now I try to go back to my normal goals. Carnivore-ish - check. No coffee - kind of abandoned but I don’t drink it before my first meal now! Stopping is trickier as always so it’s best I start late.
Today I skipped my SO’s lunch, it’s something… I didn’t skip my own lunchtime as I got hungry at 2pm. But that’s a very valid reason to eat. My goal is not to get hungry before 4-5pm, we will see.

I still plan to do EF at some point, whenever I feel ready! Or if I stay very close to my heaviest weight EVER… But I probably will go back to 75kg easily. I think. That is close to my heaviest weight ever too, I never lost much fat and I had my stupid stress gain and never lost it. Whatever, I just want some cute small eating window now!

(Eve) #3

Happy New Year to everyone in this forum. I have to admit l am glad the holiday season is over as there were alot of occasions that needed navigating as regards maintaining the keto WOE, and due to circumstances, l just couldn’t manage it all the time. Suffered acid reflux a couple of times as a result which was unpleasant. However, it was lovely to see family and friends and eat turkey!

(B Creighton) #4

Happy New Years. Hope yours was better than mine… I got a cold, and it was at its worst on New Years.

Anyway, doing much better now, and went back to my 3x weekly IF on Wed. I only have a few pounds of fat I really feel I need to lose, and am looking to build muscle like I stated in Nov. However, I wasn’t very consistent in the Fall, but my strength has increased a bit. However, I have more fat to lose and muscle to gain, so am posting as part of my own accountability. Would love to gain the 10 pounds of muscle I think I need to replace about 10 pounds of fat I want to lose. Gaining muscle has always seemed hard for me, so anyone who wants to share successful tips, I will appreciate!

(Chuck) #5

I don’t really have a weight goal, my goal is the control of my blood pressure. Sure my doctor says I should be down to 184 or below. I am weighing on average 194. That is actually about 6 pounds heavier than my lowest weight back just before Thanksgiving. But my jeans and other clothes are fitting even looser than they did then. I am between 10 and 20 pounds below my military weight I kept for my 8 years in the Navy.

(B Creighton) #6

Is your blood pressure where you want it? I have gotten mine down another 10 points this year, which I attribute to doing things to lower my oxLDL. Overall, I am happy with my weight although I wouldn’t mind switching a little more fat for muscle plus some more…

(Erica Ramirez) #7

Hi all! Jumping in to read about extended fasting. I did a 5 day fast that went really well about 5 months ago (before my chemo and the weight gain). I lost 11 pounds. I am doing it again now, after being on strict keto for just over 2 months. I’ve lost nearly 30 pounds so far. I am hoping to lose another good 10-15 pounds during this 5 day fast. I am 30 hrs into it and using the free trial of an app called zero. I think I like it!

#8

Good luck!

It would be nice to try a 5 day fast again (not like I plan to, I will be quite happy with 2-3 day ones and won’t worry about my muscles too much that way. I am a bit paranoid when it comes to protein and muscles but I am sure I do lose some even then)… Maybe Mom had a scale when I did my only one but I didn’t care about numbers and don’t know what happened. But no way I could ever lose more than 3-4 pounds in fat as I just don’t have a big enough energy need to achieve more. But a 5 day fast is extreme for me, it’s never about fat-loss, rather curiosity about what happens.
But I can’t even do OMAD now :frowning: TMAD has its conditions too. I just get hungry too often and a big meal is tricky.
I have 3MAD days lately. Could be worse and it’s still IF but I am not pleased. The holidays made me… Softer than before? I cave in super quickly, it doesn’t take much… I try to toughen up a little!

(Erica Ramirez) #9

I am normally a big softie and tend to eat whatever and whenever I feel a slight desire. I have gotten serious in the last couple months though. My doctor made sure I understood how important it was for me. I am doing an elliptical too, so hopefully I don’t lose much muscle (not that I have a lot :joy:). I had 75 lbs total to lose did 9 weeks Keto, then had 45 left to lose at the beginning of this fast. I have lost 2.5 in the 50ish hours I have fasted so far. I don’t have much water weight to drop due to the keto so I am probably going to be disappointed and not lose 10 pounds but it’s worth it for the other benefits too. I am feeling good so far, think I will make it another day (at least!)

#10

Water loss doesn’t count anyway but I get it, some people get motivated and pleased seeing way smaller numbers… I only care about my fat and muscle mass. And of course, I shouldn’t have unhealthy extra water either. But I never have. And I hardly gain much muscle in a little time… Or a year…

My eating life in a nutshell except my experiments but I never push them either :slight_smile:
And sometimes a slight desire isn’t enough (depends on my determination and immediate past) but if it grows to temptation, it’s over.

Yesterday I managed a… dirty OMAD. I didn’t even TRY… It just happened!
“Dirty OMAD” for me is one decent sized meal and some extra bites like coffee with cream and egg (mostly white as I have too many in my freezer).
It was quite nice, I ate less than almost ever and it satiated and satisfied me :slight_smile: I wasn’t satiated right after my meal, it was too tiny for that considering it was an evening basically first meal (IDK, impossible to track but maybe 1200-1300 kcal?) but I didn’t get hungry again and satiation arrived in the next hours.

I wish to continue this. I am not ready to skip our tiny family lunch (just my SO and I at 3pm) but a few fat kilocalories may work unless I am hungry.

At one point I wish to go back to not drinking coffee before my first meal but I need to choose my battles (more like tiny efforts but still, I am not in top shape mentally. better than I was recently though) wisely so I don’t focus on avoiding coffee much. Maybe a bit later. My main priority is carnivore with a tiny eating window!

I should have written this with less words but it’s true for almost all of my comments :frowning: Oh well. I tried to change my ways, in vain and I am worst when sleepy.

And sorry I talk about eating but I only do IF so eating is very important in my fasting. My meal decides if I can fast longer. The bigger the meal, the better. It’s a small wonder yesterday was fine with such a small OMAD meal :slight_smile:

It seems to me that I am not so super addicted to food anymore. I still think about it a lot and everything but… I can’t explain but it feels better, I handle lack of satiation better, even hunger but I was okay with a not annoying baby hunger before too…
Maybe I will be able to do EF this year? I hope so!

(Erica Ramirez) #11

Congrats on the OMAD! without trying too! Awesome. I don’t mind talking about food, I browse and save recipes for fun lol seems to make the fast more pleasant to think about what I can eat later…staying Keto of course.
I weighed this evening…down 4.5 pounds total! 76 hours of fasting. Still feeling great. I noticed I am a little more emotional than usual. Blaming the fast :joy:
Good luck trying a EF
you can do it!

#12

Doing it for multiple days would be awesome. Single days happen from time to time…
It couldn’t happen yesterday as I didn’t like my food so I stopped eating when still hungry… But these times will pass and I keep going for OMAD or at least one substantial meat and some more bites or tiny meals not too far from it :wink:

It is triggering for some but nice for others :slight_smile: I am the latter but if I get hungry, it’s over. That is no problem for OMAD as I just don’t get hungry until late but when my SO comes home after I cooked meal, that is triggering. Him making nice smelling carni food (that he eats with carbs)? No problem. Food videos? Apart from one occasion about a big fav of mine, nothing. But 3pm is dangerous as I rarely am fully satiated that time and very used to having a lunch together with my SO especially that I probably already have something nice. So I have been working on skipping lunch when I am not hungry yet. Lately it’s possible to make it a liquid tiny meal, it’s better than a bigger one and may evolve into nothing…? :smiley:
And if I will get used to late eating (only that suits me and only that brings a chance to avoid eating way too much), maybe one day EF won’t be so unreachable…?

Congrats! I always get too hungry in the evening at this point. Oh well. I am super stubborn and won’t give up so when my body will be on board, my mind will be ready :wink:

(Jane) #13

First fast of 2024 and started a 72-hr one yesterday after lunch.

Will be traveling on business next week (if weather cooperates) so need to fast this week while working from home. Snowed in anyway so good time to fast. Was -11 F this morning. Brrrr

(KCKO, KCFO) #14

We were around that, got even lower for a few hrs. I find it easy to fast when it is so cold. I bury myself in free books from Amazon and my library. I did a couple of OMD’s during our freezer temps spell over the weekend and earlier this week.

(Chuck) #15

I am surprised and extremely happy, with all the cold weather and being stuck at home my weight is actually dropping a little. I am past the munchies and back to a natural 16 hour fast.

#16

It’s chill now, I usually have 2MAD nowadays and no problem with my diet, eating, desires… Nice.
If I have my meals together with my SO, it means a 3-4 hour eating window but it’s a bit close for me on carnivore. So sometimes I have a later meal so it’s more like 5 hour. If I don’t have tempting enough food, I may do 3MAD, about 5 hour eating window again. I am pleased with it for now.

I don’t seem to get really hungry anymore so maybe I will be able to do OMAD eventually (or at least lunch skipping). I just don’t want to push it now.

We had super sunny cold days but not very cold, just lower than the usual winter temp here (that’s not even freezing just almost). I enjoy my warm tea all day.

(B Creighton) #17

I have been doing my IF very faithfully the last two weeks, but not strict keto. I have gained maybe 1/2 -1 pound of muscle, but also about a pound of fat according to my smart scale. My “fat-free body weight” has increased 1.2 pounds though over the last week. Hopefully, I can make something grow besides fat… It just seems so hard for me. We’ll see how I do over the next two weeks. Whatever the case, my weight is definitely up - six pounds since November. My “fat-free body weight” is only up 2.6 pounds over that same stretch so seems to be going up about 1 pound a month… sigh. My waist size has gone back up some, but the visceral fat reading hasn’t gone up - just the subcutaneous reading - although in the pinch test, I don’t notice anymore fat at my waist - so maybe I am gaining some core musculature - I kind of doubt it. I find it so frustrating. I plan to finish in March with a round of strong keto, so we’ll see where I end up I guess.

(KM) #18

How do you get free books from Amazon?

(Jane) #19

46 hours in and coasting along. Day 1 is the only time I experience hunger and it it usually mild, comes in waves around 11 am and 5 pm when we eat our meals and goes away.

I will break tomorrow at lunch time.

My hubby is breaking today at lunch (48 hrs his max) and he has quite a shopping list when he goes out to eat. He laughs at me surfing recipes while I am fasting but he knows my only weakness is the smell of food, so he will eat out for lunch and make some soup and a sammich (low carb bread) that doesn’t generate strong smells for dinner. He would be sleeping on the couch if he cooked bacon! :laughing:

#20

I don’t seem to ever get strongly hungry (not even if I ate little the previous day!), I don’t feel so food addicted either so I guess I will try to do some slightly longer fast somewhere in February… Maybe I bring back my old idea that I wait until I comfortably can on every Mondays…

For now, I just keep doing what I am doing.