Since everyone posts their extra-Keto activities on their threads with Don’s woodworking and Dena’s gaming 
, I thought I’d share something interesting about me for a change
Anyone know what this is?
Karim's Extended Fast Tracker - come along for the ride
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#515
RightNOW
(PJ)
#518
Is that a big aquarium with a mirror-back? Really gorgeous colors!!
edited because I can’t spell
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#519
Its a coral reef
I do reef gardening. That’s section is just about 2’ x 2’ out of the full 8’
That tank was 380gallons. I had a YouTube channel with videos since I designed, engineered and built it from scratch…
70 followers actually…
Anyway … that’s my “weird”
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#520
So here’s the weight progress:
and here’s the glucose, ketone, and GKI for this fast (phases 1 and 2)
and here’s my GKI in the long term - comparing different historic fasts:
Thinking of doing my first fast beginning tonight... questions
Don_Q
(Windmill Tilter)
#521
That’s very cool! have never heard of anybody doing that before. How long does it take for them to grow to that size?
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#522
Takes 6 months or so. I had to prune it constantly and either sell or give pieces away.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#525
So I have to admit that I don’t have a solution for sustaining the GKI 1-3 range… over my entire history, this seems to only be a transitional stage
If I fast, I go into autophagy < 1 … if I eat for more than 3 days, I quickly get up over 3…
The sweet spot seems quite elusive…
I can literally see a switch within 24 hours between the two extremes (>3 and <1).
Over this last week, there’s only one day where I got the balance right
That was at a glucose of ~ 55 and ketones ~ 3.0 … and a glucose of 55 mg/dl happens to be ~3.0 mmol/L
So when the units are the same, the balancing point happens at around 3.0 mmol/L for both glucose and ketones… or a GKI of 1.0
My conclusion is that I should try and balance my ketones to be around 3.0 … higher and I will drop into autophagy, and lower drops me out of deep ketosis…
I don’t think I can achieve that with cyclic fasting and feasting unless I use my ketones as an indicator for when it’s time to break the fast.
A more sustainable mechanism is to do keto with sufficient protein… on and off… so, protein cycling.
This might be the foundation of phase 4 - protein fasting.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#526
So… I went up from 177 to 186 overnight…
Yup - 9 lbs - in 24hrs … can I gain weight or what?
This dropped to 183.8 post my morning water flush + food flux so that was 2.2 lbs of flow through. But that still leaves 6.8 lbs. I’d like to think it’s all water and muscle… but we’ll see
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#527
So started the feeding cycle at 172… two days later, I’m at 183.8… that’s a net +11.8 lbs
I started this fasting cycle at 183.2 (Monday morning April 1st), so I’ve gained weight on this 5:2 fast with one more feeding to go before its called… maybe I’m pioneering “fasting your way to gains”. 
That’s while OMAD and vegan… so you can imagine me on carnivore. Or SAD… my weight of 255 was not an accident.
Nick - still sticking to your bet??
Tonight is one more (and last) day of refeeding.
I don’t think it would be fair to measure the gain from Friday morning (fasted) to Monday morning (fed) and call that as the refeed gain…
Seems more meaningful to wait another day or two and take Tuesday or Wednesday as a more accurate measure of net refeed effect… Friday morning to Wednesday morning?
That’s disjointed so maybe it should be Wednesday to Wednesday? But that’s not refeed gain, it’s more net gain or loss…
What do you guys think?
OldDoug
(Doug)
#528
Karim, I think the ~.5 lbs. per day of fat loss is a good bet. Other than that, the lean mass and water retention thing needs to sort itself out.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#529
A gallon of water is ~8 lbs so it’s dense enough to make a big difference. Need a correction factor.
Wondering if it’s better to do 6:1 fasting cycles vs the current 5:2… or maybe I really just need one meal a week (OMAW) 7:0?
primal.peanut
(Neil)
#530
I’ve noticed recently that I get super thirsty on feasting days. Glad it’s not just me!
I was recently out of town for a week and ended up with an eating schedule of 40h feasting, then 90h fasting, then 40h feasting again. My weight went 157 lb (fasted) -> 170 lb (+13 lb from feast) -> 159 lb (-11 lb, net +2 lb after fasting) -> 167 lb (+8 lb from feast #2). Like you, my weight swings around a lot when I’m cycling between feasting and fasting!
5:2 (actually 144h fast : 24h feed) has been working well for me. I find that if I shift to 4:3 I maintain my weight, and at 3:4 or more I’ll gain weight, but at 5:2 I can consistently lose 1-3 lb/week. I haven’t tried 6:1.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#531
Thanks Neil. Yes- that mirrors my experience exactly.
The unknown is the real fat to lean mass composition.
I’m frankly not interested in losing weight. I look and feel fine. I want to lose the remaining lower belly and loose skin, but my focus is body fat % due to muscle gain.
I have been over 190lbs for decades… being 170 feels like a “lightweight” and I don’t really like it.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#532
So my morning ketones are actually much higher than I expected after yesterday’s feasting … 1.23 GKI
Thinking of doing my first fast beginning tonight... questions
OldDoug
(Doug)
#533
It makes a huge difference. Once ate a lot of really salty pretzels - later calculated it would take 18 lbs. of water just to get me back to normal salt concentration in the body, to say nothing of all the carbohydrates. I can always count on 10 lbs. going away quickly when starting a fast - after 24 hours or maybe 36, like from dinner one day to the morning of the second day after that.
Don_Q
(Windmill Tilter)
#534
CHEATER!!!
I don’t think I could gain 9lbs if you locked me in a Krispy Kreme overnight while on a saline drip lol. You sir have level 1000 water retention skills.
I’m not liking my odds. Did we bet money??? 