March 2018 IF/EF chat - all welcome


(Allie) #1

New month, welcome all :slight_smile:


February 2018 IF/EF chat - all welcome
(Ethan) #2

I’m still finishing my 5-day fast Friday. I have a 7-day fast starting next week Friday!


(Allie) #3

I did 56 hours from Sunday morning to Tuesday evening when I had food, and am now approaching 40 hours so it’ll sort of be a five or six day fast with a meal break part way through…


(Liz ) #4

Yay! Hello fast friends :smile:

My husband accepted a last minute dinner invite for work tonight so I’m taking the opportunity to fast from last night’s dinner to tomorrow’s. Normally I fast Saturday night to Monday or Tuesday dinner but Sunday morning we have brunch plans so this works out well.


(Dawn) #5

Hi All :pensive:

Inserting sad face this morning. Something has happened and I am having a very tough time getting back into Keto and getting back into a good fasting routine. I had a serious bout of dizzyness during my last extended fast and I have been afraid to do a full extended fast ever since. The horrible part is that I am not following my Keto closely either. I have been out of Ketosis for about 3 weeks now. The two need to go hand in hand IMO. SO I am struggling.

There is some good news: I am still able to do a good amount of IF. I take a nice heavy cream coffee in the morning with 3 splenda and that holds me until about 4pm. I have been successfully doing a 20:4 IF. Weight is holding steady with no loss, but not much gain either (about 10 pounds because of too many carbs+water). But I still need to lose 45 pounds to get into a healthy range. IF is not enough for me to get my Insulin levels down and keep them there. I really need EF back into my life but I am just so dang hungry! I always end up eating as soon as my window opens up. Sugar cravings are out of control. If I can just get through a good 48 hours EF, I know that I can jump back into Ketosis and the rest of the fast will be a breeze. But I can’t seem to get there. My longest water EF was 17 days, now I can’t get through 24 hours. WTH is that about?

I need you Keto family. I need encouragement and some advice. =0)


(Doug) #6

Hey Dawn. :slightly_smiling_face: It’s good that you’re posting. I’ve slacked off, really since Thanksgiving last year, and it’s definitely a good thing for me to read this forum.

I agree that staying Keto and fasting go hand in hand - I think that’s what you meant. Giving into carbohydrate cravings is a vicious cycle for me.

The dizziness - was it like standing up and getting light-headed? I remember fasting, long ago (like 1983) and feeling that way. No magic bullet here for you, but I do hope we keep our eye on the long-term goals.


(Mark Rhodes) #7

Our last Dexascan showed a stall. For me a slight gain in LBM. Review the last three months and average carbs was 64. oops. Carb creep. So since we had been doing multiple 5 day fasts she went with the 30 day keto cleanse by Maria and I just went back to measuring. We both decided one month on 20-4 would be good as my HOMA-IR was 2.2 & fasting insulin (12 hours) was 9.8. Been keto for a year now so I was rather surprised by this info! Not shocked mind you.


(Mark Rhodes) #8

Hey @OldDoug Me too on posting here. I got involved in FB fasting group that became pretty close knit between the 50 members, even though I poured through the posts here over that time, I didn’t contribute much. I got reinvigorated when Ketofest Kickstarter went live and I was #2 in the VIP section ( mainly because I woke up the earliest that day :smiley: )

Thing is during the holidays we slacked but didn’t “cheat” We ate copious amounts of food and any treats we had we all keto. But six slices of keto pie in any given day, well different story. My BHB never fell below .2 and hovered about .5, my rationale for keeping on until my Dexascan said STALL. LOL.


(Jeannie Oliver) #9

If I were you, I would ditch the Splenda for a while and see how that works out. Some folks can do okay with artificial sweeteners, some can’t. If you think you can’t stomach coffee without it, perhaps you can replace coffee with black tea for your caffeine fix.


(Doug) #10

Mark, for sure. :slightly_smiling_face: To varying degrees, we tire of things, and for most of us this is necessarily a long-haul deal. Inwardly, emotionally, I’m still rebelling - so many decades of excess behind me; well they should be behind me. :smile:

Mentally/rationally I know what needs to be done, and this forum reinforces that for me.


(Karen) #11

Your body’s hunger is so hard to fight. Have you considered a fat fast? Keeps me satisfied and sure fire way to get into ketosis!

K


(Liz ) #12

Hey good to see you here. I feel for you on your struggles. Hang in there. If you are hungry, my advice is to EAT. Just load up on Keto foods whenever you need/want them until you bust. Eat whole packages of bacon. It won’t last forever, it will get you back on track, I really believe that. And I second the part about the Splenda, I don’t think it’s doing you any favors as you try to smash the carb cravings again. Keep reading the forums, keep trying to KCKO! xo


(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #13

Thanks Allie. I’ll be doing my OMAD through out the month of March. Today I added exercise (weight training) back into my life. I found a very good gym in that the owner/coach is very pro KETO. And is even offering help on how to stay very low carb while adding in weight training again. :weight_lifting_man:t3:


(Stephanie Sablich) #14

Hello, everyone! It helps me a LOT to have a place where I’ve recorded my goals, so hear goes on fasting for this month:

Every day: at least 16/8 IF
Once a week: 48 hours of no eating (ends up being more like 66, Sunday evening - Wednesday afternoon)
Once a month: 5 day fast

I started in January with a 3-day fast, then a 4-day fast in February. My goal is to work myself up to longer and longer EF stretches each month.

Looking forward to chatting with all of you fasting warriors this month!


(KCKO, KCFO) #15

Thanks for opening up the March thread.

I am doing a 36 hr. fast, started last night. I’ll go longer if I can but 36 is my goal for right now. I’m watching Skinny on Fat documentary series. It is motivating.

@Goal179, Many can’t handle artificial sweeteners, your body thinks you are going to feed and you don’t. If you don’t like the flavor of coffee, try adding a tiny amount of cinnamon and/or a tiny amount of vanilla extract, so you get a better flavor profile going. I blend those into the HWC, then top the coffee with the frothed cream. KCFO
KCKO

Happy March everyone!


#16

Hey everyone! I have a plan to do more fasting in March, so I’m glad to have a place to check in.

Sometimes I’m so happy to be fasting and other times it’s hard. I don’t do well when I feel restricted or deprived -that makes me want to eat EVERYTHING - so when I’m having a harder time, “fasting” might be more like a fat fast (butter in my coffee and tea, spoonfuls of mayonnaise here and there…).

So far this week I’ve had a few OMAD days, and now the plan is to fast/fat fast until Saturday morning. Tomorrow’s a non-stop work day and I would struggle to get in decent meals anyway so it’s a nice time to fast - but today I’m working from home and that’s not as easy for me!
Another new thing - aiming for some tabata cycles during the fasting times, with one coming up now. I’ll report back :slight_smile:


(Newimprovedme ) #17

@Goal179 KCKO. Just keep eating keto and stay positive. I find for me that any sweeter, artificial or not, contribute to my carb cravings. So maybe staying away from anything sweet tasting might keep you on track. For me when I fall off the wagon to get back on I start my day with a nice filling fat heavy meal which leaves me satisfied for hours… not craving any sweets. After a few of those meals and not letting myself get hungry I am back in control and can IF/EF.


#18

I will be incorporating fasting in March! I did a 45 hour fat only fast in February that was okay, I would like to try a 4 day water only (and coffee if that’s acceptable) fast in March. I’m turning 30 at the end of April and would really like to be close to my goal weight by then- I have 20lbs to go. I have lost about 5-7lbs since starting Keto in mid January but still fluctuating from time to time. But I have lost 2 inches off my waist! I am loving the Keto lifestyle. I think I will stop having alcohol for the month of March since it seems to cause me to retain water and upset my progress.
Once I secure a good stretch for fasting I’ll definitely be coming on here for support! I’m thinking March 4-8 or 11-14.
Anyone else?


#19

@Goal179
Yes, I would second this! Abundance is a really nice path back.


#20

ok, tabata complete! kb swings with my second-heaviest bell.
I need to start layering the tabatas - a few back-to-back sessions - but I only re-started these last week, so one is good for now!