March 2026 IF/EX fasting

(Bob M) #5

@Chezza When I first started fasting, I did a lot of 36 hour fasts where I exercised at about 32 hours. When I did lengthy fasts, I would also exercise a few times. Now, I don’t do that, only because I did too much fasting and starting getting really cold, even for short fasts. I interpreted that as my body lowering basal metabolic rate. So, now, I try to just fast. But if you “feast” enough, supposedly you can exercise.

@LucyInTheSky Well, I actually broke this fast last night. A 2-day fast. I got dizzy and I think I might have had a cold/sickness going into the fast. The night before starting the fast, I had some times at night when I got super cold and shaky. I entered the fast not feeling great.

What I do is ensure I get a lot of salt, and I’ve been using LMNT, since my wife got these. I’ve been using 2 packets during the day. Something like pickle juice might help, and Dr. Fung recommended bone broth. I thought the bone broth brought too much hunger, so I stopped that. But you could try those.

If you’re hungry, I try to ensure that I won’t be home until late. This week, I worked from home Monday and Tuesday, but went to work Wednesday and Thursday. I don’t get home from work until 7pm. So, that would mean I could take the dog for a walk, and it’d be near bedtime.

If you’re feeling sick, other than what I put above (more salt/pickle juice/bone broth), I’m not sure. I usually don’t feel sick, and when I do (like this time, when I got dizzy), I bail on the fasting. My wife thought that I might have been dehydrated, and that could be true. I didn’t drink much water during the day.

#6

So I try to skip lunch for real now… I am sick (so embarrassing… what the hell my immune system does?! January was pretty sick too, I mean, not many symptoms but still, I never was sick for WEEKS before! I think. my memory is special and I believe in my health so…) and IDK, I just focus on health more now, watched lots of videos about various exercises (it interests me anyway but my backache got worse lately and it won’t do… and then went from there) and even the book my SO gifted me at Christmas is all about exercise and fasting, for a reason… So yep, I am more determined than in the last year.

Almost zero cal today. I had to give up coffee for that but that is a great idea anyway. So I drink tea. ALL the time as my sore throat loves that.
I will resume tracking too as I haven’t the vaguest idea about my energy and protein intake - well I can make an educated guess as I don’t eat much (from my viewpoint) but it’s still me so it’s probably 2000 kcal and 130g protein but maybe not…? I plan OMAD for a while and hopefully, finally some EF later. 2026 should be the year when I manage fasting again despite going low with carbs (not like I was low enough with carbs lately. just the usual, fruits so not much but still)!

@LucyInTheSky: How are you sick? If my body wants food but refuses to give me hunger signs, I get dizzy and weak, maybe lose vision and balance for a super short time… I always eat then as you just don’t say no to your body who has all the power… But I can fast longer than you, it’s individual, due to genetics, fat mass and zillion other factors. Bob may have a point, maybe you need electrolytes. Some people do, even on IF! For many, just sodium works. But fasting isn’t for everyone, it seems as some people always have problems. It’s a bit odd as it’s quite normal for a human to fast, we did that all during our history! And we get into ketosis so easily so there is energy :slight_smile: I actually don’t understand why high-carbers seem to have problems with fasting, the same things happen, we get into ketosis and all is well for a while (maybe it’s harder for people who wake up and get hungry…? I never do, on any diet. I mean, if I don’t undereat but I don’t do that). I have the opposite, lower-carb makes fasting harder but it’s just for EF. IF is as trivial as on high-carb. Fasting is nice. As it should be. It shouldn’t be hard IMO. Maybe challenging if we do it longer than usual but that’s okay, we need to challenge ourselves sometimes. Soft little hunger? No problem. But if it’s bad, I rather eat.
By the way, 18-24 hours isn’t that bad, some people can’t go near that. But I understand if you want more, I do too.

@Chezza: I only ever did light exercise when fasting (of course I won’t stop walking just because I don’t eat), that’s fine but I avoided heavy exercise (not like I often do that, mind you). The latter much more easier trigger my hunger and I would worry about my muscles too, I am a bit paranoid about protein and muscles. I probably would be fine trying it right before breaking my fast but that’s it. No idea if I had enough energy for it… I only can do serious exercise well-fasted, that’s true (I can’t even bring myself to try otherwise) but it’s normally just 20 hours…
I will try if I will be able to do EF again!

We have a wonderful spring with many flowers everywhere! It cheers me up and makes me want to do more for my health and well-being again.

(Lucia) #7

It’s good that you can recognize when to break the fast. I used, at the very beginning, to just tough it out but I learned the hard way it’s never a good idea…
Wait, you work while fasting?! I can’t do that…I admire all you people fasting while working. I didn’t know about the pickle juice. Must be so potent! I think your wife was probably right. Thanks for the tips!

#8

People are just different. Whenever I did EF while working (on high-carb, it happened automatically there. probably due to overeating though), I did it because not eating was way more pleasant than eating. Simply no hunger or any other desire for food. So it’s very easy for some and hard or even practically impossible for others.
Whenever I fast, I do it because it’s super easy :smiley: Except when I am really, really determined. Never will forget an almost 48 hour fast on keto, I was SOOO hungry in the end but some challenge is enjoyable now and then even if the hunger isn’t. I didn’t work then but I don’t think that would matter (except working helps to get one’s mind off hunger unless it’s really, really bad and impossible to ignore. I probably never had it THAT bad). Oh of course it would matter if I got the unfocused dizzy state but of course I eat then, it’s a very serious sign, more serious than feeling hunger. One shouldn’t ignore that IMO.

Well it was only one day but success! :smiley: Well… I did eat a tiny bit for lunch but I only had one proper meal, dinner. I barely ate yesterday and was so satiated! How it could happen? Even my protein was lol, yay!!! (It’s almost impossible for me so I am enthusiastic when I finally can lower my high protein intake. Only about 1.5g/kg for LBM yesterday? Very low for me! It almost never ever happens!)

I was a tad hungry after midnight but nothing I can’t ignore. I was obviously well satiated in the morning, I got hungry early though. Almost ate half an egg (and who knows what else. nothing makes me nearly as hungry as eating!) at 11am. But I have motivation now. And the hunger isn’t bad. And it comes and go in waves, it’s amazing what keto does. Before keto, if I got hungry, it just got worse and worse. That’s one reason I had my “if I am hungry, I eat” sacred rule.

A little fail yesterday: I never got hungry (except the bedtime thing). I don’t know how one barely-consciously eat food but I totally can do it at lunchtime. Before I could think about my lack of hunger, I had some bites in me. I blame my sickness and huge amounts of liquids, they feel off without dry things hour after hour. But I have no problem with a 3 hour eating window as long as I eat little enough.

I am sorry I wrote so much about my pathetic 1.5MAD yesterday but I did some good changes in my life, got back my motivation and feel really hopeful (as I tend to do and still fail but still).
Fasting isn’t trivial if one has zero self control and a huge desire for food (and I am around food all the time. my SO has no way to eat between 6:30 and 15:00 or something so he obviously fast then. if such a short time can be considered fasting). My saving grace is that I enjoy fasting very much, it’s natural and way easier than eating all day, I couldn’t do that. It has its limits though, hence my lack of EF in the last years :frowning:

Noon. Basically no hunger. I try to avoid eating for some more hours. I will cook, that helps a lot! (Normally. Maybe not after a low-cal day.)

(Hugh Walter Jennings) #9

Good luck to those fasting.
I slacked off the past 6 weeks so my weight is trying to creep back up.

Got a pneumonia shot about 20 days ago and the first 3-4 days after I was low on energy so I slacked off my treadmill routine. Feel fine now.

My smart scale says my viceral fat and subcutaneous fat is up a bit, so I’m postponing my Dexa scan I was going to do this month until May. Four CT scans and the Dexa scan in October is 5 doses or radiation from October 1st thru February 11th.

Going to fast 24 hrs every 4-5 days and eat strick Keto, as well as get my exercise routine back on track. My goal is to lose 10 pounds. I think my lowest weight was around 154-155 lbs since I started losing weight, so I’ll try to get around 153 lbs.

Losing 10-11 pounds should be easy. We’ll see how much restarting creatine affects water retention though. But I’m not obsessed with a weight number, just my visceral fat loss.

(Bob M) #10

I used to work out while fasting, but don’t anymore. (Well, I walk the dog, but that’s not really working out.)

When I did work out, I actually got good workouts in. Also, when I was doing a 36 hour fast, I worked out at around the 32 hour point, so eating was pretty quickly thereafter.

#11

Great spring continues! I sow seeds earlier than usual.

Yesterday was IF 21:3 2MAD (lunch and dinner). Not so bad at the moment but I aim to do better. Great macros! I better add exercise too, it’s harder now that I am sick, even my tiny walk triggered coughing fits :frowning: But it was nice, warm - I wore a t-shirt, my warmest one though - , sunny, with lots of birdsong! I have tried to sun, maybe not yet. Just tiny little jogs here and there.
I still got hungry at 11am again, maybe the deficit in the last 2 days (with extremely low meat intake, that never helps), maybe my slightly creamy coffees in the morning (I had a headache and it’s nice then). So I probably will eat lunch after 3pm. The hunger isn’t bad at all.

I am wondering about “hunger pain” again. The term exists because some unlucky ones truly feel pain when hungry…? I mean, yes it can be uncomfortable and annoying but true pain? (Under normal circumstances. It probably can get painful sometimes. Once in my 49 years there was a few times when it was borderline or even mildly painful! Okay, I almost never let my hunger develop until fat adaptation and then it usually went away instead of getting worse but my SO must feel hunger a lot or else he gets fat and he handles it like a champion too, even does physical work for 8-10 hours while hungry… So I am not sure it’s normal to be in pain because we are hungry even if it’s serious hunger.) My pain tolerance is super low, I am not used to regular severe pain… But mere pressure or discomfort still isn’t PAIN to me and I only have that normally. Just like desiring some tasty stuff isn’t a pain (maybe if it’s very serious and I resist? but I don’t do that). On some explanation about the different levels of hunger, even lack of being FULL is “mild pain”. But it’s not, it’s crazy, are there people who only feel fine if they are totally full all the time? Weird. I hate feeling full, it’s odd. Being well-fasted with perfect satiation feels best to me. Without this, I would be doomed and would eat even earlier - and I already almost never wait until hunger. Well I do now but I am a deficit now and that’s fun :smiley: (As long as I don’t get annoyingly hungry but I eat then, obviously.)

I reply to YT comments sometimes. Rarely but sometimes I can’t resist. Some people wrote women shouldn’t do IF. It always triggers my self defense and passion. The thought of force feeding, taking away my wonderful 6-8 hour fast after waking up… Horrible. I am safe but many people suffer just because there are misconceptions about breakfast and fasting. Even people not eating breakfast and feeling fine (except fasters who know better) say “I know I should! but…”. No, no buts. You shouldn’t if it works well for you. People should be free from breakfast if it’s bad for them.
Breakfast is “morning meal” to me as it’s that in my own languages. And anyway, breaking a fast doesn’t make it breakfast in my eyes, if it’s at lunchtime, it’s a lunch. It’s individual, for my SO, it’s all about how many meals he had on that day. The 3rd and last meal is dinner (in Hungarian, the word used always mean evening meal) even if it’s at 2pm. 2nd is lunch even if it’s at 4pm (it’s still a normal lunchtime for me though. 5pm is dinner. and I can’t interpret supper as we don’t have another word in Hungarian and anyway, we don’t call after dinner meals in any way. or if we do, it’s second dinner. works well for me).

I watch bird cams again, the first eggs already happened (owls, it’s always the owls. they may have a clutch in winter too, February is a normal month to leave the nest for some. here where winters are cold and often even snowy a bit. wow).

#12

My SO wants to do a fast on Sunday!!! Apparently he heard about fasting too much lately not to try it :smiley: He won’t be at home so it should be easier.
Of course I can’t skip such a rare chance and try to join him! We will see.

By the way, it’s 5pm, barely ate a bite today and start to get really hungry. Cooking and garden work helped but I am not in my top shape. But the sun is still shining and that’s very nice :slight_smile: Looking forward to my nice meal.

(B Creighton) #13

I am only doing OMAD IF on MWF schedule, but I keep losing weight. At the beginning of March I was
174.8 LB. It dropped again to 173.7. According to my Hume, though, everything else went askew. I did notice last time trying to work out I seemed so weak that I got discouraged and gave up. I was only doing half my usual reps. My skeletal muscle mass dropped 2 pounds, and my fat increased by that amount… what the heck? Besides having my Bday, this all increased my metabolic age by 2 years in just 2 weeks! I know I am not having a lot of ketones, and only seem to have any appreciable ketones on the morning after my OMAD days. Again, I am puzzled by my recent changes, but I think I was sneeking too much chocolate over my Bday… It doesn’t take much to ruin fat burning while I sleep… instead I think I was getting fat gain while I slept… a lesson to myself. Don’t follow my bad example.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #14

I have just been doing lots of OMAD and 2MAD so for this month, I’m staying where I want to be, so I’m a happy camper.

I posted a link to this thread on the FEB 2026 thread as well. Hope to see more traffic on this thread soon.

#15

I am hungry :frowning: Okay, it’s not BAD… Just very, very strong. And not very new.

But it’s amazing how effective some impulsive determination (and eating carby food all day the previous day, I had reasons) can be! That… Wasn’t my plan but things happen. It may or may not help my fasting, I know how my body and satiation works but there are many factors.

Oh and of course my SO being away is vital. Just me in a house full with food, it always makes it easy not eating, interestingly - unless my hunger gets bad. Or my appetite but determination kills it.

5:12pm now. I feel quite fine, the sun is shining, flowers blooming, I did garden work… Sometimes hunger takes a little bite from me though. Not painful but intense. It strengthens my determination. EF (if I am lucky and my fast becomes that) is new to me again, novelty is powerful (see my 2 carnivore weeks. 2 weeks without fruits, I can’t even imagine how I did that) and I do want to lose fat and extra skin, get more energy and health and show that I still can do EF if I put my mind on it.

And it’s peaceful!!! :smiley: Normally I plan food, cook and whatnot and today that didn’t happen. I probably need such a break now and then.
So it’s enjoyable with some hunger discomfort. I am quite enthusiastic and now I go for a tiny walk in the sunshine. Next time I go for a big one when things get hard. It didn’t get hard yet, just hungry. So strange, sometimes a soft lil hunger is annoying and I must eat, sometimes a strong one is totally tolerable and the only mildly negative thing is physical, my determination is effortlessly strong. No temptation at all.

If i can, I continue this tomorrow but I am not very hopeful. And I may miss food tomorrow too much. And my SO will eat, I really need to separate my mealtimes from his except dinner, dinner is good. But maybe even that if my body doesn’t need food yet…

So it’s interesting, I definitely wanna give it a try often, maybe every week (preferably not on the weekend… it’s fine now but I normally feel like to relax my ways then and I tend to get hungry earlier too. I had hunger at 10am today too, just very tiny one and it went away in no time. I blame the carbs as that tends to be the right answer. a carby OMAD meal keeps me satiated for ages but it wasn’t even IF!)… I just don’t know how to put me into the right state to be determined enough. But maybe it will happen without problems. And then I can try out various last days and see which works. A high-protein high-fat dinner is a must but what about other things… And I will try various movements on my fasting day(s?) too.
And my eating days… Will I be able to do OMAD for a while? And if not, why? Diminished mealsize or missing eating in a bigger window? So many things to see! And that’s good as curiosity can be a good ally.

Sorry I thought I can keep it shorter… Should have known myself better at this point.

#16

My SO did 44 hours. Mine was like 26 hours, I got really, really bad at 21:30 and I had a half fat fast meal :slight_smile: Just like my fat fast OMAD meal, just half sized. It was so, so good and I got satiated just fine.

I woke satiated, of course but only physically, mentally I totally wanted food so had a breakfast. I may skip dinner as I am just after lunch, hungry and my macros are generous for a day… But we will see, I obviously will eat if I stay hungry, I only can handle well-fasted (or very soft) hunger.

My SO definitely had problems when lifting heavier objects today and while it makes little sense for both of us, he just fell into a scrub this morning when he went to work. He felt a strong pull from the right… He wonders about longer fasts but he can’t do it while working and he doesn’t want to ruin his vacations either. I said I don’t think it’s supposed to be suffering but it’s hard on him and he needs distraction. Well, maybe on his longest holiday, I said (he has multiple weeks around Christmas) - but regularly, a tinier one is good too. Normally he has a 12 hour eating window, from 6am to 6pm. It can be a bit smaller when lunch and dinner combines (3pm and 5-6pm are close and sometimes the lunch is very late) or when it’s weekend and he does his 30km cycling or something before breakfast (he totally can start in the dark if he wake up early but still, it takes time). But fasting more is a challenge for him and not pleasant.

I am enthusiastic and after I recovered from my mental hunger, I will go stricter again!

(CynthiaQ) #18

Hi Bob,
I am planning a five-day fast along with the Jason Fung crowd, since he just released a new book (“The Hunger Code”). This is a guided fast with coordinated support for people who purchased the book. People can join (for the low, low price of $499!) without having purchased the book.

The fast is scheduled for March 23-27.
I think it will be harder for me to commit to the 2x daily hour sessions than the fast, but we’ll see!

I’m not sure whether the sign-up window will have closed by the time anyone reads this.

Hunger Code Masterclass

Sessions run Monday, Tuesday, and Friday at 10 AM ET and Wednesday and Thursday at 7 PM ET, with each session lasting 60 minutes.

  • Day 1 — Conquering Hunger
  • Day 2 — Homeostatic Hunger / Body Fat Thermostat
  • Day 3 — Hedonic Hunger
  • Day 4 — Conditioned Hunger
  • Day 5 — The Golden Rules

Each session includes 30 minutes of teaching by Dr. Fung + 30 minutes of Q&A , co-hosted by a TFM coach.

Five-Day Fasting Reset

Sessions run Monday, Tuesday, and Friday at 7 PM ET and Wednesday and Thursday at 10 AM ET, with each session lasting 60 minutes.

  • Day 1 — Introducing the Reset Fast + Aeira Hunger Tools
  • Day 2 — The Low Insulin Diet
  • Day 3 — Food Addictions and Emotional Eating
  • Day 4 — Creating Accountability and Habits
  • Day 5 — Mindset Workshop + Success Stories

I’m pretty new to the keto/LC sphere, but find I naturally gravitate to OMAD anyway (but I am a big night-time snacker). My husband is the real “patient”, restricting his diet after being diagnosed with T2 and prostate cancer. He’s not ready for this kind of fast, but when the offer came up I decided to go for it. I’ve only done one extended fast in the past, for 10 days or so, and I was all right with it (except for people thinking I was weird).

#19

I go for 24 hour fasts now. I hoped for 24-26 hours today as I skipped dinner(!) yesterday but as I knew, it’s not okay for me. My eating window was big yesterday (6 hours), my food wasn’t ideal and I got hungry at the 18 hour point instead of the usual 20 or more. I lasted for 23 hours, not THAT bad I guess. But I inhaled about 2000 kcal for lunch (well I took a break when still hungry but give up soon) so I skip dinner again. So, I go for 24 hours again :slight_smile: Whatever happens, I probably get more experience at being hungry without a problem. Useful.

Still a great spring though cooler. More and more flowers, the fruit trees started too, reminding me that April and May is totally for staying close to carnivore. I will try. The car is finally in working order again (it had serious problems) so we will do a big shopping again. Carnivore needs some preparation, I like my variety.

(Bob M) #20

I’m really thinking of getting something like the Hume. It provides a lot of info. I’m a “low ketone in the morning person”, and often have ketones of 0.2-0.4, while having blood sugar of 105-110. I usually eat 2MAD, but when I eat OMAD, I also (generally) have higher ketones the next morning (and lower blood sugar).

(Central Florida Bob ) #21

You’re influencing me to go get a ketone meter. From Feb. 16th to March 6th my morning blood sugar varied from a low of 102 to a high of 114. That was always first sit down after getting out of bed, so fasted, usually more than 10 hours fasted, with no more than an accidental teaspoon of coffee. It would be interesting to compare ketones and sugar.

The Hume, or something like it, is another measuring device that keeps calling me.

(B Creighton) #22

We ran out of strips, so I haven’t measured mine in a bit, but I could smell them this morning at the toilet after my breakfast. I eat goat yogurt every morning, which seems to give me enough ketone boost that I end up peeing out some - enough to smell anyway. So, right now I seem to be back on the right track, but next week will probably be my last week of OMAD, then it’s back to 2MAD low carb.
I have to say overall I am happy with my Hume, as it gives me a much better idea if I going in the right directions. It is much easier to measure muscle gain while trying to lose fat, which is what I wanted. Mine is a bit picky though, and sometimes I have to do 3 or 4 reads to finally get one completed. You can often get them around $183 at “50%” off from their website, but I got mine new off eBay around $163, and there are several listed now - here’s the cheapest “new” one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/406770159713?_skw=hume+body+pod&itmmeta=01KM3QFXCK15NRC6ZP08TWKFEY&hash=item5eb5641061:g:Y8YAAeSwpDhptuO8&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xAlP2eoflBYV0%2Fuy0OTJupyrwJhR%2FkEwca3ETQ6f0fyoePdn2O%2BUq5UStsOz7HV9mz9XbYq%2BlojQ892T3gjXAw0%2F7mQinpeD2jeNnQ4B0j2qbcZgnQCcDx17BZe7e5KfisXEYRxHR93AXEhsNWuJ50gFnj4%2BrAvNMKOFtnXoq%2Bp%2BYDg9Y499bW6W0lmQbJ5Q2UDU9Af0OjFRRa8u66hXBvZqsB9HQQyu6gKUxR%2B4LfIF%2FO2CbAZhPAAdotF1SxwI2DTRiS7GJdxK9bjtp7MJyoNboWksxG8ZNZHFEKHG87F5A%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4rXv_egZw

(Rossi Luo) #23

I had a 24 hours fasting weeks ago and I made a mistake which could have killed me. The mistake was that I ate too much food immediately after the fasting for lunch, and in the evening, the food taken in lunch was still in my stomach not digested, then I took food for dinner again, then I started to vomit and diarrhea very badly. Fortunately, I am not dead.

(B Creighton) #24

Time to sum up my keto this year. Overall, it has been my most successful year in terms of not only losing fat, but gaining muscle, except with the probability of my first year - but then I had lots of fat to lose. I started around 179 lbs this last November, although that went up around the holidays. I was pretty faithful to my OMAD on MWF except over vacation periods.Today I weighed in at 176.4. My body fat started at 25.3, and today it was 23.2 for a total loss of 2 lbs of body fat. My lean mass started at 122.3 lbs in late Nov, and today measured at 125.5 for a gain of over 3 lbs, although it actually dropped slightly in Mar… In retrospect I have not been that faithful with my protein smoothies this month, and I am one who absolutely has to pound the protein to gain any muscle, which is something I just do not naturally do. I have been a little more active too, leaving less time for that extra protein smoothy on my non-IF days. Also I have been cheating a bit b4 bed this last month… sigh… probably because I have not been pounding that extra protein so feel hungry, and that has reversed my fat loss. I am definitely a lot more sensitive to sugar intake than I was when I was younger. Anyway overall I had almost a pound of fat loss each month(b4 Mar) and about a pound of muscle gain each mo… until March… LOL. I obviously would like those numbers to be bigger, but at least they’re both in the right direction this year as opposed to the last several when both numbers went up as I tried to gain muscle. I have seen my waist lose an inch or so, and now some of my size 34s want to fall off unless I wear a belt. Today my PJ pants were falling off… I am also very pleased with my bloodwork numbers from February. They are generally my best numbers ever. Now, I just have to figure out how to get shredded LOL…

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #25

Please continue on the April thread found here: