MAY 2019 IF/EF Chat ALL WELCOME

(Jody) #222

I’m in the same boat right now, pushing a 42 hour fast isn’t working this week, so I’ve just been doing 24 hour OMAD. I did have a funeral and I’m transitioning jobs, so I’m wondering if that has to do with it. I don’t feel stressed (insert denial). Maybe I needed a break. IDK. Frustrating, but rolling with it… I’ll give a 42 hour a try on Monday.

(hottie turned hag) #223

It is super annoying! :unamused:
I don’t even have stress to blame.

(Doug) #224

It’s an adventure, BlueViolet - you never know! :smile: Over the long term, fasting gets easier for most of us (until and if we get really lean, anyway) but there’s still a lot of variability. The psychological/mental/emotional part of fasting is so large for almost all of us that I think it easily overshadows the physical part, often. Sometimes I quit because “I really was just not feeling it today…”

Good question, Traci. While I don’t remember it being widely reported, I imagine it’s totally normal - just part of the hormonal rebalancing that takes place when we get healthier by fasting and eating ketogenically. As we get better at burning fat, I picture the body being better able to maintain more constant blood sugar levels and lessen the ups and downs of hunger, but it’s not going to be that everything is always getting easier; it’s not going to be straight-line progress for the vast majority of us.

Our hunger usually rises and falls throughout the day, on its own. The hunger hormone ghrelin increases at times leading up to when we are used to eating, and it has 7 or 8 series of peaks and valleys in a 24 hour period anyway. We sleep, and on a ‘normal’ daylight schedule our bodies naturally increase blood sugar somewhat in anticipation of being more active and needing more energy in the mornings - the “Dawn Phenomenon.” When fasting, it’s up to the liver to do this - to make more glucose via gluconeogenesis. We really need more good studies on fasting humans - to quite an extent we’re all finding our way, groping into the future.

#225

It’s hard to say really, as Doug mentions, there’s a lot of variability. And just thinking about it, or not knowing the cause as you say, can be Frustrating, which in itself could play a role. :slight_smile: … My Wife’s been going through this some herself. She’s been having a hard time just Fasting lately, where not long ago it wasn’t a problem at all. Might just be the body telling us we want something else at the time.

(Jody) #226

Exactly! Eventually my body will want something else.

(Mame) #227

Happy Friday all! Just broke my fast, for breakfast, which only happens about once a month! GKI post workout and before food was 2.2.

Could it be the change in seasons I wonder? it is getting light so much earlier. I would love to move my eating window earlier as research shows your insulin response is not as high…I also think our bodies go through cycles that we are only barely aware of…

Well I managed a 34 and 44 hour fast this week while work traveling, very short on sleep, plane-caused inflammation and restaurant food. I am counting it as a win.

I am also a questioner (love GR) and data keeps me awake and aware! When I kid myself about what is going on with my weight I gain. However the questioner in me makes me not track macros because I feel it’s way too imprecise, LOL

This was me all March and most of April! I feel like my fasting is coming back but then I have never had effortless fasting over 24hours. I am trying to not let it bug me and be a friend to my body instead of pissed at not understanding it and what it is doing.
I wish we came with a manual.
I do think stress (even good stress) and sleep effects things so, so much!

Big project to work on this weekend (more stress) and lots of catch up to do before I leave for vacation.
Wishing all a fab weekend.

(John) #228

I rarely plan my fasting. There are just times when it feels right. Today feels right, so I think I will go for a 36 (starting from last night’s dinner) and see if I feel like extending it tomorrow.

#229

Haven’t Fasted much in the past couple weeks, since I was still somewhat trying to get over being sick the previous weeks… But also, I’ve been doing a n=1 all this week, still eating OMAD, but during the day at work around Noon, instead of in the evenings at home around 5-6pm. - Trying to see if changing the eating time-frame shows any changes, being I’m getting meals in earlier. Energy, Sleep, etc.

So far I do have to say it does free up the evenings some, and I’ve been working in the garden each evening and I’m still watching out for any changes in sleeping or overall feel from doing this. But will probably put in some Fasting next week though. The main downfall I see to this so far is having to re-heat meals, since I’m not cooking in my office. :slight_smile: … So I think it’s doable, but food choices might be a little limited while doing so. There are just some things I don’t want to heat in a microwave, and would much prefer to eat these things fresh, just after being cooked the first time. :slight_smile:

(traci simpson) #230

My sleep is suffering and the only thing I can think of is that I had avocado mousse last night with dinner and maybe the chocolate? I ate it around 6:45 and was in bed around 9.

#231

Could have been the cause indeed. But even stuff we are more accustomed to consuming can do this just as well. Sometimes things just don’t sit well for one reason of another. Just one more reason to eat a bit earlier, so it might have more time to work itself out some before laying down on it. :slight_smile: - I know for me, I hate that weighted down feeling, and this was actually one of the reasons I also didn’t like to eat at work really. Most times you just don’t feel like doing much of anything after a nice meal. But that was more so back when I was working construction, operating equipment, etc. But still would rather skip. :slight_smile:

(traci simpson) #232

It’s hard to eat earlier than 5:30. I don’t even get home until 5:15, 5:30 and if I have to go to the grocery store,then it’s a rap. Now, it’s 6 or 6:30 before I’m eating and I try to stay up until at least 9 sometimes, I can make it to 10 but only on the weekends! I work 12 hours days and it’s really tough to stay up.

My mind just didn’t shut down and it felt like I was just laying there for hours which is different from waking up several times but able to go back to sleep. I’m hoping it was just the coco in the mousse that did it.

(hottie turned hag) #233

I guess part of it in my case is how “lean” (few fat stores I guess but flabby af, how much of the flab is fat/how much loose skin -ew, sorry for the visual :neutral_face: I don’t know. It feels gross anyhow) I now am but I def still have weight to spare, 110 if not 105 -was 116 last weigh in- is where I ought to be based upon how I now look/my undersized skeletal structure.

Dunno if there’s much of a psych component in play; I’ve very good with hunger/satiety signals and there’s been that feeling of needing to eat around the 24h mark, when formerly going to 48h, I wouldn’t have that feeling til hour 44-46, as recently as last week! Argh.

I can employ the mental aspect and just not eat, as self control is one of my strong suits and shall do today because I am mad again; I was last week too, made myself do it then it promptly got easy again -until this Monday.

(Doug) #234

Well dang - you don’t have much fat compared to many of us. I don’t know about week-to-week changes, there, but I would think that fasting for 2 days would generally be substantially tougher at that weight.

(hottie turned hag) #235

@OldDoug oh yeah it was way easy when I was fat at the start. But, stayed easy until recently so has to be the sheer diminished size/stores. I upped fat/amts last week on advisement and was able to go 48h again all week.

I’m mostly posting about it because obsessing on it helps me do what I must
#whenyourdisorderisaboon :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

#236

Exactly. I was rolling along for a few weeks doing great alternating 65-hour fasts with two eating days and suddenly it fell apart. I could barely get through 24 hours. Now, a couple of weeks later, I’m trying again and I just sailed through day one. I feel like today might be pretty straightforward, and I’m thinking I might even go for one more day. I’ve never done three days, but I remembered the Zorn Fast is going, so I might go for it.

I keep aiming for that fine line between pushing it and forcing it.

#237

There’s also a good chance it wasn’t the what but the when. I think our bodies ideally want a longer time between dinner and bedtime. Obviously, everybody’s different, but it’s typically around 4 hours. Modern life gets in the way of schedules, but if you need to be in bed at 9pm to get up early, can you skip dinner and eat breakfast and lunch if you’re doing TRE?

#238

This is actually what I’m trying out presently, to see if there’s any differences in feel overview. I’m eating around 11am or 12Noon, for my OMAD, instead of 5-6pm. Only thing I’m not a big fan of eating at work, preferring to eat at home, but still trying it out though. Nothing ventured and all that…

(John) #239

Hope nobody minds that I moved this from the “Keto Chat” to the “Fasting” category. I was looking for the thread (which I had already posted in) and couldn’t find it.

On topic - 24 hours into my impromptu open-ended fast. Coffee, water, flavored unsweetened zero calorie sparkling water so far. I might make some green tea or decaf in a bit.

===
Ended up being 44 hours. 8pm Thu to 4pm Sat. That should do it until June sometime.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #240

Hello fasters!

I took the week off because of social pressure and anticipated work stress which did manifest.

Sunday after dinner I will start a 48+ hr fast. I’m going to start to double down on fasting because of https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/my-childhood-is-catching-up-with-me/86524

I usually do black coffee, green and black tea. I never consume any other food stuffs except water and salt. To get my GKI as low as possible I will be weaning my coffee and tea habit during fasting. If this works great, if not I will add coffee back.

This week I will cut the tea out and then later this week lower my coffee consumption down so that I am not going to have such shock stopping coffee during fasting.

I’m going to work towards routine 72 hr fasts. From there I will see where this takes me. It is probably good I have weight to loss.

(hottie turned hag) #241

Ok dig this.
Yesterday I debated whether to force the issue -do the 48h despite this new need-to-eat-at-hr 24 nonsense. I did just that last week and it worked, as I state upthread, until this week when it no longer did.

Obsessing (:crazy_face: cuz that’s how I roll) on what folk on here advise (heed “body” signals, up quantity/up fat if fasting seems hard) I thought I’d try a different approach SO…I ate a crapload. Even more than my usual crapload.

Now I’m going to go until Monday without eating; I haven’t done a 72 h in many months. Thinking maybe a more drastic “switch up” from normal shall get me back in groove. Will report back as I go. :slightly_smiling_face: