Hello I would just like to share my experience of my 1st 48 hours fast which is just coming to the end. I have done a few 24 hours but never took it to 48 hours as I was doubting I would be able to do it but I’m so happy I tried and managed this well. All I had was water and black coffee plus electrolytes and some pink salt to help. Yesterday I had almost three litres of water. I found this experience quite good and relatively easy. I guess the hardest was yesterday evening when I was preparing husband’s dinner, nevertheless I have resisted and stayed on track. My night was bit strange,funny dreams and smells of onion which I never experienced before. I have started my 48 hours fast with GKi of 3.7 this morning 2.2 and finishing now with 1.1. My glucose and ketones are almost equal. I feel fine and could possibly continue but I have decided as it’s first 48 hours fast I should take it easy. I am going to break my fast with a home made chicken broth. I’m over the moon really and hoping that I have entered autophagy. What are your experiences of extended fasts?
My first 48 hours fast
Congrats! 
I hope I will be able to do 48 hour fasts again… It never came to me very easily but I managed a few on high-carb, low-carb and even keto. Carnivore put a stop to my extended fasts even though I go off a lot… But you made more a bit more motivated to try again! We used to have group fasts here and I needed that on keto. It only gave me a tiny extra push as I am better to do things if there is a time period or deadline but it still helped. 48 hour is cute, I just need to survive the first evening somehow… My body must be on board and it just wasn’t in the last years 
I never want to do very long ones, the longest was 5 days because I was curious and fat and I just got a boyfriend who nicely slimmed down so I was motivated (and curious)… It didn’t help with my weight (I surely lost a bit and I gained it back quickly) but it was surely fun especially when lack of sodium kicked in… As I had no electrolytes, I just never met info about them… I handle lack of sodium apparently better than others so I never needed to supplement it during my few short EFs afterwards. I don’t even remember going beyond 48 hours again… But now I know to eat salt if I feel dizzy and odd.
I am a hedonist so if I get hungry, I eat, it’s very basic to me. Some really cute, not annoying soft keto hunger is fine, that kind never urged me to eat but proper hunger needs food. (And I can’t resist temptation either.) So I need to persuade my body not to scream for food. Sometimes it’s more like mental, I am not in the mood to skip my meal… It’s tricky to make it work but I do want autophagy, other benefits and prove that I still can do it so I try to be ready for the day when my body says, okay, let’s do it.
The second day is better for me as I wake up satiated as always, it’s nothing special until my normal lunchtime… And then it depends when I started my fast. At 4pm, after a big meal? (Without a big one, I get hungry later.) Not too hard. At 7pm… Ouch, I probably will have problems in the last hours but 48 hour sounds so good and well-fasted hunger is usually better and my well-fasted state is way more controlled… So even if I feel the same discomfort, I can handle it better, I am already disconnected from eating on the second day so it’s just the physical hunger… I can’t and don’t want to handle it for long but a little push for the 48 hour mark, I may do it 
But I had some shorter fasts due to starting late on the day.
Apart from these difficulties, I feel normal on a fast too, not much changes. Cooking probably helps in my case As long as I am not hungry yet because if I am, many things make it harder. Shopping, exercising, being tired…
I do feel a bit odd. I almost always eat a lot every day so not eating at all is a tad weird. Fasting is normal for me but not for long.
I’ve done several extended fasts as long as 7 days. More typically 72-96 hours.
I find that it usually gets easier after the second day, and that typically I break the fast because I’m … I guess I’m getting nervous? It’s usually not that I’m super hungry, it’s like something is telling me enough is enough, it’s time to eat now.
While I was reducing, I found that the fasting helped kickstart a drop. I’d fast and drop five pounds, put back three and maintain that for a month, then do it again.
I’m at my desired weight now, so I don’t think dropping an extra 5 pounds and then jamming it back on again would be particularly helpful. I do believe in the increased autophagy of fasting “cleaning things up” but I eat a clean diet, so my plan going forward is 2-3 48-72 hour fasts a year.
I also did try one dry fast - three days of absolutely nothing, then 2 days of water/salt fasting. That was difficult and unpleasant and scary and while it might, maybe, have had a much bigger effect than ordinary water fasting, I wouldn’t do it again, I really felt on a knife edge of potentially damaging myself.
Thank you both for sharing your experiences with extended fasts. I felt as I could carry on but I started to worry a bit as I never done it before. Now I have consumed about 1300 calories in a space of 3 hours. I started with a bone broth then hour later had an egg. Then evening meal which was two chicken thighs with half an avocado and green salad. I was still hungry and had some Greek yogurt with shelled hemp and couple of Brazil nuts. I think I’m ok now with regards toy eating but I was surprised how hungry I felt once I started eating. This is most I eaten for a while. As I been doing omad before and was struggling to fit the calories in.
Congratylations! I remember my first 48 and it was exactly like yours. I could have kept going easily but chose to back off. Then a few weeks later I did a full 72 hours Just wait until you experience a day three! It’s amazing. Again I could have kept going to a 4th day but I was certain that I had a good two full days of autophagy so I stopped and played it safe.
What made my fasts so fun last year was that I did them with a group I chat with on Discord and we stayed in touch frequently throughout the days helping each other and providing encouragement. If you ever want to try a three day fast, tap my shoulder. We could create a thread for the fast to encourage each other and anyone else who joins in, and have a lot of good laughs too. I’ve done 48s and 72s by myself too but it’s far more fun doing them with buddies!! Food planning alone for prefast and postfast is fun. Anecdotal moments are great to share in the middle of it, both good and bad.
Oh, how much did you eat for your OMAD meals? 
And do you need different food there? (I need to switch from “most satiating” to “least satiating” between TMAD and OMAD while keeping the longer term satiation okay, the food tasty and the nutrients just fine.)
I usually start just fine, 1600-2000 kcal, it depends - and then it drops and I must quit. It seems the longer I fast, the more disconnected from food I get. When I skipped 5 days, I got hungry (that’s why I stopped) but still barely could eat a few bites, I had to wait another day but then I ate normally.
OMAD was my big goal at some point (when I realized I eat too much if I eat twice, that was before carnivore, it’s different now), it was so logical, I need bigger meals and 2 are too many calories… But never could do it for long due to my stupid meal shrinking. I could eat an OMAD sized meal just fine - when not on OMAD (it was SO annoying when TMAD was overeating but OMAD was impossible). On OMAD, I went down to 1300 or something pretty quickly and got hungry 2-3 hours later. And I ate more carbs back then and they help if my goal is a biggish meal (and interestingly, they made me hungry short term but kept me satiated longer term very very well. perfect for OMAD - until the few days it lasts).
I rarely ever try a single OMAD day on carnivore though certain items help even there.
Yes, yes! Except I don’t need planning the post fast meal, I eat whatever I fancy. But the pre-fast meal is VITAL. I mess it up and I can’t fast. I need a big, satiating meal to last for long enough to help with the first skipped eating window.
Except I don’t need planning the post fast meal, I eat whatever I fancy
You’re lucky and rare then!! Breaking an EF should be done gently and slowly with the right order of food. I learned that last year but I got a first hand lesson this week as to why I shouldn’t have deviated. I ate protein right away: first tuna salad, then a homemade creamy shrimp scampi. I spent the next few hours with severe stabbing gas pains and ended up living in the powder room. It was harsh.
Previously I always broke it with homemade bone broth, waited 39-60 mins, then had either yogurt or sauerkraut. Then after another 30-60 mins I could proceed with my typical meal. I never had a problem until this week when I did whatever I wanted.
And yeah the premeal is critical. It should really be nothing but protein rich meats with a good amount of satiating fat. Double helping. Lol. I like making a roast for my final meal before a 3-day fast.
But it’s always difficult around the 18-20 hour marks no matter what I eat last. That’s when the first real hunger pains begin. I drink water or plain tea until it passes. Once I’m past 22 hours I’m home free. LOL
But planning and sharing what you will be eating before and after is just part of the fun. I also get ideas from others and learn more as I hear what they are doing.
Something crazy … I don’t think I’ve ever had a hunger pain in my life. Maybe that’s why I find it reasonably easy to fast. I get hungry and recognize my hunger and satiety signals just fine, but it doesn’t hurt, physically, it’s much more of a loud mental demand.
Hi Juju
Thank you for sharing your experience and of course I would love a buddy for my fasting. Reading your reply I was amazing of similarities!!! Also regarding fun side and group chat and support. I’m in carbmanager where there is a small support network and we also have a group on discord with few people. All from USA I think I been part of them for 2 years but it is that long that it took me to take seriously and give a keto and fasting seriously. I wonder how often I should do extended fast and now what to do between. Well I woke up this morning. Not hungry so I had a big glass of water with apple cider vinegar and then coffee and I’ll see how I go. Maybe do 20:4 or Omad. I just wonder if that would be advisable. I have weight to loose. Still about 10kg but I don’t want to focus just on my weight but instead see the bigger picture of becoming healthy physically and mentally.
Hello I hope this will go to everyone who answered me. With regards to pre fasting meal. I did quite high protein and fat meal at 15:30 I was full. Prior my meal I did a long and quite strenuous walk to work out the appetite. Because that one meal was so satiated I really did not need an evening meal and that’s when I decided to push this fast. Mornings im usually not hungry anyway so that was easy. Bit harder was the evening as I had people around me eating but I managed maybe through a pure focus on what o wanted to achieve. By the next morning I wasn’t hungry at all and it was easy. I been talking to people who done extended fasts who advised me to break fast with a bone broth which I found really good then 45 min later in had an egg. From then I started to feel hungry and had a good keto meal finished with Greek yogurt. I was not hungry after that and still not hungry now. I’m planning a bigger meal today as my daughter is coming. It will be duck breasts with some salad and green veg and I’m sure that will be very satiating and I absolutely love duck. I will have some bone broth at least 40 min before I eat.
With regards to my calories I done take much. When I did omad I really struggled to get my calories in which are recommended by carb manger for weight loss. Just under 1300. Sometimes I only managed 900. It worries me a bit. I do make sure I get good amounts of protein and fat and very little carbs. I’ll see how this go. My weight is coming off but want to ensure that I’m doing this for much more then weight. Thank you everyone and keep in touch.
My longest fast was 26 days of water only. I have done some shorter 1-7 day fasts. I am over 50yo now and am concerned with muscle loss so I probably will never do another extended fast longer than 3 days and those will only be maybe once per year. I still do OMAD or TMAD daily depending on what my body is telling me. Lean muscle is easy to lose and hard to gain as we age so I think as we get older we should be very cautious about to much extended fasting. Just my .02.
Be careful with refeeding when doing extended fasts. Be sure to research how to refeed. It can potentially be very dangerous. I went very slow on reintroducing food when I did the 26 day fast. Full reintroduction should take as long as the fast was. So it took me a good 3 weeks to return to my normal ketovore eating plan.
Indeed, I read this many times. Some people are more sensitive - and some simply do long fasts. I never did those. 2 days are so short, I don’t need anything special. But even with my 5 days one or when I actually starved due to lack of food and money (not for long, only 11 days and I had a tiny food in the beginning), my body welcomed the food after my fast and didn’t get upset or whatever others may have. I have a sturdy body, I appreciate it very very much
I could do it slow, if I am hungry (and I only stopped a fast due to hunger), I need food. Broth is very triggering anyway, I have some, I can’t stop myself. Very good item if I need to eat but my appetite keeps me from it. I always can drink something and things get smoothly afterwards.
(People usually say broth and coffee helps with fasting. I am rather the opposite though I can drink coffee without eating afterwards. It’s merely a risk. First comes a little cream, then I may wish for some solid thing… And of course, coffee doesn’t help with my hunger. Or anything else, it definitely never made me more awake beyond that effect of the water part. Only food helps when I am hungry and occasionally time. Fine, time ALWAYS helps if I can push through the potential even hungrier phase. Being well-fasted is pretty good against hunger but it has its limits, obviously.)
Sounds good. It depends if my best bet though I always could eat a ton of pork shoulder… But without low-meat days before, I probably can’t eat enough meat. I would surely ate many eggs as well but it’s me. I am unsure about dairy, I suspect they don’t satiate me well longer term (and not at all short term so that’s useful for a big meal) but maybe if it’s a big meal, it doesn’t matter…?
I experienced that a really effective last meal has much carbs in my case (carbs make me hungry so great for the mealsize but they have some good long term satiating effect so very very useful for OMAD or a longer fast). That’s why my longest fast wasn’t hard in the beginning. And then ketosis kicked in and together with well-fastedness it is quite effective. Plus I had my mental fortitude, that was needed as well.
I definitely don’t want to have a planned carby meal so I probably need some tempting dense items. Like pork jowl. On top of my normal meal, of course. It adds fat calories very rapidly and easily, I love it but need to mostly avoid it due to its extreme fattiness on a normal day . A little can help me out but it’s hard to stop there.
Yeah that never helps. I am not thirsty, I am hungry. If I manage to forget about it for 1-2 hours (it’s a tall order, if I am hungry, I can’t just forget about it), I have a chance. So whenever I get hungry on a planned fast, I remind myself of the times when 1-2 hours later I was just fine and try to push through it. With a good last meal and being well-fasted, I have good chances. If I am still determined.
“Talking” (way too much from my part) about fasts these days really makes my fasting wishes stronger. It’s spring too, sunshine, I feel more optimistic, maybe it’s time to push it a bit! (But I got hungry before noon today and ate. No problem, I just need to be ready for the time when my body is ready. As sometimes I am sure it would be fine without food but my mind isn’t in the mood for it.)
I had but not since fat adaptation I think. I still can get very annoying hunger I just can’t stand but it’s more like the “need for fuel” sign, not hunger. I get dizzy and unfocused, it’s bad, I can’t do anything just thinking about food, maybe watching something but I still am very much aware I feel starving… It makes me more and more tired, quite rapidly. So I must eat.
But if I am a bit hungry and do some strenuous exercise (but even walking does it to a smaller extent), my hunger gets much, much worse. If I am sitting at home, it tends to stay cute. Maybe insistent and triggering but NOT very uncomfortable. At least after a while. It’s so great I theoretically* can wait for hours if I get somewhat hungry
*I mean, good luck to persuade my mind not to have lunch at lunchtime when I have nice food, hunger and appetite. Fasting wouldn’t be unpleasant but how could I bring myself to do it under normal circumstances? If I want to fast, that’s different. Or if I can’t eat for some reason. No problem then. I love this. My sudden sharp and strong attention seeking carb hunger (not all the time but often) was very different. It wanted me to feed Right. Now. Or else… So I went and ate whatever I could. It was only bananas once, I ate 5 and as it is a rare fruit that doesn’t make me even hungrier, I was okay for a whole hour… Then I needed food. Or else. But I got home safely!
(So stupid, I was a fat human, I could have lasted without food for MONTHS. That’s the survival part but my body surely wouldn’t have problems for days! And it did it why, because I didn’t eat in the last 16-20 hours? Overreaction on a high level. But just because I tell my body it makes NO SENSE, it doesn’t stop giving me hunger signs.)
You can deny loud mental demands easily? Wow. I can’t. Only the soft lovely cute little hunger that is just a shy baby who hands me a note with “maybe you should eat some food in the next hours… if you want… think about it” and possibly slowly walks away. That is easy for me. I don’t even feel any urge to eat when it emerges despite it feels as some kind of hunger… I am so thankful I can handle lack of satiation when well-fasted…
Both can be quite good, it depends on the person You should eat enough during that time though a single low-cal day or two is usually fine.
Can you tell more? Amounts or macros? Kind of protein? It matters a lot for many of us which we choose.
That’s probably very low-cal. So fowl satiates you? Interesting but of course some people have that. I envy them a bit.
If you eat 900 kcal, that’s not a good amount of fat. Just saying. But one day may be fine! Just don’t do OMAD all the time if you regularly undereat on it. Even I have that effect but I just get hungry and break OMAD But if I manage OMAD days with TMAD ones mixed it with good average macros, I am happy. You don’t necessarily need very similar days
Thanks for the details of your fast, as you can see I am a curious one and like to know how others do it and feel while doing it. I find the differences of people fascinating but I can pick up tips that potentially work for me too… I like to experiment, it’s fun.
Hi it really does satiate in fact duck meat has high levels of monounsaturated fatty acids without any carbohydrates. My parents use to have their own animals so I use to eat it quite a lot. Now it’s more or less a treat.
I eat fat until I’m hungry. Sometimes more sometimes less depending on my hunger. Post fast I had chicken thighs with skin on and some vegetables plus full fat Greek yogurt also virgin oil on my veggies and cooked chicken in so I felt it was enough for me.
Hello and thank you for sharing. I’m also over 50 51 and I do worry about muscle loss. I don’t think I will ever do such long fasts. Even worry about shorter one. I’m still trying to research more and learn.
Congrats to all on fasting.
I too just finished a 52 hour fast. This is my 3rd year doing ketovore. I love fasting. I find it a challenge to oneself. But this last fast was very easy. I even got on social media and looked at food and recipes with no cravings. Did my mind adapt? Was I more prepared? I’m sure they all played into my success.
I did over a year of 42hour fasts twice a week, and found it really easy to do once I got used to it. I would eat dinner on Day 0 at 7pm, then fast for all of Day1, and not eat until lunch at 1pm on Day 2, 42 hours approx each time. I did this on a Monday and Thursday each week.
Dropped a lot of weight, and felt great. I drank a lot of water and coffee. I can’t remember why I stopped, I think likely I got sick and fell off the wagon. I am now carnivore and I have got similar if not better results eating lots of fatty meat each day. Right now I am in my 3rd year of carni, and it’s by far the easiest low insulin inducing way of eating I have ever done. I think it is likely I will be carni for life.
Hi Alec thank you for sharing and well done in your journey. I am right at the beginning of my journey though I have attempted keto couple of times over the the past years. This is the vast attempt so far mentally and physically. I’m finding it easier as it possibly ketovore I’m doing and my cravings for sugar are totally gone apart from psychological at times. I hope I can persevere and adopt this way of life.
Hi Mark that is some fast you done there!!! thank you for sharing. I’m also over 50 and I do worry about muscle loss. I don’t think I will ever do such long fasts. Even worry about shorter one. I’m still trying to research more and learn more.