Fasting is a tool, and a powerful one, if you understand it properly. It can also be quite dangerous if you don’t understand what you are getting into. The structure of this WOE is to manage your energy in such a way that your body will use more that is readily on hand than it is when you are a carb burner.
What you are trying to accomplish is to get your insulin as low as possible for as long as possible, as well you are trying to get its counter glucagon to go higher. Glucagon is responsible for the catabolic state controls, much like insulin is responsible for the anabolic state controls. Insulin is the big bully though, if it goes high enough it will shut down the catabolic state (ketosis, GNG, autophagy, etc) and glucagon is inverse to it so it will drop. Insulin is also responsible for a hole host of other functions, fat and glucose control, fat storage, salt retention, to name a few.
When you eat low carbs you are low on insulin and there for the glucagon goes up and the catabolic processes start, lipids(body fat, trigs,) are mobilized to be used as fuel. Depending upon you level of fat adaption that may only be happening at the liver, or at the most of the cells later on at fat adaption.
Fasting before fat adaption can move things along quicker, but, and this a big but, you will only have the liver producing your energy. When you are in a catabolic state and do not take in any food(fasting) your body will use the fat for the ketogenic process, and what is extra is glycerin which can also be broken down if needed for GNG process to keep your cells that require glucose feed. Naturally your blood glucose(BG) will be regulated at a low level by the GNG process. It can and does use other substrates for the process, mainly protein. If you expose your self to a sudden demand of energy and liver uses it stores of glycogen(a form of glucose) it will need to use GNG to keep your blood sugar up or you will die. So if you don’t have a lot glycerin available, the body will use protein. Were does it get that protein from, well it could be from autophagy, bones, muscles, or organs. The process if done correctly is muscle sparing, saving it until last (true starvation) but if you press your body before fat adaption it could lead to some muscle loss. I would contend that you would probably loss that tissues anyway but instead of the body using it to repair other cells it would use it for glucose control. Its sort of extreme example but it could happen to someone who was not properly prepared to fast. The other problem with fasting is your electrolytes need to be in balance, and that is very hard to get in the first few weeks. You could go into what is called re feeding syndrome if you were to extended fast (EF)and you lost the right amount of electrolytes. I don’t want to scare you but on the same token these are a very possibility. I have issues my self if I fast over 48 hours with getting my gut working correctly again. IF in my opinion should only be done if you have a really good idea of sateity, full, and hunger signalling. I still have issues with hunger signaling at times, which means I can be at a energy crisis quickly if I don’t eat. I use so much that I have to plan 4 hours in advance very often, but that is me. Again you could IF right out of the gate but you really should be eating to your macro level every day right now, so that may be harder in the beginning.
I think this WOE of is awesome, I am never hungry, I always have energy, and I can do things I have not been able to do for years. Your hunger is your signal to eat, don’t ignore, let your body do its work, the rest will come with time. There is a lot happening, you may gain weight you may loose a lot of weight, its hard to say but don’t get to worried about it.
