November IF/EF chat, all welcome!

(Doodler for @KetoKailey) #82

Happy Tuesday, Boys and Girls!

Just read EF/IF do not need to be keto (WIKI Acronym)…but my IFs have always been keto.

Yours?

Does cream in my coffee confound a fast?
(What The Fast?!) #83

If I do a long EF, I’ll include some non-keto things (still whole foods) because if I’m jumping right back into a fast, I find I’m deep enough in ketosis that I don’t drop out - or if I DO drop out of ketosis, I easily get back into it because fasting. I usually eat a lot of vegetables and sometimes fruit, because it helps with :poop:!

(migorstmarseille) #84

Hello everyone. Hope you’re all holding up well.

I’m doing my first EF this month. I started at 8:30pm Sunday night, so I’m at about 40 hours now. I did a 120 hour fast last month, and I’m shooting for 120 - 168 hours this time. I’ve felt great so far, except for about an hour window last night where some family drama stoked the emotional hunger and I almost broke. But, after taking a breather from the drama, I took a little pink himalayan salt and kept going. This morning, I got up and did about 20 minutes of DDP Yoga and have felt great ever since. Just running on water, black coffee, iced tea, and ketoaide.

My past fasts of 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours have gotten progressively easier as I go along. I’ve been pretty much following a 16:8 or 20:4 IF schedule for a year and a half, but am considering doing 3 day EF / 4 day IF 20:4 every week between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

(migorstmarseille) #85

Yes. Always. Keto makes IF and EF so much easier.

(Carolus Holman) #86

25 hours into an unintentional fast. Starting to get the belly gnaws, had some salt. Is it normal to experience hunger on a fast when fat adapted?

(Mark Rhodes) #87

Our first EF fasts were 3 months in. My wife struggled and I did not. Looking back on the info we gathered she is far more insulin resistant than I am meaning she had a harder time accessing her fat stores. 3 months farther in her average BHB has dropped which I interpret as she has less available ketones in her blood and is likely using them as we eat far cleaner now than then. She also has less difficulty with fasting. I think based on my readings to date is you can be fat adapted, that is have a preference for fat as a fuel but still not be quite capable of engaging in lipolysis as efficiently as others, yet. We all come to this from different starting points.

To your question: sure. I started fasting last night for either two 36 hr EF back to back with a single meal in between or just a single 96 hour fast. I had hunger thoughts 2 hours ago which I put down to lunch time cravings. I will get more when I get home as the mental cue is “oh boy time for some lunchmeat” and yet again around dinner time. What I have noted is my hunger is far more controlled by cues rather than real hunger. If this is your first fast, put some salt under your tongue, dissolve. If that doesn’t help you through and your fingers are cold or numb, perhaps end it and chalk it up to learning. My first was about 44 hours.

Why do you fast?
(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #88

Yes. The difference is, it should pass. Try hydrating, electrolytes, even sleep (yes, rest!) or distraction. Hour 24 is hardest for most, just push through it. Try eating a pinch of salt.

(Carolus Holman) #89

Yes I am salting, I just want to be doing what’s right. I am in my 5th week of Keto!

(What The Fast?!) #90

Yay!!! Brenda is here!!!
Something I’ve been doing is adding salt LIBERALLY along with NoSalt/LiteSalt to my water all day. Probably 1T of salt and 1/2T of the other in a liter of water. The taste is super salty at first, but you get used to it and it ends up kind of tasting like soup, to be honest. I haven’t tried warming it up, but I will try that today. :slight_smile: I prefer it to salt under the tongue and It definitely helps with hunger.

(Ethan) #91

I have found salt on the tongue more tolerable than under. I tried the salt in water, but I found the taste of the water unsatisfying. It was easier to just eat a ton of salt and then drink water.

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #92

Sup Andrea? How are things?

#93

Wow! You are motivated, I hope it will knock out that plateau for you.
I have been fasting since Sunday night and hope just to make it through until tomorrow night for a total of 68-70 hours. Fasting has never broken a plateau for me yet. So, I don’t really expect anything from fasting in that area, but I am happy knowing that bit by bit my Insulin Resistance may be reduced.
Obliterate away!

#94

Have these fasts helped you to “break through” a weight plateau or decrease your IR?

From what I understand you would likely see the weight begin to drop once there is a marked reduction in insulin production.

(KCKO, KCFO) #95

Well, looks like I have fallen into once a day eating. This is day three and it just turned out this way. I am feeling great, scale has moved the way I wanted it to, so I’m just gonna be carrying on…

#96

I know that I do, I have to remember to keep drinking plenty of water or tea, ketoaide etc. and salt, salt, salt.

#97

Nothing wrong with that!

#98

I always get cold fingers and toes. I thought this meant that my body was trying to burn visceral fat and that peripheral circulation was just being conserved?
What I mean is, I don’t think this is a reason to stop a fast, am I right?

(Carolus Holman) #99

My Fast lasted about 28 Hours. Cold hands, feet and muddied thinking. I chose to break-fast with a Carlshead pizza. As I rolled out my dough, I thought to myself, “Self, this is a small pizza, I hope it’s enough I am STARVING!” As I took my delicious creation from the oven, Jalapenos, Spicy Italian Sausage and Mozzarella my mouth watered and I was looking forward to scarfing on it! Fast forward 10 minutes, I am full, I mean, my stomach isn’t stretched but my long lost friend LEPTIN has made a HUGE comeback. I am amazed at how loud it can be “STOP EATING YOU WILL BE SICK”. I looked at the plate, I had only eaten 1/2 of what I thought would have been a SNACK before keto. Powerful, powerful stuff.

#100

Oh, this sounds like a love story! :smiley:
I want to listen to my full stomach just like that…I need to work on that healthy relationship!
Congrats on the LEPTIN win!

(What The Fast?!) #101

Oh heyyyy! Let me give you a 30 second recap:
Keto seemed to work for me the first few weeks (lost 5-6 lbs) but then I had that awful 2nd degree burn and everything went wonky. I tried tracking everything that went in my mouth, did a lower fat keto, went zero carb for a month, tried a super high calorie (85% fat) keto, all to no avail (and a few gained lbs). I then joined a Fat Burning Female program and ended up gaining a couple more. All in all, about 4-5 more lbs than before starting keto in March. NEATO!

Sooo…after all that, I recently started heavy fasting. I’m fasting more than I’m eating (basically doing EF and breaking the fast with either a single meal or 1 regular day of eating, then going back into a fast). FINALLY I’m losing some weight - HURRAY!!! I don’t have that “OMG I feel so amazing when I fast” feeling, it’s more like, “I’d much rather be eating but I’m finally seeing results so who cares,” so that’s good enough. I’m basically drinking keto-aide without the magnesium all day and taking ACV once in awhile. I’m down 8lbs since starting this fasting-focused WOE (since 10/15). My goal is to lose about 18 more (puts me around 21-23% body fat based on my 100lbs of LBM).

Aside from all that, things are fab. :slight_smile: Work is great, I have a bunch of travel coming up (ski trips, hurray!!), and well, as they, I’m just trying to KCKO. Oh - and since it’s cold out, I’ve stepped away from outdoor cycling, but still doing TRX, kettlebells, barre, yoga. I’m taking it a little easier with fasting - I’m testing a theory that if I just rest while I’m fasting, I’ll get it faster results and then I can hit it hard in the gym once I lose the weight.

PS I recently learned that heating up salt water (with NoSalt as well) and drinking it with a spoon feels like I’m eating soup.

How are yoouuuuu??? I heard about your AMAZING gym gains!!! So incredible!