OCT 2021 IF/EF Chat Thread (All Welcome)

#104

Yeah, I thought you might be hinting at the stomach issues thing, which a lot of folks deal with. At least at first. … A lot of time this happens when food is introduced, and I honestly believe it’s simply a shock to the system, after not having food in there for a while. … But as mentioned above, I too have done a small salad, and waited 30-60 minutes before eating a full meal. But I’ve done this with other stuff too.

Plus, along with the things already mentioned (Nuts, Eggs, etc.) I find that something with a lot of fat, such as on meats, or just greasiness will also cause the stomach dump. I also think the more you fast, you might see this less often. (as they say, building the Fasting muscle) As I said, most times for me, any Fast under 48 hrs. doesn’t seem to bother me regardless how I break. But once I go beyond that threshold I will definitely watch the items I will break with. Again, sadly, we all have to find what works for each of us. Some will find certain foods that will almost always trigger it, but once you find out what does cause this, simply remove it from the equation and try other things. But maybe just eating a smaller amount and waiting an hour, may help even more? This can be 2 or 3 bites…

I basically think the introduction of anything in a smaller portion really seems to help folks the most. I’ve even snacked on Pumpkin Seeds (slowly) for an hour before a meal, and no issues? Not a lot & eating just a few every few minutes, to maybe jumpstart the system before fueling it up completely. So you will have to do some trial and error to find out what works best, but we’ve all been there at some point. And some even say it bothers them for days when it happens. - For me, even when it does happen, its only 2 or 3 trips within the first couple hours, then done. But some have reported having the issue last for 2 or 3 days, or more. I can really see that being a problem, and one I wouldn’t want for anyone.

Is there a timeframe you go beyond, when you are seeing this the most? - For me personally, I see IF as anything up to 24 hrs. (OMAD) And anything over 24hrs. as being considered EF. But again, this is just my opinion on it. If you are seeing this on smaller IF’s, or just slightly over that 24, it may just be your system not being used to Fasting, but that should change, and probably not too long.

#105

It seems to happen at enything over 18 now that I think about it.

#106

Depending on long you are trying to Fast, I wonder if it’s just cramping of some sort? I don’t recall ever getting heartburn, or stomach pains. Unless those are restroom pains indicating the need to go?

In my experience, the only time heartburn comes into play for me these days (which is extremely rare) is with a good amount of food in the system. So not during Fasting for me at all. So you might want to check and make sure you don’t have something else going on? Could be something as simple as a stomach ulcer, etc. (I’m in no way saying there is, but you never know.) you’re just the first person I can recall mentioning pain or heartburn whilst Fasting. So just wanted to mention it.

#107

So it could just be you’re not used to the longer timeframe between meals too? … How long have you been doing IF?

(KCKO, KCFO) #108

That gets reported by a lot of people with eating eggs after fasting. Might try something else if you break with them.

#109

I was thinking the stomach pain could be just the system signaling the bathroom break, but I honestly don’t recall ever hearing the heartburn. At least not that I can recall. I know when the Eggs were an issue for me, it not only cause it to happen, but quite quickly too. So I took the advice from others to not break with them.

#110

A little less than a month with IF. So, it is definitely new to me.

I will try and move away from eggs and see if that helps. I appreciate the advice. As far as something else going on, anything is possible. I have another Dr’s appointment on Nov. 9th and I will mention it to him when I am there to see if he has any thoughts.

#111

I feel good eating too, lucky me - but sometimes I wish to be a snake or something for a while… Fasting is so easy (as long as I don’t need food), simple while eating is tricky, when, what, how much… Of course sometimes that’s easy too but I had so hard times when I tried to figure out eating.
But I can’t help it, I need food eventually… Just not too often. It would be a nightmare to eat 5 times every day, how people do that…? Well okay, they probably are fine with tiny meals or just need lots of energy… To me, reaching satiation and satisfaction isn’t trivial, it’s more than enough to work on it once, sometimes twice a day!
And eating doesn’t always result in a nice, perfect satiation. That often comes later and stay with me while I fast… I love that. Hours pass and I feel just right eating wise. I like my well-fasted state - until my body gets impatient about its food. The little addict…
Right after eating I may face a bigger hunger than before eating too, that’s the worst. But fortunately I have no stomach issues and don’t know anything about such things so I don’t have any tips, I would just try out different things and see what happens.

My body doesn’t work that way. It DEMANDS things and like doing the same things all the time, with some variety but there is a very big fixed part. I am an afternoon eater, always was, probably always will be. This is fixed like high-fat and high-protein. I had breakfast all my childhood and never got used to it. I didn’t lived in a proper house with garden in my first 25 years and I couldn’t get used to that either. I mildly suffered from both, it never got better. Certain needs are there and even not doing them ever can’t make the need go away, it seems.
I can’t even eat much in the morning even if I force the thing (I never really did but a few times I got tempted and sometimes I used a tiny breakfast to break the worst zombie state I can reach when I mess up my sleep). Eating too early (before 2pm) results in many tiny meals and that’s very annoying.

Yeah, I probably could survive on various weird schedules and woe but I would feel it’s off and without the force I wouldn’t continue.

But now I can do whatever I want and early dinner OMAD seems to work better than ever. For a while, at least.

It makes sense but it’s odd to me that the body can do it after such a short fast too. Mine had only difficulties with eating properly again when I had a very long fast (for me) but that only happened once in my life… 1-2 day fasts are fine.

Now I got curious, I really hope I will be able to do a cute sized EF in November… The 48 hour one I chase since so many months. Okay, not chase, more like I am sitting, waiting, hoping for it come to me… I am a tad more active sometimes but not very much. I can’t fast forcefully, it must happen naturally. Some conscious decision is fine but it’s up to my body what actually will happen.

#112

Well, so far so good today. Had some coffee with heavy cream around 7:30 and then a small salad with just a little olive oil and salt at 8:30. No pains so far. I may try something a little heavier around noon.

Thanks again for the advice everyone. I love this place!!

#113

Good to hear it. Hope it works for ya and takes care of things. … If you don’t always have salad stuff to work with, (I know it happens to me) I’ve also done a few slices of Cheddar Cheese, or a couple bites of left-overs, etc. Just a small amount of anything to prime the system to get it functional beforehand.

#114

Thanks again.

(Bob M) #115

That does seem to be similar to me. I think aerobics (of the relatively short kind I’m doing) is not as demanding as is body weight training. I hypothesize the latter is causing me the issue.

What I’m doing now is taking my body weight (BW) training and moving it to the weekend. My previous schedule was:

Monday - BW (1 hour, 10-15 minutes)
Thursday - Shorter BW + HIIT (1 hour, 15+ minutes)
Saturday - Abs/lower back + HIIT (35-45 minutes)

The goal was a 36 hour fast from Tuesday night to Thursday, eating a few hours after my morning workout. I have been able to do this, but not as much as I’d like.

So, my new plan:

Monday- Abs/lower back + HIIT (35-45 minutes)
Thursday - BW (1 hour, 10-15 minutes)
Saturday - Shorter BW + HIIT (1 hour, 15+ minutes)

I’m hoping the aerobics on Monday with no body weight training will allow me an easier time with the 36 hour fast from Tuesday - Thursday.

I’ll report back this week.

I have seen very ripped (men, usually) saying they can’t do OMAD or 24+ hour fasts. I could see that. Not a lot of fat to rely on.

I, however, don’t have that problem. I still have plenty of fat. I think my body just “wants” more calories (or protein?) due to the body weight training.

#116

I have plenty of fat on my body too, lifting isn’t a problem with OMAD as long as I can have a big enough meal every day (I can’t but that’s why I have TMAD days too. maybe 3MAD if I mess things up or start to eat too early). And I get stronger :smiley: I am still elated, my weights stay the same for sooo long and now I need to raise them so often! It’s a huge change and I have no idea why this happened.
I just need to stop doing my full body workouts in 2 days (I need long resting times, they got shorter lately, fortunately but I am in the kitchen, doing stuff and I just forget to resume my workout sometimes or I get bored or need to do something) as yesterday I only did my 2 biceps exercises, quite seriously, I don’t always am in the mood to go this strong, pain be damned and today my arms refused to do any lifting… :smiley: But it started yesterday, after my biceps exercises I was spent. It never happened before but maybe I used all my willpower and determination on those?
I will get used to my new, harder workouts I am sure. Sometimes I am rusty. I only skipped 6 days, I was away for a few days (annual cemetery and aunt visit) but some longer rest is fine occasionally anyway.

I hope I can do a longer fast in November (I think I wrote that a few times already) and I will see if that matters regarding my workouts. Or vice versa. I never put my workout on a planned fasting day and I think a fast without a workout should be fine. But we will see!
In the past (before carnivore) I always got hungry 1-2 hours after my workout - but that was the right time for my very long term natural first meal anyway… I brought my workouts earlier lately and it doesn’t seem to affect my mealtime, that’s later than before now. But I do half workouts, I will stop that now. I probably couldn’t not eat on workout days, I would get paranoid, I have that if it’s about my precious tiny muscles :smiley: Once their protein need crossed my mind on a fat fast and I immediately stopped… I don’t care if my body could handle 2 days without protein, better be safe :smiley: But if it’s full fast, I am fine with that, that’s a bit different. I wonder if I will be able to fast for 48-72 hours without needing food… I am supposed to, I could do it with the same amount of body fat before… I could do 120 hours with less! That was on high-carb, though, that helps with the first 0 calorie day… But still, isn’t it mostly about the energy my body can get from my body fat per day…?
One day I lose my patience and will force it a bit - unless my body will force things too, I am powerless then… It’s no fun to lose vision and balance and other things, not even for a few moments.

November is very near! It will be exciting! I want do many things at once, carnivore (real carnivore, not the -ish thing and I didn’t even do that lately… no-dairy for longer term too if I can pull it off, it has its benefits especially calorie wise), OMAD on most days and after some consideration the water only challenge sound doable too… And even messing it up here and there is fine, it still would be useful…
I will be in a more determined state, why couldn’t I do some EF too? It’s way harder without a carby meal first but I do have tricks to use… I learned to eat bigger meals on carnivore, I have chances…

(Bob M) #117

As always, I think it’s complex. When I started fasting, I could fast 4.5 days and work out (at a real gym, with weights machines for lifting and aerobics) at least once during that time. I was also fasting 36 hours, 2x/week, ending them with workouts and then eating. Now, I have a harder time.

I do think “feasting” before the fast can help, though I’m not sure how much. I try to place emphasis on fat the day before a fast.

But yesterday’s BW + HIIT went 1 hour, 20 minutes. I was less than an hour (45 minutes? 30 minutes?) back when I started fasting, and I also was not training to failure.

I got so hungry yesterday, that I ate three meals. That almost never happens. So, I’m hoping that by moving my harder exercises away from fasting, that will help.

I’d like to try a 4.5 day fast again, too. What I think I’ll have to do is drop the Saturday workout (move it to Friday? Or skip it?), then start the fast Sunday night and end Friday sometime. That’s a long term goal. Let me try a 36 hour fast next week.

Why go through all this trouble?

I think fasting has benefits. I think it lowers insulin and glucose and provides some beneficial effect for hormones and even the microbiome. I do think it’s possible to fast too much, so I’m trying to balance some fasting with some normal days.

(KCKO, KCFO) #118

Monthly group fasting is back on, come join us at

(Jane) #119

Great news!

I usually do 60-64 hr fasts (coming up on 4 years keto so been doing this awhile).

I love the empty/quiet feeling I get when fasting and no matter what I break with I usually get a bit queasy. Not pain or diarrhea …… just…… a bit uncomfortable. It’s just my digestive system cranking up. Goes away in a couple of hours.

(Jane) #120

Should we just stick to one thread for the month for both EF and IF @collaroygal ? You have a date in the title 11/17-11/20 but we can use it for all fasters for the month of November. Or if you prefer to reserve it for the “group fast” only I will start a thread for EF/IF’ers

#121

It’s always been separate from what I recall, but either way will work. … I was about to put a new one up for this month, Nov./21. Was thinking about Fasting. But I’ll wait to see how ya’ll want to do them.

If the other one just for the selected dates you mention, would there be too much chatter for the month itself, with all the comments and discussions on-going throughout, etc.?

(KCKO, KCFO) #122

I started the group thread because some people asked for it. Maybe keep separate for now, if not enough people join in this month, going forwards do them together?

Main idea is just support and fasting talk.

(Jane) #123

I started a new fasting support thread for November for EF and IF: