Ok..now my brain hurts lol

(eat more) #1

this is just the old habit of freaking out with “am i doing this right? am i doing damage doing it ‘wrong’?”

last week i spontaneously fasted (only 47 hours) and it was frighteningly easy…since then i’ve done some IF (20/4, 18/6, and a couple of other random ratios above 14)…which seems harder somehow?

anywho…i read a lot of the fasting category, listened to the megan ramos podcast (first one :scream: @richard and @carl ya’ll sound fancy! :blush:)

so much information to process and i’m not even a dummy but some things are just outside of my current bandwidth

i think i’m mistakenly looking for “rules” which probably don’t exist and also trying to break years of previous “programming”

i’m about 15 hours in (17 if you don’t count the little bit of fat i had late in the day) and i’m questioning everything…

should i eat? my stomach is super hungry but nothing sounds good enough to stop being lazy and make it and eat it

should i even be hungry?

should i have feasted first…and what does that mean anyway? more food than “normal”? more fat than “normal”?

are you supposed to break a fast (intermittent or extended) with less than daily intake, same, or more?

am i even really fasting or just not eating? (in my mind there’s a difference)

i know i’m overthinking and sound like a crazy person but that’s what happens when i don’t understand something and/or make it more complicated than it is :joy:

i’m sure someone will come along and say:
don’t eat…until you do

in the meantime i chose to have some electrolyte water and brain dump in this post :joy:

i do think that unplanned fasting works better than “trying” for me

thanks for reading my ramblings :blush:

#2

It’s perfectly normal to feel different on fasting regimes. It can be easy in one event. And then more challenging in the next. Many factors influence this. Like stress levels, not sleeping enough, exercise, electrolyte levels, etc.

(Michelle) #3

I think the main thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to reduce your BMR. If you reduce your intake too much via fasting, then you could easily get your body used to a lower amount of calories, and your expenditure will match. I think even Megan said that OMAD is not a good strategy long term, as your body gets used to that amount of calories, and your energy expenditure will go down to that level. Then, unless you train your BMR for more energy, it will consider you “in excess” of your new set BMR. ummm… if that makes any sense.

Here’s how I think of myself, not sure if it helps.

  1. I’m keto
  2. fasting is a tool to use if I need or want to use it
  3. I can do IF easily and do that a lot, but I make sure my feeding windows have adequate fuel.
  4. BUT, back to #1, since I’m keto first and foremost, then I can eat when I am hungry and stop when I’m full. So, I don’t do IF every day. I let my body drive my IF periods.
  5. Extended fasts should be used when needed/wanted but not all the time. These to me are important to do feast before fast. You want to load up on fats in your feasting time in order to sustain your fast.

So, that in a nutshell is how I look at it. I hope this helps!! Don’t overthink it. Also, I heard @richard say that his fasts are easiest without any fat. Adding in the fat makes him hungry. So, maybe if you added a little bit of fat late in the day, that is triggering some hunger.

my 2 cents only!! :smile:

EDIT: and wha??? You don’t listen to 2KD? Do you live on another planet?? :wink:

#4

In addition to what the others said, if fasting is harder at the moment, it’s quite possible that your body wasn’t finished rebuilding after the last fast and it’s better to stay in the feasting phase longer.

This may change, but right now my intent is to follow a cycle where I eat until I reach a point like yesterday, where the thought of the next meal is unappealing, which I’m assuming is a signal from my body that it’s stocked up and ready for action.

I do think that feasting before the fast in that sense is good because the body senses an abundance and isn’t inclined to panic when the fast begins and reduce BMR, but instead like Dr. Fung mentions, it will ramp up metabolism in anticipation of the need to go hunting for food again.

(eat more) #5

i’m too…uhm hyper/brain active? to just sit and listen to anything…my brain wanders away…
i like to read because if i find myself checking out i can come back to it :blush:
i can’t even watch tv while not doing something else…luckily most tv is easy to follow without even paying attn…at all lol

(eat more) #6

i think i fixated on
“the longer between feeding the better”
“4-5 hours not eating is nothing”
(those should be air quotes because they aren’t actual quotes but the messages that stuck)
and i think i got caught up in the excitement of the benefits of fasting, extended fastings, and that the unplanned fast was so stinkin’ easy…that i didn’t even know was something i wanted to try/incorporate.

back to keto basics until my body tells me otherwise

thanks for having my back and supporting my brain dumps :blush:

EDIT: i still want a 2ketodudes “Go Fast Yourself” tank for the gym tho :joy:
someday when i’m more fast adapted lol

EDIT2: i’m probably still going to train fasted…its gooood (for me)

#7

I listen to the podcasts on iOS where the app lets me set 2x speed and I listen to audiobooks on Audible where they allow up to 3x and if possible, I’d listen to everything on 4x, all usually while working/walking/jogging/sprinting so I can keep busy at the same time.

I was so psyched when I saw that YouTube now allows up to 2x speed!

Listening to people talk at normal speed is soooooo slooooowwwwwww…

(eat more) #8

ooh i’m going to have to look into that!

thank you sir :blush:

(Richard Morris) #9

It’s more like when I water fast I get into a state where my body becomes comfortable with no calories coming in and it’s like it goes into a “Don’t distract me I’m hunting food” mode. If I eat then my body says “Yes you found calories - well done. More of that please”

Dairy and hunger?
(Michelle) #10

I also multi-task when listening. I walk the dog, workout, grocery shop, drive, etc. all opportunities to listen.

They say that you retain the same information as if you were reading a book. Sometimes you may consciously miss something, but your brain does hear it.

(Siobhan) #11

And apparently the podcasts are now all on YouTube I think!