Prolonged fasting 72 hours?

[Ilana_Rose]

You’re doing amazing. Most people who try fasting early in keto, before they are well fat adapted, end up bailing so I didn’t have high hopes. But you’ve proved me wrong.

You’re doing the best thing that you can for your health. I commend you!

[idunno]

Keep on Keto Matrika. We spend many years getting to the stage we’re in, even keto will need some time to heal us. But at least we are finally caring about our self now, and that is a huge thing. Good to hear fasting was manageable for you, how many days in fasting did you do usually?

Thanks for the kind words @Ilana_Rose, that means a lot. It is actually a little strange to get compliments when it comes to eating, and even not eating. Because the over eating, caving for cravings, and sweets and treats as meal replacement and failed diets over time made me deeply believe that I could never change my bad habits, and I felt like I was enslaved by sweets, treats, cakes and calories.

I am on the 48 hour mark in about 20 minutes. Spirit still high. Not feeling stressed or that it is too hard to fast. Feeling the hunger now and then. The hunger waves seems to roll in every 2-3 hours or so. But those hunger waves are so easily distracted, surprises me really. I just do something concrete for a few minutes and the hunger goes away. The hunger waves are nothing like the cravings I used to have while eating carbohydrates. Those cravings would grind me over and over, crush my will power, and wound’t stop grinding me. Those cravings would keep grinding for hours upon hours. And I would get those cravings multiple times a day, now matter how much I ate during regular meals. Compared to that awful craving, hunger waves are easy.

Weather is good, so I am doing another walk today. Not doing like yesterday and walking around the city. That was too much of a mental challenge. Guess I still have a long way to go before I worked out all the mental issues with my weight, body resentment, self image and self loathing. Rather then facing those feelings with each walk as the walk is hard enough for me right now, I will take the car and drive to a place where I can do a nature walk. Hopefully avoiding other people, or at least not meet people constantly like I did yesterday.

I feel I don’t have much of a choice for the fasting part, I only got limited days before fat camp. I can’t wait until I am fully set in the use of fat for fuel. I got to do the fasting now in an effort to start the healing as soon as possible, and up the growth of healthy stem cells.

I can’t really quit or not show up on the fat camp. I’ve paid too much money. And it is non-refundable. I hate waisting money, its even worst the walking in public. And it gets me en a foul mood for a long time. It might be tough, painful and a “near death” experience but I will show up and I will start their program.

Next update at 60 hours mark. This fasting goes much smoother then I ever would have anticipated.

[Ilana_Rose]

You should be well fat adapted by the time you start fat camp so at least the lack of calories shouldn’t hit you too hard. How long is the camp? Can you tell us a bit about what the program is?

[Janie]

You are doing great! Fasting is 80% mental and the other 20% is ignoring the hunger pangs and staying away from food.

I do lots of 72-hr fasts and some are easy and some harder - no clue as to why. I typically get hungry at my usual lunch and dinner times as my body is used to eating then but like you said - it fades if you can distract yourself.

You know you have overcome the mental aspect when you tell yourself “only” one more day and you can eat. Or “only” 12 more hours until your next meal. LOL.

I will say once you set a target like 72 hours the closer you get to that point the hungrier I get, anticipating eating again and stimulating my appetite.

[idunno]

Don’t really know a whole lot about the fat camp. At the time I booked it I was in pain, my back acting up again. I was kind of desperate because I just finished a 12 hour session with physiotherapy, and it really didn’t help much and when I told them at my last treatment I was told the pain really was because of my body composition, where the most fat was and the overall weight I carried around. No one ever spoke so freely to me before so when I got home my first response was to change. Then I realized I tried that so many times and failed over and over.

So I googled and found this camp. What I remember is that there is focus on exercise, with three session daily during week, and two session during weekends. In addition there is group therapy and classes to make us understand why we over eat and to give up the tools to change our mind set and work our way to a better and healthier life.

About the exercise I know we start out in moderate peace and will increase intensity as much as possible. The duration is 6 weeks. It seems there are a lot of focus on walking. But there are other activities as well. Swimming, gym and “weight lifting”, basketball, tennis etc. So should be a little bit of everything and I hope we get to choose and pick at least a little. If joints act too much I think I could focus primarily on swimming, gym work out, spinning and elliptic machines as those exercises are gentle of joints.

That’s all I know until I meet up on day 1.

[idunno]

Thanks for the kind words. Appreciated.

[idunno]

The walk I did was brutal today. Me feet felt like bricks chained to heavy logs that I had to drag with me. I wasn’t sore or anything, but I felt slow, and heavy. I manged only 18 minutes of walking and I was totally crushed. I found a big rock and rested close to half an hour before I could find the strength to walk back to the car. I manged to return to the car and finished my bottle of water resting on a bench and drying myself off with a towel. Felt fatigued, a little out of breath and almost shaky when I sat down on the bench. It passed after a while and I drove myself home.

The mental aspect was much easier today. I din’t meet anyone where I walked today. That helped, like a ton. Because I was sweating like you wouldn’t believe today. And temps where cooler then yesterday. And the walk back to the car was so slow I used 9 minutes longer on the way back.

I am not gonna make this a daily routine, as it taxed me pretty well. But I will try to do them in the weekends. Maybe I can sneak one in during week if work don’t take up too much time. No vacation for me this year, as I am taking my holiday on the fat camp

[SecondBreakfast]

Hi! I’m so glad you’re sticking with it! And, am truly amazed and impressed how well you’re faring this early on in the Keto - Fasting journey!
Staying busy is really key for me, when doing an extended fast. I’ve done 2 - five-day fasts, several 48 hour, and 3-4 72 hour. The longer ones, I’ve done for autophagy, or to break a sweets addiction. The shorter ones I do to help me deal with “female issues”, and they are highly effective.
The last 5 days fast, I worked 8-10 hours/day for 4 of the 5 days. Kept me pretty well occupied. I chugged alot of salted water.
The body feels so amazing and free from pain afterwards. A great example is how I feel right now. Just got back from a weekend, hiking some pretty rugged miles in the Porkies. No knee pain. No foot pain. No back pain. And, I even kept up with my hubby - which is nothing short of astounding, given what a hard time I’ve had in the past decade or so. It was like hiking with him 25 years ago! LOL! No cheat meals, even though it was a mini vacay. Had a bunless cheese burger - with dill pickles and mustard. Prime Rib, green beans and a salad. Scrambled eggs and butter. A few raw pecans. A couple Coconut Bai’s. …completely satisfied, never starving or feeling faint. Just powered through the hiking, pain free.
And, I mention that because I really want you to know that things will improve on your walks. You might sweat. You might hurt, and feel exhausted. But, it will get better and better. Pretty soon, you’ll even surprise yourself at how far and how long you can walk. So hang in there!!!
I don’t know you, but still wish I could hug you and let you know that you’re on the right track, and there is a blazing bright light at the end of this tunnel, my friend!!!

[idunno]

Thanks a lot. Those kind words means the world.

So I’ve hit the 60 hours mark. This evening has been kind of hard. More hunger, and harder to shake those hunger waves.So I’ve kept busy all evening. To make things easier I have now taken one of my “good nite pills”. That should turn the light off in about 30 minutes or so. At least I won’t break while sleeping.

Will post next update on the 72 hours mark. Surprised and also a little proud I lasted 60 hours.

Good night my fellow keto’ers.

[Momof5]

Congrats! That is awesome!

I really hope that this Fat Camp you are going to will have Keto choices for you; so that you can eat while you are there.

[idunno]

72 hours finally here. I did it. My first fast lasted 72 hours. The last 15 hours or was a little rough. I was so hungry I woke up. Then I couldn’t fall back into sleep.

I totally forgot to check how to break a fast and I was so hungry I didn’t have time to do a quick check. So I had two soft boiled eggs because I couldn’t wait more then 3 minutes after water started to boil. And one avocado with salt and pepper. And now I am doing an easy fatty coffee. I used half the fat I normally do, but added a little heavy cream for taste.

I will do a proper dinner tonite. Pork belly with cauliflower and avocado.

[Janie]

Congratulations!

It gets easier the more fat-adapted you become and the more you fast. I always enjoy the mornings when I am fasting because I never wake up hungry.

Sometimes I struggle getting to sleep with that empty/hungry feeling.

[Momof5]

Congrats! That is great =).

[Ilana_Rose]

Bravo! 72 hrs for a first fast is very, very impressive.

[idunno]

Today I had two meals and dinner was kind of large. A big slob of fatty pig belly. Slow cooked and roasted. With green salad, asparges, sour cream and a new touch for the avocado, I did a take on the guacamole, I didn’t have garlic or Greek yoghurt so I cheated . I mushed the avocado with salt, pepper, chili flakes, some lime squeeze and added some mct (10) oil to it. Tasted legit, and I think I will add mct oil to it even with the yoghurt next time just to up the fat content.

Don’t know if I broke the fast the right way, or if I had too much fat too soon after a fast. But going from how I feel I think this was spot on. I feel fine again, almost energized. If energized is even a way of feeling. Hard to describe. I know I do feel I can more fasts. They might be tougher, I might struggle more or less. But I know I can take it now. And that is great feeling. I am no longer a slave to hunger, cravings and food. I am the master of my own domain.

And I think I can manage two more fasts before the first week og August. Heck maybe even three. I don’t know if it will help healing my joints, and back but I will surely do what I can to try and better things before the “boot camp experience”. If I shall have a chance at all to work out three times a day without any serious injuries I have only one option. To fast more. To get more stem cells, to lessen the inflammation in my body and to meet up prepared and ready for whatever hell will be during those 6 weeks.

I haven’t read any books on fasting, and even though the Internet is crowded with information on fasting, prolonged fasting, intermittent eating and keto, there is little information as to how often one should fast, what is the shortest amount of time between fast and if too frequent fasting will do more harm then good.

So I may as well just take it upon me to try it for myself and see. I think I will see the doctor tomorrow and do some extra blood work, and ask a professional what the schooled folks think about frequent fasting. If it will do no bodily harm, shut down my internals or mess up my metabolism I see no reason not to do as much of it as I can mustard before “boot camp”.

At least then I will know whatever happens will have to be, and I have done my part to ensure camp goes without injury, or extensive pain.

[Momof5]

Does this boot camp have Keto foods?

[idunno]

Tbh, I don’t know. And I haven’t worked out a backup plan if not. My strategy is to focus only on the things I can do anything about right now. In other words, what I eat, when I eat and when I don’t.

If they don’t I will find a way and I will stay keto, even if I need to cook outside every day on a camping multifuel burner. I can fill a large portable cooler/fridge and keep it plugged in @my room, and keep my food cooled or frozen and only eat keto during the common meals. In other words cherry picking what I eat, then fill up with fatty keto after final session each evening. Plus I will stick to the fatty coffee, that thing is amazing. Taste so good and I feel so “filled up” after a large cup.

[Momof5]

Okay, great =). I hope that you can keep on track there and it will work out without it being too difficult for you.

[idunno]

Oh I am sure it will be plenty difficult. Almost every day I most likely will feel like I am dying and ready to throw in the towel and run home with the tail between my legs.

After desk job for decades and more and more sedentary lifestyle I am not used to moving my large body much. Because it is painful, it requires a lot of effort and I get really tired just by walking because of all the weight. And to think of doing exercise several times each day - man that is more movement in a day then most folks do for an entire week.

But I booked it - and why did I book it. Because I was sick and tired of being the fat guy. Tired of aching joints, back pain and limpy walks. I was tired of sweating like a pig if elevator was broken and I had to walk up the stairs to the office. And I was tired of being enslaved by food, sweets and treats.

To get my life back and to be in charge, I will have to face those challenges every day for 6 weeks. Hopefully I will get the basic down by the time I leave. So that I have an acceptable heart rate while walking, and so I don’t risk a heart attack or stroke just by carrying a few bags of grocery.

No matter how tough the boot is, the real war comes when I get back home. The camp is just the battle. The way I choose to live my life at home is the war. And for the next year or so I imagine it will be a lot of pain, hard work and hating all of it. But if I can do this one thing for myself, next summer I will be a better man, more in control and have a better future. I am the only one that can help me. So I better do my damn best.

[Momof5]

That is awesome, your dedication will pay off, and we will all be here to cheer you on =). That is terrific that you could get 6 weeks off of work to do it too.

I hope that you can access the net while at boot camp so that you can keep us all up-to-date as well =).