September 2020 IF/EFChat Thread (All Welcome)


(Allie) #41

That is exactly why I had a larger and later meal last night than I would’ve done normally, I knew my body would need the fuel after the ten mile bike ride I did. I prefer to get them in on Saturdays as I don’t tend to limit any food on the weekends so have Sunday to recover, will have to be sure to keep it as a Saturday thing as eating that late has only served to disrupt my sleep to the point of me feeling tired and headachey all day, the fasting has been no trouble at all mind you :joy: currently 25 hours and will easily finish the 36 as I’m getting an early night due to feeling so crap all day.


(Bob M) #42

Good news about the fasting.

As for eating late, I can’t quite figure that out (as I can’t figure out pretty much anything). Sometimes, I definitely have issues, as you have. Sometimes, I don’t.

I do try to eat farther away from bedtime, if possible. But with a busy schedule, it’s not always possible.


#43

Eating later is sometimes counterproductive for me, I don’t know why… But usually it just doesn’t matter. My SO is more extreme, every day is tabula rasa for him, the past doesn’t even matter. For me, the previous amount of food (in the previous 3 days at least) matters but the time of my last meal (or my carb intake in the previous days) doesn’t or very little.

I find it perfectly normal and okay that the body just doesn’t want a longer fast, don’t do it then.

I probably mostly have mental barriers against even a smallish EF, I am so used to eat every day… I train now, no unneeded lunch, accepting very subtle, not annoying hunger if there is zero need for fuel and no appetite (I tend to eat when ANY type and strength of hunger emerges. or if it’s simply lunchtime. and it’s not right, I decided)… Now that you talk about 36 hours, I want one :slight_smile: Well, a 40-48 hours one as 36 is an abnormal number for me, I eat only in the afternoon/evening.

It’s understandable that work or exercise affect our chances for an easy fast. I couldn’t even want to fast after a few hours of cycling/hiking and/or weighlifting in my immediate past… I finally do proper weighlifting again and my muscles must get what they want :slight_smile: But work/exercise easily trigger hunger anyway. I will try fasting on a rest day in the near future. Or I don’t really try, just won’t eat without a need and proper hunger…?

But I will be very happy with OMAD with the occasional TMAD thrown in for now, with a “late” mealtime. 3pm is just too early for me. 6pm is safe, I probably can eat enough without any force and don’t get hungry again until bedtime. And sleep makes me more satiated, I so love that.


#44

Decided to postpone mine for a bit, and just did 26 hrs. … Got to work and the knee was actually feeling much better. But by the time I got all the paperwork done, drove out and did the station tours, and drove back to the office, my knee was starting to kick back in (No pun intended) and somewhat worse. … So I ended up leaving a few hours early, and started icing it immediately as soon as I got home. After a few sessions, the Wife applied some numbing cream which didn’t appear to have any effect that I could tell, and I just popped some more Advil, so hopefully that helps? And not sure what tomorrow will bring.

But I really hate taking any meds, but especially so on an empty stomach, and I was actually starting to feel a little wonky with a headache. So will play it by ear and just start another in a day or so, depending on my knee and how I feel overall. Might have to take another day to rest the knee too. …We’ll see.


(Bob M) #45

What happened to the knee?

I take some meds with just water or coffee (black), but I’m not sure about advil.


#46

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea? … Went down in the basement Saturday to go through all my hunting gear and washed my clothes. But while down there, I also moved some things around and shot my bow a few times. Don’t recall feeling anything that may have happened, just woke Sunday morning with a swollen knee with slight soreness. (Which has intensified some since then) But honestly, it feels very similar to when I had a inner meniscus strain in my right knee a few years back, after injuring it at work. Was in therapy for 2-3 months and limped for nearly two years afterward. So I’m hoping to hell it’s not the same this time. :crossed_fingers: One guy I met said he limped nearly 8 years before his got better :flushed:

As to meds, yeah, I really hate taking any type of medication regardless. But with some, such as Advil (Ibuprofen) they recommend not taking it without food or Milk, etc. … They say it can do damage to your stomach lining, and cause other issues. (But this is actually true for a lot of medicines overall, so I try to make sure I have something whenever I do have to take any) - But the Advil didn’t seem to do much for me last last night, so I took a Percocet a little while ago. I had some left over from a while back I never finished. But I rarely ever do whenever I’m issued anything. Just hoping a few days taking it easy might help it, plus I’m still icing it presently. Did a quick search, since I couldn’t recall what else meds do…

Bleeding Ulcers is what I couldn’t recall.:slight_smile:


#47

Maybe it helps if I write it here… I started my planned longer-than-usual fast. I pretty much stuffed myself in my 2.5 hour eating window (TMAD, I just can’t eat enough at once without special planning), no force but I defiitely would have stopped earlier on a normal day. Now I am very full and it’s good considering my last meal was way earlier than usual, it’s safer this way. A little walk will be nice.
I won’t even cook tomorrow, not like it matters in my first 24 hours, there is no wonderful food plan on the next day either - I am open to a longer fast if my body and mind are willing :smiley: We will see. If I happen to fail epically, well, I still will have 24-26 hours… :smiley: My eating window is very small every day, it’s an improvement after my somewhat chaotic, sometimes hungrier times. It’s very comfortable now and I proved that I can eat a ton even on OMAD (a skill I didn’t possess in the beginning, my body just got very confused), 100g protein is no challenge even for a smallish meal so yep, TMAD isn’t needed at all, at least not often.

But next time I will do a fast without getting myself this full first… Not particularly uncomfortable but a bit over the ideal fullness. Oh well, it will change soon.


#48

26 hours this far. I am very, very satiated still and even cooking a bit went fine :slight_smile: Fasting feels so nice now, it’s so better than eating at this point… I have this lately, way smaller urges to eat than usual, enjoying slightly longer fasts and I really needed this.
I have no plans beyond ~46 hours, we will see. I wonder when I should do my weighlifting session… There is a very high chance it triggers a meal, I am even very wary about exercise without eating afterwards when I already had nothing since 2 days… I am not adamant to break my fast tomorrow, I want to do it while I feel comfortable. I only went beyond 48 hours once in my life and it’s an old wish of mine to try it again… So if my body (and mind) is cooperative, I want to grab this rare chance! But I probably will feel the need to refuel tomorrow.


(Bob M) #49

Way back when I started fasting (3.5+ years ago), I could fast for 4.5 days and exercise during that time. I’ve since not attempted that. If I fast for multiple days, I do no exercise. If I fast a short time (36 hours), I will exercise near the end of the fast. But I have to eat sometime after that.

Your mileage may vary, of course.


#50

I never exercised more than a day later than my last meal. I couldn’t try it now either :frowning:

32.5 hours. I couldn’t sleep (as I slept way too much last night and I can’t fall asleep as easily as in my younger years), kind of missed eating (doing an EF is a mental challenge due to its rarity, I am in a very close relationship with my old habits) and felt odd… Well I still couldn’t sleep after breaking my fast but I felt a bit better.

I will try again soon. I almost did it, I had no problem until 1am. But it was still longer than usual.


(Allie) #51

Struggling with my regular Monday 36 hour fast this week. Got to 18 hours and had a salted coffee with a splash of cream and coconut MCT powder which has helped, and I deliberately have nothing at work to eat today (as is normal for Monday’s), but this one is going to be tough.

Likely because of the 13.5 mile bike ride I did yesterday.


#52

I just do OMAD or sometimes TMAD every day. Yesterday was special, not even IF as I needed a day when I don’t undereat (I used many meals, very very unusual)… I eat little since my 32.5 hour fast… Later I will work on changing my food choices a bit to avoid this. IF was always so natural to me, it’s very odd not doing it.

My SO comes home at 7pm so I won’t eat until then (or at least until 6pm) - unless I get hungry but why would I? Monday is the best way to fast anyway, I tend to eat more on Sunday for various reasons and it’s a new week… So I don’t plan to eat until dinner (and possibly not even then) on Mondays in the future, I have this plan since some time. It’s the easiest thing ever to skip lunch when I am alone as I am never really hungry that early anymore. But I can sit at the table without eating nowadays, I just needed to train for it for some time and it’s surely not perfect yet. I love eating. But fasting too.


(Bob M) #53

I have also found it to be more difficult to fast the day after some exercises. For me, this includes doing projects around the house, which can be very arduous physically.


(Allie) #54

I thought I had it covered as I had a large zero carb meal a couple of hours after the ride, eating later than I usually would (as is normal on Sunday’s as I know I’m going into the weekly fast), clearly not though as yesterday was a struggle. I made it through with two coffees as described above, completed gym as planned too, and went to bed.

This morning I’m up and have broken my fast, did 38 hours but not comfortable about needing the coffees so more experiments are needed.

The previous week I had a non keto meal after the bike ride and before fasting and it was a breeze, but I’d rather not make a habit of eating that way as my sleep was wrecked and I felt wobbly and fuzzy headed for three days :unamused:


#55

A large meal is the obvious idea to me as well - but for most of us, it’s hard to eat a really big meal if we even exercise and need unusually much (carbs help with calories but I don’t want that route either and it’s often not enough anyway)… Now that I try to stay close to carnivore, I am often unable to eat more than a little at once so my undereating OMAD days badly need my “not even IF but at least I reach my energy need” days sometimes (just looking at the numbers. I am never particularly hungry). I will solve this (I always could eat, too much all the time, at that… it’s a temporal, strange situation) but for now, it’s what I can do. I don’t even try to do a longer fast right now…


#56

I pretty much ended up doing mostly just OMAD last week, some extended, since I was taking those meds. But I’m hoping this week to be better. I’ve pretty much been doing anywhere from 23 to 31 hrs, but mainly ate just to have something in me for the medicine. Still feeling the knee problem some, but decided not to take anything else and hope time is all that’s needed now. … Presently just passed 14 hrs and not planning anything for today, but also don’t like to plan Fast either, so may go a few more?


#57

Presently at 42 hrs. Not sure just yet if I will be eating tonight, or just continue on? Told the Wife I will let her know when I get home. Feel fine as usual, but do have a knee brace on now, though I haven’t been taking any meds. Icing in the evenings still and it seems to help some…


(Megan) #58

Currently 39 hours into my first 46ish fast since June! Slept great, not hungry, no real stomach sounds (I did use some peppermint oil on my tummy because Im at work in a quiet office haha) I felt so good I didn’t bring any food to the office so Ill break the fast with my husband tonight for dinner. Happy Fasting everyone!


#59

Decided to eat a meal with the Wife tonight after-all, so broke at 48 hrs. … Happy Fasting Folks :+1:


(Megan) #60

Eating with the wifey is much better than fasting :wink:

I finished mine at 46 hours. So happy! That’s my longest go. Now on hour 12 on my next 46 hours…