Thoughts /experiences regarding 3 or 7 day water fast then progressing to keto?

(Dewi) #1

Just wondering what your thoughts are on a 3 or 7 day water fast, then progressing to going keto? I was hoping that this would jump start things. .Has anyone else had experience with this? I left a note with my Dr. regarding this, still waiting to hear back. On day 1 of the fast.

(Rossi Luo) #2

I have to say that it’s a quite bad idea. Usually, most of us here started on Keto first, then started fasting after our body adapted. After our body adapted to burn fat, fasting will be much easier and comfortable and safe…

(KM) #3

This will definitely jump start ketosis but will also magnify any discomfort or difficulty you might have had switching to a low carb diet. It’s much harder to fast when you’re not fat adapted, your body is learning how to use ketones and you are more likely to be very hungry. Make sure to get enough salt while you’re fasting, so that you don’t get “keto flu”.

Edited to add, I just finished my third day of a periodic water fast, I’m at the 72 hour mark. I’m feeling tired and hungry right now. I know this will pass overnight, but I’ve been eating keto for over a year and it’s still not easy. I have done fasts while I wasn’t on keto, it’s certainly not impossible, but it’s definitely harder. Good luck to you on your keto journey, fasted or not!

(Brian) #4

I’d just go keto and let the fasting alone for a while. After you’re keto for a short time, you may come to a point where you actually don’t feel like eating. Good time for a water fast. :wink:

(Dewi) #5

Congrats on finishing your third day of a water fast. Did you notice any issues with sleep while you were fasting? Am having electrolyte mix delivered soon. .but may have to look at the sodium content. Am unsure if it contains any. .

(Mike W.) #6

Unflavored LMNT is good.

(Allie) #7

Others have tried and failed, there are posts here.
Best just to eat keto and let fasting happen naturally when adapted.

#8

If you feel like it and enjoy it, why not? Otherwise (unless you have a way better reason for it) it’s unnecessary and potentially very harmful. I would hate feeling super hungry, for example, that makes me feel miserable, I can’t focus, I may get dizzy, lose balance, sometimes my sight… Yeah my body has temper tantrums, of course I could fast for a month without serious problems if we just look at the physical side of things…
If you don’t regularly do such fasts, it’s a worse idea than if you are very used to this.

I only fast as much as comes naturally. (That’s very little since I dropped my carbs.)

I wonder why people want “jumpstart” keto. You eat little carbs, ketosis happens, quite quickly even, what to improve on that? :smiley: If you worry about carbs and your potentially very low ketosis carb limit, eat close to zero.

And I personally would like 3 day fasts but consider a longer one not so great. But it’s just me with my paranoia about losing muscles :wink: Once I stopped my fat fast on the 2rd day because of it. Fat fast is odd, it made me super satiated while I barely ate. I still prefer eating normally all the time, I just tried it out a few times.

(David Cooke) #9

My path was Keto -> Intermittent fasting -> occasional 24 hour fasts. That’s also what I do when I feel I have been slipping. Don’t forget electrolytes + at least a little exercise!

(KM) #10

Thank you. I prefer to fast when I’m alone, which is usually better sleep quality for me, so I don’t know whether it’s fasting or my husband’s business trip, but I’ve been sleeping very well this fast. Not sure if I will end it this evening when he comes back, or stick out 5 days. This is for health reasons, my weight is right about where I want it at this point.

I find that if I need salt, salt tastes good. I can put a little bit right in my mouth and enjoy it like that. If it’s disgusting, I don’t need salt!

(Doug) #11

It’s what I did - doctor’s office called on a Tuesday, said I’d made it to full-fledged Type 2 diabetes. Scared me enough that I quit eating that day. Figured it was what I’d been eating that caused the problems, so let’s stop that and figure out what to do in the meantime.

The following Sunday I got scared about how I’d feel at work the next day, weak or tired, etc., so I quit fasting at 4.5 days. Needless worry in that case - I was fine and have since done longer fasts.

But you never know - people are different, and one fast may be different than the next. I had been used to just having coffee in the morning, nothing for lunch, and then a big/huge supper, so I was somewhat used to not eating for a while.

I’d say give it a try - there’s no shame if you don’t go to a pre-planned length of time. Lots of people fast with no big problems, even coming from high-carbohydrate diets.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

It’s probably worth mentioning that the bioenergetics researcher, Prof. Benjamin Bikman, says that a ketogenic diet and fasting both put the body into the same metabolic state–the latter with hunger, the former without.

He’s not the first researcher to make this observation, either.

(KM) #13

Do you know if autophagy and the effect on senescent cells is thought to be the same?

(Dewi) #14

Good to know. . I may end the fast tomorrow morning, and just go straight to keto. Have been looking up recipes online, and bought a keto cookbook from Amazon, Also, have printed out a keto friendly list of veggies, nuts, etc. with the carb content. Have also found keto frozen meals/edibles that will have in freezer on the weeks/days don’t feel like cooking.

(Doug) #15

Definitely not autophagy, etc.

(Chuck) #16

I disagree I have never felt hungry while fasting, but I do intermittent fasting of averging 19 hours a day. My longest fast of 25 hours and never a feeling of hunger. But I believe that low carb makes fasting easier because there isn’t any sugar craving. But I have some say they can intake what they call too much salt and have hunger cravings while fasting, but I haven’t had that issue either. On top of that for me I have to be around my wife who eats many small meals each day because she only has a stomach that is about a third of normal size for an adult. This wasn’t by choice it was due to her stomach twisting and a large part of it died before the doctors and insurance would agree to allow the needed procedures.

#17

I consider fasting done right if it has no hunger (or just the adorable kind even I like and don’t want to get rid of. rare but happens)… Though I can imagine situations where fasting is needed even with hunger (and keto wouldn’t work).
I am often quite hungry on keto (at least on/close to carnivore), not as badly as before fat adaptation but still annoyingly. I like fasting partially because it’s perfect satiation almost until the end. But as I stop it when I get hungry, it’s just my short term fasting nowadays… But well-fasted hunger is almost never as bad as during- or after-meal hunger in my case. And it passes moderately quickly anyway.
It’s clearly individual and I would be hungry too if I forced fasting, I just say that many of us aren’t really hungry while fasting. If I ate during that time, I probably would be hungry, possibly a lot.

It seems most people fast easier on low-carb. I am the opposite, the more carbs I eat, the easier fasting gets. It is logical, actually, I have smaller meals on lower-carbs and maybe my body needed breaks from high-carb, hence my “accidental” EF on high-carb… I surely was well-fed enough to go for a 40 hour fast all those times.
Sadly, if I overeat on carnivore, I still get hungry the next day. Since I tried out carnivore, I was unable to do any EF and it was kinda hard on keto already.
But sometimes carnivore OMAD is possible, it’s great while it lasts, the best satiation ever.

It’s new to me! I never consume any sodium when fasting myself but it sounds odd that even salt can make one hungry… Any food, fine. But salt? I am not surprised though, I know people are so wonderfully different, almost anything happens to some!

But that still plenty - as long as one eats dense food. Maybe she doesn’t. Hopefully she is fine with that, I hate having many small meals (too quick and easy satiation does that to me on carnivore sometimes). But it’s doable and one does what one has to.

(Dewi) #18

Well, ended up making it to the 40 hour mark, then woke up at 3:30 this morning, and had handful of nuts because I was so hungry, then fell asleep.

Sorry if this grosses anyone out, but when I went to the bathroom, it seemed like old matter. Hadn’t seen that before, but was reading that it’s a common side effect after first time fast.

Now have to plan out meals/go grocery shopping with a keto friendly list. .