Troubles with IF


#1

Hi,

I have tried IF and longer fasts for over 4 years. I have been on keto for 1 year and on carnivore for last 6 months. I take electrolytes and cod liver oil and eat around 600gr ground beef and 12 eggs a day with butter and beef tallow.

Everytime i try to fast i feel dizzy and cannot think clearly. When I look up the problem, they always talk about beginners or people who are not fat adapted but that’s not the case for me.

Does anyone have the same?


(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #2

Hello and welcome … tell me, how long is your fast? and does this only happen when you fast?


#3

I don’t know what is the problem but fasting isn’t for everyone… It is for me (at least IF, EF got much harder with less and less carbs) and I never needed fat adaptation… It’s very individual.

Can you tell more? You probably have enough fat for fasting or else it would be obvious what is the problem… How do you eat around fasts? You eat plenty normally, yes but how and when and with what last meal you go on a fast? And when the symptoms arise? And how many times you have tried as if it was very few, maybe you just needed more or more frequent food on those days…?

Maybe you try to skip a meal that is important for you? Lunch skipping is something I needed very many years and multiple diet changes for, it was my most important meal for very long and one of my 2 most important meals all my life (except as a baby I guess). Some people NEED breakfast (I mean, morning meal), they shouldn’t try to skip it.
I often read it may be better to ease into it anyway, eating later and later every day (if it’s skipping the first meal of the old life)… For me, an especially big meal helps to push the next meal and it makes sense, really.


(Chuck) #4

I hove been intermittent fasting for 16 hours daily at a minimum and never over 20 hours. I do not do strict keto but I do moderately low carbs. I did intermittent fasting before I knew what it was, so all of my teenage and adult life. My only hard rules are eat nothing after 6pm or before 10am. But even that is flexible as long as I meet the 16 hour minimum. My other rule is to eat nothing but real food, no processed food, no fast food, no soft drinks, and no wheat. I eat fruits, vegetables, dairy, nuts, and all types of protein from, meats and seafood. I prefer wild meat when ever possible. Is my weight perfect, no. But my lab results are good for my age, as is my blood pressure. This fall was the first time my sinuses has gotten to a point I needed prescription drugs. I am 77 never been hospitalized and my worst illness was a mold flu before the sinus infection I got this fall and early winter. Here is my advice and experience listen to your body. Pay attention to how you feel when you eat anything and everything. If you eat something your body can’t handle it is going to let you know. If you eat something your body needs you are going to know that too. Everything you eat will effect your body’s hormones in one of several ways. Either it rejects it and you feel bad or it likes and needs it and you feel energized. But be careful about mistaking what your brain is saying and in most cases don’t pay attention to the pleasure signals of the Brain. Pay attention to tje body it tells you the truth. How you feel. The condition of your skin, how you sleep. On and on.


#5

Hi! Thanks! These symptoms start alwys around 12 hours after the end of my last meal. I could push trough (and occasionally I did for 24hrs) but I feel something is not quite right as I can not reason and function normally.


#6

Thank you for your answer!

When I do OMAD for example i eat the same amount of food (600gr ground beef 15% fat, 12 eggs, butter/beeftallow) in that one meal. If I fast for less time i would simply have the eggs and 300gr of ground beef as first meal and 300 gr of ground beef as my last meal. I recognize the symptoms at around 12 hours after last meal. I am able to push trough if I want as I have the strength but still does not sound right to me if I feel dizzy/ cannot concentrate well.

I also tried the “always wait a little longer” approach. Again, I can go longer as I have the strength but i cannot concentrate quite well. Also, if I do omad every day after a while I start to feel weak and aches.


(Joey) #7

Welcome to the forum!

This is interesting that you feel such symptoms after only 12 hours. After all, that’s not an usual span of time to go without eating between dinner and breakfast for most folks eating standard western diets. :thinking:

I have no insights to share about why you’re feeling as you do, at least given what you’ve shared above, but if you don’t feel “quite right” and cannot reason nor function normally, then clearly you should do what seems to help … and if eating another meal does the trick, well, there you have your answer.

It seems that 600g of beef and 12 eggs daily is a fairly limited diet, but if this is otherwise working for you in reaching your health goals, your body typically knows best. :vulcan_salute:

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: Are you extremely thin with little body fat? Just wondering why you would feel depleted after only 12 hrs or so.


#8

That is very good and wise advice thanks! For me beef, eggs, butter and tallow work amazingly. I feel strong, energetic etc… no bloating, better mood. I guess the food itself is not the problem here:(


#9

Thanks!

That’s what I do occasionally, I just eat:) However, I would really like to tap into the benefits of fasting because even if I feel dizzy, I see that it improves my health.

Right, it sounds restrictive but this problem was the same when I was on dr Berg “healthy keto” with all the vegetables, olive oil, nuts etc… Actually with carnivore i have the strengths to go longer.

It seems an enigma to me but it would be great to find the reason why it does not work!


(Joey) #10

What’s your body type… lean? Are you highly active? Approximate age? What prompted you to go “keto” in the first place - i.e., any medical conditions of concern?


#11

Is it maybe an electrolyte imbalance? Have you tried salt?


(KM) #12

Dizziness can be a sign of dehydration. Are you drinking the same amount of fluid, or possibly a bit more, while fasting?


(Tracy) #13

Water and salt would have been my thoughts too but I don’t have enough experience or understanding of the science to explain why. Would trying bone broth help at the 12hour mark.


#14

Lack of sodium can cause dizziness (lack of food too but it’s usually too early for us at the 12 hour mark… people differ though), I heard about several people who needed extra salt even on IF! Meanwhile I did 5 days without any but yep, dizziness came, I just had no idea about electrolytes back then. We should have learned about it in school but we didn’t. I actually remembered biology, I loved that class and nope. It’s something school, parents or society really should teach to kids, it’s very important and not very hard to do wrong. Apparently, humans don’t have an instinct to eat enough sodium under every circumstances. I feel if I need food or water but sodium? I really had no idea, I didn’t desire salt, I just was dizzy. (I don’t KNOW if it was lack of sodium but it was my day #4 and #5 without sodium, it makes sense so I am pretty sure.)

It’s not a bad idea to have some salt, easy and everything so yes, try it!
Broth seems to help most people when fasting (even if not everyone consider it true fasting…), it makes me hungry personally… But it should solve lack of sodium dizziness!


#15

Yes, lean. I walk everyday 10’000 steps and exercise 3 times a week. 27 years old. I was eating too many carbs and suffered from chemical sensitivities. My nutritionist thought of me as a pre diabetic. As I reduced the carbs I felt better and better until I decided to go Keto. Medical concerns… maybe a sluggish gallbladder as I cannot eat one stick of butter a day like many carnivores do without gallbladder cramps.


#16

I use lots (really lots) of himalayian salt with my meals and I always add potassium chloride and once a day i get magnesium.


#17

I drink plenty while fasting. For sure 1.5 liter in the morning. Adding electrolytes or not makes no difference


#18

Never tried bone broth so I will give it a try


#19

As i mentioned above, I have really lots of sodium from himalayan salt:((


(Joey) #20

You sound like you might be a Lean Mass Hyper Responder (“LMHR”) - which has to do with lipid profile reaction to carb restriction in certain very lean folks (myself included). Not a bad thing - or necessarily a good thing - just a thing :wink:

But it might also suggest why you have a hard time with even limited fasting. Lean body mass provides less adipose fat tissue to store fat for conversion to energy when needed. We have to eat a bit more frequently than others with a “fuller” body profile.

Although personally I only eat 2 meals a day (skipping breakfast time without any hunger pangs), I get a bit lightheaded if I wait until dinner to eat only OMAD.

We’re all different, but listening to our individual bodies remain key. :vulcan_salute: