Unable to go More Than 24 Hours?

#1

Hi everyone! I’ve been mixing up my fasting windows so my body doesn’t get used to having food at the same time all the time. So, I’ve been doing 16:8, 20:4, 22:2 for about a month. I’ve been wanting to now do a fast that’s longer than 24 hours, but I get hunger pangs around the same day (I usually have 1 meal a day). I’ve listened to the podcasts saying how don’t eat if you’re not hungry and eat if you are. Does that mean my body is only able to do a 22-24 hour fast? I’ve tried just drinking black coffee and sparkling water, but my stomach bothers me where I can’t sleep and so I have to eat. Do you guys get hungry and just work through it? Any tips to get over the 24 hour hump?

#2

I’ve heard that 24-36 hours is the most uncomfortable but it goes away if you can tolerate it. Remember that you can go about a month without food (before dying that is). Be sure to drink plenty of electrolytes.

(KetoQ) #3

Hi Lunagirl –

Being able to fast 20+ hours in your first month is good progress. Just do what feels comfortable. In time, you’ll get mentally stronger and figure out how to make a longer fast work for you.

Some tips:

  • Go to sleep early. If you have trouble sleeping, do a workout or physical activity to help exhaust you and don’t drink coffee later in the day. But sometimes physical activity will make you hungry. Weight lifting makes me really hungry. Going on a long walk, not so much. Again, you need to see what works best for you.
  • Make your final meal before the fast higher fat. If I’m doing a longer fast, sometimes I make bacon, then cook brussels sprouts in the bacon grease. After that meal, I don’t feel like I need to eat for days. Makes fasting a lot easier.
  • Work up to longer fasts in small increments. Do a 24 hour fast a few times. Then skip dinner and fast through breakfast the next day (using sleep to your advantage). The next time try to make it to lunch. You get the picture.
  • Know why you are fasting. It will help motivate you through the tough times. Because sometimes you just have to tough it out. Also consider, the hunger pangs often comes in waves and stay for 15-20 minutes, then leave for hours.

Good luck,
Q

#4

Thank you both!

I’ll try to tough through it :grinning:

(Jane) #5

Eating when you are hungry does not apply to fasts. Almost everyone gets hungry when it is time for their normal meal… the difference is once you are fat-adapted it is easier to ignore it because it is not the same “OMG, I’m starving… feed me NOW” when burning glucose for fuel.

It does get easier with time… you are doing great and no need to push yourself. And then sometimes you will start a fast and your body just says NOPE and you should stop. Its different from the mild waves of hunger that come and go - you will know.

#6

Thank you! I’ll try this weekend and see how it goes :slight_smile:

(Jane) #7

Going to sleep a bit hungry is the hardest part of the fast for me and my husband.

You can try eating a generous lunch with lots of fat and skipping dinner. You should only be a little hungry. Then try to make it to dinner the next night and you have made it to 30+ hours!

My husband struggles with fasting because he doesn’t have a lot of fat stores and is fasting for autophagy. He manages 36 by starting his fast after dinner say Tue. Fasts all day Wed and if he can make it to sleep he has it made. He breaks his fast as soon as he gets up Thu morning.

It is getting easier for him.

#8

I’m about 45 hours into a 48 hour fast. I got the hungry feeling around my normal dinner time yesterday, and then again around bedtime, but both times it went away after a few minutes. And it was more of a “hey, food time” than a “FEED ME NOW” feeling. Now that I’m closing in on the 48 hours the hungry feeling is more frequent, so I’m looking forward to dinner time. Hope this helps!

(Bob M) #9

I find that if you mentally break, eg, I’m going to eat, you’re done. I’ve done 5+ 4.5-5.5 day fasts, at least 10 3-3.5 day fasts. Dr. Jason Fung says the second day is the worst and if you can make it through that, you can go 7 days. I don’t find that to be true. My last fast was 3 days (ate Sunday night, ate again Wednesday night), but was supposed to be 4.5 days (eat Friday at “blunch”), and I couldn’t make it.

Getting past dinner is critical, though. I’m usually extra tired when I fast, so if I can make it past dinner, I just go to sleep, early usually.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #10

I do extended fasting, currently on hour 61.
For me, the hardest part is day 1, getting past that eating window in which I usually eat my OMAD (one meal a day).
But when 2 rolls around, it’s easier, day 3 is even easier.
You just need to push past that hunger feeling, it’s just your grehlin hormone reminding your body to eat, it’s in sync. Try drinking soda water when you get the tummy gurgles, that hunger only lasts 15-20 minutes and you won’t feel it again for another day, in my experience.

(Bunny) #11

The way I understand it, when your blood glucose gets too low, that’s when you get hungry, so that is your body telling you it is time to eat; so maybe try intermittent fasting ratios so you can work your way to longer fasts and your body gets use to the lower caloric restriction over a period of time!

E.g. Spacing your meal windows farther and farther apart until you don’t feel hungry as soon, from one meal to the next?

Remember your not trying to starve your-self or tell yourself “I am not going to eat even if I’m hungry” …your trying to adapt to conditions, if your body senses your trying to starve it, it is going to do exactly the opposite of what you want it to do???

Footnotes:

  1. Glycogen shortage during fasting triggers liver–brain–adipose neurocircuitry to facilitate fat utilization: “…However, whether the trigger that switches the major energy source from hepatic glycogen to adipose tissue triglycerides is comprised only of the drop in blood glucose level and the concomitant changes in metabolic hormone levels has not yet been determined. Here we show that liver glycogen shortage directly activates a liver–brain–adipose neural axis independently of blood glucose and insulin/glucagon levels, having an important role in switching the fuel source from glycogen to triglycerides under prolonged fasting conditions …” …More
  1. “…The action of somatostatin 28 – inhibiting glucagon, inhibiting lipolysis, and sparing protein – is a useful backup to the similar effects of basal insulin. Basal insulin – the low background insulin level – supports a feedback loop by which ketones themselves inhibit lipolysis.[11] Together, this helps to explain why high fat diets (very low in carbohydrate, essentially ketogenic diets) WERE AS EFFECTIVE, and somewhat safer, than FASTING for reducing blood sugar and preventing diabetic ketoacidosis in the pre-insulin days, in people with low, but not zero, insulin production.[1] No hormone acts alone, and the regulatory mechanisms described above have been simplified. However, for people interested in high fat diets, somatostatin 28 is a potent hormone that specifically responds to dietary fat, and has actions which are desirable in a low-insulin context. …”…More
#12

Just thought this was worth repeating, and I wanted to add, the production of grehlin does stop after only a couple of days. Then you lose the craving to eat, at least, if it isn’t for emotional reasons, but even than, as a comfort eater myself then i just have to not have the crap in the house.

I try to avoid grehlin spikes by having no set eating time at all. When I’m not fasting, I generally eat once a day, but it might be lunch, dinner, 2 or 3pm or supper, and then again I might graze for 4 hours one day. I’m not hungry on a set schedule, and I find it helps a lot when I get into a fast. But I’m not a person that enjoys routine, so there’s that.

#13

Ah good to know! I usually give in around the 36 hour mark!! Might push it a little longer next time :ok_hand:t2: