What is the longest fast that you've completed?

(Beth) #221

So nobody’s posted here for a while, but I’m posting anyway… I am starting Day 8 of an extended fast. I generally have felt great!
Water/tea/coffee/bone broth, small amounts HWC or butter or coconut oil.
Going for autophagy for autoimmune issues, mental clarity, and weight loss would be a nice perk. Hubby is out of town for eight weeks so seems like a great time. Wish me luck!

(Doug) #222

Hey Beth, cheers! 10 days is my longest - never got close to “real hunger” in my opinion, but with 100 lbs. of fat left to lose should be no surprise there. Autophagy is huge.

I’ve done a lot of black coffee while fasting plus Sucrose-sweetened tea (even though I’ve since learned that the ‘powder’ has Maoltodextrin in it - bummed me out a good bit, but have never felt any bad consequences, there) so I keep on, fingers crossed.

(Beth) #223

Doug! Thanks for the support. I learn so much from your posts - I lurk a lot, lol. This autophagy is amazing stuff. I woke up in the night with burning on the inside of my right foot. I was confused until I realized it’s the last of the nerve damage repairing itself from an old car crash injury. Nerve damage from 15 freaking years ago! I started because of a merciless psoriasis breakout. That cleared up in the first five days. Ready excited to see what else improves!

(Sammi) #224

Can I ask what jobs you guys to no substantial food for up to 21 days it seems incredibly excessive what is your goal for this what do you achieve I’m very intrigued as just starting my fasting journey 5:2 :blush:

(Ron) #225
(Doug) #226

For me, the goal is weight loss and better metabolic health - reducing insulin resistance. I had one test that put me in the fully Type 2 Diabetic range.

I sit on my butt a lot, just messing around online - some days are like that. Also drive trucks about 25% of the time, and drag oil hoses and other significantly heavy stuff around industrial facilities fairly often - the job can be physical. I’ve felt somewhat lower-energy on some fasts, and a few times light-headed when I stood up fast, but overall no problems and it’s never been true hunger than has made me end a fast.

Being well adapted to burning one’s own fat is huge here - without that, then I’d expect feeling really crappy and weak, not wanting to do much at all.

(Beth) #227

Hi! I’m a 49 year old female with several misc. health issues and about 40 pounds to lose. I started like you and worked my way up to a 13 day fast that I broke yesterday with a small re-feed. Back to fasting today. I am doing it under medical supervision. So far: psoriasis cleared up, reduced inflammation, chronic joint pain gone, chronic acid reflux gone, old nerve damage healing from a car crash/back surgeries, skin looks amazing, macular wrinkle in right eye completely gone, vision improves daily. Plus weight loss stall is broken. I am also doing it for cancer prevention since I’m the only person in my family who has NOT gotten diagnosed with cancer or liver disease. Keto has also drastically improved my Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. My antibodies went from around 1000 down to 100 in ten months.
I did the re-feed (mostly fat and protein, plus small steamed broccoli) because I felt really fatigued and light-headed. I’ll do another one if necessary. But I am going to keep going until I get to goal weight. I want to see how much improvement/disease reversal it accomplishes.
I’ve worked with an integrative medicine team for about 5 years and we are tracking insulin, inflammatory markers, hormones, body comp, etc.
I have worked hard with their treatment, quality food and supplements to reverse some of my issues (spending several thousands of dollars) but EF is working better and faster than that process ever has! WOOHOO!!! I can’t tell you how great it is to feel so much better so quickly. Oh and IT’S FREE. This forum is awesome, science based and supportive.

(Alec) #228

Fasting is the best value-for-money health technique bar NONE!! It is not going to fix every health issue, but the ones it does help/fix is a long list! And it is FREE. Actually it is better than free, you spend less when on a fast so you save money, and you save time shopping, cooking and eating! What’s not to like??

Show me another health technique that saves you money and time!! :joy::joy::joy:

(Sammi) #229

Thanks guys this has helped a lot! :blush:

#230

Thanks for all of this information everyone! I’ll be at 24 hours by the time I get home this evening (about 4 more hours). Can anyone give me tips or pointing me in the direction of good re-feeding protocols? I have my ketoaid and pink salt. I want to do 48 hours and break my fast sometime on Saturday so not a long fast, but the longest for me.

(Beth) #231

Unless you have gastrointestinal problems, you shouldn’t have to do anything special, according to Dr. Fung’s book on fasting. If you’re concerned, start with a small snack and then follow that with a meal anywhere from 30 mins to hours later. But he says to just eat as you normally would.

#232

Thank you so much! :slight_smile: That reminds me that I need to pick up his book on fasting. I only have the Obesity Code which got me here.

(Blyss (Old @Charmaine)) #233

I no longer fast at all at this point. I did a lot of experimenting my first year doing keto, and fasting was a part of that experimentation.

(Robin Lea Fritche) #234

Wow!!! How long did you end up fasting before you broke the fast? What were the results? How are you doing now?

(Robin Lea Fritche) #235

My longest has been 8 days, but I’m nearly done with day 4 of a fast that I intend to be longer than that. :slight_smile:

(Carolyn Gephart Wilson) #236

126 Days.

The fast didn’t result in any loose skin, but I did lose some muscle which was regained fairly easily. I also started losing quite a bit of hair about a month post fast which isn’t unusual, but also wasn’t pleasant. It started growing in about two months later.

I’ve researched a lot since I started that fast last year, and in all honesty I went into it thinking a very extended fast was not much different than the shorter 3 -10 day fasts that I had already been doing on a regular basis.

The advantage of a very extended fast is that as long as you keep your electrolytes balanced and are healthy it is easy as any hunger is gone and energy levels are good. The disadvantages are related to protein deprivation (hair loss, lean tissue loss) as well as the potential for electrolyte imbalances. (Even though I was supplementing with all the key electrolytes I still had a bit of a problem with low blood pressure and a touch of dehydration on and off during the last month.)

:hibiscus:

(Robin Lea Fritche) #237

Oh wow! Thanks for the info about the hair loss. How bad was it? My hair is already very thin and you can see my scalp. :frowning: I cover my hair part time, so I could do that more, I suppose…

How much weight did you lose during that fast?

(Carolyn Gephart Wilson) #238

Just saw this - 7 months late sorry!

Thank you.

I stayed on a strict Keto refeed through Dec. 30th. Then had a minor 4 day carb splurge.
After regaining about 7 pounds during the first two weeks of refeed I stabilized at 145 pounds until aroundcAprilnwhem “carb” creep added another 15 pounds. I really cannot handle wheat, grains or potatoes without gaining weight and setting off cravings. I recently completed a 33 day fast (May 38 - June 30th) which took care of that 15 pounds, and everything is going well.

Hope you get this!

:hibiscus:

(Carolyn Gephart Wilson) #239

How’s it going?

:hibiscus:

(Carolyn Gephart Wilson) #240

Starting weight 194 pounds
Ending weight 138 pounds. Regained 7 pounds during the first two weeks.

I lost enough hair that I had to cut it from mid back to neck length - the heaviest loss was around the sides.
I started a hair growth vitamin “Hairfluence” in January and whether that had been helping or my hair is just growing back naturally it is now as thick as before although it’s still very dry on the ends (old growth). The new growth is both thick and shiny.

:revolving_hearts: