So i tried looking around and found a few little comments but not a real topic on this. I am 43 hours into my first EF and I am so excited! I will be attpempting a 3 day fast and maybe a little bit longer if I feel right, and this leads me to my question.
What signs do you look for to tell you you may want to end your EF? Obviously it cant just be a hunger sensation lmao those are innevitable so is it more looking for fatigue? Headaches and whatnot may be a sign of being low in certain supps, so what signs should I look at? Even though I do not plan on anything more than a 3 day with change EF should I still look into a gluccose monitor? I know some on here are number crunchers but I have never been the type, I got rid of my food journal the moment i felt comfortable recognizing what i could and could not get away with lmao
Thanks for any insight!
When to end a fast?
@ReaperScoob I just posted a similar question in extended fasting. I’m still getting used to how this forum works. I’ll check for replies to your post in case anyone doesn’t answer mine
As with most things, it depends.
Depends on how fat-adapted you are, how much body fat you have to work from for energy (some folks need to supplement fat even during a fast, or their metabolism drops).
I find that I will sometimes get cold on an extended fast if I don’t add fat. It’s also important to keep sodium (and other electrolyte) intake up. Some folks find they need to increase them while fasting.
If you start feeling really crappy, that might be a sign it’s time to eat. Feeling woozy, chilled without being able to get warm (especially if drinking salt water doesn’t help), or feeling wiped out are all things that I’d take as my body telling me it’s time to go ahead and break the fast.
As you gain experience fasting, you’ll probably get a better sense of the signals your body is sending.
As far as monitoring glucose, I don’t know that it’s necessary, other than if you wanted to have some correlation in terms of where your BG goes while you’re fasting. Many folks, while fasting, see pretty significant drops (down between 50-70). As long as you’re fat-adapted, that shouldn’t be an issue. But if you’re still working on getting fat-adapted, going that low could make you feel pretty crappy (similar to keto flu).
Best advice I can give is don’t try to bull your way through to the full 3 days if it doesn’t feel right. As others have observed, fasting is similar to muscle in that it’s something you can build stamina for/with.
WOW thanks so much for the info! Hit every point I could think of lmao, I have been doing the electrolytes and acv in my water so have been doing good so far!
@ReaperScoob I was thinking of ending my 6 day so far fast. I had fatigue so bad I posted a new topic to find out what was going on with me. I drank a bone broth and had 5 macadamia nuts and now 2 hours later I feel fine. Amazing. I’m going to plug along with just water and salt and see if I can keep it going for several more days