Extended/extreme fasting

[footballmum]

I’m currently doing 16:8 with some success (if I don’t let weekends sabotage me!). Anyway, I joined a 16:8 Facebook group for a bit of real life support and there seem to be a number of people on there who see fasting as an endurance sport!! They take great pride in 24 hour+ fasts. One guy is on day 5! Surely this starvation, not fasting?!

There are also a number of people who do one meal a day. Again, they must be eating a ridiculously low number of calories.

I’m concerned there are a number of people in the group who actually have eating disorders and are using IF to legitimize their eating patterns.

Is there a point at which “fasting” becomes dangerous?

Starvation is when your body has run out of its fat reserves and starts breaking down organ tissue. No fasting isn’t starving. How do you think we survived as a species if we all died when food was scarce for weeks?

The advice always usd to be that fasting for more than 24 hours is dangerous.

By the way, clinics like this have been going decades supervising 21 day fasts.

I’m a member of a few groups and most people who do extended fasts are quite overweight. Some of the pseudo science flying around there is disturbing and people quoting former chiropractors who call themselves doctors and experts in fasting... but there is also a lot of peer reviewed studies shared and a lot of debunking of popular myths.

Sorry, one more link .. you may be interested in Dr Valter Longo’s research on how fasting can help protect patients against negative effects of chemo

news.usc.edu/118758/fasting-during-chemotherapy-may-offset-spikes-in-blood-sugar-caused-by-cancer-fighting-drugs/

Not eating for a few days on end is stupid

Yes you will lose weight cause the simple equation is calories in Vs calories out. So obviously if you're not eating then you'll have no calories to burn.

As soon as you eat again after not eating for days your blood sugar will spike and your insulin sensitivity will be greater so your body will store the calories cause it thinks it's not gonna be fed again for days.

Not sustainable at all. Just watch your calories and burn more than you consume and you can make it a sustainable life style change and enjoy losing weight healthily

“So obviously if you're not eating then you'll have no calories to burn”

“your body will store the calories”

You might want to rethink things there. What on earth do you think fat is for?

The body will eat into the muscle tissue for energy rather than fat it you deprive yourself of food for a period of time.

Read Jason Fung ( diabetics code) and watch the Michael Mosley programme on fasting. The blood tests have shown 3-4 day fasts are perfectly safe in healthy individuals. And extremely beneficial in diabetic patients. Often helping reverse the diabetes.

“The body will eat into the muscle tissue for energy rather than fat it you deprive yourself of food for a period of time.”

In your opinion. Thankfully science says otherwise

“The body will eat into the muscle tissue for energy rather than fat it you deprive yourself of food for a period of time.”

Not according to Dr Jason Fung

I’ve just finished reading both the Obesity Code and The Complete Guide To Fasting which are written by him. He’s a physician specialising in kidney function and diabetes. According to his books pretty much everything you’ve said is 100% wrong.

The book explains why the ‘calories in, calories out approach to dieting, which has been the recommended way to lose weight for the past 20 years, has been an out and out failure. The number of obese and overweight people who lose weight and keep it off using this approach is pitiful.

Sorry-hadn’t realised there were replies!! Really interesting to read some of the scientific research behind extended fasting. Don’t think it’s for me but I’m relieved it’s not just people starving themselves!! I’m having great success with 16:8 and for the first time actually feel like I’ve found something sensible and sustainable which will help me get rid of my excess weight.

I’m also doing 16:8 and combining it with low carb. It really works for me to eat at 6pm and then not eat again until 10am. I feel mortified when I think of how much I used to eat after 10pm. I’m sitting here now - ate steak and roast veg at 6pm, and not even vaguely hungry.

I recently did a 3 day fast to help reset my immune system, as I suffer from Sarcoidosis. It was like starving at all! It was pretty easy actually and I felt a lot better for it. I will be doing them quarterly from now on

It was not like starving*

Wow, scary to see how many people still believe the calorie myth🤷‍♀️ Science is proving Fasting is NOT dangerous and is actually can be extremely beneficial for your health. All those believing in calories in and out please read the obesity code, your beliefs are extremely outdated.

I would be leaving that group pronto; they’re advocating eating disorders and a very unhealthy attitude towards food.

Follow i_weigh on Instagram for some much healthier and body positive reactions to extreme diets.

I've been reading Jason fung too and watching him on you tube. I've done a couple of 24 hour fasts. The hardest thing is missing coffee as I don't like it black. It's not as hard as you'd think.

for a lot of the longer fasts they allow black coffee, green tea and water. As far as I know under 50 cal you stay in fasting mode (could be wrong) so even a splash of milk in a cup of tea should be ok, this helps you last longer. Just managed a 68hr fast, it was fine actually, although next time I will be supplementing electrolytes (salt, magnesium, potassium) having learned a bit more about it.

there's a good subreddit forum all about it here:
www.reddit.com/r/fasting/

lots of interesting info in there for anyone interested.

I have almost 25 years of personal experience in extended fasting. I wouldn’t use the word ‘extreme’, unless you go past 21 days.

My first fast was 7 days long. I had always been intrigued about the spiritual affects of longer fasting on my mind (I am an agnostic/atheist, so not refering to anything religious). When somebody then dared me to do it with them, I jumped at the opportunity. The first 1-3 days were tough (whilst my body was withdrawing from sugars), but then the hunger disappeared, my mind cleared up and it became easy. My body had switched from burning sugars (from what I ate) for energy, to burning fat from my body. Suddenly I had endless energy and felt great!

I felt wonderful after the 7 days, my mind was clear, focused, calm and happy. As an additional benefit I had lost about 3kg of fat too (not just water), and that stayed away.

This spurred me on and since then, I have done 1-2 extended fasts (5-14 days) a year for the past 25 years or so. I am currently half way through a 14 day fast, and loving it 🙂. I have never been under- or overweight, and have always been very healthy. My approach to food is healthy too. I certainly have never suffered from any kind of eating disorder, which some people seem to think is somehow related to fasting. It isn’t.

In recent years fasting has become more popular due to the undeniable health benefits based on scientific research. I was not aware of these benefits when I first started all those years ago. Longer fasts just made me feel so good that I felt they had to be good for me. Now having read a lot of the research and seen what fasting does physically, it has all clicked and I can see/understand why it felt so good.

Those who would like to know more, please read the books recommended above, and look into research by Jason Fung. Please also google autophagy, this is one of the top reasons why extended fasting is so good for you.

I am well into my middle age, and now I fast for autophagy, clarity and calmness of mind, and for dropping those stubborn lbs that keep creeping up at this age! I am so happy I found fasting all those years ago.

One last thing; anybody on any diet can fast, but it is easier if your body already burns fat for energy rather than sugars, which happens on ketogenic and low carb diets.

I used to do extended fasts! I was pretty competitive about it too.

I felt amazing when I fasted- light, could think clearly, was happier, lost plenty of weight, ate more healthy foods rather than junk when I did eat, felt more awake, had more energy so I was able to exercise more-

Oh and I was anorexic & nearly died.

I eat lchf and do fasting pretty much all the time. Not because I am trying to but because when you eat high fat you do not get hungry as often.

I usually eat OMAD and occasionally go 36 hours on a fast. I just take it as it comes.

I never let myself get hungry, and just intuitively eat. But always high fat low carb.

As for those thinking I will be losing weight. I shit ye not that my weight has not shifted even 1lb in the last year of being like this.

I have a BMI of 19.5 so am pretty lean, but I do not lose weight or put on weight even though sometimes my OMAD may be 70% fat and possibly over 1800 cals

Kismet, I do extended fasts and just did a 21 day one last month. I am fat and I could easily live off my stored fat reserves for another month or two, if my survival depended on it. You could be anorexic and be part of slimming world too. Doesn’t mean slimming world has anything to do with anorexia 🙄

Just to add to my post above; I personally prefer longer fasts, because the ‘feeling great and energetic’ generally only kicks in from day 4 onwards, when your body has switched from burning sugars to burning fat. Days 1-3 can be a bit of a struggle, which is why I personally wouldn’t enjoy 24-72 hr fasts.

That said 24-72hr fasts come naturally and can be very easy for those who follow ketogenic/low carb diets. If your body already uses fat from food for energy, then switching from burning fat from food to fat from your body happens naturally.

Sorry to hear about your anorexia Kismetjayn. I certainly wouldn’t recommend fasting for anybody with an eating disorder. Hope you are in good health now 🙂.