Combining fasting with low carb 1

[StuntNun]

This thread is for people who want to combine fasting with a low carbohydrate way of eating such as Low Carb Bootcamp, keto, paleo or primal.

Disclaimer – I am not a health professional – I am relying on my own reading and experience. If you have a relevant health condition then consult your doctor before introducing fasting. For example, people with diabetes or high blood pressure often require medication adjustments if they cut carbs or start fasting. In many conditions, medications must be taken with food which may dictate one or more regular meals per day. If you have had an eating disorder, or tend to be obsessive or controlling about food, then fasting may not be appropriate for you. I’m happy to chat about any of these issues but this thread is not a substitute for professional medical advice.

Why fast?

1. To lose weight
2. For the health benefits (e.g. reducing insulin resistance, triggering cellular repair, lowering inflammation, reducing blood pressure)
3. All of the above!

Types of fasting

1. Intermittent fasting (for example 16:8)
2. Fasting mimicking diet (such as 5:2)
3. Extended fasting (over 24 hours)

I will describe each of these over the next three posts. Most people start out with, or working towards, either 16:8 or 5:2. Before we get started, my top fasting tip is to make sure you have plenty of calorie-free drinks: water, black coffee or tea, green tea or herbal teas. You may need to drink more than usual because you aren’t getting any water from food during your fasting window.

[Fagey]

@StuntNun it's actually fine.

I had prawn and avocado salad for lunch today and it was a huge bowl and only about 250 cals so I had lots left to play with for dinner.

I will switch over to more calories a day if I feel I start to struggle for energy/with hunger.

But I'm surprised how easy I find it now.

[Fagey]

@IthinkIm

If you stopped eating at 6pm then 16 hours later is 10am.

So you could eat from then onwards until 6pm again.

I tend to do 1pm lunch and stop eating by 7:30.

[IthinkIm]

@Fagey oh of course. Thanks. I usually eat later so will adjust it after tomorrow.

[stilllovingmysleep]

@Fagey I generally skip dinner most days

That has its negatives of course eg I don't have dinner (in lockdown) often with DH. But it's something I've been doing during this last year as I knew otherwise I would put on weight when things are so hard

It's harder on the days I work outside the house (2-3 days a week) and easier when I WFH

I shake up the 16:8 every 10 days or so I would say?

I also have a lot of compassion for myself when I have a day of overeating: I just go straight back to my planning

[Motivateinmotion]

Another bootcamper here. I used to fast 16:8 but Christmas/lockdown/excuses etc. Have updated my Fastic app today and going to ease in with 14:10 and work back up to 16:8.

@Fagey that’s fantastic results and hugely motivating to keep going

[ZiggZagg]

Just marking my place before I go to bed and forget to do it tomorrow!!

[Ratched]

I would like to join too please!
Love the idea of muggling things up - I am sure my body clicks on to what i am doing and tries to sabotage it😶
I find it (relatively) easy to eat one meal a day. I have a much greater problem if I eat breakfast- come lunchtime I am ravenous. If I dont eat breakfast, I can easily make it through until dinnertime.
So, I do the one meal a day, 20:4 method 😁
I need to low carb. I know that really works for me, and I need to cut all alcohol, because one drink and I crave chocolate, crisps, you name it, I eat it.
I am also eating too much right now through boredom. That HAS to stop!
I tend to get enthusiastic about threads like this, wanting to use them as a tool to keep me motivated and accountable, but then forget to check in, get distracted, have a drink, eat chocolate and start the overeating cycle again.
This time, I pledge to try harder! Please shout at me if I go awol 🤣

[MarmaladeTeepee]

Ratched I could have written your post!

AtlasPine wow that's an amazing weightloss. I've tried ADF but found it really tough well done for keeping it going.

oscar yes it's so funny how just a few years ago any sort of fasting was frowned upon and even now some people are convinced you're going to go into starvation mode if you miss breakfast. Err I'm 4 stone overweight i think my body's got plenty to keep it going! And that weird recommendation of eating little and often - 6 smalls meals a day - so bizarre.

[StuntNun]

IthinkIm the rule of thumb is under 50 calories during your fasting period so it would depend how much milk and sugar you're adding. Most people on this thread are low carb though so wouldn't have any sugar anyway. It's also likely to have a big effect on your blood glucose level. Have you tried cutting it out? You can do so gradually e.g one teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon for a few days, then half a teaspoon etc. It doesn't take long for your palate to get used to it. Alternatively you could switch to sweeteners and then cut those out gradually.

Ratched I'm the same; if I eat breakfast then I'm hungry and eating all day, if I fast then I'm satisfied with two meals. In my case it's because my morning cortisol levels are extremely high so eating at that time has a disproportionate effect on my insulin levels. If I wait until after my cortisol levels have naturally dropped (they're highest when you wake up) then my insulin levels remain stable when I eat.

[CeibaTree]

Hello, I'd like to join too please, thanks for starting this thread stuntnun :)
I'm on the bootcamp thread but it's so fast moving I can't keep up with all the posts this time!
I put on half a stone over Christmas, so I need to lose that plus another stone to get into my healthy BMI range.
I'm one hour away from completing my first 16:8 fast :)

[poorbuthappy]

@StuntNun - I am exactly the same with breakfast.
It wakes up my hunger and if I do eat around 7.30 I can guarantee I am eating everything at 10 and it continues all day.
If I fast I can get to lunchtime easily.

[Fagey]

Morning all.

Here's to an awesome week.

Just finished Joe Wicks with DC.

Sets the day up nicely and it staves off my hunger for a couple of hours.

I'll have lunch at around 1pm. Salad and chicken I think is my plan today.

Scales haven't moved much the last couple of days. So I'm going to be really strict today with making sure I get 3.5l of water. And no snacks between meals.

I think dinner will be halloumi, hummus, and will do something with veggies. I may roast some and mix with quinoa. Need to plan on Calorie Counter.

Sending you all positive vibes!

[Fagey]

@poorbuthappy @StuntNun

I'm precisely the same with breakfast. Much easier for me not to have it.

The day goes by quick enough until lunch (providing we don't have a home school drama! Lol) that really I can keep occupied and then really enjoy lunch.

[Laska2Meryls]

Damn just lost a long post, but Im in !!

[venusandmars]

It's interesting, when I ate a lot of carbs, I was really hungry at breakfast time, I felt like I would almost faint if I didn't eat. Never left the house without having eaten a bowl of cereal and some toast.

With fewer refined carbs and no sugar, and a higher proportion of fat, my eating pattern has completely changed and most days I don't have anything substantial until 11 / 11.30 when I have brunch. In addition to how I feel with stable blood sugars, and no post-lunch sleepy slump, I am much more productive work-wise. I can work from 7.30am - 11.30am, then post brunch from 12.30pm to 5.30pm. Or (since I'm self-employed) I can work one of those sessions and use the other to go for a long walk.

My biggest challenge is that dh is wfh and he has a 'snack-cupboard' full of all the things I don't want, or even like very much, but which tempt me if I'm bored.

[purplebagladylovesgin]

May I join you all?

I have been doing this since last May and have lost 53lbs very easily with no real effort.

I find with fasting and I do lower carb, I'm just not hungry. This was the thing that has derailed me for decades, the hunger.

I've realised it's linked to insulin and blood sugars and now I work hard to keep my blood sugar stable.

I went from diabetic to pre diabetic within a few weeks and then into the heathy range where I've stayed.

All the inflammation I had has gone. And I'm very relieved to have come down in weight from nearly 15 st to 10 1/2 stone. Another stone to go and I'm in a healthy BMI.

[stilllovingmysleep]

@purplebagladylovesgin yes it's the hunger that is the biggest issue

That is what many people don't comprehend when they suggest "just eat less and move more". They don't realise that overweight people get hungry more often and it's a stronger hunger and I believe this is to do with the body fat cells wanting to remain as they are (or something like that )

[TwirlyWitch]

Ok count me in, and thanks for starting this thread. I need to be held accountable. I’ve been fasting for a good while but decided to go for it and start low carbing too- my eating window seems to be a sugar binge at the minute and I feel like crap.
My plan is to stick to my current fasting hours 20:4 every day. 1000kcals
And under 40g carbs to start.
My weight is at an all time high, I’m too ashamed to say it

[catwithflowers]

Thanks for the interesting post @StuntNun. I've been doing 16:8 (with a few breaks) for a few years now and think it's a great way of eating. I also try to stay fairly low carb, though if the odd slice of pizza or bread roll makes an appearance, I don't stress about it too much. I've also recently started to add in two 500 calories days a week.

I'm about to try a longer fast. My last meal was at 8pm last night and I'm hoping to next eat tomorrow lunchtime, around 1 which I think makes it 41 hours without food. I will have tea, coffee, Marigold Swiss vegetable stock bouillon which has very few calories but feels like food as it's savoury and lots of water. Today would have been one of my low calorie days anyway so I'm hoping just to keep busy and try not to think of food too much, a couple of long dog walks, a Jillian Shred and some yoga or body stretch. My husband is busy this evening so we wouldn't be having dinner together anyway; I don't think I could cope with cooking and not eating!

I've recently taken a break from alcohol and am cooking a lot more meat free recipes so am hoping for some big health benefits 😊

[catwithflowers]

@purplebagladylovesgin That's an amazIng loss, well done! 🎉 💐

[AtlasPine]

Fagey you are so right about health being the very best motivation. It suddenly hits home when you have a symptom which is perfectly reversible but lethal if ignored.

Also everyone who has remembered how we were told breakfast was the most important meal and miss it at your peril - utter tosh! It does kickstart eating for the day in my experience, and as long as you stop eating reasonably early (and don’t snack throughout the evening), missing breakfast is one of the easiest ways to lose weight.

Thanks for all your input everyone and OP, thanks for starting this thread.

[Fagey]

Definitely @AtlasPine

I'd actually not event thought about what you said - that it's so easy to reverse and yet fatal if ignored.

So true. And makes it even more motivating to get on with this healthier life and future.

Also makes me realise what stupid decisions I made with food for so long. Literally choosing illness over a long life. Madness.

[Fagey]

Broken my fast - Pizza omelette for my lunch with a big green salad.

I'm a touch obsessed with pizza omelettes. So tasty.

382 calories. 24.2g protein.

[Fagey]

Welcome @purplebagladylovesgin

How incredible to have reversed your diabetes like that. And what an amazing motivator to keep going.

[StuntNun]

stilllovingmysleep it isn't only people who are overweight that get incredibly hungry. When I was in my 20s (and slim) I would eat five or more times a day because my diet was so unsuitable for me and I was always hungry. One of my old bosses used to force people to work through lunch and I would have been doubled over with the hunger pains - I couldn't think about anything else but getting something to eat. Now I eat a low carb diet and can happily go for days without food. Clearly the type of food I was eating was actually making me hungrier. How can willpower possibly overcome that level of hunger? And yet conventional wisdom told me that I was greedy, rather than the victim of a blood glucose rollercoaster driven by fluctuating insulin levels.

Welcome TwirlyWitch we've all been there. Onwards and downwards!

Good luck with your extended fast catwithflowers and let us know how it's going. What health benefits are you expecting from cutting down on meat?