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.

Great job @VenetoResident

Like you, am trying to use up what's in the fridge and freezer and the options are not great.

I save sausage for dinner but will make into patties and grill some cheese on them.
I am trying a chia pudding (because the slow transit is real!) So made a little pot and left over night with raw cacao powder. I'll sample it as is, but I know it won't be sweet at all, so will ad a touch if cinnamon/raisin/frozen banana if needed.

Meant to be another 22hrs today, but feeling super grumpy and exhausted so might break earlier.

Veneto definitely don't count calories if you don't need to. I usually only advise it if someone isn't losing weight and even then I only recommend tracking your food intake for three days, not consciously restricting it. Often three days of tracking reveals undereating rather than overeating. Sometimes it shows that macros would benefit from being tweaked. I've had a few people start losing weight again from slightly increasing their fat intake, by around a tablespoon of olive oil a day.

Hello, day 3 and I'm down 4lbs already! Have stuck to low carb when breaking fast though so has helped me to stay fuller longer. @VenetoResident it lasts 29/30 depending on when the new moon is sighted. Only 26/27 to go

@MasterOfOne I regularly take 1000mg of vitamin C to help avoid constipation. It's water soluble so in excess it acts like movicol.

Thanks @StuntNun. I do try and add fat, but with OMAD it's hard. I always eat fatty cuts of meat. I happily eat the skin on chicken and strips of belly pork. I steam all my veg with butter.

Well done @ZiggZagg. Roll on the full moon! It looked tiny here yesterday! 😩

Managed my run yesterday with OMAD. I'm now back down to my pre-Easter weight. 3.1kg of gain gone. :) Feeling so much better for it. Planning to do the same again today and then I'll see how the weekend goes.

Thanks @VenetoResident I have some berocca so will give that a try in my eating window.

Feeling a little mixed up today because although I recorded 0.3kg loss today, I went on a real carb overload binge last night, wine fuelled and totally eating my emotions (seriously pre teens are generally bad for your health!)
I need to find better stress coping mechanisms because this is exactly how I ended up needed bariatric surgery in the first place.
Then I think, I was one night and I really shouldn't be so hard on myself.
Then back to thinking this is a slippy slope.
Nothing good happens when I pick up the wine glass.

Today is a new day, the house is sparking and will kick out the pre teen for the afternoon whilst I recover from this hangover.

Dinner will be chicken Korma (the child will have rice with hers) and maybe some ham and cream cheese roll ups.

@MasterOfOne I hope the rest of your day went better. 🤞 My DC are now teens and I'm not sure it gets any easier.

Could you prepare a snack box of food for next time that happens? That's more diet friendly? Maybe a sachet of olives, a small bar of very dark choc, a packet of mixed nuts and a pepperami? And a glass bottle of Diet Coke? (That's my wish list!)

Maybe you were due a whoosh so you're still seeing part of that? Maybe there will be a lag and you'll see a gain today. Either way it's done now so stay back on plan and any damage will soon be sorted.

OMAD yesterday so 23h ish fast. I need to do a long (for me) run today - maybe 5 miles - so I think I'll probably have something to eat at lunch time in preparation.

Mid house move so I haven't got my scales to weigh today. Hopefully I can find them for tomorrow!

Much better day and still maintained a loss. Not fasting today but still tracking food. Will pick it back up tomorrow!

A snack box is a really good idea

It sounds like you have a firm handle on what went wrong on Friday MasterOfOne. I think that recognising your patterns and acknowledging that they weren't helpful to you are the most important thing. Now you can work on diverting that behaviour next time. Alcohol does terrible things to my self-control around food. A couple of glasses of wine and I'll be off buying chips. I like Veneto's idea of having alternative food available. I always keep a pack of Lidl rotisserie chicken wings in the freezer. They only take 25 minutes to cook and they feel indulgent but they're still low carb so they're good for when you want to console yourself with food.

Who's fasting this week? I'm continuing with my usual 16:8.

Back on it today and will stick with 20:4 Monday- Thursday then aim for a 24/36 until Saturday.

Thanks for the kind words and you are right it is all about preparation. In all honesty I had lots of ham and cheese and eggs but once I've had a drink all I can think of is carbs lol

Daughter is back at school and have a full on week ahead so this should be relatively easy to maintain control.
Will see about the weekend as I have my 2nd vaccination due Sat morning and will probably need to rest up after.

Had a couple of handfuls of peanuts at about 2pm yesterday before going for a run so just a 19h fast yesterday.

Hoping for 23:1 ish all week. Today will be more like 26h after an early dinner yesterday and a late one tonight.

Hit a new low weight today - lowest since Aug 2015! 1.7kg to go for a healthy BMI.

Hoping to do a virtual 10K event in ten days time. I'm up to 7K now. Do you think I'll be fine for an extra 3K with just something light in the morning? Not sure the handful of nuts is the best option. Mid house move / cleaning they were the fastest option yesterday!!

@MasterOfOne - which vaccination are you having? I'm expecting AZ2 (carer for disabled DC) next month. I had the first about 6 weeks ago.

@StuntNun - liking the idea of hot chicken. I will look out for something similar. Not so keen on wings but I like drumsticks. Problem is DC1 likes them too!

Morning all.
After an awful week (vaccination plus awful heavy early period) has resulted in a 2lb gain so I'm not going near the bootcamp thread until next Monday! Don't want to derail it on week 2
So today is a 24 hour until 6pm tonight.
Kick start the week!
Then back to 16:8 and I'll try for another 1 on Thursday...

Oh and today is the first day since December 11th that I've been in the house on my own....all the kids and teacher husband back in school at the same time.
Obv I'm working very hard from home and not enjoying the peace (until ddog wakes up and demands attention! )

Well done @VenetoResident - it's so inspiring to see you guys reaching goals and really helps to keep me motivated!

Yes I am having AZ - had my first shot back in Early Feb so nearly hitting the 12 week mark with my next shot.

Good luck with the virtual 10k and let us know how it goes!

Good luck @poorbuthappy and really enjoy the peace and quiet whilst it lasts!

@poorbuthappy how did your plans go? I had a weird period after my first jab. Hoping I don't get a repeat. It's only just finished so that's 6 weeks of bleeding on and off (coil so no chance of mc).

@MasterOfOne I got my date for jab 2 today. Two weeks today. 🥳

Had a fasted run Monday so that was about a 26h fast. OMAD today but an earlier dinner so maybe 21h. Made a prawn and spinach balti with cauli rice but also had blueberries and clotted cream as I think dinner was a bit low fat. Would have preferred raspberries but DH ate a whole punnet as his dessert! And then a packet of choc biscuits!

Planning 23:1 for the rest of the week. Although I think I might be ovulating or due on (surely not after my last period!) as tonight I want to eat everything!!

I got a good 18-hour fast in yesterday. Not sure what will happen today, I'll aim for 16 and see how I go.

Morning all. I’m new to the thread. I have my pre op for spinal surgery in 6.5 weeks and I have to reduce my BMI definitely below 35 but as low as possible. I am 156cm and started on Friday at 90kg but am now 87.5kg. I have fasted before with some success but I need rapid weight loss now. Due to my back I am on a lot of pain meds and the only exercise I can do is walking so I am not that active. My problem with fasting and low carb is that I don’t like plain water and I don’t like many veg or eggs. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Thank you

@WetEcho as stated in my opening post on this thread, I'm not a health professional so I can give you my thoughts but I suggest you check with your doctor that it's safe for you to fast. Your BMI is currently 36 so there won't be any issue with you getting below 35 before your surgery. I assume you want to don't want to try for an extended fast lasting multiple days or weeks. If you're going to have surgery then you want to be in good health with excellent nutrient stores, not coming off the back of a 30-day fast with very low levels of vitamins and minerals.

First up you need to check whether your pain medications need to be taken with food as that will influence your fasting schedule. You may choose to skip them during your fasting period but this may not be advisable if it will leave you in a lot of pain or if they are anti-inflammatory. If you have to take medication once a day then multiple 24-hour fasts a week (one meal a day) works well. Just make sure not to do one meal a day every day, you need to take a break one or two days a week and eat more meals in order to keep weight loss going for multiple weeks.

If you don't need to take your pain medications with food then, in my opinion, the fastest method for you would be Dr Jason Fung's alternate-day fasting protocol which combines 24-hour fasts with 16:8 to achieve three 36-hour fasts per week as follows:
Sunday: No breakfast; eat lunch and dinner
Monday: Fast day - no meals
Tuesday: No breakfast; eat lunch and dinner.
Wednesday: Fast day - no meals.
Thursday: No breakfast; eat lunch and dinner.
Friday: Fast day - no meals.
Saturday: No breakfast; eat lunch and dinner.

Note that Monday, Wednesday and Friday are your fasting days every week so you always have two consecutive days of eating every weekend. This makes the fasting easier in the long-term because you can have a relatively normal weekend eating with family. Also the slight irregularity (rather than having strict alternate eating and fasting days) helps to keep weight loss going for longer rather than stalling after the first few weeks.

Since you're fasting for weight loss rather than for autophagy you don't have to be absolutely strict during your fasting period. If a tea with milk, coffee with cream, cup of broth, or bulletproof coffee will help get you through the 36-hour fast then don't worry about it. If you're feeling hungry during a fast - which is normal at meal times but then passes quickly - then a cup of tea or coffee (caffeinated or decaf) usually keeps you going. Most people find they need some kind of "training wheels" at first but when they're used to fasting they don't need them any more. I do a four-day fast just with water and electrolytes and I can assure you there's nothing special about me - it's just practice!

Don't worry about exercise; it's completely unnecessary for weight loss. Just be aware that if you're particularly sedentary at the moment then you may need smaller portion sizes than you're used to. Eating low carb makes fasting much easier. Have a look here to see which of the low carb vegetables you do like and make those the mainstay of your vegetable intake over the next few weeks. It might be a little samey for a while but it's only until your op. The rest of your food intake will be meat, fish, full fat dairy and healthy fats (mainly olive oil and butter or other animal fats.)

When you're fasting then it's really important to replace electrolytes. Since you don't like water I recommend the Zero electrolyte tablets which are flavoured. If you really can't drink plain water at all then alternate the electrolyte drinks with water made up with a no-sugar ultra concentrate squash like Robinsons Squash'd. You could also try the no-sugar flavoured sparkling waters - all the supermarkets have their own brands. It's really important to drink plenty of water to maximise weight loss, especially on fasting days when you aren't getting any water from food. You need to aim for at least 2-3 litres of drinks per day and only two mugs of tea or coffee count towards your water target.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.

@WetEcho

I very rarely drink water. I like sparkling water with Twinings cold infusions or slices of lemon (left in the fridge to infuse for a while).

I like all veg but I could eat cauliflower and broccoli every day. I'm loving the microwave steam bags - the veg tastes so much nicer.

I am exercising at the moment but I lost 5 stone without doing any exercise - even walking - so it's definitely possible.

I do OMAD - one meal a day - so I fast for about 23 hours a day. I slipped into it easily but I've low carbed lots of times.

Wow! Thank you @StuntNun and @VenetoResident lots to think about there. My medication does mess things up somewhat but I did 19 hours clean fasting today. I think that may be the limit though as one of my meds does need food so it will OMAD for me. Do you count calories when you do this?
I will have a look at the electrolyte tablets I have never considered them before. I have managed 2 litres of water today and couldn’t drink another drop!!

@VenetoResident I managed the 24 hours - thanks for asking!

So glad I’ve found this! I’m on day 11 of keto with 16:8. So far 1.5kg down, about 4kg to go.

I feel worried that lack of carbs will somehow make me eat more. I am trying to be careful though! It’s definitely a good diet though, I’m enjoying it and exercise too.

@MasterOfOne my dog has turned very needy. I think I may prefer the kids (I'm sure that's a temporarily feeling though)

Early dinner yesterday (about 6pm) and a late one today (about 9.30pm) = about 26h fast.

I've been trying to drink more water by making a fruit tea for every coffee. Then I must drink the tea to have another coffee!

Now just 0.7kg to go for a healthy BMI.

I read what you said about not doing OMAD every day @StuntNun. I'm losing well at the moment but I think that's related to my week of being off plan. I'll make sure I have some days off OMAD each week going forward (still LCHF though).

@WetEcho I don't count calories personally. I've never done a diet that needed it really. LCHF worked for me without counting and adding in IF seems to suit me really well.

@Abracadabra14 - where will that leave you BMI wise?