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.

Hi StuntNun I am on the Christmas Bootcamp thread and BIWI referenced this, joining please. I am 54 with two stone to lose, huge tummy. I have been doing 16:8 all year bar Sundays when I sometimes have breakfast. 16:8 is natural to me. Crisps and wine are my downfall. I will catch up on the thread over the week, interested in trying a 24 hour fast at some point. Good luck with your extended fast.

Welcome @TrueGrit54 as you're already doing 16:8, I suggest working your way up to a 24-hour fast by gradually increasing your fasting time. Once you get past your usual meal time you'll probably find it easy to get to 23 or 24 hours.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I will increase by one hour every other day, so today will be 17:7 ! Going to write it in my diary for the week so I don’t get muddled. See how that goes. Excited to do a fast, goal will be to do one in November.

If you feel like you can go longer then do so. You might not need to increase that gradually.

True grit crisps are my downfall too! Have you tried replacing them with rice crackers?
I buy salt and vinegar then health warning saturate them with more salt and vinegar as it satisfies my 'flavour overload' need I get from crisps.
Have gone from at least two packs a day minimum to three rice cakes in the evenings for around three months now.

BelleOfTheProvince that’s a great idea, I think I would like rice cakes, what type do you eat? I need to low carb so need to keep an eye on that. It’s funny I can go all year without cake/biscuits/chocolate but crisps are my nemesis. Definitely going to look into rice cakes, cheers.

Try the Curators Salt and Vinegar Pork Puffs instead of crisps. They're light and crispy, not crunchy like pork scratchings and a pack is about 100 calories so they're much better than nuts if you need a crunchy snack.

Following.

I use Aldi or Morrisons ownbrand, but snackajacks are all around the same calories around 33 each. I ration myself to three in an evening

Thanks StuntNun and BelleOfTheProvince off to town to see if I can get those.

Hi ShagMeRiggins.

Hopping on in from the boot camp thread as I love a bit of a fast. After years of hating to eat breakfast, but feeling obligated to try (‘just have a banana’ etc), now I can skip it guilt free.

I almost made 44 hours before hunger won out but it's a busy and stressful day for me so that's okay. I'm going to have some lunch and then see if I can get back into another fast.

44 hours is a lot StuntNun, I would be interested in knowing how you feel, the benefits. I haven’t read this thread yet so if you’ve answered that question already feel free to ignore me. I will catch up asap.

I haven’t seen eaten since 9 pm last night, DH had something cancel so we skipped lunch and went to see the new Bond movie. Dinner is at 6 pm so I guess I’ll have accidentally done a 21 hour fast. Feel totally fine but looking forward to dinner.

@TrueGrit54 I usually do a 96-hour fast once a month then 16:8 the rest of the time. I started it to try and help my healing after jaw surgery. I don't think it actually makes that much difference to osteoarthritis but I do see other benefits. For a start my cellulite has completely disappeared. It's great for skin healing too. I'm allergic to insect bites and my cats keep bringing fleas into the house even though they're treated with Frontline every month. Fasting makes the bite scars heal much more quickly. I've also experienced healing of a keloid scar and one of ear piercings keeps trying to heal up when I fast - not bad for a thirty-five-year-old scar! I also have two varicose veins and regular fasts make them flatten out again - not completely and they do slowly get more prominent again but it keeps them under control. The one thing extended fasting doesn't seem to do for me is help me lose weight. Any weight I lose over the four days goes on again when I start eating again. I maintain weight with 16:8, if I want to lose weight then I need to do OMAD 2-3 times a week.

Thanks StuntNun that’s very interesting, my family is generally allergic (one has a bad nut allergy, one has an egg intolerance, one always gets insect bites, we all have excema and then there’s the asthma), thank God for piriteze. If healing is a benefit that would be great.

Having accidentally done a 21 hour fast and then had a veg heavy dinner I lost nothing yesterday. Sort of disappointed but I didn’t make my water target (blame the long time in the cinema without water as I hate using public loos).

My 5:2 book says don't weigh till the second fast day as fluctuations can happen and you may not see a loss on day 1. It's good advice, I tend to weigh daily because I am obsessive but I don't pay attention to a plateau or gain unless it goes over three or four fast days.
Scales were kind this morning, less than a stone to go to my target weight. 🙂

That's not the way weight loss works @TrueGrit54 it's a progression over weeks and months not days.

Might I add on years to that StuntNun, I’ve been trying since January and there’s been quite a lot of up 5 lbs and then down 5 lbs on a loop. Not giving up though.

Had you had successful weight loss before that TrueGrit54? There often does seem to be extended stalls in weight loss even when you're doing everything "right." When I first lost weight on low carb I lost 30 lb in five months but then it was months and months before the scales started moving downwards again.

Never really needed to. Been lucky up until age 49 I was pretty slim, might have to lose 7 lbs every so often but it came off quickly without much effort. Age 49/50 I started to struggle, lifestyle changes and then lockdown and the bread maker. Sounds silly but there you are. I’ve lost 12 lbs this year and need to lose another 23 lbs. Its slow but I think I will get there. This woe really suits me.

Morning! Ive been doing 16:8 for all of Nov so far and not lost a thing. So annoying. Going to see if I can push the fasting period back to 17:7 perhaps and get a bit more fat burning in. I read Jason Fungs book so trying to follow his guidance, but I'm also vegan so never going to be ketogenic as his podcast talks so much about!! Had family visit for the first time since Covid this weekend and we enjoyed showing them out very foodie city so I know I have overeaten although I continued to fast.

Do people really lose weight doing this without seriously restricting during their feeding period too? Feeling a bit disheartened.

Hi beany, I'm vegan too. I do have a few vegan keto books but they rely on you having a lot of weird and wonderful ingredients like soy, coconut flour and flax. Not sure if that's your bag or not?

I have been doing a ratio thing which has got off most of the weight. At least half the plate veg or salad, a quarter protein and a quarter carbs. Fallen off the wagon in a hazy carb weekend this weekend but plan to up my game this week. Perhaps we could do a big push together? I'm planning to do 16/8 when I get to a more manageable weight for maintenance. (65kg and target weight 61-63.) I have 4 kg to go till then so let me know if you want to team 16:8.

Try not to be disheartened. Any week without a gain is a win.

@BelleOfTheProvince nice to meet you! I know people do do vegan keto but I also think it would be too restrictive for me. I want to be able to eat a sandwich or pasta when I really want some, or it's the only vegan thing on the menu. But I'm happy to try to do low carb vegan most of the time. The portions thing is something I do already do - have a big salad at lunch and add protein and fats and then dinner is also full of veg although more likely to have some sort of carb. I think my downfall is sugar... Chocolate on a Saturday night and cake and coffee with my daughter on a Thursday! Those are the two traditions that I enjoy the most so I'm going to try to just restrict sugar to those two times and hope that doesn't get in the way of weight loss.

I'm 70kg and would like to get down to 60 ideally. I've never done the diet buddy thing before but happy to give it a go!

Ohhh snap I'm 69, so hopefully our weight loss would be similar.
I had to give up sugar because I have zero self control. Slipped up with wham bars over the weekend but starting again today. I was meal planning before but have fallen back on ok habits since stopping so I think I need that accountability to stay on track.

It’s been a bit quiet on here. I was just wondering if any bootcampers or others are also fasting. I do16:8 habitually but circumstances this week have meant getting lunch at my usual time has been difficult. I have had no trouble extending 16 to 22 or 23. I think it’s been easy as I am already low carb so I am assuming fat adapted. Might go OMAD (one meal a day) a couple of days per week for a bit. I am a daily weigher and it definitely seems to be having a positive impact on the scales. Drinking lots of water and black coffee while fasting.