Longer fasts. Anyone interested in a support thread?

[LittlePearl]

I've been doing intermittent fasting on and off for years, ever since Michael Mosley's first programme on it (an episode of Horizon, I think?).

I'm a bit of an 'all or nothing' person and feel better when there's not too much wriggle room. But latterly my will-power has gone walkabout and I need to get back into a sustainable rhythm.

Having recently read Jason Fung's 'The Obesity Code' I'm motivated to attempt some longer fasts (i.e. over 24 hours). I have managed this in the past and believe I can again but think it might help to have the encouragement of other people attempting something similar, even if not necessarily at the same time.

I finished eating at 9pm last night (had a bad day) and intend to eat nothing now until Thursday evening, so about 70 hours fasting. Doing ok so far but it's evenings I find hard and going to bed hungry isn't much fun!

Anyone else?

How are you doing op?

The longest I manage is 24 hours and that's only if I'm incredibly busy with work.
There are times I feel I could go for longer (mainly because I'm too exhausted to eat!) but don't.

What are your top tips for powering through?

I do occassional 36-40 hour fasts and like the idea of a support thread. My usual is 20 hour clean fasts daily.

What has made you jump right back in with 70 hours?

Good luck. Don't push it if your body isn't used to longer fasts at the moment.

@Girlintheframe

How are you doing op?

The longest I manage is 24 hours and that's only if I'm incredibly busy with work.
There are times I feel I could go for longer (mainly because I'm too exhausted to eat!) but don't.

What are your top tips for powering through?

I'm doing better than I expected actually! I've managed to stick to it so feeling really pleased with myself.

Plan to eat tonight with OH so I'm trying to think of things that would be easy on the stomach - maybe some soup or eggs.

The thing I've noticed is that when I wake up in the morning I'm no more hungry having fasted the previous day than if I had eaten. The worst thing is that nasty furry feeling in the mouth, which seems to get worse day by day.

Re top tips, keeping busy really helps and I'm sure the good weather has made it easier too. I've really struggled to fast when it's cold grey and rainy.

I also stopped having milk in my tea and coffee during a fast after reading 'Delay Don't Deny' by Gin Stephens. She says it makes you more hungry and she's right. I thought I'd hate tea without milk and I LOVE my tea but funnily enough it was fine and I now prefer tea without milk.

@Pineappleunder

I do occassional 36-40 hour fasts and like the idea of a support thread. My usual is 20 hour clean fasts daily.

What has made you jump right back in with 70 hours?

Good luck. Don't push it if your body isn't used to longer fasts at the moment.

I think I just felt I needed to do something drastic to get myself on track. I knew it would be doable because there was nothing that would derail me (no meeting friends for coffee and cake, no takeaways planned....the usual stuff that trips me up).

Pineapple, if you are doing 20 hour daily fasts does that mean you have a 4 hour eating window? How does it work for you? It's something else that interests me and I have tried 20/4 from time to time. But I do find it hard at weekends. That's why I'm thinking chucking in a longer fast now and then might help - I can maybe eat more 'normally' at weekends.

I'm routinely doing 16:8 and really love having my head free of food for the fasting time. I very often do anywhere between 18-22 hours of fasting depending on what I'm doing.

According to Jason Fung (who I'm a huge fan of!), the second day is perhaps the hardest and if you can make provision for that, the rest should be easier.

I was drawn to fasting because I have MS and the autophagy stage made me wonder if my rogue cells would be swept up in the clean up? Don't know about that but I do feel better for it.

I have foods that trip me up too - and events that trigger. Fasting for me is like a white-noise/heavy blanket that drowns it all out and that's what appeals to me.

I think this support thread is a great idea. Perhaps it would be easier/better/nicer for you if you had a date in the future for the next one - post it here and those of us who want to can join you at the same time.

LyingWitch - sorry to hear about your MS. Is there any specific research in the area of fasting for neurological conditions? Like you, I'm a big fan of Jason Fung, what he says makes so much sense to me.

I'm wondering about doing another 2-3 day fast next week, purely because I have found this one less gruelling than I feared and I'd love to feel a bit better in my summer clothes.

I'd like to lose a stone or two (not sure what I weigh as I daren't get on the scales!) but the fasting is not all about weight loss for me. It's also about exercising control around food and eating (where I often feel out of control) and the health benefits. The more I read the more convinced I am that this is potentially a really good way to protect / improve health.

Thanks LittlePearl, I'm currently really well and have been for a long time , I'm just interested in the autophagy stage in particular as it does all kind of magical things in the body. My consultant was also interested in hearing about the fasting as there is current research being done on efficacy for MS patients.

I totally agree with you about exercising control. That's the aspect that I appreciate more than anything else as I have a tendency to disordered eating and can lurch quite easily from overeating to not eating at all, rinse and repeat.

I do a fair bit of exercise generally, swim for 2 hours 6 days a week, sessions with my trainer and walk a bit. I'm staying off the scales as I have a tendency to leap on and off them which is really counterproductive.

I use an app called Fastic; it's a monthly fee (about £7 I think?) but well worth it for me. They're on Instagram as well so you could have a look if you're interested.

Really interesting to hear the different motivations and tips for fasting!

What I've found is that I seem to hit an absolute slump around 4pm (stopped eating at 5pm the day before). I keep going till I get in at 8 but the period from 4-6 is grueling. I feel like a flat battery, just no energy.
Is there a way to prepare for a longer fast? 20/22 is ok for me but after that I feel like I hit a wall.

Girl, I've heard people swear by bullet-proof coffee for helping them through the slump. I guess it depends how strict you want to be: absolutely nothing at all except water (black tea / coffee) but struggle at the end, or have a small snack and potentially go for longer.

I must admit neither of these are great options for me! I tried bullet-proof coffee and didn't like it, and if I eat something, even small, I seem to lose will-power! I'm definitely an all or nothing person and prefer to go hard-core with the knowledge that when I get to eat I can have pretty much what I want. That's the heart of "Delay Don't Deny', which I found very helpful.

The worst thing to do is to eat anything or drink anything with any calories in it - you can have black coffee, black tea, water or infused water (don't eat the infusion!). That's it.

If you deviate from that you'll break the fast and make it much more difficult for yourself. Calories trigger insulin.

I've been doing this for about a 18 months now and have made many mistakes. The biggest of which was having tea with skimmed milk (just a bit) during fasting. You can't do it.

Best advice given to me was to tweak my times. I never eat breakfast as I just never have so for me, my best fasting time is stop eating at 4pm - I could then eat at 8am but I don't as I'm in the pool then. I tend to eat at 11am-ish but, knowing that I could eat at 8am if I wanted to, makes me not eat or even want to, if that makes sense?

Don't eat during your fasting period - nothing at all. It won't work and you'll be hungry for nothing.

Have to say that during my normal 20/22 hour fast I do get hungry but it's transient however once I start eating the hunger seems to go up a notch.

I've tried various fasting times but the one I do on work days (20-22hr) is manageable for me, just wish I could go for longer without feeling awful.

I can't remember who it was but on you tube there was someone talking about optimum fasting times. If I remember rightly there is a period after which the benefits of fasting decline. I want to say it's either 36 or 70 hours but could be wrong.

Watching this thread with interest. I’m two weeks into 16:8 and have found it really interesting and empowering. I’ve normally done 17/18 hours due to work and found that fine and am wondering if I should mix it up with a longer fast once a week. Then hit the weekends eating a bit more normally (I like having a relaxed breakfast with the kids on the weekend and my fasts are missing breakfast and lunch if I can go longer)

That's helpful Witch.

I have to say cutting out the splash of milk in tea and coffee was a game-changer for me. I hung on for ages convincing myself it didn't count because it was so little milk, surely it was negligible....

What I hadn't appreciated is that anything, now matter how small, can trigger an insulin response and THAT is what stokes the hunger. And once I bit the bullet and cut out the milk I realised it wasn't that big a sacrifice and noticed that I didn't have anything like the gnawing hunger pangs I'd had before.

Girl yes, I have feeling you're right about optimum fasting periods. I am re-reading J.Fung's book on fasting so will feed back to you when I get to that part, I'm pretty sure he covers it.

tiredmum - that's exactly how I feel: empowered.

Funny thing is, if I talk to friends about it most of them say "I could never do that" but I actually think (for me) it's easier than eating in moderation every day - or any other form of dieting, for that matter.

I've been doing 16:8 for about a month and disappointed at the lack of weight loss. Just a pound or two. I'm trying to drink more water and feel less sluggish but want to be slimmer.

dementedma, I'm afraid I haven't lost much with 16:8 which is one of the reasons I think I need to have a bigger fasting window (or longer fasts).

I'm mixing it up a bit, this week has been a long complete fast (Monday night to Thursday lunch) 20:4 today and probably 16:8 or 18:6 Saturday - Monday.

I'm planning on doing another longish stretch next week, eat nothing from Monday night til Friday morning.

I weighed myself this morning and would like to lose about 10kilos. More would be great but probably a bit unrealistic. But I'm feeling pretty motivated and feel much more hopeful than I have for a long time. Managing the longer fast this week has really boosted my morale.

Totally agree that this approach is better for me than dieting the traditional way. I can eat carefully but am rubbish at total abstinence and counting calories. I feel surprisingly bright and perky for it when not eating - have occasional obsessive 5 mins of thinking about food and nearly eating but then get busy with work and it goes away again. I think watching the ebb and flow of my hunger pangs is really useful. I used to worry about getting hungry and pre empt the feeling (I’m a teacher so eating is timetable restricted) now I don’t worry that I’m a bit hungry as know I’ll be ok (sounds ridiculous written down!)

Following with interest - I've been following the JF Facebook page for a while; been doing IF for about 20months, lost 3.5st and recently put .5 back on. I'm really struggling to get my head back in the game and feel that longer fasting would suit me. I've managed 21 -23 hours a couple of times. Once I start eating though, all bets off and I am really struggling to shift my sugar addiction.

What do you drink to keep your sugars/salts balanced during fasting?

I’m really interested, I’ve thought I was fasting but having milk in tea... I’ll try without and see if I feel different.
I am often afraid I’ll faint.

I just went 20 fine (but after a big meal out last night which is possibly why) but have just eaten and feel really sick. I didn’t eat too fast and had a fairly healthy avocado on toast and some fruit. Wonder if the longer you go the harder your stomach takes it?

Hoolly well done on your weight loss, that's amazing - even if you have put some back on.

What do you drink to keep your sugars/salts balanced during fasting?
To be honest, I just drink black tea and coffee. I believe home made broth is an option (Jason Fung has a recipe in the Guide to Fasting book but I've never bothered. I do occasionally eat a couple of grains of salt when my mouth gets that furry feeling but I don't feel as though I need anything more than tea and coffee as a rule. I've never yet felt faint or nauseous, only slightly light-headed if I get up too quickly.

To those of you that are interested in either trying longer fasts or doing a longish fasting window (OMAD or at least 20 hours fast a day) I can recommend Jason Fung's books The Obesity Code and The Complete Guide to Fasting, and Gin Stephens' Delay Don't Deny. I read a lot of reviews online before buying but have found them really helpful. They both explain a lot about the science of dieting / fasting.

Im doing slimming world at the moment, but am incorporating intermittent fasting and one or two 24 hour fasts per week depending on how I am feeling.

I don't eat breakfast anyway so the 16: 8 fasting is fairly natural for me and when I do 24 hour fasts, I go from my evening meal to evening meal. I just drink water and black coffee. I don't think that fasting actually helps me lose weight as such, I do however seem to lose inches. I too have read Jason Fung and he makes a lot of sense.

I have thought of extending my fasts but not been brave enough to do so, just yet!

I eat OMAD mostly (plus a couple of cups of tea about an hour each side!) but I think ADF would really suit me. Unfortunately ADF really doesn't fit into life/the endless food prep for the kids cycle very well so at the moment I am just going to try to have one ~44 hour fast a week (no one will notice that I haven't had dinner if they're making their own pizzas).

I find omad mostly easy (more 21:3 I suppose) & the longer fast doesn't usually get challenging until about 4pm on the second day BUT I have a huge amount of weight to lose so my body must be reassured by all the energy supplies on my arse/thighs/belly etc

I'm definitely someone who finds it easier not to eat than to eat frequent small amounts.

I'm hoping fasting will reduce the excess skin too...

Ok, next long fast has started this evening.

Today's eating window closed at about 8pm and won't open until about 10am on Friday. I haven't worked it out in hours but basically 3.5 days.

Wish me luck!