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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

Extended fasting, anyone?

300 replies

Bearyhumcrack · 16/03/2022 18:49

I like to fast for 48-72 hours most weeks. Works well for me and then I minimise carbs the rest of the time (weekends not so much).

I'm almost at the end of my longest ever fast of 156hours (14 to go) and I've lost about 10lb. Based on my last long fast, I expect 3-4lb of that to go back on once I have refed but half a stone or so should be in the bin!

Curious if there's anyone else on here who's a faster?

OP posts:
summersanchez · 19/04/2023 21:43

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

summersanchez · 19/04/2023 21:43

You're not engaging respectfully
Go and sort yourself out

RoeK · 19/04/2023 21:44

summersanchez · 19/04/2023 21:43

You're not engaging respectfully
Go and sort yourself out

Please show how I have not engaged respectfully. I'm certainly not the one swearing at and making personal attacks towards other posters.

lipstickwoman · 19/04/2023 21:50

This thread needs renaming
'Tips to help me eat nothing for a week'
'How can I avoid all food for 7-10 days'
'If I avoid eating altogether will I lose weight'

And then see the responses

Wetnwindy · 19/04/2023 22:29

@summersanchez ….you really need to speak to your GP .Your ranting is more about you needing help. It validates everything that people have said about fasting not actually being normal 💐

KittenThatGotTheCream · 19/04/2023 22:31

Hey @summersanchez, let's try to ignore the poster derailing the thread, hopefully, they'll get bored and disappear eventually.

I do OMAD more than extended fasting but want to add in the occasional longer fast for the autophagy benefits again. I have a few social things (two birthdays, a day trip and a work dinner) coming up so will have to wait until the end of next week to get started. Hopefully, the thread will have calmed down by then.

Just wanted to mention that you can easily make your own electrolyte mix rather than buy expensive sachets with ingredients that may spike insulin.

  • 1.5 Litres Water
  • 1 teaspoon Potassium Chloride
  • 1 teaspoon Sodium Bicarbonate
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sodium Chloride
  • 1/2 teaspoon Magnesium Sulphate

I've copied and pasted this from Reddit (search for 'snake juice' on r/fasting), but my DH is a keen cyclist and has used this recipe successfully for at least 5 years. We both take it when fasting and it has also completely stopped my DM's regular nightly leg cramps.

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 22:36

Wetnwindy · 19/04/2023 20:54

Disagree . The alcohol support thread doesn’t encourage people to drink ..it is there to help and support people who are trying to recover from harming themselves!
I have read this thread and it is clearly encouraging people to starve themselves and congratulating people who have achieved this .
Would these people be comfortable if their teenage child was starving themselves for days on end ?

Show quote history

I wasn't actually talking about alcohol support threads. I was thinking more of threads where people speak more generally about drinking alcohol as part of their normal lives.

RoeK · 19/04/2023 22:47

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 22:36

I wasn't actually talking about alcohol support threads. I was thinking more of threads where people speak more generally about drinking alcohol as part of their normal lives.

Show quote history

I don't think it's really much of a comparison to be honest - the equivalent would be someone who was a binge drinker saying how great it was and how much it benefited their health despite it being clearly unhealthy. I can't imagine there would ever be a thread like that.

And I don't think it is "derailing" to talk about the pitfalls of this way of eating (or not eating).

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 22:58

KittenThatGotTheCream · 19/04/2023 22:31

Hey @summersanchez, let's try to ignore the poster derailing the thread, hopefully, they'll get bored and disappear eventually.

I do OMAD more than extended fasting but want to add in the occasional longer fast for the autophagy benefits again. I have a few social things (two birthdays, a day trip and a work dinner) coming up so will have to wait until the end of next week to get started. Hopefully, the thread will have calmed down by then.

Just wanted to mention that you can easily make your own electrolyte mix rather than buy expensive sachets with ingredients that may spike insulin.

  • 1.5 Litres Water
  • 1 teaspoon Potassium Chloride
  • 1 teaspoon Sodium Bicarbonate
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sodium Chloride
  • 1/2 teaspoon Magnesium Sulphate

I've copied and pasted this from Reddit (search for 'snake juice' on r/fasting), but my DH is a keen cyclist and has used this recipe successfully for at least 5 years. We both take it when fasting and it has also completely stopped my DM's regular nightly leg cramps.

Thanks for that recipe. I'll give that a go.

xraydelta · 19/04/2023 23:09

Gosh. I was returning to this thread to share some insights I have had recently after talking to friends who are Muslim and have been fasting for Ramadan.

And the thread has been utterly derailed. What a shame!

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 23:11

xraydelta · 19/04/2023 23:09

Gosh. I was returning to this thread to share some insights I have had recently after talking to friends who are Muslim and have been fasting for Ramadan.

And the thread has been utterly derailed. What a shame!

I've decided to stop responding to the derailers.

What were the insights you gained from your friends' experiences of fasting for Ramadan?

xraydelta · 19/04/2023 23:29

@Seeingadistance they are doing it for religious reasons so the motivation is stronger in many ways.

We had very interesting discussions about how fasting is mentioned in all the main world religions. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert for example. The fact that this sort of practise has been written about (and not negatively) for over 2000 years means something. This is not some new fad. It’s been written about and recorded for centuries.

I also haven’t ever heard or read of eating disorders being a specific risk for Muslims who fast regularly… if the correlation is supposedly strong, surely it would be mentioned more as millions of people fast every Ramadan?

it was more the mental clarity benefits we talked about. I certainly feel those benefits when I fast, and it’s made me think about trying dry fasting for short periods of time.

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 23:40

Yes, I can definitely appreciate fasting as a spiritual discipline which adds another dimension to the experience as well as another level of motivation. I'm a Christian from a denomination which really isn't into fasting and I think that in neglecting that ancient practice we have lost something quite precious.

And from personal experience - yes to the mental clarity. Fasting makes me feel more, I don't know how to describe it - more streamlined and refreshed. On a physical level, I feel much more bloated and sluggish when eating more frequently. I have a tendency to graze mindlessly and fasting takes me away from that.

Seeingadistance · 19/04/2023 23:46

@xraydelta When your Muslim friends are fasting do they pre-hydrate, as it were? I was thinking I would struggle with a dry fast, but actually, when I go hiking in hot weather I tend to drink plenty of water in the hours before I go, because I don't want to have to carry lots of water and in any case I usually drink only a little water when out walking anyway. Maybe 500mls on a 10 mile walk.

RachelGreensHair · 20/04/2023 00:12

The example of Muslims isn't quite right, as we HAVE to break our fast at iftari time every day and then pray, you cannot prolong the fast, they do not fast for the whole month, it is a daily fast for a month, not extended fasts of a week like people here.

RachelGreensHair · 20/04/2023 00:15

Whenever I see threads like this I imagine mumsnetters telling starving people in poorer countries "but darling you're so lucky, this extended starvation is so good for your skin and energy".

Seeingadistance · 20/04/2023 00:22

RachelGreensHair · 20/04/2023 00:12

The example of Muslims isn't quite right, as we HAVE to break our fast at iftari time every day and then pray, you cannot prolong the fast, they do not fast for the whole month, it is a daily fast for a month, not extended fasts of a week like people here.

Yes, I know it's a daily fast.

Wetnwindy · 20/04/2023 00:22

RachelGreensHair · 20/04/2023 00:15

Whenever I see threads like this I imagine mumsnetters telling starving people in poorer countries "but darling you're so lucky, this extended starvation is so good for your skin and energy".

Agree ..but because I have robustly argued …I am now declared a troll / derailed !

Almostalwayshappy · 20/04/2023 06:40

Hello @Seeingadistance - thanks for the electrolyte recipe. Do you add

• 1.5 Litres Water
• 1 teaspoon Potassium Chloride
• 1 teaspoon Sodium Bicarbonate
• 1/2 teaspoon Sodium Chloride
• 1/2 teaspoon Magnesium Sulphate

to a bottle of water and sip throughout your fast or drink it in one go? Would you use these amounts once in 24 hours? Where do you buy the ingredients from? Thanks.

toastandmarmaladeandtea · 20/04/2023 06:49

Pleased to have found this thread
I have ordered these for fasts over 36 hours
Only completed a 60 hour fast so far but I'm really enjoying the process
Can I ask where you buy your minerals to make your own solution?

Extended fasting, anyone?
RoeK · 20/04/2023 07:06

RachelGreensHair · 20/04/2023 00:15

Whenever I see threads like this I imagine mumsnetters telling starving people in poorer countries "but darling you're so lucky, this extended starvation is so good for your skin and energy".

Right? I always think that too.

RoeK · 20/04/2023 07:07

As if being a Muslim and fasting for Ramadan is in any way comparable to a five day fast for weight loss.

toastandmarmaladeandtea · 20/04/2023 07:10
I've been listening to this guy and find his insights really interesting Anyway I'm not fasting today but will probably fast again early next week Good luck fabulous fasters and enjoy the fasting (and the re-feeding)
xraydelta · 20/04/2023 08:16

<sigh> I hate how mumsnet has these derailers who try and cause havoc on a random thread.

Fasting has developed over thousands of years into how its used now in a religious way. Extended fasting is in both the Bible, the Torah and the Quran.

Fasting (restrictive eating) features in Hinduism too. For nine days in one instance. Fasting/very restrictive eating is also a huge part of Buddhism in day to day life.

I once met a monk who practised extended dry fasting.

So yes, I found it interesting to recently talk about Ramadan and how it has developed in the context of centuries of history of recorded fasting and what would certainly class as "disordered eating".

Seeingadistance · 20/04/2023 08:35

Almostalwayshappy · 20/04/2023 06:40

Hello @Seeingadistance - thanks for the electrolyte recipe. Do you add

• 1.5 Litres Water
• 1 teaspoon Potassium Chloride
• 1 teaspoon Sodium Bicarbonate
• 1/2 teaspoon Sodium Chloride
• 1/2 teaspoon Magnesium Sulphate

to a bottle of water and sip throughout your fast or drink it in one go? Would you use these amounts once in 24 hours? Where do you buy the ingredients from? Thanks.

Hi there, it was actually @KittenThatGotTheCream who posted the recipe so hopefully she’ll come back with answers.

My longest fast has been about 2 days, and I have the electrolytes on the second day as I usually only eat one meal a day anyway, in the evening. I make it up, then drink a glassful in a oner every so often.