4-week fasting countdown to February 2024!

[Peae]

Welcome all, this a thread for Intermittent Fasters who want a weekly check-in on Fridays. Chat between the check-ins are welcome too, share as little or as much as you like. Each Friday, log your weight, fast, whatever metrics help you.

Check-in 0 Friday 5 January.
Check-in 1 Friday 12 January.
Check-in 2 Friday 19 January.
Check-in 3 Friday 26 January.
Check-in 4 Friday 2 February.

Hello, I would like to join! You all seem lovely and very determined.
I’m 53, live in Cayman, used to be very athletic 150lb and used 16/8 and low carb for years then stopped training once lockdown hit - and have put on over three stone through eating all the carbs and big portion sizes and wine.

SW - 195lb (13 stone 2 lbs)
GW - 150lb.(10 stone 7lb)

Fitness plan is 8000 + steps a day ( inside - as it is usually too humid and hot to walk outside)

I have started walking 30 minutes daily on a treadmill on medium-high incline and using 5lb dumbbells at the same time which works my upper body and pushes the whole workout up several notches into aerobic/anaerobic territory and makes me sweat hard. Then I swim for 20 mins.

Bought a fitness tracker which also measures sleep, stress, blood oxygen etc and it’s really helping me focus.

As my fitness level improves and weight goes down I am looking forward to getting back to yoga and dance and free diving.

Food plan is basically low carb Mediterranean: lean protein with veg/salad, natural yog/oatmeal, frozen berries & seeds if I need a snack. No bread or bagels, because I was eating far too much of them and I have Hashimotos and am menopausal which makes this harder than when I was in my 40s.

Welcome @PartridgeInAPearShape ! We are in a very similar place (not geographically or climate-ly, unfortunately) and with similar goals and strategies.

I'm afraid I did not manage to get back on track today. I well and truly pushed the Fuckit Button this weekend. It was great at the time, but now I feel bloated and frustrated. I am also KonMarie-ing my wardrobe and pulling out all of the skimpy dresses and bikinis that I've hoarded for the last few years.

I am re-committing from 2:30 today. I've done so well since December and I can pull this round. Please send well-wishes people (in your head, you don't have to post) because I don't think I can do this alone.

Does anyone want to share their aims for Monday or the week ahead?

You can definitely do it @Peae - in fact we both can as I have been exactly the same! I was doing something stressful today so that was my excuse 🙄 also I was finishing a novel yest- I have set myself a challenge to read a book for each year since I was born so was curled up with a novel and tea and buttered toast all afternoon! Part of me thinks life’s too short to cut things out - especially if the fasting and being fairly sensible means I can lose a little each week.

I think I will try and list my plants eaten, do 2 at home workouts, and a 43 hour fast.

i think I wrote a post and lost it so sorry if repeating myself but I watched limitless @StealthLaSilkySightHound - Chris hemsworth didn’t seem to enjoy the fast much - in a way it didn’t put me off trying a longer fast but good to know that it is hard even with professionals overseeing it.

lovely to have you on the team @PartridgeInAPearShape 🙂

@Peae you can definitely do it ... look at you, a determined and inspiring woman who has set up this thread. Using all of us as a resource is what we are all here for - accountability, support and a few laughs and learning along the way.

How would you most like to use us now?

What is your plan for the week?

What might stop you doing it in the next two days?
What are you going to do to be ready to counter these challenges?
And - how can you add something joyful into your life each day alongside IF?

@loveyouradvice 'joy' is a really key factor for me, and the reason I started eating and skipped the gym yesterday. I am going to ponder and journal on the questions you have set me, but a quick answer is that I know how helpful I find it reading others' plans and determinations. I especially find this useful at work when I can sneak a look even if I can't write a reply.

So, my task tonight (after finishing this huge clear out of clothes) is to plan the week and include joy alongside all of the fasting, lifting weights and eating legumes.

@PartridgeInAPearShape love your name! I also put on three stone during Covid - don't think that side effect of global disaster makes it into any action movies.

@Clearingaspace I like reading too, but wouldn't manage one book for every year of my life over a year - too old and too slow 😁 Just finished Demon Copperhead and now reading Richard Osman's latest.

@Peae I like hearing everyone's wit and wisdom here too. My plan for Monday: I've just made a lovely mushroom and pea curry, which will be my lunch tomorrow and Tuesday. I count this as joy-giving: lots of veggies, and tasty. It's a working day so I will break my fast around 11am, unless it's horrendously busy, which has the silver lining of fasting until 1pm. I generally walk 8000 steps on a work day, which I count as a win. And if I commit here to doing a short meditation Monday and Tuesday then that's more likely to happen. I know it's good for me but tend to talk myself out of it because it's boring.

@loveyouradvice those were very good questions!

Hello to @StealthLaSilkySightHound and everyone else here. You're all very good at making me feel I've got company, thank you xx

Thank you for the welcome, it is very interesting and motivating to read what you’re all doing and how you’re feeling, really appreciate this thread!

My goals for this week are to immerse myself in lots of studies and info about fasting, inflammation, gut microbiology etc because that motivates me - have just found the Zoe podcasts. I would like to find joy and fascination in this new interest - I link the weight gain and carb/wine dependency with the distress I have felt doomscrolling the international news these last years - the climate crisis, pandemic, rise in extremism - I think I have subconsciously bulked up and tried to cushion it with comfort food and I had a “what’s the point of looking after myself, we are all doomed” vibe going on - cortisol spiking, inflammation raging -

and so unpacking it and allowing myself to focus on my health means changing what I read.
Telling myself it’s okay to look for a healthier future. It is quite a change and there is definitely grief involved.

I limit my news intake to podcasts nowadays, and balance them out with audio books or inspiring podcasts.

This evening I have cooked off quinoa, pearl barley and chickpeas. I have prepped two days' of breakfast/pudding (depends on how small a window I have) and two days' of salad. DP is making a curry for tomorrow. My step count was low, so I've just clocked up 2000 with a cold walk around the block to bring me to 10k.
Tomorrow my plan is to walk to work, fast until 12 and I may get to the gym to make up for Saturday. No UPF snacks.

This sounds so powerful @Peae - and for me too, joy is key. Sometimes I find it in the food I eat (and fantasise about looking forward to it), sometimes in other things and it does always help me to think about where I might find it each day.

@PartridgeInAPearShape - that's my approach. Im a Zoe fan and beginning to learn more. Currently watching Limitless and love getting recommendations from everyone on this thread. I'm particularly interested in learning more about inflammation so do share any top tips. I definitely find that investing time in learning about eating to support my health helps keep me on track.

I’ve just finished the Blue Zones series on Netflix (recommend it). My Zoe score today is 1 (do not recommend it).

so good to have all those healthy meals prepped @Peae i bet it all smells amazing in your house. Will look out for blue zones

@loveyouradvice I have started writing notes of recommendations from people on this thread and others! So helpful. Will look out for Limitless.

@HarpQuartet we are in the same boat! I know people either put on weight or got super healthy during the lock down times and after but all I seem to see are the super healthy people out and about

@Clearingaspace so impressive by all the reading, what a great thing to take on

Lovely idea to note your points of gratitude stealth. Really positive thing to do and such beautiful observations.

I was struck with your post about the effect the state of the world has had on you @PartridgeInAPearShape. I think I have felt some of those feeling in recent years - particularly fear about my dc’s future. It’s a fine balance to live for now and also live for the future - I think @StealthLaSilkySightHound suggestions are a great antidote to those feelings.

@loveyouradvice Meant to say re inflammation- apparently sleep is important for reducing inflammation. Literally just reading about it in Davinia Taylor’s book hack your hormones which I got for 99p on kindle (this is before going back to my book challenge 🤪). She isn’t an expert but puts a lot of research into sweary layman’s terms. It is interesting as a lot of what she claims the benefits of sleep to be are effects I am hoping to gain from fasting - which obviously raises the question why am I going to the trouble of fasting if not prepared to also get right the easy win basics like sleeping enough.

I love reading your posts @StealthLaSilkySightHound. Love the image of us being a hammock too!!

@Peae would it help you this week to check in with us each day, telling us your plan and challenges for the next day, and celebrating what you've achieved? Might it help you get back into the groove?

Reflecting on lengths of fast... what can you add to this? Based on my rather shaky memory of Gin Stephens and a couple of others. And recognising these are generalisations and hours may be slightly different as we are all individuals.

For weightless:
Longer is better up until 42 hours, and many of us need to look at shorter eating windows as we near our goal (such as 3-5 hours)
After 42 hours (?is it?) your body starts reducing its calorie requirements, so to maintain metabolic rate not going beyond this is best

For autophagy and NSV:
Only kicks in around 14 hours??
Longer is MUCH better so several days is great.
What is optimal?? 4 days once every 2-3 months or ??

Look forward to hearing your thoughts

@Clearingaspace Thanks for this, goign to check it out - love your image of sleep as an easy win!! I'm working on both and not yet nailed sleep...

And going to echo others - Blue Zones is an easy and fascinating watch. Im really inspired by it - and am walking up and down my stairs more each day as just one small change!!

@StealthLaSilkySightHound Thanks for your wise and beautiful words. Yes, will try and focus on small helpful things.

@StealthLaSilkySightHound
What a wonderful suggestion re 3 points of gratitude! Absolutely love it 🥰

Here are mine for today:

Warm sun on my face while I sat in a cafe having delicious spiced lentil and vegetable soup watching people outside rushing around.

Swim and a sauna at my local swimming pool. Perfect on a cold day like today.

Kiss and hug from my gorgeous partner before he left for work this morning. He's my absolute rock, my best friend and so much more.

Those are so lovely @Fullsteamahead

As I am off work here are my fasting notes so far @loveyouradvice

Fung and Ramos Facebook group suggest optimum for weightloss is 3 x42 or 2 x 48 a week!!! Each 42- 48 hour fast should be followed by at least 3 meals which are satisfying and nutritious with no snacks before starting the next fast. I don’t plan on doing more than 1 longer fast a week.

All the groups I am on seem to suggest it is best to vary fast lengths and not eat omad everyday for extended periods of time unless it is a pattern that works for you for long term maintenance. One work around is to alternate between 30 hours, then a meal, 16 hours, then a meal and repeat. Usually advice seems to be to have 1 day a week at least without fasting to keep body on its toes!

Fasts of 48 hours or less seem to be ok for unsupervised fasting but longer fasts brings more risks from refeeding syndrome etc and should be researched and prepared for - possibly with medical advice. 3- 5 day fasts should be restricted to a couple of times a year according to Mindy pelz. However 72 hour fasts are done weekly by a small number of people on the ramos fung group - or more commonly once a month.

fasts of over 24 hours can include a pinch of Himalayan salt every few hours. Do not supplement potassium unless included in pre prepared electrolytes suitable for fasting - I haven’t found out about these yet.

(Below mainly from mindy pelz and fasting apps- all these times vary from person to person)
4 hours - insulin drops
8 hours - blood sugar normalises
12 hours ketosis begins
13 -15 hours autophagy begins (reduces inflammation and stimulates cell renewal)
18 hours fat burning begins (once this starts hunger should reduce so for me I think it is approx 21 hours)
24 hours - beneficial for gut - triggers creation of intestinal stem cells

• in addition cell regeneration or autophagy is increasingly happening (helps with effects of ageing)

48 hours - growth hormone (muscle building) is 5x as high as at the start. This can promote wound healing 54 hours - increasingly insulin sensitive 72 hours - breaking down old cells and creating new ones 96 hours - metabolic reset (dr fung) can help undo the effects of previous low calorie diets

Dry fasting for 12 hours may be beneficial for the brain, lower inflammation etc can be helpful for arthritis (mindy pelz) don’t do this for longer than 24 hours.

One extra note - I was reading a thread yesterday where people almost unanimously agreed that starting a longer fast at approx 2:00 - 4:00 pm was the optimum for reduced hunger when fasting - I need to test this theory!

Sorry one final note - a lot of the above applies to people who have excess body fat that can be burned during fasting - I am not sure how therapeutic fasting works for people who are already a healthy weight.