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Nutrition Has anyone experimented with longer fasts?

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Phil12

Phil12

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I've seen a lot of stuff about IF here, which is great, and forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere, but after reading Eat Stop Eat and listening to some of those Dom D'Agostino podcasts, I'm curious if anyone has experimented with longer (24+ hr) fasts. What was your experience like? How did it effect your training?

Thanks.
 
I do the odd 48 hr fast.

The first few were a real challenge and I became very light headed. I think it's the change to a ketogenic state that seems get me. I notice after that light headed feeling passes I get a second wind and then I have energy to train again.

If I go low carb for a few days before the fast & I'm really active on the first day of the fast I can deplete most of my free glycogen in the first day and I can actually recognise the signs of the change to a ketogenic state towards the end of day one. If I eat a normal diet with adequate carbs leading into the fast and don't do as much physical activity it will normally take me about 2 days to switch over to ketosis (tested with ketostix).

So for the first day there's not much change in training performance (for me anyway) until I deplete my glycogen & enter that crossover phase into ketosis where performance drops fairly rapidly during the transition. Then it seems that the more times I cross that threshold the more fat adapted I become and that transitional phase seems to be less dramatic.

After ketogenisis kicks I can perform at maybe 90% of my normal level in regards to reps and weight etc for the rest of the fast.

The longest I've fasted is 3 days, but most of my fasts are 24 hrs and a very occasional 48 hr fast to torch a bit of fat. 3 days was a real mental challenge for me & it's something I'm not keen to do again.
 
I've been doing 24 hour fasts for a couple years now. I would do these once a week up until recently. About two months ago I started doing 2 a week as ESE percribes. A month ago I've upped it to 3 a week.

My fast days are now my high energy days. I have no trouble training in the morning and then working a full day with some intense stretching over my lunch period.

About the same time I started this new diet I restarted S&S. I train nearly every day and feel like I am making good progress.

Right when I started I went and had body comp measured by bod pod. I get my follow up measurement on Wednesday. I started with 21% body fat. Since then I've lost around 7-8 lbs and lost about an inch and a half on my waist. I'm anxious to see if I lost any muscle while fasting and training. I don't feel like I have, but I'll know for sure on Wednesday.
 
I have never done longer than a 20 hr fast. It's something I would be interested in trying. In his book "Tools of Titans", Tim Ferriss has a number of health professionals who mention semi-regular 2-3 (or even longer) day fasts as a preventative tool for cancer, as well as general longevity. I'm extremely curious to see how the research bears that out.

I think I would do it strictly to see how it affects me psychologically, as I'm fairly low BF% and don't see a real need to be any lower. What I do commonly tell people that even with IF in 16/8 or 20/4 periods, you can learn an amazing amount about yourself and what "hunger" really and truly is.
 
Hello,

I prefer not exceeding 24. If so, as @Tarzan said, the body needs to adapat. During this phase, one has less energy. And if one keeps fasting, meaning not eating at all, you get back some energy levels thanks to your fat. However, you never get your 100 because you still do not eat.

To a certain extent, I consider it is good from time to time to use a longer than 24h fasting and keep training. It obliges the body to work as good as it can, with less energy. Then it is interesting IMO for militaries, preppers and so on. On the long run, I think it can exhaust you.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
it's popular in the macrobiotics community. long fasting is usually more than 3 days. you cut the food slowly- 2 meals a day, one meal a day, small bow of brown rice, brown rice tea, then no food
my sensei can fast and still run 5-10 km a day, in 10 days. about strength, i'm not very sure. why don't you try out?
 
36 hours is the longest for me. I could still do my (then) retail job with high energy, no food cravings and no mood changes ie. I was happy not grumpy.
 
Wesker11 said:
I get my follow up measurement on Wednesday. I started with 21% body fat. Since then I've lost around 7-8 lbs and lost about an inch and a half on my waist. I'm anxious to see if I lost any muscle while fasting and training. I don't feel like I have, but I'll know for sure on Wednesday.
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I appreciate this is delayed follow up but I'm interested in how you went. I always break a fast around 16 - 18 hours due to worry about muscle loss. Do I need to be concerned?
 
LukeV said:
I appreciate this is delayed follow up but I'm interested in how you went. I always break a fast around 16 - 18 hours due to worry about muscle loss. Do I need to be concerned?
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In my books you don't have to be worried about muscle loss during longer fasts. Your hgh and adrenalin levels elevate during fasting and your body uses your bodyfat for fuel. If you try longer - say 24-48 hour - fasts, you can't do them as often than 16-18 fasts thou.
 
After about three days muscles start to be involved. There are a lot of good information about fasting on marks daily apple. I have plsted a link to his website in the coconut oil thread.
 
elli said:
After about three days muscles start to be involved. There are a lot of good information about fasting on marks daily apple. I have plsted a link to his website in the coconut oil thread.
Click to expand...
I agree. And after three days of fasting T-levels starts to decrease, but it's only minor (8 % on average).
 
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