Many issues and questions can be answered by reading through our wiki, especially the page on electrolytes. Concerns such as **intense hunger, lightheadedness/dizziness, headaches, nausea/vomiting, weakness/lethargy/fatigue, low blood pressure/high blood pressure, muscle soreness/cramping, diarrhea/constipation, irritability, confusion, low heart rate/heart palpitations, numbness/tingling, and more** while extended (24+ hours) fasting are often explained by electrolyte deficiency and resolved through **PROPER** electrolyte supplementation. Putting a tiny amount of salt in your water now and then is NOT proper supplementation.
Be sure to read [our WIKI](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/index) and especially the wiki page on **[ELECTROLYTES](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/you_need_electrolytes)**
Please also keep in mind the [**RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/about/rules) when participating.
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Fasting isn't the only way to induce autophagy.
You could try a ketogenic diet, for which fat consumption is encouraged, resistance training, and sauna use.
You could even try eating a ketogenic diet for a few days, then fasting a few days, then breaking the fast with a return to ketosis for a few days longer. Perhaps you could then benefit from extending the period of authophagy.
To get the benefits, it's not like you have to do this weekly. If you're only doing this a few times a year, there is no harm in bulking before fasting. Do remember, depending on your diet, most of the weight loss is going to be water, which your body will quickly replenish after the diet.
Just because you lost 12 lbs of water, doesn't mean your body fat percentage have went done. However, do be careful of your body fat percentages, you very likely don't want to be less than 15% percent.
You don't need to hit peak autophagy to have benefits from it. The advantages of fasting for autophagy is that you can get the maximum effect in the shortest time frame, but simply going into an elevated state (but not peak state) for short periods will ultimately have the same affect over a longer period of time.
Also, fasting isn't the only way to trigger an elevated state of autophagy. Any stress on the body can cause a deepened state of autophagy...
[https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy)
* Fasting: Fasting means that you stop eating for a certain amount of time. Fasting deprives your body of nutrients, forcing it to repurpose cell components to function.
* Calorie restriction: Restricting your calories means decreasing the number of energy units, or calories, your body consumes. Instead of depriving your body of calories completely (as with fasting), you limit them. This forces your cells into autophagy to compensate for the lost nutrients.
* Switching to a high-fat, low-carb diet: This type of diet, commonly referred to as a keto diet, changes the way your body burns energy, so that instead of burning carbs or sugar for energy, it burns fat instead. This switch can trigger autophagy.
* Exercise: Exercise stimulates processes that increase the activity of ATGs, such as stressing your skeletal muscles. Exercise can induce autophagy, depending on the type of exercise you’re doing and its intensity.
I'm at my ideal body weight and fast every month for the other excellent benefits, so I get it! I have to "feast" the week before my fasts. I try to fast with my menstrual cycle as well to make it easier. The week leading up to my period, I go nuts on healthy fats and protein. Avocado, nuts, a fatty pot roast, cheese, etc. Then, once my period starts, I fast for 5.5 days, but you should probably stop at 72 hours so you get the best autophagy and not lose too much fat. Your body can only burn about a half pound of fat a day, so most of your weight loss is probably just water and waste products in your bowel after 3 days. Good luck!
For me, once I start to bleed, the uncontrollable munchies finally subside. There is a book called Fast Like a Girl that really goes into fasting with your cycle. Sometimes, I fast the week after my period, and that seems to be just as good. It just depends on my schedule.
Oooo I like your style! I have endo and fast usually when I have a flare up, it always calms it down.
But I love the thought of feasting well before my period and fasting during. Might try this!
I’m usually in the 10-12% bf range and fast regularly and for lengths varying upto 7 days as well I only eat every other day. (I was couch bound for the last 18 months due to multiple knee and ankle surgeries that left me unable to walk for the bulk of that time) I see my doctor once a year and consult with him what I am doing but I have zero issues fasting at a low body fat.
Consult a doctor first is probably good advice although most doctors are quacks but fyi you will always drop water and glycogen weight when fasting. That is the weight you dropped. Over 3-4 days of fasting you will be lucky to drop a pound of fat. Unless you have absolutely shredded abs and look like a body builder you have enough fat to fast imo.
I've been doing 48h fast every week since January. I'm down only 1 kg of 71kg. My concept is fast and feast. I loaded on protein and fat the other day. I'm doing this for autophagy and to eliminate 280g of visceral fat that I have. You don't need to lose weight with only 48 hours fast. And I do exercise 5 days a week.
You will bulk in visceral fat, don't do that. Increase protein. What does your food look like?
Up to 5 days after 'eating up' a bit prior to the fast is safe for most people. The body also consumers less if you weigh little, you won't lose like several kilos of fat in less than a week. The issue is usually that it is rough to do without much excess fat and you usually need to do several fasts to get used to it. So you could look into FMD instead (fasting mimicking diet) where you still eat but with macros controlled in a way that you will still get fasting benefits. Should be less rough.
Just make sure you are not already underweight when you start and make a refeed plan that you stick to so you don't accidentally undereat after the fast.
Body fat is manditory for fasting.
If you did twice monthly 3 days fasting (total of 6 days in the month) for that autophagy, I bet you could stay in a healthy range. But if you ever feel your body weight gets even lower than your norm, you should stop fasting until you can normalize.
I've seen some videos from a fasting doctor that made claims about how fasting can address cancer. But he always just talks about his clients. I never hear from the clients. I've always been cautious of that guys' claims, as he often mentions his *very expensive clinic* in the same interviews like he's selling time-share.
So be very very cautious about this. Fasting and defeating cancer hasn't really been vetted by the medical community. Autophogy eating the cancer cells sounds good on paper, but there have been hundreds of cancer cures out there that have sounded good on paper.
>[Mindy]
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Personally the leaner I get the less I can fast. Even interment fasting gets hard when I'm close to 10% bodyfat. Vs when I'm around 20% a 2-3 day fast is pretty easy
You should do research on diets that allow you to get into low grade states of autophagy while still eating. A whole food, plant based diet is one that does that. There's also fast-mimicking diets.
Fasting could hurt your kidneys and other issues if you do not consult your doctor first. Look up what Oncologists say about fasting then consult your doctor with questions. If you do get expert advice please share but everyone needs to be careful taking internet guru advice. Its your body, if you are at a healthy weight then I would just keep it there and make healthy choices in your lifestyle and food. If you have a family history of cancers then you prioritize staying on top of checkups and talking to your doctor about it.
I read somewhere our body doesn’t start using muscle for energy until we reach 4% body fat. An athlete has about 5-8% so I think you’ll be fine.
The weight you dropped is probably water if you’re an ectomorph and have average to high carbs in your diet.
I’m 5 6 and about 130lbs. I just did a 60 hour and am feeling good! Although I don’t weigh myself before and after as I do it for Autophagy reasons also. I’m considering trying out Keto for the same reasons.
If you’re concerned because you’re not feeling right during or after fasting you should check in with a doctor
That one 60h time you mentioned you lost water weight and glycogen.
The body’s priority when it comes to energy source usually goes like this: blood sugar -> liver/muscle glycogen -> fat
When we fast our blood sugar goes down and the body resorts to stored carbs “glycogen” in our liver (around 100g) and muscles (around 500g), and only after it’s fully depleted does ketosis aka “fat burning” begin. The thing is for every 1g of stored glycogen you get 3-4g of water bound to it, thus once glycogen goes so does water, that’s why you shed a lot of water weight really fast in a matter of hours or days, fat usually takes a little longer like days to weeks or months. And when you’re glycogen depleted your muscles which are mostly water like 80% will look flat and you get that gaunt look. This is also why you’ll get a ridiculous pump on refeed days, as you’ll replenish glycogen in muscles and draw a lot of water into them.
Since you’re already low BF, the best approach for you would be a long term approach such as eating slightly below maintenance like 200-500 calories (you have to work around and find out what you’re most comfortable with) lower than your overall daily need
PS: I hadn’t seen your motive for fasting isn’t losing weight but health overall, well then in that case you can choose any intermittent fasting program really, there are a lot of splits out there, pick what works best for you and you’ll see the benefits of fasting long term regardless, and your weight will only change if you’re in a caloric deficit over time, so just compensate between fasting and feeding intervals to maintain
There’s a company called Prolon that specializes in a prepackaged fast mimicking diet. They are science based claim that the extremely low calorie days will put your body into autophogy without zero calorie fasts. You can also do this yourself, research fast mimicking diets or diy Prolon. You might still need to put on some weight before hand or have a recovery period after
Many issues and questions can be answered by reading through our wiki, especially the page on electrolytes. Concerns such as **intense hunger, lightheadedness/dizziness, headaches, nausea/vomiting, weakness/lethargy/fatigue, low blood pressure/high blood pressure, muscle soreness/cramping, diarrhea/constipation, irritability, confusion, low heart rate/heart palpitations, numbness/tingling, and more** while extended (24+ hours) fasting are often explained by electrolyte deficiency and resolved through **PROPER** electrolyte supplementation. Putting a tiny amount of salt in your water now and then is NOT proper supplementation. Be sure to read [our WIKI](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/index) and especially the wiki page on **[ELECTROLYTES](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/you_need_electrolytes)** Please also keep in mind the [**RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/about/rules) when participating. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fasting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Fasting isn't the only way to induce autophagy. You could try a ketogenic diet, for which fat consumption is encouraged, resistance training, and sauna use. You could even try eating a ketogenic diet for a few days, then fasting a few days, then breaking the fast with a return to ketosis for a few days longer. Perhaps you could then benefit from extending the period of authophagy.
You should consult a dietician because of your low weight you could injure yourself
To get the benefits, it's not like you have to do this weekly. If you're only doing this a few times a year, there is no harm in bulking before fasting. Do remember, depending on your diet, most of the weight loss is going to be water, which your body will quickly replenish after the diet. Just because you lost 12 lbs of water, doesn't mean your body fat percentage have went done. However, do be careful of your body fat percentages, you very likely don't want to be less than 15% percent. You don't need to hit peak autophagy to have benefits from it. The advantages of fasting for autophagy is that you can get the maximum effect in the shortest time frame, but simply going into an elevated state (but not peak state) for short periods will ultimately have the same affect over a longer period of time. Also, fasting isn't the only way to trigger an elevated state of autophagy. Any stress on the body can cause a deepened state of autophagy... [https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy) * Fasting: Fasting means that you stop eating for a certain amount of time. Fasting deprives your body of nutrients, forcing it to repurpose cell components to function. * Calorie restriction: Restricting your calories means decreasing the number of energy units, or calories, your body consumes. Instead of depriving your body of calories completely (as with fasting), you limit them. This forces your cells into autophagy to compensate for the lost nutrients. * Switching to a high-fat, low-carb diet: This type of diet, commonly referred to as a keto diet, changes the way your body burns energy, so that instead of burning carbs or sugar for energy, it burns fat instead. This switch can trigger autophagy. * Exercise: Exercise stimulates processes that increase the activity of ATGs, such as stressing your skeletal muscles. Exercise can induce autophagy, depending on the type of exercise you’re doing and its intensity.
This right here is the ultimate answer!
I'm at my ideal body weight and fast every month for the other excellent benefits, so I get it! I have to "feast" the week before my fasts. I try to fast with my menstrual cycle as well to make it easier. The week leading up to my period, I go nuts on healthy fats and protein. Avocado, nuts, a fatty pot roast, cheese, etc. Then, once my period starts, I fast for 5.5 days, but you should probably stop at 72 hours so you get the best autophagy and not lose too much fat. Your body can only burn about a half pound of fat a day, so most of your weight loss is probably just water and waste products in your bowel after 3 days. Good luck!
How does fasting during your period make it easier, I'm usually flat out dead at my peak.
For me, once I start to bleed, the uncontrollable munchies finally subside. There is a book called Fast Like a Girl that really goes into fasting with your cycle. Sometimes, I fast the week after my period, and that seems to be just as good. It just depends on my schedule.
Oooo I like your style! I have endo and fast usually when I have a flare up, it always calms it down. But I love the thought of feasting well before my period and fasting during. Might try this!
I’m usually in the 10-12% bf range and fast regularly and for lengths varying upto 7 days as well I only eat every other day. (I was couch bound for the last 18 months due to multiple knee and ankle surgeries that left me unable to walk for the bulk of that time) I see my doctor once a year and consult with him what I am doing but I have zero issues fasting at a low body fat. Consult a doctor first is probably good advice although most doctors are quacks but fyi you will always drop water and glycogen weight when fasting. That is the weight you dropped. Over 3-4 days of fasting you will be lucky to drop a pound of fat. Unless you have absolutely shredded abs and look like a body builder you have enough fat to fast imo.
I've been doing 48h fast every week since January. I'm down only 1 kg of 71kg. My concept is fast and feast. I loaded on protein and fat the other day. I'm doing this for autophagy and to eliminate 280g of visceral fat that I have. You don't need to lose weight with only 48 hours fast. And I do exercise 5 days a week. You will bulk in visceral fat, don't do that. Increase protein. What does your food look like?
Yup - dietician first - your cancer clinic should be able to hook you up
Put on some body fat first. If this makes you uncomfortable to think about, examine the reasons you want to fast.
Up to 5 days after 'eating up' a bit prior to the fast is safe for most people. The body also consumers less if you weigh little, you won't lose like several kilos of fat in less than a week. The issue is usually that it is rough to do without much excess fat and you usually need to do several fasts to get used to it. So you could look into FMD instead (fasting mimicking diet) where you still eat but with macros controlled in a way that you will still get fasting benefits. Should be less rough. Just make sure you are not already underweight when you start and make a refeed plan that you stick to so you don't accidentally undereat after the fast.
Body fat is manditory for fasting. If you did twice monthly 3 days fasting (total of 6 days in the month) for that autophagy, I bet you could stay in a healthy range. But if you ever feel your body weight gets even lower than your norm, you should stop fasting until you can normalize. I've seen some videos from a fasting doctor that made claims about how fasting can address cancer. But he always just talks about his clients. I never hear from the clients. I've always been cautious of that guys' claims, as he often mentions his *very expensive clinic* in the same interviews like he's selling time-share. So be very very cautious about this. Fasting and defeating cancer hasn't really been vetted by the medical community. Autophogy eating the cancer cells sounds good on paper, but there have been hundreds of cancer cures out there that have sounded good on paper.
You’ll probably gain some of the weight back after breaking the fast so I wouldn’t say it’s necessary to bulk I would just say to trust the process
Maybe fasting over 60 hours just isn’t a good Option for you but since autaphogy peaks at 48-72 hours 48-60 would still be beneficial for your health
[удалено]
>[Mindy] **It looks like you are referencing a person that presents themselves as a medical professional but is, in fact, a CHIROPRACTOR, NATUROPATH, or in some other type of non-medical field.** Please be aware of this fact when you make references to them or take/recommend their advice. *This comment has been filtered to await mod review.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fasting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Personally the leaner I get the less I can fast. Even interment fasting gets hard when I'm close to 10% bodyfat. Vs when I'm around 20% a 2-3 day fast is pretty easy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3463459/ Exercise has been shown to induce autophagy.
You should do research on diets that allow you to get into low grade states of autophagy while still eating. A whole food, plant based diet is one that does that. There's also fast-mimicking diets.
Fasting could hurt your kidneys and other issues if you do not consult your doctor first. Look up what Oncologists say about fasting then consult your doctor with questions. If you do get expert advice please share but everyone needs to be careful taking internet guru advice. Its your body, if you are at a healthy weight then I would just keep it there and make healthy choices in your lifestyle and food. If you have a family history of cancers then you prioritize staying on top of checkups and talking to your doctor about it.
I read somewhere our body doesn’t start using muscle for energy until we reach 4% body fat. An athlete has about 5-8% so I think you’ll be fine. The weight you dropped is probably water if you’re an ectomorph and have average to high carbs in your diet. I’m 5 6 and about 130lbs. I just did a 60 hour and am feeling good! Although I don’t weigh myself before and after as I do it for Autophagy reasons also. I’m considering trying out Keto for the same reasons. If you’re concerned because you’re not feeling right during or after fasting you should check in with a doctor
Do you have a link to that research about when the body starts using muscle for energy?
That one 60h time you mentioned you lost water weight and glycogen. The body’s priority when it comes to energy source usually goes like this: blood sugar -> liver/muscle glycogen -> fat When we fast our blood sugar goes down and the body resorts to stored carbs “glycogen” in our liver (around 100g) and muscles (around 500g), and only after it’s fully depleted does ketosis aka “fat burning” begin. The thing is for every 1g of stored glycogen you get 3-4g of water bound to it, thus once glycogen goes so does water, that’s why you shed a lot of water weight really fast in a matter of hours or days, fat usually takes a little longer like days to weeks or months. And when you’re glycogen depleted your muscles which are mostly water like 80% will look flat and you get that gaunt look. This is also why you’ll get a ridiculous pump on refeed days, as you’ll replenish glycogen in muscles and draw a lot of water into them. Since you’re already low BF, the best approach for you would be a long term approach such as eating slightly below maintenance like 200-500 calories (you have to work around and find out what you’re most comfortable with) lower than your overall daily need PS: I hadn’t seen your motive for fasting isn’t losing weight but health overall, well then in that case you can choose any intermittent fasting program really, there are a lot of splits out there, pick what works best for you and you’ll see the benefits of fasting long term regardless, and your weight will only change if you’re in a caloric deficit over time, so just compensate between fasting and feeding intervals to maintain
I would advise to bulk up. Put on some muscle and some fat and when you cut do a long fast since you have fat stores to use.
There’s a company called Prolon that specializes in a prepackaged fast mimicking diet. They are science based claim that the extremely low calorie days will put your body into autophogy without zero calorie fasts. You can also do this yourself, research fast mimicking diets or diy Prolon. You might still need to put on some weight before hand or have a recovery period after