5 day fasting experiment

bulkbiker

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I can't understand why you haven't already. They are very illuminating. How else would I have known that a full bladder raises levels? :hilarious:
There have been so many reports of sensors failing and daft levels overnight that I thought they sounded a bit flaky.. also with the shortage that there seemed to be I couldn't really justify either the cost or depriving someone else to get better use out of than I would have. So I never got round to ordering one..could I test the full bladder thing with finger pricks I wonder... hmmmm.
 
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DCUKMod

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There have been so many reports of sensors failing and daft levels overnight that I thought they sounded a bit flaky.. also with the shortage that there seemed to be I couldn't really justify either the cost or depriving someone else to get better use out of than I would have. So I never got round to ordering one..could I test the full bladder thing with finger pricks I wonder... hmmmm.

I'd be astonished it you, ..... erm,.... caught it. In my experience, it's not a long lasting thing (before or after).
 

bulkbiker

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I'd be astonished it you, ..... erm,.... caught it. In my experience, it's not a long lasting thing (before or after).
Drink a lot of water and test every 15 minutes?.. but could it just be the stress of needing to go.. hmm next time I do a fast maybe would be the best time to test.. and I'll need to stock up on strips..watch this space..
 

CherryAA

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To be honest I think the science of autophagy is so new that nobody really knows. There are those who claim that it starts to work with an overnight fast and others that yes 48 hours is the minimum. I think that most would say to "guarantee" autophagy you need to have only water (or something like black tea) whilst fasting which I will admit is why I have never tried, would miss my coffee with cream too much.

The theory I have been looking at is that for the first three days, your body is living on its natural resources including the foods you recently ate and autophagy. Only on the 4th day does it reach a crisis mode where it says I need to do something at which point it starts reactivating stem cells.

The idea is that you allow it to do that for 2 days, and then have to nourish those new stem cells with nutrient dense refeeding.
If you look at my charts in order the info certainly seems in line with that.

I have long thought that it takes a few days to get a bad meal out of my system and that that shows through with a worsening of gluconeogenesis as shown by the dawn phenomenon.

During the first three days of the fast, the pattern looks entirely similar just with reducing levels of the same chart.

On the 4th day blood glucose has reached a rock bottom and any dawn phenomena was barely discernible and I recorded average blood sugars of only 4.2 mmol. On the 4th day my body also started to heat up. I could feel the difference , it was definitely different from before and it has stayed that way since.

I am now trying ot make sure that I do the refeeding part properly, that is actually quite hard because I really don't have much of an appetite, a bowl half the size of the one before my fast, now seems quite bulky and I have had to leave some.

I am trying to make sure everything I eat is really nutrient dense- bone broth, salmon eggs,beef, cheese. I have even been eating some chicken neck ( if cooked for 24 hours to make bone broth, the actual neck bones become soft like that which you find in tinned fish ) so that's a great source of calcium .

I lost 4.8kg during the 5 days which is unheard of. I'm guessing it will take a few days to find out how much of that was real versus water loss due to food deprivation.

Once started, if the answer to the question - what can I eat? is zero, its amazing how quickly you start to view it as a competition where giving up is simply not an option. The result of that was that during the fast I went out ( one black coffee) and I did some cooking for others - not one morsel crossed my lips . It felt rather surreal to be that much in control.

My goal for this is to finally get over the concept that food is essential every day and to realise that I do have the power to actually say no when faced with a temptation because if I can eat zero for 5 days, I really don't need to succumb to someone's offer of other food.
 
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CherryAA

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@bulkbiker - Not looking to speak for @CherryAA , but yes, you can download all of the background data and I always do. It downloads as a .txt file, which I then convert to .csv, and drop into Excel and work with it from there. Obviously from Excel it's very easy to identify high and lows, without having to make interpretations of a line.

If you log your eating episodes in the Libre, the reading will identify your post-meal peak, and so on. When aligned with recording exogenous insulin timings and dosing, it can be extremely powerful.

Of course, there can be some variances in the data, just as there can be meter readings..

I don't bother with the metre any more just use my phone, can I download data from the phone? if so how ?
 

Mbaker

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Well done. I did a 5 last month, but had to go abroad at short notice so did not report. My findings were that blood glucose was stable at between 3.1 and 3.3. I believe once you are used to Ketosis your body accepts lower readings without hypo feelings or symptoms. I did very light workouts as previously I experienced low 2s after cardio and resistance to my usual levels. I only measured keytones once at 3 days which were 2.0. I was not that interested in blood keytones as, this is just the non-used values. After about 2.5 days this was when I had what could be described as mild hunger pangs, once this cleared hunger was non-existent. Days 3 to 5.5 were easy, really. On day 4 I sprinted on a walk as my energy was through the roof. I broke the fast at 5.5 due to not wanting to take the mick out of my body which was quite flat on the muscle side.

I don't bother with the metre any more just use my phone, can I download data from the phone? if so how ?
https://www1.libreview.com/Accounts/Login?timeout=True
 

DCUKMod

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I don't bother with the metre any more just use my phone, can I download data from the phone? if so how ?

I could, but have never bothered to use my phone for the Libre, so can't say from personal experience, but I don't actually think you can. When using a Libre, I download my data each morning
 

DCUKMod

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Well done. I did a 5 last month, but had to go abroad at short notice so did not report. My findings were that blood glucose was stable at between 3.1 and 3.3. I believe once you are used to Ketosis your body accepts lower readings without hypo feelings or symptoms. I did very light workouts as previously I experienced low 2s after cardio and resistance to my usual levels. I only measured keytones once at 3 days which were 2.0. I was not that interested in blood keytones as, this is just the non-used values. After about 2.5 days this was when I had what could be described as mild hunger pangs, once this cleared hunger was non-existent. Days 3 to 5.5 were easy, really. On day 4 I sprinted on a walk as my energy was through the roof. I broke the fast at 5.5 due to not wanting to take the mick out of my body which was quite flat on the muscle side.


https://www1.libreview.com/Accounts/Login?timeout=True


MBaker - Not surer eif it's just for me, but the link on your post doesn't work. It returns a timed out error.
 

CherryAA

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There have been so many reports of sensors failing and daft levels overnight that I thought they sounded a bit flaky.. also with the shortage that there seemed to be I couldn't really justify either the cost or depriving someone else to get better use out of than I would have. So I never got round to ordering one..could I test the full bladder thing with finger pricks I wonder... hmmmm.


I've been using them for 18 months now Its true that they are not error free, however Abott haev been completely good at replacing them ( including this one which had 5 days left)

I do think for anyone wearing on for just a fortnight will make it a whole lot easier to interpret future fingerprick results. Most of us operate under a daily cycle entirely separate from the actual food. This is what makes it so hard to understand why some food seems to spike at certain points in the day and not at others . If for example you look at my 90 day figures that spike in the middle of the day has happened reliably and relentlessly evry single day whether or not I eat. Before I was aware of this it made my figures around this time very frustrating, now I just know its there regardless. The 4th day of this 5 day fast is the very first time I did not experience it.
 

Mbaker

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MBaker - Not surer eif it's just for me, but the link on your post doesn't work. It returns a timed out error.
Seems this is specific once logged on, which is where I book marked. https://www1.libreview.com/ works from another device of mine so should for all.
 

DavidGrahamJones

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I lost 4.8kg during the 5 days which is unheard of. I'm guessing it will take a few days to find out how much of that was real versus water loss due to food deprivation.

I have had a lot of success with very low calorie eating, the main thing is straightening out those annoying peaks that can start anytime after 4am and not get back to "normal" until midday, sometimes.

The whole thing about initial weight loss is interesting, some is obviously water, some is the contents of the intestinal tract and if you hear of anyone having a high colonic they will report a loss of up to seven pounds.

All the best.
 

CherryAA

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Well done. I did a 5 last month, but had to go abroad at short notice so did not report. My findings were that blood glucose was stable at between 3.1 and 3.3. I believe once you are used to Ketosis your body accepts lower readings without hypo feelings or symptoms. I did very light workouts as previously I experienced low 2s after cardio and resistance to my usual levels. I only measured keytones once at 3 days which were 2.0. I was not that interested in blood keytones as, this is just the non-used values. After about 2.5 days this was when I had what could be described as mild hunger pangs, once this cleared hunger was non-existent. Days 3 to 5.5 were easy, really. On day 4 I sprinted on a walk as my energy was through the roof. I broke the fast at 5.5 due to not wanting to take the mick out of my body which was quite flat on the muscle side.


https://www1.libreview.com/Accounts/Login?timeout=True


I was a bit surprised that my body still did not want to go below 3.9 except very briefly, the low was 3.8 I think and it was still around 4.4 much of the time. This is the very first time I've tried it thought. I will be doing it again. I;m still generating heat like furness despite not eating much, I think I put my systems into a bit of tizz!
 

Goonergal

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I was a bit surprised that my body still did not want to go below 3.9 except very briefly, the low was 3.8 I think and it was still around 4.4 much of the time. This is the very first time I've tried it thought. I will be doing it again. I;m still generating heat like furness despite not eating much, I think I put my systems into a bit of tizz!

Interesting about the heat. I get very cold on 24 hour fasts - have you also found that, and do you attribute the heat to such an extended fast?
 

CherryAA

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Interesting about the heat. I get very cold on 24 hour fasts - have you also found that, and do you attribute the heat to such an extended fast?

The heat kicked in on day 4. of course I'm still overweight compared to your good self. Its one thing to go without food for a long time with a plentiful supply, quite another when you are as petite as you are ! I would expect that you probably already acheived all the benefits I am trying to get , given your incredible results!
 

Goonergal

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The heat kicked in on day 4. of course I'm still overweight compared to your good self. Its one thing to go without food for a long time with a plentiful supply, quite another when you are as petite as you are ! I would expect that you probably already acheived all the benefits I am trying to get , given your incredible results!

That's very kind. Definitely true that fasting is much harder these days. Still working on fat around my middle and would love to encourage my body to warm itself up - gone from the person at work always opening the windows to the one complaining it's cold!
 

CherryAA

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Interestingly I've really found it easy to not eat much since - the weight s still going back on abit which I expect is refilling my water supplies !, but I've not really had more than abut 1200 calories since and today ( day 4 post) I decided not to bother with dinner so today will be about 800 calories. Still hot though !

This is an interesting lecture on the benefits of fasting to reduce cancer risk and help cancer treatment.
I'm going to give it a week ( to eat the stuff I bought! then do it again next week.)
 

Nexus6

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Just ran across this thread with great interest. I am going to do a 5 day fast here shortly for a couple reasons....trying to break a plateau being one and not being able to get under 91kg. Also, my wife is away so being home alone will make it much, much easier without having to cook for someone else. I've done 48 hours without too much issue so looking forward to it actually.

I have family working in biomedical/MRI research and it's interesting the number of researchers he works with in cancer prevention/cure and other areas. One interesting one is using fasting/exercise combined with chemotherapy to amplify the effects and reduce symptoms.
 

Bluetit1802

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That's very kind. Definitely true that fasting is much harder these days. Still working on fat around my middle and would love to encourage my body to warm itself up - gone from the person at work always opening the windows to the one complaining it's cold!

Since losing all my excess weight 4 years ago I have been the one that feels the cold. Previously I was always hot. All that blubber was keeping me insulated. :)
 
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Indy51

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I've just passed 48 hours - not by choice though. Got some dreaded bug that had me throwing up and on the toilet for most of Sunday, spent all the time in between sleeping and feeling like death with my trusty bucket very close by. Guts finally settled by Monday morning, but the very idea of food makes me nauseous. Tuesday morning my time and still no inclination to eat, so will play it by ear. Worst bout of food poisoning (I'm assuming that's what it was as the onset was not long after eating some cold chicken) I've had in years. And ugh, that disgusting brown-green oily slick that ends up being the last possible stuff you can throw up :hungover::grumpy:
 

Bluetit1802

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I've just passed 48 hours - not by choice though. Got some dreaded bug that had me throwing up and on the toilet for most of Sunday, spent all the time in between sleeping and feeling like death with my trusty bucket very close by. Guts finally settled by Monday morning, but the very idea of food makes me nauseous. Tuesday morning my time and still no inclination to eat, so will play it by ear. Worst bout of food poisoning (I'm assuming that's what it was as the onset was not long after eating some cold chicken) I've had in years. And ugh, that disgusting brown-green oily slick that ends up being the last possible stuff you can throw up :hungover::grumpy:

You know this, but I'll say it anyway. Keep drinking. :)