First 72-hour fasting successful, but something went bad after breaking it

D@n1el

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Prediabetes
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Hi,

I have prediabetes, I am a lean person (BMI = 18,72), and I've been on low carb/carnivore diets and different (progressively longer) fasting protocols for about 4 months. After a couple of fantastic weeks in which I would have morning BG = 75 mg/dL (no medication, only diet and exercise), things changed. I have returned to prediabetes levels on the second week of last March, and I am yet to understand why (there is a thread in which I write about that, I do not mean to double it here, I just thought I needed to start from somewhere).

Therefore, I have decided to push it further. I have got into 36-hour fasts, 3 times a week. Then 42h, then 48h. My appetite got crazy, I've started to experience huge carb cravings for the first time since I was into fasting/low carb, and at least a couple of times I would cancel fasting in the middle to eat things I would spent the whole day thinking about, like organic peanut butter (no sugars added) or tahini.

After 3 days of low carb rest (first time in months I would eat 150g of carb a day), which I do regret, as obviously it did not help my BG (higher each day), I have tried 72-hour fasting for the first time ever. Just finished it about 12 hours ago. It was nice and smooth, I would dare to say easier and nicer than 48h, and BG was 88 mg/dL. It was mainly water only fasting, I did drink a lot of coffee and at least once a day I would drink a mix of salt (sodium), potassium chloride, organic apple cider vinegar and water, which helped me a lot, I guess.

I was enthusiastically planning to do it again this week. Now, I do not know, because something went bad after breaking the fasting. I broke it with a huge meal, 90g of protein, 250g of fat, 12g of net carb, over 2500 calories. I am used to eating OMAD and I have broken many 24-hour fasts that way. Well, but this time, 5 hours after that meal, I was suffering in the bathroom, experiencing a mix of diarrhea with normal stool at the same time (sorry to write about that, really!). About 6 hours later, maybe because that situation made me feel hungry again, I have had to eat an additional small meal. Not 10 minutes after that one, I was back in the bathroom, same situation. Even now, I can still notice that my belly is bigger than it usually is, and I'd guess there's a lot of water still in it.

I know that many members here have a huge experience on IF. Would you have a clue about what might have happened? Now it seems too obvious that I should not have ended a longer fasting like that. But I do wonder if there was some other obvious mistake.
 
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Mbaker

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It is dangerous to break a longer fast with alot of calories. Something like a small serving of scrambled eggs or smoked Salmon is the way to go.

Try and stick to one protocol and make small adjustments to tweak what you are doing.
 

Dr Snoddy

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It sounds as though your overly-zealous approach to fasting is creating imbalances within your body hence the responses that you are seeing i.e. voluntary starvation followed by huge hunger and food intakes which your body is then unable to cope with. As you already have a low BMI further weight loss is not desirable. You will lose active muscle tissue.
You do not mention exercise here. Would it be possible to consume food at regular intervals and increase /vary your exercise regime. This would allow your body's responses to normalize. It is hardly surprising for example that you had diarrhoea after eating 250g fat in one meal or that you craved food after a long fast.
 
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Brunneria

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Indy51

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You need to see your doctor. You may not be prediabetic. You might have slow onset Type 1.5 LADA. You need to get your c-peptide and GAD antibodies. You cannot keep trying to starve this into submission when you're already lean. Dr Fung would be horrified, I believe.
 
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Dr Snoddy

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Also, given the current global pandemic, do you want to continue to stress your immune system?
 
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D@n1el

Active Member
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Prediabetes
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Thank you so much for all the replies (all without exception very helpful)!


I would like to add (I believe this info was missing) I do exercise, with resistance training and jogging 3 times a week. Things were never as good as when I fasted 23:1 and exercised in the morning during the very last hours of fast. When I was doing that, during 2 weeks I'd get morning BG as low as 75 mg/dL. Then a small cold came, my appetite went up, my BG started to rise again, I've started to try more aggressive IFs and it was never the same, now nearly a month after the cold is gone (at least its symptoms are).


So March started with the best BG ever and it ended with my levels getting back to the start (= 4 months ago), but I am 7 kg leaner, I have less weight to lose. In my head, the only way out of this was trying harder.


Some of Dr. Fung's points of view have been on my mind lately, particularly that one Indy51 mentions: people with low BMI should stay away from IF. I believe he mentions that at least on 2 books I read: Diabetes Code and Complete Guide to Fasting. A few days ago, I've visit a url in which he puts is slightly different, he says "I don’t recommend that anybody fast longer than 24 hours if they have a BMI< 20."


Hence, maybe I could keep at least the 24-hour IF? Maybe I've made a crucial mistake, thinking that whatever made my BG higher after finally being optimal (all during last month) would disappear with more aggressive fasts.


But then I would like also to mention Dr Snoddy: "Also, given the current global pandemic, do you want to continue to stress your immune system?". No way (and thanks!)! I was very worried during the last 12 hours, thinking about having to go to a hospital. I'd probably be better off if for a while I don't try anything that is too much. Thanks again.


Anyway, things are confusing sometimes. While Fung is worried about BMI and focus on carbs, Roy Taylor relativizes BMI a bit and focus on calories (just read his incredible new book, "Life Without Diabetes: The Definitive Guide to Understanding and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes"). From what I read, to Mr. Taylor everyone has its optimal weight, and sometimes it might be below the usual parameters of BMI. That's another problem I see: sometimes diabetes books seem a little tautological to me: if you have T2 you have fat liver/pancreas, period, and if you have T2, no matter if your weight equals a mosquito, you're fat inside, period. I also find another problem, I'm yet to read a diabetes book that gives a little more attention to lean diabetes, at least more than footnotes here and there.


About LADA (thanks Indy51), it's a great possibility. Wonder if I can sort it out a little later this year (maybe when the pandemic starts to fall?), I am a little afraid to go to labs and hospitals. Anyway, just by speculation, the fact I'm 45 is not a little on the too late side for LADA (though still possible)? I do have normal but somewhat low fasting insulin (last year exams read 4.2 mU/L and stated 3 mU/L to 25 mU/L as normal range). Also, my mother (and all his side of the family) and my brothers all have T2, wouldn't this raise the chances I'm not LADA but T2, too? They’re all overweight, I am not, but that's because I do not eat like they do (when I did, I was overweight). But before low carb, I ate bad (the worst food possible, but in lower quantities). Again, just speculation, I will eventually get my c-peptide and GAD antibodies!