BG not falling during 48Hr fast

[J_P]

Morning - quick question for those with more experience than me.

I try to do 48 hour fast once a month - currently about 37 hours in to Octobers

Before the fast my BG (finger prick) was 6 (sunday 8pm)

Yesterday it fell slowly throughout the day as the fast progressed bottoming out at 5.2 yesterday at 8 pm (24 hours in)

This morning's fasting glucose was 6.5 (not to worried as its the inevitable liver dump) - however it doesnt appear to have fallen - sitting now 2 hours later at 6.4.....

Any thoughts or potential explanations ?

 

[ianf0ster]

What are your expectations?
Firstly the error allowance on B meters is +- 15% so you can only rely on approximate values and trends.
Secondly you can't control your liver dumps exercise, or just moving around, lack of sleep, stress, infection, illness, medication, in all around 40 different things can affect them.

I only do fasts over 24hr when I need to for a colonoscopy, normally I eat 1 or 2 meals per day (Time Restricted Eating). But when I do the nurses always seem to panic when I say I'm a Type 2 diabetic and say I have fasted for over 48hrs. They are OK once they see my BG reading which are always in the high 5's.

I'm aware that some people in the forum post much lower FBG figures, but we are all different, so perhaps 5.2 is about as low as your liver will allow you to go - there is nothing wrong with that!

 

[J_P]

What are your expectations?
Firstly the error allowance on B meters is +- 15% so you can only rely on approximate values and trends.
Secondly you can't control your liver dumps exercise, or just moving around, lack of sleep, stress, infection, illness, medication, in all around 40 different things can affect them.

I only do fasts over 24hr when I need to for a colonoscopy, normally I eat 1 or 2 meals per day (Time Restricted Eating). But when I do the nurses always seem to panic when I say I'm a Type 2 diabetic and say I have fasted for over 48hrs. They are OK once they see my BG reading which are always in the high 5's.

I'm aware that some people in the forum post much lower FBG figures, but we are all different, so perhaps 5.2 is about as low as your liver will allow you to go - there is nothing wrong with that!

i suppose i was expecting a gradual decline to around the 5 mark - was just curious to why today it has stayed up post the usual liver dump

Thanks for the perspective on accuracy of the B meter

 

[Paul_]

i suppose i was expecting a gradual decline to around the 5 mark - was just curious to why today it has stayed up post the usual liver dump

Thanks for the perspective on accuracy of the B meter

I have limited experience of longer fasts, I tried them and they're not for me, even with the reduced appetite from keto. However, 16:8 works very well for me with 2MAD.

For the 4 or 5 attempts I had with longer fasting of 24 hours, my average BG across all readings that day was higher than on days where I eat 2 or 3 low carb meals. I put this down to my liver likely panicking and dumping glucose, because it interpreted an empty stomach as "imminent death from starvation could happen". When I eat low carb meals, I'd hypothesise that my liver doesn't do this, so it seems to play less of a role in factors affecting BG readings during the day.

 

[J_P]

I have limited experience of longer fasts, I tried them and they're not for me, even with the reduced appetite from keto. However, 16:8 works very well for me with 2MAD.

For the 4 or 5 attempts I had with longer fasting of 24 hours, my average BG across all readings that day was higher than on days where I eat 2 or 3 low carb meals. I put this down to my liver likely panicking and dumping glucose, because it interpreted an empty stomach as "imminent death from starvation could happen". When I eat low carb meals, I'd hypothesise that my liver doesn't do this, so it seems to play less of a role in factors affecting BG readings during the day.

Paul - i reckon you are on the money - liver feels i am going to starve (not much chance) and is dumping as much glucose as possible - however i do think that in the absence of food this glucose has got to come from visceral fat stores - maybe a higher BG reading is therefore not a bad thing

 

[mansingh01]

Morning - quick question for those with more experience than me.

I try to do 48 hour fast once a month - currently about 37 hours in to Octobers

Before the fast my BG (finger prick) was 6 (sunday 8pm)

Yesterday it fell slowly throughout the day as the fast progressed bottoming out at 5.2 yesterday at 8 pm (24 hours in)

This morning's fasting glucose was 6.5 (not to worried as its the inevitable liver dump) - however it doesnt appear to have fallen - sitting now 2 hours later at 6.4.....

Any thoughts or potential explanations ?

I do 16 hr fast everyday. 1st meal at 12 low carb and last meal at 7:00m low carb. Exercise 20 minute

 

[winter2342343]

Just a question on this, if the liver dump is happening is it better to let it do that and go with it until such time as there is less glucose to put in the bloodstream? I'm low carbing doing a 16:8 fast so really just two meals per day (as of Saturday I've started doing this properly so not even a week yet ). My blood glucose rises in the morning and then levels out a bit, gradually going lower especially after I've been out for a walk in the evening. (I'm using a CGM) I know about the dawn phenomenon but I saw a video on youtube where the lady was saying keep going with it, it can be days for some people, weeks or months.

 

[KennyA]

Just a question on this, if the liver dump is happening is it better to let it do that and go with it until such time as there is less glucose to put in the bloodstream? I'm low carbing doing a 16:8 fast so really just two meals per day (as of Saturday I've started doing this properly so not even a week yet ). My blood glucose rises in the morning and then levels out a bit, gradually going lower especially after I've been out for a walk in the evening. (I'm using a CGM) I know about the dawn phenomenon but I saw a video on youtube where the lady was saying keep going with it, it can be days for some people, weeks or months.

There's not really a great deal you can do directly about what your liver gets up to. I've found that three almonds will reassure it that I have some food and it will stop topping me up in the morning. Otherwise it will go on increasing until at least 3pm (which is where I got bored and stopped testing).

My fasting morning level is still the highest I'll usually see all day - mid to top end 5s. This is after nearly five years on 20g/day. It drops steadily through the day into the evening depending on what I do, and what's going on. It's usually 4 something before the evening meal, and will go up a bit after eating maybe to mid 5s, depending on what I've eaten.

You hold round about an estimated days' worth of energy in muscle and liver stores. These obviously can get run down, and will be topped up when spare glucose is available. Those of us who aim to be in ketosis most of the time are using mainly ketones from metabolised bodyfat for energy.

 

[Lamont D]

My usual dietary regime is intermittent fasting.
And I only eat between mid afternoon and 7pm(ish)
But I do occasionally do longer fasting.
Mainly to return to ketosis or because I can.
I learned so much from my first, which was eighty (ish) hours long.
I like the energy levels, no hunger and I feel regenerated.

My first was a test to see if I go hypoglycaemic if I don't eat.
I didn't.
I was relieved because going hypo whilst fasting could be a pancreatic condition.
Or other conditions.

I lost a lot of weight after my first fasting, doing very low carb and keto.
It also helped my health.

Some can't fast for many reasons, but it is a tool used in a treatment of metabolic conditions.