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Combining fasting and low carb

  • Thread starter Thread starter badcat
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badcat

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ive been following a low carb diet for the last 6 or 7 years and have tried 5:2 alongside it at times but with not very encouraging weight loss after the initial 2 month loss of a stone or so
Im stuck at home with a torn ligament at the moment so out of a combination of scientific curiosity and boredom have recently decided to go the whole hog and see what happens with more intensive fasting - started 10 days ago and hope others might find the effects interesting
I initially fasted for just over 48 hrs and since then have been mixing alternating 24 and 18 hr fasts combined with v low carb when I do eat.
I have not taken any diabetes meds since day 2 and am happy that my BMs have hovered between 5.5 and 8.2. Ive also lost half a stone in weight. The only issue at the moment is blood pressure - Im on a lowish dose of ACE inhibitors which they had to reduce when I went low carb - since starting combining fasting and low carb Ive felt momentarily dizzy a couple of times and so took my bp when it happened today - 123/60 so bordering on low - Ill need to keep an eye on that and get docs to change / eliminate doseage if it continues to fall ( not sure what it was when i started but 24 hr bp monitoring results of 121/57 where what made them drop meds last time)
 
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Are you taking in some extra salt and drinking enough? This can sometimes cause a bit of giddyness because you're not eating processed foods then salt intake can be quite dramatically reduced when low carbing so some extra could be necessary. I wouldn't be taking BP medication either if experiencing low BP but that's just me.
 
bulkbiker said:
Are you taking in some extra salt and drinking enough? This can sometimes cause a bit of giddyness because you're not eating processed foods then salt intake can be quite dramatically reduced when low carbing so some extra could be necessary. I wouldn't be taking BP medication either if experiencing low BP but that's just me.
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Good point - I guess also poss dehydration in this hot weather - time to defrost some bone broth methinks
Prob with the bp meds is that apparently with ace inhibitors you can get a strong bounce back to high bp if you stop them suddenly tho if the diastolic bp goes much lower i might just take the risk and monitor what happens before getting gp appointment
 
badcat said:
Good point - I guess also poss dehydration in this hot weather - time to defrost some bone broth methinks
Prob with the bp meds is that apparently with ace inhibitors you can get a strong bounce back to high bp if you stop them suddenly tho if the diastolic bp goes much lower i might just take the risk and monitor what happens before getting gp appointment
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Just consulted my good friend google and found out i can safely cut my B.P. tablets in half, so thats what ill be doing from tommorow combined with monitoring the effects
 
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Well the experiment continues - 12 days now ( initial 2 day ish fast followed by alternating between 1 & 2 meals a day)
Taking half dose of bp meds - no more dizziness but readings still low ( between 98/57 and 139/61, average 115/60)
Not taken Gliclazide for 10 days, Blood sugars are slightly high ( between 5.6 & 8.7) but i think thats ok in the short term
Lost 8 pounds
For the first time since following VLC have finally got to a level of ketosis above 0.4 - my blood ketone meter is now showing between 1.9 and 3 which as I understand it is in the optimal range for nutritional ketosis
Think ill continue the experiment which I m finding faily easy ( I suspect being retired makes it easier than if I was still working tho)
Wrt blood pressure, the bp meds apparently stay in yr body for about 3 days & if you come off them cold turkey then theres a risk you can get bounce back high bp. The advice seems to be to come off them by gradually reducing the dose - think ill keep on halved tablets for a week or so then stop but keep monitoring. May or may not talk to gp depending on readings
 
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