How do I Fast?

Many individuals choose to fast as a means of weight reduction, and many also FAST for Religious Reasons or for a Fasting Blood test. Even those with a religious faith are often made exempt if they have diabetes of what-ever-variety.
Our bodies are best suited, particularly if we are diabetic, to deal with a steady glucose stream within the blood over a 24 hour period and starving the body of energy and nutrients is generally not advisable for someone let alone someone who is diabetic.
I'm assuming that your are thinking of Fasting as a means of weight control, but being on Metformin will not help as it takes time to become effective within the digestive tract and works best if the individual eats regularly. If you are trying to loose weight then from a personal point of view I can recommend the LCHF dietary approach. It might at first seem contradictory, eating fat and reducing carbs, but it definitely works as many here on this site can testify to.
It may take a few weeks before it kicks in and becomes effective but once the weight has come off it generally remains that way and the individual doesn't need to feel hungry or starve to achieve this as long as they .keep on the LCHF diet.
Many diabetics on the LCHF diet (both Type 1 and Type 2) find that their Blood/Glucose is easier to control and often their diabetic medications can be reduced as an additional bonus.

If you're considering fasting for weight loss it is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself because fasting slows down your metabolism which means you're triggering your body to preserve energy and it will use your fat to keep you going. That in itself is bad because it produces ketones in your urine. If you're hospitalised and they find high ketones in your urine as a diabetic they force you to eat to prevent ketoacidosis which is extremely serious (this can happen for any diabetic on meds or insulin, aka: DKA) It's really bad for your system basically. To lose weight you need to keep your metabolism firing and not slow it down. So it could be that you just need to review your fat & carb intake and see if that needs adjusting to help you lose the weight. But if you're fasting for a test or surgery then you would follow the advice of your endocrinologist or the relevant doc. For me I'm usually told to halve my basal dosage the night before.

Thanks for your prompt reply. As you say, loosing weight isn't that easy, especially when it seems to level out at a plateau. It's often a matter of perseverance until that problem is finally overcome. Playing Golf is most beneficial as is all walking as it helps tone up the muscles and hence improve insulin sensitivity. As you rightly say, it's a marathon and not a short walk, but you've obviously done well so far. It frequently takes time to change the human body as it has probably got itself used to the way it was over many years, but from what I can see in your posting your determined to finally get there. Steady exercise is most beneficial with the LCHF diet.
Well done so far

Mep said:

If you're considering fasting for weight loss it is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself because fasting slows down your metabolism which means you're triggering your body to preserve energy and it will use your fat to keep you going. That in itself is bad because it produces ketones in your urine. If you're hospitalised and they find high ketones in your urine as a diabetic they force you to eat to prevent ketoacidosis which is extremely serious (this can happen for any diabetic on meds or insulin, aka: DKA) It's really bad for your system basically. To lose weight you need to keep your metabolism firing and not slow it down. So it could be that you just need to review your fat & carb intake and see if that needs adjusting to help you lose the weight. But if you're fasting for a test or surgery then you would follow the advice of your endocrinologist or the relevant doc. For me I'm usually told to halve my basal dosage the night before.

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On the contrary, intermittent fasting stimulates the metabolism and affects the body in a completely different way from constant low calorie diets. See this for more detailed info: https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/caloric-reduction-vs-fasting-part-9/

People who have a lot of excess fat, like myself, need to burn it off to get slimmer. The best way of doing it is to go on a LCHF diet, and/or Intermittent Fasting (disclaimer: unless you're on insulin, in which case you can still try both but under medical supervision). Ketones from burning fat are not dangerous, as long as your blood glucose is low. This type of ketosis is not the same as ketoacidosis, which happens when blood glucose is uncontrollably high and cannot be utilised by the body so it starts to break down the healthy tissues.

Now, @KimG , I believe you have to find the answers to your questions yourself. I personally don't feel great fasting 2 days in a row, whilst other people enjoy that. Some people eat up to 500 calories per day on a fasting day, others not at all. A third option is to skip one meal, eg. breakfast, and have a normal lunch and dinner. I recommend you check out more of the blog I quoted above, and read M. Mosley's Fast Diet. Good luck!

They do say you reach a plateau when the body feels it is the right weight

Why not try 2 shakes a day then a small meal in the evening? Or have a look at Michael Mosely's 5:2 website.
Fasting is good, that's why bariatric surgery works.

I fast for religious reasons once a year. I consume nothing not even water but I do check my sugar levels constantly through out and as soon as there is a major fall in my glucose I have glucotose at hand with a sandwich. But I haven't had to in the years that I have been fasting. Much of my low sugar levels tend to be when I am working rather than when I am fasting I do no physical exertion on that day

Larissima said:

People who have a lot of excess fat, like myself, need to burn it off to get slimmer. The best way of doing it is to go on a LCHF diet, and/or Intermittent Fasting (disclaimer: unless you're on insulin, in which case you can still try both but under medical supervision). Ketones from burning fat are not dangerous, as long as your blood glucose is low. This type of ketosis is not the same as ketoacidosis, which happens when blood glucose is uncontrollably high and cannot be utilised by the body so it starts to break down the healthy tissues.

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In addition to what @Larissima has posted: it is when there's a serious lack of insulin in combination with very high glucose levels that ketoacidosis occurs. So it's a potential danger to anyone who needs to inject insulin - type 1s and some type 2s - but for type 2s on diet and/or oral medication it's not usually likely to be an issue as we should have enough insulin for our bodies to control things.

I believe that, in ketosis your body will first burn any glucose and fat obtained from food you've recently eaten as this is easiest for it to process, and only when this has been used up will you start burning your stores of body fat. So on LCHF if you eat sufficient fats for your energy needs, you're not needing to start on your body's fat reserves. I've been on my LCHF diet for nearly two years, and mainly in ketosis for most of this time and my weight has been more or less stalled for about 18 months. I can go in and out of ketosis depending on what fuel's available to use at the time. But in general I'm apparently eating enough that I don't need to access my body fat. I've not actually been too fussed over losing more weight though, as my HbA1c results over this time have been within the 40-43 range and my glucose levels are usually pretty stable.

I think Kim, you could try a bit of fasting, or review and probably reduce you fat intake a little. Have a look at this or check Google for other low carb/keto nutritional calculators - some of these others can be a bit complicated!

A bit of a fast can clear your body of excess glucose, and is probably a good way to start raiding your body's fatty larder. It certainly reduces my glucose levels and keeps them super steady, but I've not yet reached a point where I've actually lost weight.

Robbity

Hi Kim

Please go and watch Jason Fung on you tube. He advocates fasting for 18 hours a day - stop eating at dinner then don't eat again til lunch. I have a coffee in morning to keep me going til lunch and it's been super easy....x

Debmcgee said:

Hi Kim

Please go and watch Jason Fung on you tube. He advocates fasting for 18 hours a day - stop eating at dinner then don't eat again til lunch. I have a coffee in morning to keep me going til lunch and it's been super easy....x

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Interesting way of describing skipping breakfast.
Healthy eating advice usually stresses making breakfast the big meal of the day.
Perhaps doing it the other way would work - eat breakfast and lunch and skip the evening meal?

LittleGreyCat said:

Interesting way of describing skipping breakfast.
Healthy eating advice usually stresses making breakfast the big meal of the day.
Perhaps doing it the other way would work - eat breakfast and lunch and skip the evening meal?

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I've been reading research and posts on here long enough to question any advice we are given from the so called experts. It's a myth that you need breakfast just like eating low fat is healthy....x