Intermittent fasting alongside LCHF. Mutual support, anyone?

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday, so my sister and I took her out for lunch. A pub, with carbs everywhere! But I had a mixed grill, swapped the chips for salad, gave my onion rings to my mother and ignored the peas. It was delicious, and barely caused a blip in my BG. Evening meal was a big-ass salad, which I constructed myself, with a baked cheese thing which was pretty low carb, followed by berries and cream.

And now I’m fasting again, because today is when I’m travelling home. It’s a 2- hour drive, so I leave late morning and arrive early afternoon, having lunch at neither end, which is simple and inconveniences no-one.

I’m now 7 days post when I should have had a Trulicity dose, my 7-day average BG has gone up by 0.4 points to 7.1. When the equivalent happened in February, it was a full point in the first week. I am taking this as a hopeful sign. I will check with the pharmacy again when I get home, but won’t be too bothered if they say they can’t get it. I reckon my average BG will only continue to rise for another week or so before turning the corner and heading down again.

I’m going to have the conversation with my husband this evening about intensifying my fasting. I’m thinking of two 24-hours (skip lunch) on Monday and Friday and a 38-42 hour (zero food) on Wednesdays. All it will mean is that he’ll have to get his own lunch a couple of extra days (as I’m usually out on Wednesdays anyway) and sort his own evening meal on a Wednesday. That’s just a minor adjustment when we do the shopping, to make sure he’s got something in he can slam in the microwave.

The rest of the week, it will be my lovely - well, mostly tolerable - meals made from real food. Low carb for me, extra carbs for him, because he is yet to be converted to the benefits of LCHF.

@TheSecretCarbAddict - how good that your GP practice has that support group! Very enlightened - and I suspect, sadly not common. My eldest sister, who was diagnosed T2D 18 months ago was recommended IF by her GP. Yet to try it, though. My second sister - the one who is here - was recently diagnosed with fatty liver. She’s waiting for follow up with the GP, but based on her own investigations has started eating something called Green Mediterranean. Also interested in fasting, but so far that seems to be mainly no snacking and not having milk in drinks between meals. All these variations - but as long as we all find something which improves our own health and that we can do, it’s all good.

Minor update: I’: going to do the 38-42 hour fast on Mondays, as we have choir in the evening and then do the (food) shopping - and keeping busy will distract me from the fact of not eating in those last few hours before going to bed. Then 24 hour fasts on Wednesday and Friday. I’m undecided whether to finish the longer fast with breakfast or lunch, as I generally now don’t eat breakfast anyway. I’ll see how I feel.

in terms of meals per day, my week will look like this:
Monday: 0
Tuesday: 2 or 3
Wednesday:1
Thursday: 2
Friday: 1
Sat/Sun: 2

Another way of looking at it is:

Skip breakfast every day, with the possible exception of Tuesday
Skip lunch Mon, Wed, Fri
Skip tea on Monday.

And no snacking!

Ooh, Blimey - yet more things to add to my must watch/read list!

Best part of 30 years ago, I discovered that I met the diagnostic criteria for binge eating disorder, and have done since childhood. I would say at the moment is that I am in remission from binge eating. There is no doubt that avoiding sugar and other processed carbs makes staying in remission from that a heck of a lot easier.

Approaching 18 hours into my planned 41-hour fast. Nearly half way!

Another way to look at it is that what I’ve done up to this point (skip breakfast, no evening snack, no milk in tea/coffee) is just normal for me now. And in fact, from now up until evening meal time is not novel, I’ve been doing that once or twice a week for the last few weeks.

Anyhow - I’m feeling good, and not planning on eating for another 23 hours

AloeSvea said:

Just a note from me as longterm LCHFer and IFer - I don't go food shopping, or cook for myself or others when fasting - too hard! (I write this in case there is anyone reading this thread who is considering fasting as an ongoing treatment option for their T2D.)

And - we are all addicted to food. Have serious withdrawals and cravings when deprived. We literally die without it. I will always pop in and say this!

I personally use the word 'Addiction' in reference to sugar. In the age of Ultra Processed Food - it's that additive that is in nearly everything and can be cited as the cause of serious health problems.

And here we are with T2D to spread the word.

Click to expand...

Just spotted this.

I definitely won’t be cooking when fasting. The shopping is another matter…. Monday feels like a good day to do the full day fast because choir will keep me occupied for the evening. And it’s convenient for us to shop after choir because we’re already in the city. We live in a small rural town some miles away, and there’s more choice in the big smoke. It’s also quiet after 9pm, so shopping is quicker.

I’m aware it’s not ideal to food shop when fasting. To mitigate the risks, I have made a detailed shopping list and will not deviate from it.

But if it proves too hard, that’s a lesson learned. There’s always another day when you can fast.

Just popping in to say - the shopping was fine, I followed my list and got it done. Got home, just having a cup of hot water with lemon juice before bed. And that will be my first full day’s fast done and dusted.

I noticed a funny taste in my mouth part way through the evening (after about 25 hours), which I presume is keto breath. Will that persist, do you know?

Looking forward to going through till lunch tomorrow. Will go swimming first thing, then we have a coffee morning - so not much time in which I might be tempted to eat. I will continue taking pinches of salt through the morning. Then break my fast with a lovely yummy salad.

Just wanted to share, @TheSecretCarbAddict, that OMAD (1 meal a day) is not recommended for every day unless you are in maintenance mode - you should alternate it with days when you eat two or more meals a day. Part of the power of fasting comes from switching things up, so that your body doesn’t get used to what you’re doing and adapt. That’s my way of understanding what I’ve read and listened to various times, anyway!

Stopping gliclazide certainly is a big achievement, well done! And giving up the fizzy drinks is as well. The podcast I listened to in the gym was explaining how artificial sweeteners still cause an insulin response, even though they don’t raise blood glucose. The sweet taste tells out body that there is sugar incoming, so it reacts in preparation. We want to limit the amount of insulin we produce. Or more accurately - we want to reduce the number of times per day we release insulin at more than background level.

As regards your fasting schedule - comparisons are odious, don’t do it to yourself. We are all starting from different places and our journeys are not identical. You are moving forward in yours, and that’s great.

I went swimming this morning, lost track, and did 2 more lengths than I intended - 37 hours into my fast. I feel great! I feel like I could keep going longer, but I won’t - I will break my fast at lunchtime as planned. For two reasons:- one is that I told the other half that was what I was doing, and he has already expressed some concern about what I’m doing. And the other is to keep longer fasts as extra firepower, should I need it in future. For now, my protocol is 2x24 plus 1x40 per week, 18/6 or 16/8 the other days. I’ll give it a few weeks, then re-evaluate.

It is definitely mental - my subconscious tried to tell me it was too hard for me, and when I realised (while preparing my lunch) that tomorrow is due to be a one-meal day, I momentarily felt that would be too hard. But it won’t. I am stepping my fasting days up from one or two to three per week, so there are obviously fewer eating days in between. And that’s why it’s going to bear down on my blood glucose to compensate for the Trulicity leaving my system. It will probably also accelerate my weight loss, and you won’t hear me complaining about that.

At the same time, I am not averse to the idea that, in a couple of months, say, I will put my weight loss on hold for a while. I have a few days away with family in July, then a week’s holiday in August. There’s no reason I couldn’t relax my fasting regime for a few weeks. I can still do mostly low carb, and I can still skip breakfast on the in between days, and perhaps do a 24-hour once a week. And then when the holidays are over, go back on the stricter version of my plan. That’s what I love about fasting - it is so flexible.

My main source of information about fasting is called The Fasting Method. There’s a website with loads of free info and membership/coaching options you can buy (I haven’t). One of the founders is Dr Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist. He has loads of videos on YouTube about fasting as it pertains to obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, PCOS etc.

They also have a podcast which has been running over two years ago, which I have only just discovered. So I am listening to the back catalogue. The one I listened to today - episode #25, 3rd May 2022 - had a question about OMAD and how/why it won’t work for weight loss for many people. Worth a listen. Available where you get your podcasts :-;