I just finished a 48 hour intermittent fast (IF)

[simon43]

Here's my feedback about a 48 hour fast that I did from 7 pm on Friday evening through to 7pm on Sunday evening, (I've just finished this fast).

 

Firstly, why?

 

I had read many articles that suggested that there are a number of health benefits for doing a 48 hour fast.  I wanted to see how my body would feel during and after this fast.

 

If there is one specific reason for me in doing this fast, it was to try to shift a little residual fat from my abs.  After following a healthy diet and regular fat-burning and cardio exercises for the past 18 months, my abs are clearly visible, (not bad at 59 years old).  I knew that a 48 fast would reduce my fat levels as my body 'ate itself', and I was interested to see if that would result in any visible reduction of my abs fat (yes I know that one can't spot-reduce fat, so this was just an interesting exercise for me).

 

On Friday evening I ate my usual evening meal of fish, nuts and ginger tea. normally, my next meal would be a breakfast of muesli, yogurt, fresh fruit and white coffee (no sugar) for Saturday breakfast.

 

This time, I settled for black coffee and cucumber water...

 

Oh - prior to breakfast, at 6 am I did a fast 20 Km cycle ride around the nearby lakes in Naypyitaw. I felt good.

 

On Saturday afternoon, I did another (slower) 20 Km cycle ride.  Saturday is my rest day from gym weight-training, so no visit to the gym.

 

Throughout this fast, I drank plenty of water, drank black lemon tea and ginger tea, (so there may be the odd calorie in these flavoured teas).

 

On Saturday evening I felt hungry and almost broke my fast!  But I persevered and the hunger pangs went away.  I checked my BP and heart rate before going to bed, 120/70 and 39 bpm.I went to bed and slept my usual sleep cycle.

 

Sunday morning and another fast 20 Km bike ride before 'breakfast'.  I felt very focused and with energy during this ride which includes some long steep hills.  No weakness or dizziness.

 

After a breakfast of black coffee and water, I did some homework marking and relaxed, drinking the occasional water or black tea.  Around 2pm I did a slow 20 Km bike ride, stopping off at the shops to buy in supplies for my Sunday evening meal.  I usually weight-train on Sundays, but I decided to give this a miss, since it was my first ever lengthy fast, and weight-training can be pretty intensive.

 

At 7 pm on Sunday evening, I broke my fast with a salad that I had prepared ==> beans, red peppers, walnuts, pecan nuts, cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber, quiora, flax and pumpkin seeds, with a homemade keffir milk poured on the top.  I felt fine!

 

Would I do a 48 hour fast again?  Why not?  It certainly didn't give me any physical or mental downsides.  I can see 48 hours fasts being a regular weekend activity.

 

What about my weight loss?  My weight varies throughout the day by about 2 Kg, as I drink, eat, go to the loo etc.  My weight certainly dropped during this fast, probably overall by at least 1 - 1.5 Kg.

 

Oh, what about those abs!  My mind and eyes tell me that my abs are slightly more defined - for my age - after this fast.  But maybe I'm kidding myself ?

[tropo]

47 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Would I do a 48 hour fast again?  Why not?  It certainly didn't give me any physical or mental downsides.  I can see 48 hours fasts being a regular weekend activity.

I've never fasted as I don't believe there is any need to, but you ask yourself "why not?". Surely a better question is why. What did you gain? You can lose fat while still eating and train harder too... I can come up with a lot of reasons "why not". We need to know why you would consider this a weekend hobby.

 

Doing all that exercise during your fast seems wrong. Sure, fast if you feel there's a reason to, but why all the exercise while you're food deprived. You'll lose muscle doing that.

[simon43]

but why all the exercise while you're food deprived. You'll lose muscle doing that.

 

I'm not sure that's true, according to the articles that I read about 48 hour IFs.  As mentioned, I haven't done any weight-training at all. I've done my usual cardio-pace cycling that I do every weekend.

 

As for why? my reply is why not?  I've never fasted before and so I was interested to try this out to see how my body reacted.  So far as I can tell, everything was positive, certainly no negative feelings.

[FracturedRabbit]

8 minutes ago, tropo said:

I've never fasted as I don't believe there is any need to, but you ask yourself "why not?". Surely a better question is why. What did you gain? You can lose fat while still eating and train harder too... I can come up with a lot of reasons "why not". We need to know why you would consider this a weekend hobby.

 

Doing all that exercise during your fast seems wrong. Sure, fast if you feel there's a reason to, but why all the exercise while you're food deprived. You'll lose muscle doing that.

Opinion is that fasting is good for health. 

 

[dontoearth]

On 8/5/2018 at 8:32 AM, simon43 said:

 I knew that a 48 fast would reduce my fat levels as my body 'ate itself', and I was interested to see if that would result in any visible reduction of my abs fat (yes I know that one can't spot-reduce fat, so this was just an interesting exercise for me).

     Do give us an update at one month and two months.  The saying that you can't spot reduce fat is based on diet and exercise.  You are fasting which is much different according to all the latest medical research.  So perhaps it will indeed reduce the largest fat stores first.  Will be interesting to find out.

[simon43]

 So perhaps it will indeed reduce the largest fat stores first. 

 

Well, I don't have any large fat stores anymore ?  I plan to continue these fasts (if they are of benefit to me).  I've lost about 13 Kg over the past 18 months and my focus now is on building up my upper body muscles (which are puny due to a genetic low T level) - all males in my family have this same genetic issue).

 

I plan on visiting Maximum Clinic when I return to Bangkok in a few months to get an up-to-date baseline assessment of my T levels etc, and to possibly plan a course of treatment to help to boost my upper body muscle, (because I want to increase this mass to give me a better chance to retain that muscle in my 60's and beyond.

[meechai]

I once went 16 days

Not a total fast as I had the lemon water with cayenne & a teaspoon of maple syrup

 

Back then it was called the Master Cleanse By Stanley Burroughs

 

It was not a big deal as with any fast the truth is after day one you are not hungry at all

Yes you miss taste for sure but not hungry

 

I had also fasted 6 days a few times before with just water.

 

As for muscle loss I noticed none & on day 9 or 10? of the 16 day run I did also shovel 14 tons of 3/4" gravel at my home so it was not like I was

weak at all.

 

I don't know now in hindsight what all was gained except great mental clarity & the knowledge that we have more than we need to survive many days without eating.

 

I will say this & not to be too explicit that you do have a bowel movement every day so that makes you wonder how full of it we are

without even refilling.

 

 

[dotpoom]

I stopped eating cakes....(just in case anybody's interested)?

Edited August 8, 2018 by dotpoom

[kwak250]

Careful you don't want your brain to start eating itself.

[Mitker]

22 hours ago, meechai said:

As for muscle loss I noticed none & on day 9 or 10? of the 16 day run I did also shovel 14 tons of 3/4" gravel at my home so it was not like I was

weak at all.

are you sure about this figure?

[dickjones2018]

On 8/5/2018 at 9:25 PM, tropo said:

I've never fasted as I don't believe there is any need to, but you ask yourself "why not?". Surely a better question is why. What did you gain? You can lose fat while still eating and train harder too... I can come up with a lot of reasons "why not". We need to know why you would consider this a weekend hobby.

 

Doing all that exercise during your fast seems wrong. Sure, fast if you feel there's a reason to, but why all the exercise while you're food deprived. You'll lose muscle doing that.

 

Don't you love those people with comments about things they know nothing about like this one ?

 

Fasting can induce autophagy = your body consumes old bad working proteins in the body that can cause inflammation = repair your body

 

eat to lose weight ?  yeah .... that is debunked since a few years ago

 

people who never fasted , even they have 10 kg of fat on their body, think they will die if they would skip one meal...

 

you have 400 gram of glycogen (stored sugar) in your liver + muscles

 

each gram of glycogen is held there by 3-4 gram of water

 

so 1600 - 2000 gram of "water" weight is what you can lose quickly

 

only after this store has been depleted (exercise can help) , can you start to burn stored belly fat as energy

 

no the body is not stupid that you will burn muscles while you have kilograms of FAT ...otherwise cavemen would have died long time ago ... feast & fast ... not eat 6x per day like COWS

 

and speaking about cows...been here almost 20 years and I see more & more when I go for walks around, in shopping malls, etc... was not the case  20 years ago .... times are changing, people are eating more crap ... specially the liquid calorie bombs in the cha thai & other sugar/fructose bombs

 

but hey, free world, every does what he wants in the limits of the law

 

many people eat crap for 50 years and suddenly the MD tells them they have CANCER that oh god, they have no idea how they got it

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by dickjones2018

[Proboscis]

I would be somewhat concerned at your heart rate - brandycardia is defined at 60 beats per minute or lower and you are way low at 39. Only if you have an "athletes heart" could you be healthy and for a normal person you probably need treatment, possibly a pacemaker. if you have not been to a cardiologist, go to one, especially before trying anything like this. Also, for many people of your age, cycling 20km after being without food for 24 hours might drop their blood sugar too low and cause an accident or some physiological problem.

 

Leaving that to one side, I am not really sure why you are fasting for 48 hours given that apart from the brandycardia you otherwise appear to be fit and healthy (you can cycle 20km) and can probably burn fat highly efficiently. The people I know who get into such fasting are people who are far less mobile than you but have to shift weight often due to diabetes or some other problem and don't have the luxury of just jumping onto a bicycle. I have heard that 24 hours fast is best for losing weight because the system does not completely lock into lower metabolism mode as a 48 hour fast might and is easier to keep to.

[Jane Dough]

I got tired just reading about the OP's exercise. Time for a rest followed by a trip to Svensen's for the durian ice cream promotion. 

[connda]

If you're looking for health benefits, they start at 72 hours.  It takes 48 hours for the body to stop burning glycogen and start burning fat.  So the chance of you 'seeing' fat reduction on you abs is more likely wishful thinking.  Cutting edge research is being done at University of Southern California by Dr. Valter Longo and his team. Highlights of that research show that a 3 to 5 day fast resets the immune system among other significant health benefits. 
https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/ Additional links to fasting research and strategies that are backed by hard science can be found on Dr. Rhonda Patrick's site, Found My Fitness.
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/valter-longo-2
If you want to see results you'll need to start thinking about a 3 to 5 day water fast.  A two day fast isn't going to cut it, but it is good practice prior to going on longer fasts.  True hunger really isn't a problem during water fasts.  The real problem is craving food which is a total head-trip.  Also, if you do a 3 to 5 day water fast, you need to read up on the correct way to break the fast.  Doing so incorrectly can lead to what is jokingly referred to as 'disaster pants' and at worst can lead to a life threatening electrolyte imbalance.  As the 'experts' say: Consult your doctor.

Edited August 8, 2018 by connda

[BuaBS]

What's the big deal about fasting for 2 days ? 2 Weeks ago I ran out of food and didn't want the car to get dirty with all the rain , so I didn't eat for 64 hours , just water . No problem. Was looking at a third day without food , but the rain stopped .

[jgarbo]

On 8/5/2018 at 9:35 PM, FracturedRabbit said:

Opinion is that fasting is good for health. 

 

Fasting doesn't reduce muscle until the very end, eg 90 days. The fast first burns fat, then muscle, then more seriously, organs. I've done 20 days fasts on only pure water. No problem. Hunger disappears after ~3 days, then you feel full. The re-emerging abs is most likely loss of visceral stomach fat. Cheers.

[Seligne2]

Why do you call this an "intermittent" fast? What is intermittent about it?

[Snow Leopard]

I just finished a 72 hour fast last night. I feel great. I only had a cup of bone broth with Apple Cider vinegar mixed in 3 times a day along with water. The first 24 hrs for me is the hardest.

 

I will repeat this 2 more times. 

 

I have done this before in the past and i exercise. I need to shed a few KG after the summer holidays. Been lazy.

[Snow Leopard]

43 minutes ago, BuaBS said:

What's the big deal about fasting for 2 days ? 2 Weeks ago I ran out of food and didn't want the car to get dirty with all the rain , so I didn't eat for 64 hours , just water . No problem. Was looking at a third day without food , but the rain stopped .

Mate your obviously living alone then. There is no way a Thai woman could go that long without food. 8 hours tops!!!

[FracturedRabbit]

1 hour ago, Snow Leopard said:

Mate your obviously living alone then. There is no way a Thai woman could go that long without food. 8 hours tops!!!

My (Thai) wife fasts 18 hours a day most days.

[gusincebu]

I just finished a 72 hour fast last night. I feel great. I only had a cup of bone broth with Apple Cider vinegar mixed in 3 times a day along with water. The first 24 hrs for me is the hardest.
 
I will repeat this 2 more times. 
 
I have done this before in the past and i exercise. I need to shed a few KG after the summer holidays. Been lazy.

Are you in thailand ... where do you get the bone broth ?
We get it brought from Oz , but would like a local source .

Sent from my SM-T535 using Tapatalk

[tropo]

On 8/5/2018 at 9:34 PM, simon43 said:

I'm not sure that's true, according to the articles that I read about 48 hour IFs.  As mentioned, I haven't done any weight-training at all. I've done my usual cardio-pace cycling that I do every weekend.

 

As for why? my reply is why not?  I've never fasted before and so I was interested to try this out to see how my body reacted.  So far as I can tell, everything was positive, certainly no negative feelings.

2

I understand you decided to give it a go. I got that part. Why exactly is still a mystery, but my question "why" was about doing it every weekend as you proposed in your OP. When you're doing something highly irregular (i.e. no eating for 2 days when you have ample food supply), surely the why is far more important than the why not.

 

The fact that you managed to get through it OK is hardly an endorsement. I'm sure I could do it too if I needed to, but WHY would someone want to voluntarily deprive themselves of food for 2 days?

 

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by tropo

[tropo]

On 8/5/2018 at 9:35 PM, FracturedRabbit said:

Opinion is that fasting is good for health.

 

 

I understand there are all sorts of opinions about most things.

 

Here's my opinion. Fasting will not kill you, but it won't benefit you either. It certainly won't benefit a hard-working athlete.

[Snow Leopard]

1 hour ago, FracturedRabbit said:

My (Thai) wife fasts 18 hours a day most days.

So does mine. It was a wee joke thats all.

[tropo]

4 hours ago, dickjones2018 said:

 

Don't you love those people with comments about things they know nothing about like this one ?

 

 

1

Saying someone else knows nothing doesn't validate your own bs.

[FracturedRabbit]

17 minutes ago, tropo said:

I understand you decided to give it a go. I got that part. Why exactly is still a mystery, but my question "why" was about doing it every weekend as you proposed in your OP. When you're doing something highly irregular (i.e. no eating for 2 days when you have ample food supply), surely the why is far more important than the why not.

 

The fact that you managed to get through it OK is hardly an endorsement. I'm sure I could do it too if I needed to, but WHY would someone want to voluntarily deprive themselves of food for 2 days?

 

 

I thought the video provides some answers to the "why"? If not, there are endless articles and videos out there which suggest fasting is good for you. Personally, I also do it because I feel good while fasting, it's a relaxed and "light" feeling.

[simon43]

Quote

 

The re-emerging abs is most likely loss of visceral stomach fat
 

 

 

For me, it seems to be due to a combination of losing the fat layer and also increasing the abs muscle size.  I don't have much visceral stomach fat anyway, and my abs work-out programme is giving a clearer definition between the muscles.

 

My 48 hour fast dropped my weight by about 1.5 Kg, which of course is dropping fat from many areas of my body, not just the abs region.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by simon43

[wgdanson]

On 8/5/2018 at 8:32 PM, simon43 said:

 I can see 48 hours fasts being a regular weekend activity.

What, with the Premiership starting again. No way. The only fast I shall have is the speed I down my Singhas !

[tropo]

22 minutes ago, FracturedRabbit said:

I thought the video provides some answers to the "why"? If not, there are endless articles and videos out there which suggest fasting is good for you. Personally, I also do it because I feel good while fasting, it's a relaxed and "light" feeling.

I'm sorry, but I'm not watching videos. I understand there are countless opinions all over the internet about the benefits of fasting, but it's all opinion and very subjective. Most people are suggesting "why not fast", rather than giving some scientific reasons why one should. And even if you can provide some scientific evidence to suggest fasting has some benefits, is 48 hours better than 36 hours or 24 hours or 12 hours (for example). Let's get scientific about this. Have you recent scientific studies to show? 

[FracturedRabbit]

1 minute ago, tropo said:

I'm sorry, but I'm not watching videos. I understand there are countless opinions all over the internet about the benefits of fasting, but it's all opinion and very subjective. Most people are suggesting "why not fast", rather than giving some scientific reasons why one should. And even if you can provide some scientific evidence to suggest fasting has some benefits, is 48 hours better than 36 hours or 24 hours or 12 hours (for example). Let's get scientific about this. Have you recent scientific studies to show? 

The video you refuse to watch references a number of sources, e.g.: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/

Also a Harvard study : https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/11/intermittent-fasting-may-be-center-of-increasing-lifespan/