adefwebserver's Journal, 09 June 2018

@Lalanaima - If I take in a lot of carbs through my liquids, or consume a lot of artificial sweeteners it causes my insulin to rise and I do not lose weight. 

What liquids do you take in while fasting, please? 

@seasirenyoga - I thought the same thing until I tried it :) 

@cjodyssey - In the past my 'liquids' would consist of Starbucks white chocolate mochas (with extra whip cream). I STILL got weight loss because my carbs were still below 100. However, it was slowed and I was never in ketosis (and the benefits it provides). I then read: "The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting" - https://amzn.to/2LV5yci and Dr. Fung only allows water, coffee, and home made (must be home made) beef or chicken broth. So that is all I am drinking now. The key is my insulin. I also use a glucose monitor about twice a day. When my glucose is high (this means my body is producing insulin and I now believe insulin is what makes my body fat) my weight loss is slowed.  

Does your blood sugar spike when you haven't eaten or drunk anything? Or after the broth? I just do intermittent fasting and so far just drink water in my fasting window. I may do longer fasts when my health improves. 

@cjodyssey - Just drinking water is the best way! You have more will power than I do. I monitor my blood sugar and the broth causes it to raise about 4 points but quickly drops to the usual fasting range of 78-84.  

When you fast for more than 72 hours your body will start to use less fat for energy and start using muscle, more each day; while the scale will be saying you’re losing weight, it’s actually muscle not fat. Which is why I recommend intermittent fasting 16/8,20/4,23/1 and still get food in so you don’t use muscle as a source. Be careful 

@raymond0noodles - When I lose 10 pounds in 8 days of fasting there is no way I am losing muscle, I don't have that much muscle in my body! What I am mostly losing is water weight though gluconeogenesis that is burning stored fat (see: https://bit.ly/2nkvUez)  

Yes that’s partly true, you are losing water weight; but after 72 hours starvation mode begins and the body consumes muscle and lowers metabolism because that’s how our ancestors would survive during famine. Everyone has muscle and it weighs more than fat, your body will consume it. But as long as you’re having your muscles a reason to stay, you shouldn’t see much muscle loss and about the same rate of fat loss, therefore I recommend amino acids supplements since they won’t break your fast since they’re normally around 0-15 calories and refresh your muscle. This will not bring muscle growth but it will help during workouts and all that good stuff. Try to get into a workout routine and hit all muscles, sometimes the calves and back are left out and those muscles are just as important as your quads and delts. I’m not telling you to stop this but I’m rather giving you my share of knowledge around this; I do 20/4 fast and cut from 14% body fat to 9.6% body fat in about a month and a half, probably more and I haven’t experienced any muscle less instead I’ve experienced muscle growth because I’m on a lean bulk 

Hey champ big grace to you man for this awesome willing , I am natural medicine student , just to correct you about gluconeogenesis process it means your body has to make a new way to use energy to function , why because of non glucose available in your blood stream and your liver , muscles also you noticed that you do not have big muscles so your glycogen capacity not big enough to stored glucose , so gluconeogenesis your body under stress so the most sensitive gland in your body the adrenal gland will sense that , it will trigger hormones call cortisol and aldosterone will convert muscle proteins to amino acids then to glucose . not to say fluid balance also will play a huge role to weight lose the problem we wanna lose fat not weight . in order for your body to get directly to fat store its involving some hormones like glucogan , lipolicis , leptin to switch to burning fat mode your metabolism must adapt to use fatty acid first and using some ketones bodies like betahydroxy , acetone , acetostate . we been adapt to use sugar for so long that is why it takes a while to the human body to turn to a fat burning machine , our university recommended to start with keto diet for one month straight then start interdict water fasting slowly . tell you what if you really losing fat you well end up having six packs . Best regards ..... 

yes that is a long fast... 

@lokmantiger, @raymond0noodles - Keep in mind I have been on this site for 8 years trying to lose weight (you can click on my profile and look at my entire chart), if "acting right" worked for me I would be doing that :) I tried over and over again. The problem I have is that insatiable hunger for CARBS takes over when I eat (You have to buy into the "Insulin causes fat" argument to understand why this is the key thing). Fasting short circuits that process. Fasting is simply not harmful to the body. There is no scientific proof that it is (I am basing this on reading multiple books on the subject). Yes the muscle will go when the fat is gone, but I have a 27.7 BMI! I have to lose nearly 20 pounds to get into the normal range. I am a FAT overweight guy. Fasting is good for me :) 

I just recommend not going days fasting, 5 feeding days and 2 fasting days should be max; since you enjoy fasting then go for 23/1, you should try to eat as healthy as possible, fruits and vegetables have healthy carbs, and furthermore have healthy sugar in those carbs which will not affect your fat loss. It’s been proved that eating just 3 bananas or/and 3 apples a day will increase fat loss in your diet, so during that one hour you would be able to have a healthy binge and get increased fat loss with no muscle loss, focus on how you look not how the scale looks, otherwise you’ll a scrawny adult and it’s harder to gain healthy weight than to lose fat, and you’ll have to invest more time into your diet and working harder, for maximizing fat loss, go for 23/1 for like 2-4 weeks, slowly go to 20/4 in one week (by slowly I mean 22/2 for two to three days then 21/3 for two days, etc) then stay there until you reach your goal or close to it and go to 16/8 to maintain weight and lose fat slowly depending on where you’re at, if you want to get those abs faster continue on 20/4 until you reach this. You’ll find this is much more rewarding  

Also it’ll be easier to be on a calorie deflict since you have less time to eat, to figure out a healthy calorie deflict do Bodyweight x 15 = your maintance calories which is how many calories it takes to maintain your weight, subtract that by around 500 and that’s how much you should aim for. Don’t go too much below or you’ll slow you metabolism, and when you reach a plateau don’t be afraid to eat more, as long as it’s healthy and you’re doing intermittent fasting you’re good to lose fat. You can be doing intermittent fasting while on a lean bulk and lose fat. You’ll have to figure out your Marcos since I only have the lean bulk memorized and I don’t know the pure fat loss Marcos, but don’t stress on that as long as you’re eating healthy you’ll lose fat. Also while in shape you can have more cheat days while doing fasting 

Eating carbs in amounts like that - multiple bananas or apples - causes insatiable hunger in me and would make any "fast" longer than a few hours all but impossible, not to mention the mood swings and inflammation.  

@raymond0noodles - You will want to look at my chart and my food diary. I have been fasting for months. You can see I'm doing fine :) If this damages my metabolism it would have showed by now, but I just ran 7 miles. How could I do that with a damaged metabolism and wasted muscles? The really important thing, and this is what Dr. Fung talks about in his book, is that when something is not working for someone, they have to find something that works. For me it is extended fasting.  

@cjodyssey - Yeah that is how I would react too. If you can actually stop eating when you start eating carbs I applaud you. I would simply continue eating until I got full (I don't do 'hungry'!) :) When I have a 'carb' day I have to 'write the day off'. It will take 2 fasting days to balance it out. Since I usually eat on the weekends (2 days), it usually takes 4 fasting days. 

That’s why you would want to eat during late times for example for the 16/8 break your fast at 2pm, and then eat until 10pm, then you would be asleep during most of those hours  

A lot of things happen while you don’t realize it, your metabolism could be higher then what it is rn and you could experience a greater fat loss. But if you believe this would truely benefit you in every way, continue  

@raymond0noodles - I eat too many carbs when I eat. I pack on 2 pounds a day. If I followed that plan I would continue to pack on the pounds, why would I do that? :) I know, I ALSO need to cut the carbs. Again, please look at my chart. Look as my progress. I have gained and lost the same 15 pounds for half a decade. If I haven't been able to do the right thing in years, why would I think anything would be different now? I share my experience because there are others like me and I want them to see there is hope. I respond to people who disagree because I want those who are like me to not continue to suffer needlessly following diet advice that they just can't seem to follow. There is no scientific proof that extended fasting is bad for your health, period. It does not destroy your metabolism, period. Humans have not always had super markets and plentiful food. Our bodies are designed to fast for extended times.