Morning everyone,
25(M) 5ft 8, 103.2 kg
I tried fasting 21:3 a couple years ago and managed to stick to it for 5 months, losing a grand total of 36lbs. During this time I was eating 1100 calories and the weight was falling off, however, I hit a plateau. A friend then suggested I was doing metabolic damage and so I stepped away from it all for a while.
Following weight gain and frustration with my body image, I began doing more research, leading me back to fasting. I’m building up to doing 48 hour fasts, twice per week. On the 3 days I won’t be fasting, I’ll be eating 2200 calories per day, giving me 6600 calories per week.
My concern is whether this is enough or whether I should be eating more to balance out the fasted days. I’m keen to avoid damaging my metabolism further and would prefer to do it in healthy and sustainable way this time around.
Was similar size as you. Started eating omad. Focused on healthier eating options. Stopped worrying about calories.
For millions of years of evolution, our bodies learned how to keep us well fed to survive. Not just humans - animals too. Think of bears. They pack on the fat before winter. They aren’t thinking “I have to eat more because it’s a long cold winter and I’m going to be sleeping.” They are just doing what comes naturally - listening to their biology.
Eating heathy to fullness once a day made my biology signals start working again. I sometimes say my biology counts the calories for me and makes me full when it’s had enough. I never use will power. I can eat as much as I want. Every single day. But I don’t overeat. I lost 50 lbs in 6 months and have happily maintained going on 4 years.
Stop asking your brain to try to take over your biology’s job. Let yourself get full on heathy food until you don’t want to eat anymore. You might overstuff at first. But it’s self correcting. I find myself eating and stopping not even realizing. I’m just sitting there watching TV or having a conversation and not eating. I hand the fork to my biology and it does its thing. I thoroughly enjoy the eating. But when I’m done I’m done, and then doing the dishes. Freedom from counting calories and using will power to stop eating is transformational! It’s how we were made to eat.
Like, if you’re in keto and fat adapted, the number of calories you eat are less relevant.
Either you get energy from food, or from fat off your butt. Either way, your body gets fed so it doesn’t need to adjust metabolism.
If you’re eating lots of carbs in your eating window, your body will have longer windows of higher insulin and can’t access the fat on your butt. In that case, it might lower your metabolism to survive restricted calories.