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Completed 16-Day Fast, Refeed on Keto — Questions on Weight Gain

Hey Folks,

I completed a 16-day water fast going from a SW 216.8 down to 192.6. BF% started at 34.2%, dropping to 28.5%. Great experience, the first long fast I’ve done in a few years now.

When completing, I decided to switch to Keto, as I’m already fat-adapted and wanted to continue to lose weight and stay in a fat-adapted/burning state.

It’s now 4 days post and I’ve crept up to 198.2 lbs.

I’m consuming 23.0g net carbs per day — haven’t had any cravings or issues being on Keto at all, but am a little curious as to when my refeed weight will stabilize. Here’s the current macros breakdown I’m working against, trying to keep \~1573 / 2073 TDEE.

Certainly nowhere near my originating peak at this point, but curious how long before weight stabilizes post-fast. My original water weight drop at the start of the fast was 6 lbs.

Any thoughts/advice other than “chill, it’ll be okay”? 😁

Thanks in advance!

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Answer

What is important to understand here is that you did not lose 25 pounds of fat, but a mix of fat, water, lack of food in your digestive system, glycogen, etc.

Let’s say that your TDEE is 2000 kcal and you spend 500 kcal of active calories. That means you had a deficit of 2500 kcal per day on your fast, or 16*2500 total. One pound of fat generates around 4000kcal, meaning the fat loss during these period was:

16*2500/4000=10

So your real fat loss was 10lbs (please adapt the number of BMR and active kcal for your body). All the rest will come back eventually.

Keeping keto is amazing and will continue to lead to weight loss in this period. You can do the similar math as I did for your new daily deficit.

Answer

Also — credit to the r/fasting group and the FAQ. The electrolyte recipe worked wonders (though I have to mix it up next time to improve flavor options). Was a really good experience, lots of useful info here to help things along. Much appreciated!

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