I’ve been doing rolling 72s for a while now, and have been going a little overboard on the refeed day, this time pushing it to 2 days of binging. I appreciate most of this will be water weight but just wondering what the longer term health implications could be from constantly fluctuating between 3-5kg on eat days vs fasting days? Cheers guys.
Maybe this much water weight has something to do with the kind of food you ate? After 2 rolling 48s and binging for 2 days I gained 4 kgs, I suspect it’s because of dairy. I feel swollen, which didn’t happen after dairy-less refeeds
I have been doing OMAD for over 4 years. Lost weight in 6 months and maintained from there. One healthy meal a day to fullness. I had none of these refeeding issues.
In fact just the opposite. This eating pattern became perfectly normal. Preferential in fact. Circadian rhythms attuned. Super active. Super healthy too. No desire to eat more often.
I am not negative on EFs. I do longer fasts - up to 72 hours - for a little extra autophagy. But it’s tough for me. Not the hunger part - I don’t get hungry. But I don’t sleep that well (yes I take electrolytes properly). I have this very stressed feeling and don’t preform as well at work or in life the 3rd day.
Omad is easy. Mealtime is a wonderful hour or so every day. Lots of fresh healthy foods. Salads. Fruits. Veggies. Main course like steak or salmon or chicken or whatever. Never feel constrained.
Not being critical at all, if you feel yours is a helpful way to lose weight and your body is adapted to it, great. But it sounds like you are excessively refeeding. Your body likely pushing you out of fear.
You might consider shifting to OMAD. Do an occasional 72 every couple weeks if you feel the need. But I think you’ll have an easier time. And experience comparable average weight loss.
I would think some detriments of binging with fasting would be similar to binging without fasting. It’s important to fix your relationship with food as there are many ways to outrun a diet, so to speak.
I’m sorry I can’t answer your question about longer term health implications because I don’t know the answer. But I would call out that it seems you’re waving a flag to say “I don’t have control” which means you’re struggling w your relationship w food and that is something that can certainly be a slippery slope w negative implications.
Seems two things here:
the binge behavior itself
the impact from said binge (ie weight gain)
Neither of them serve you, friend.
I appreciate this post a lot because I suspect quite a few of us struggle w “all or nothing”/“on or off” mentality. I know I have. I’m new to to rolling fasts myself and am navigating it now trying to experiment and see what works for me.
Nothing changes if nothing changes. I’d sit down and ask yourself what you can do to put some guardrails on your refeeds. If the structure helps you on fasting days, maybe your refeed days need some structure too? Just something to consider.
I hope you find what you need to keep going w confidence in a way that best serves you. We are here for you!