Hey, I’m 24 years old female and I started fasting 5 days ago. I have managed to do fasting before though it wasn’t as rigorous or as controlled as it is now. At one point I managed to go for 72h with nothing on my stomach although it wasn’t easy, but fasting back then was very on and off.
This year I decided to be more consistent with it and since I got the basic idea of how it works I chose to start with a 20-4 fast, where I eat only once in the space of 4 hours and fast for the remaining twenty. Been okay for the past 5 days, eating a lot of protein and drinking lots of water too. Today without realizing I passed 24h fasting so I should be reaching autophagy soon however I feel very strange and I am also torn between pushing myself that bit further or going easy on myself.
For starters I lost 2.2kgs in a day which I assume to be alarming (but maybe it isn’t, I did 2h exercise/25k steps included) and I feel incredibly sleepy and tired, like speaking feels like it requires effort, and moving feels harder than usual. I feel shaky but I’m not sure if it’s hunger or if its normal and its supposed to be like this. Passing 24h Fast is unexpected as I was not planning to go that far but now that I am here I’m torn between either continuing the fast and make it 48h or stopping now to eat food however I feel like it’s not worth eating now because its almost time for me to sleep anyway and I did eat fairly well before this fast, but I’ve never felt this way before.
To anyone who’s a bit more experienced with fasting what do you feel it would be best for me to do… Do I suck it up for another 24h and maintain the eating periods the same, do I stop now and eat food or should I continue until I feel like I actually can’t carry on?
Is there a reason that you feel the need to eat one meal a day? Many people do OMAD with success, but it is not for everyone. What are you trying to accomplish by fasting for such long durations? Are you obese? Do you have binge eating disorder and an inability to stop eating once you have started? It’s hard to tell from your post why you think this is a good idea for you. It sound like you are just desperately avoiding food despite negative effects of this.
Many people who do OMAD work up to it. It seems like you are working down to it, starting with 72 hours hours initially and now trying OMAD. Why not try eating two well-balanced, proportioned meals, and then fasting during a 12 or 16 hour window? Are you incapable of making healthy, controlled food choices when you give yourself permission to eat? Is the OMAD just a way of controlling your out of control behavior?
Make sure you’re getting enough calories, water, electrolytes, sleep.
When I’m into 16:8 I require more sleep. Just knocks me out a couple hours earlier.
Don’t be too drastic, your health can be affected by many things. If you don’t feel right, maybe ease into it a little slower. There is an adjustment period.
this is quite literary the slippery slope to eating disorders. You made a commitment to 20-4 fasting, stick to it. The body simply does not cope if fasting is combined with sporadic and random eating times. There’s no benefit, honour or victory in breaking your 20-4 fasting plan to fast longer.
That is a lot of activity. Make sure you are hydrated and mix some himalayan salt or other electrolytes into your water. When i do longer fasts i put a pinch of salt in my coffee and water and that helps a ton