Hey, I’ve been doing OMAD (on and off as shifts allow) and 18:6 with some 16:8 splashed in for a couple of months now and I’m looking to detox myself in the new year with a 36 hour fast.
I know compared to some of you this isn’t very long but a day and a half to me seems good enough to use up all the food in my belly and heal a bit. Any advice or tips?
I fast regularly. The key thing is that it’s mostly mental. You’ll feel hungry, but your body won’t actually be asking for food until day two or three. At 36 hours, you won’t feel much hunger if you fast from say 6pm on day 1 until 8am on day 3 as you’ll be asleep for most of the real hunger.
So, my suggestion is to work up to it. You’ll quickly get better at it. Don’t feel like you need to have the perfect prep for this first fast. That doesn’t exist. It simply takes practice. By your third 36 hour fast, it’ll feel much easier. I don’t feel hungry at all now doing 36 hours.
As others have said, eat healthy. It doesn’t need to be Keto necessarily. Focus on lots of greens, fiber, and protein and make sure not to overeat. Overeating will retrain your body that it needs a constant intake of calories and fasting will be harder next time.
Finally, refeed slowly. Start with a hard boiled egg or some yogurt and wait 2-3 hours. Then eat a bit more.
I’ve fasted for 36 hours a few times and a thing that helped for me was first getting comfortable with fasting for 24 hours. When I could fast for 24 hours, I tried for 36 the next time.
You got this! Listen to your body.
I went into this expecting it to be a lot harder than it was, and believe me when I say once you hit a certain point, you realise how much longer you can keep going. Accountability helps a lot too, if you have a friend or relative you can talk to about it, tell someone you’re GOING to do it. That can help you stick with it when the hunger pangs do come.
First, this will go well. Just do it.
I regularly do 3 and 5 day fasts. The hardest part of those tends to be around 36-48 hours, because you are near the greatest rate-of-change of hormones. Once you can do 36 hours, 3-5 day fasts will be easy because days 3-4 tend to be much easier than day 2. I hope it goes great!
I second the info about prepping with good meals. The first few days of a fast are the hardest which means you’re in the harder part for all your shorter fast. I’m not keto as I’m vegan but the carbs I eat before a longer fast are fruits and veggies. This time I cut out anything I didn’t make myself. I did a batch of roast veggies, tofu and a veggie soup for a coupes of days before. I also really upped my fats with dry roasted nuts. I’m at hour 99 which is when I stopped last time and I feel pretty good.
The anxiety of going to bed unfed on the second day was always my biggest issue.Once that fear is over 36’s are really easy.Also Sadguru has a nice way of describing hunger pangs.You’re body will knock and say “hey eat”, but if you resist, your body will peel away a layer of energy like an onion. The body keeps repeating this process of peeling layers until the hunger pangs no longer ask to peel, it’s then just all energy.