Hi everyone, I am super brand new to this reddit thing, please offer feedback on my plan if anyone has any advice!
I suppose my biggest question is about if it’s a good idea to do a 72 hour fast every week in conjunction with other styles of fasting. Thoughts if this is going to be sustainable?
PS: I am eating strictly keto most of the time, have done 16/8 fasting for several months, have successfully completed a 80 hour fast very recently and enjoyed it.
I am going for :
Monday (last meal 8pm day before) : Fasted
Tuesday: Fasted
Wednesday: 8pm break, OMAD
Thursday: OMAD
Friday: OMAD
Saturday: 16/8
Sunday: 16/8 ending by 8pm.
Feedback me, please!!
I don’t see anything wrong with that you’re doing. One thing to keep in mind though is that sometimes (oftentimes for me) your fasts won’t go according to plan. Sometimes it’s stress, sometimes it’s your schedule, or hormones or nothing at all, but you may break earlier than expected.
I personally find that scheduling fasts can cause more frustration when they don’t go to plan. The most scheduling I do is ‘hmmm no major holidays/events/get togethers coming up? I’ll try and squeeze a week in’
So I would say go for it, but be flexible and kind to yourself if it doesn’t go to plan. I recently tried to get into a 2 week fast but twice I broke on day 3 and was getting a little frustrated. (Long story short: get a fasting app and change your cycle so you’re sleeping during the time when you find yourself breaking).
On the other hand you may feel great and wish to go longer than planned. Personally I find longer fasts much more productive in terms of weight loss and I feel much better after I get past day 3 but it takes some time and practice to be able to handle them. So if you’re feeling great on day 3 why not keep going? I’m just about at the 11 day mark and I feel better than I ever have on any of my shorter fasts.
All this being said, do what works for you. Health wise I’ve done something similar to your schedule inadvertently and didn’t have any issues. I just made sure to eat mainly keto, whole foods no sweeteners (even stevia etc) and it got easier over time to switch in and out of fasts as needed.
In the end, listen to your body, analyze trends, be conscious of triggers and emotions and you will be great :)
Edit: Also, I am a huge perfectionist planner type so I get it. I definitely started the way you did and marked everything in my calendar way in advance but it got way messy when things didn’t go according to plan. I’m not naturally so carefree but this way gets me the best results. If I’m beating myself up for breaking a fast I’m less likely to be in the mindset to be successful in the next one.