33M 6’2”
Some back story:
Years ago I went through cancer treatment (CLL) and was a bit overweight at the time (200lbs) and went vegan and fasted a lot and got down to around 167. I always had small lipomas around my body and in my chest. I’ve had some taken out to confirm they aren’t cancerous. I was skinny of course, but I’ve always been on the slimmer side and felt comfortable, although a bit skinny fat (always some small pudge and love handles).
Over the past couple years I’ve been dealing with a lot of stress of working full-time, school full-time, relationship life, etc. I started weight training and eating more meat and protein, etc. I gained muscle for sure, but I slowly started losing my grip on my strict eating and over the past year I gained 15lbs, now hovering around 185+. Just all muffin top. I don’t really eat crazy unhealthy stuff, I just started eating things like vegan protein bars my gf eats. Classic I can eat the same diet as a 130lb woman and I gain weight and she doesn’t.
Anyways, I feel like shit most days now and I want to get back on the horse next week and dive into a prolonged fast. At least 3 days, if not more. I need to get this fat gone, but also want to do a long fast 20+ days as I’ve seen a small amount of people say that its helped them with lipomas. I have dozens of small ones all around my body. Anyone here have that experience at all?
Also, in the past I had only been able to do 3 days water fasting. I would feel amazing on the 3rd day, but my heart rate would be fast so I would stop. I didn’t really do the electrolyte stuff at the time. Could that be the reason?
Sorry for the long story.
I would also cut out a lot of the vegan fake meats and processed proteins. I am vegetarian myself and used to eat that stuff often. Despite a good CICO and otherwise healthy diet, i was not losing weight. Soon as I cut out the processed fake meats and stuck to whole foods, weight started dropping like flies. Just some food for thought to consider.
That will depends on you and your body really, you may have to reassess your food choices and eating habit
Have you considered eating after a certain time to let your body rest and heal itself a bit like eat at 12am or 2pm or 4pm and stop eating after 8-9pm if possible and find it safe.
I have lipomas too and some are slowly shrinking/disappearing but I had to change my eating habits/the food I ate, for me/my body it needs longer fasts, (more than 7 days) as my body seems to prioritize other parts to repair first, having said that it seems to become easier after a few fasts to shrink those lipomas. They are still there but smaller and squishy instead of hard.
That you have achieved 3 days fasts is excellent, you should be extremely proud of yourself, keep monitoring your body and if you feel confident try slightly longer fast slowly, good health takes time.
I’m vegan. I try to avoid any of the fake meats, fake cheeses and the protein bars. I’ll have them on rare occasions, like if I’m stuck in an airport or a friend cooks me a “burger”. They are so caloric and highly processed. I focus on fiber first. It’s been a game changer.
I meal prep on Sundays which takes care of most of my meals for the week. It cuts down on having to make decisions about what to eat every day. I read something about decision fatigue a couple of years ago and it resonated. I’m making decisions all day at work, usually under a lot of pressure. I noticed I was making poorer decisions in my personal life so I started simplifying. I meal prep and all of my work clothes go together so I can mix any thing. Small things like that. They all add up and really help with stress levels.
I am a bit crazy about my sleep. Nothing has had a bigger impact on my life than getting control of my sleep. It really helps me deal with my high stress job and general life stresses. I do the usual here like regular wake-up/sleep times, I get out every morning for some sun pretty much as soon as it comes up, I don’t use overhead lights at night, make sure to move my body every day and I totally cut out caffeine. I don’t take any sleep aids or supplements for sleep. More then anything sleep helped with my energy levels. I also don’t drink alcohol.
Sleep and stress management are important tools in fat loss and general well being.
Yes you need to supplement with salt & potassium and magnesium (optional). Some ppl don’t need electrolytes as their body stores more but I’m one of the ppl like you. I can pretty much tell when I need it bc I’ll outright get cravings for salt and just down a tsp of straight salt and chase with water.
I lost 70lbs on vegan keto and fasting but I was strict strict and gained some back. There’s a vegan keto group and books on it. If you’re looking for fast weight loss that combo will absolutely do it but then you have to maintain healthy habits which I did not. Still it’s good to know it works.
Check your T levels and get some B vitamin supps and or eat some animal protein if you can like eggs.
I used to be low T and it didn’t matter what I ate or how I trained, I couldn’t lose fat. Got it fixed and the fat melted off.
I don’t know your reason for not eating animal proteins, but the actual solid science on the health aspect of it shows it’s very healthy. It’s what we evolved to eat after all. Much easier to get high quality protein for lifting as well.
You might check your prolactin in case one of your lipomas made it’s way to your pituitary and is causing prolactinoma.