Hey guys,
I’m wondering if it’s worth it to do rolling 7 day fasts, eat for a day, and fast for another 7 days. Looking to do so for about 3 months.
I’ve find done so for about 2 weeks already and have lost 12 lbs. I take multivitamins and electrolytes daily. I’m female and 5 feet tall.
I’m curious if there’s any health dangers such as hair loss with this type of fasting. I’m willing to do rolling 72s if the consensus is that it’s safer.
I enjoy fasting for autophagy, weight loss, and health benefits, and do not feel hunger after the 3rd day.
I also like mixing in cardio and body weight exercises every few days, which I know can be dangerous without the necessary protein.
Thank you!
That’s a really tough schedule for 3 months, and the incidence of adverse events goes up the longer you fast, much more past 36 hours. With such an aggressive schedule, there is a lot that can go wrong (immune system dysfunction, mood problems, electrolyte imbalances, etc).
You don’t mention how much weight you’re looking to lose, but keeping it off is the challenge for most people. If you can come up with a consistent system that you can keep for 1-2 years, then you have time for your body to adjust to the new weight and reset the body’s “set point”. Usually one gains 5-10 pounds above where you’ve artificially kept your weight at. So if your ideal weight is 110 lbs, then targeting and holding at 105 lbs for a year or two will get you there with high probability.
Rapid weight loss leads to excess structure and skin, especially without enough exercise. Personally, most days after day 3 it’s tough to even do a 45 min workout for me. The standard advice is to target 1-2 lbs per week, unless you’re seriously overweight (obese), in which case losing 5-10 lbs is okay too.
Rapid losses often rebound. I’d suggest accepting slower weight loss, in exchange for more safety, more exercise, and a more maintainable cycle long-term. To keep your gains, you really need to think about a 2 year plan, of which only the initial period is weight loss. You probably also want to induce autophagy to lose excess fat and maybe skin cells. If you’re overweight, body-weight exercise may be too taxing, preventing you from getting a full workout.
Remember the body only needs about 1-2 teaspoons of sugar or carbs per day to maintain blood sugar levels. If you do strictly “zone 2” cardio, you don’t need added carbs for that, and you can do that for a few hours every single day, without feeling like you’re going to fall over afterwards.
Cortisol levels are very important in metabolism. Humans in general need to get 7-10 hours of high-quality sleep per day, in one or at most two sessions; otherwise you will get high cortisol and consequent metabolic dysfunction. Other forms of stress will also elevate cortisol levels, those need to be controlled.
Make changes slowly and gradually, rather than abruptly. The risk of injury is highest when the change is greatest.
I designed a plan for my mother, which has worked well so far.
In order to fast, she must sleep at least 7 hours per day, and do at least 1 hour of zone 2 training per day (she does extra activity about 2x per week). She does machine rowing on a concept2, drag factor 130, so that’s plenty of resistance training also, for her. If she feels unwell for any reason (headache, dizzy, problem in the bathroom, a cold, etc) she doesn’t fast. When she’s not fasting, she eats around 20g, max 50g, of carbs per day.
She started with one 24 hr fast per week for a month, then 2 per week, then 3 per week. Then we started doing 36 hour fasts, 3x per week for a month. Then we moved to doing 36 hour fasts every other day, so we eat over a 12 hr window, water fast 36 hours, then eat again, then fast again, in an endless cycle of 36 hr fasting, 12 hr eating (so breakfast 9am, light lunch 2pm, dinner 8pm). No extra electrolytes or vitamins are taken (she already supplements D3, K2, C, omega-3, etc). We’ve kept this up for 2 months; I’m doing it for moral support, not weight loss.
She went from 148lbs down to 118lbs over five months, and it’s settled into about 1 lbs / week lost (initial losses were greater, because she cut the carbs I suppose). Her ideal weight is 115 lbs, so we will try to keep it at 110 lbs for the next year or two. She is in her mid-80’s, with type 2 diabetes, and she had a stroke a week after getting her 2nd covid shot last year.
Hope that helps.
EDIT: Here’s a sample 36-hour fasting schedule from “The obesity code” by Jason Fung that is almost exactly our eating schedule:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/17/84/c3/1784c347c39816451635c9d515acc518.jpg
One of the mods here did this for a while before she got pregnant, hopefully she can chime in. I’m not sure how long she did it for but vaguely remember her diabetes improving and she had very good weight loss along with other health benefits. I cant remember if she had any bade side affects.
Ok, so what I’ve been doing is fasting Monday-Friday, then eating on the weekends. Depending on my schedule sometimes I’ll do 11 days with a 2 day re-fed. I’ve had really great results. There was a woman recently who posted “before” and “after” photos. If I am remembering correctly she lost 85 pounds fasting Monday-Friday, eating on the weekends.
Anyway, just a suggestion!
The benefits of fasting for “health” come during the refeeding stages. This is much overlooked here where most people seem to be fasting for weight loss. Even those who chase “autophagy” overlook it. Fasting is the breaking down period and eating is the rebuilding period. You want to be eating nutrient dense foods and avoiding junk. I give it a month between 5 day fasts. The first week I’m not really eating as much. It takes me a couple of weeks to level out. Then I like to support my body as much as possible before a long fast. There’s a bunch of articles and studies around this. What you eat between fasts makes a difference and your body is always going to perform better when you are giving it what it needs.
Vitamins etc. are really only supposed to supplement your diet. They fill in the gaps. They’re not meant to be your sole source of nutrients. If you are relying on them as much as you are you need to pay attention to the source. You can read up on whole food vitamins vs synthetic and decide for yourself what will best support your goals.
Sounds very difficult and not sustainable in the long run. How are you going to manage your diet once this is no longer doable in a few months or years time? Extended fasting is great for health and autophagy but for that goal it’s enough to do 2 extended fasts a YEAR and a have healthy regular diet in between (which can include intermittent fasting). I know I am going against the popular opinion in this sub, but it’s my (and science’s) opinion that if you want a healthy life you focus your diet on fiber intake and gut micro biome optimalization, fasting is part of a healthy lifestyle but I don’t see the benefits of fasting 7 days every 7 days, it would be difficult to upkeep the intake of vitamins and fiber that way.
