I’ve been doing rolling 68h fasts every week, Monday to wednesday for the past 4.5 months and my weight went down from 292lb to 243lb. However recently I find it’s stalled. I’m no longer losing 2lb a week like I used to, and find I need to stretch my fasts longer than before to see the same level of weight loss.
In the book, “fast, feast, repeat”, the author Gin Stephens says rolling extended fasts are harmful, they hurt the metabolism, and eventually lead to binging disorder. Also she says the autophagy benefits are overstated since we can just get the same from exercising instead.
She pushes omad of 19:5 or 20:4, mixed in with alternate day fasting, or basically 2 days fasting “down days”, followed by an “up day” with higher carb limit to stimulate higher bmr and ultimately more weight loss.
Can anyone comment on this?
If you’re constantly refilling your glycogen stores by loading up on carbs on non-fast days, a few days fast is just not going to be able to do much. The reason she probably thinks something like 20:4 is better is likely because any research that shows that being more beneficial is comparing people who restrict calories better (due to short eating window) and have less glycogen to get rid of to people who eat shit and essentially carbo load and then fast for 3 days.
I would never consistently fast if I wasn’t doing keto as well. It seems like fasting without already being in ketogenesis is like boxing with one hand tied behind your back. Remember, when you hear and repeat about how fasting was natural and part of our evolution, it involved proto and early humans that were almost certainly in a constant state of ketogenesis.
I agree that extended and rolling fasts don’t work for everyone. My personal experience goes along with those ideas. Although I don’t really understand how OMAD, literally “one meal a day” should extend through a four or five hour window or need to be regimented to a particular part of the day. One meal a day could be whenever. The 19:5 or 20:4 sounds more like intermittent fasting which definitely lends to binge eating. The ultimate goal really is just to eat less frequently, and not necessarily every day. Being too strict about any of the aspects is a road to failure.
I looked her schedule where you’re doing a didn’t window size everyday. Keeps the body guessing. Worked well for me.
Jason Fung promotes ADF of 42:6 for real weight loss. I super loved this plan and it works even better.
I sat, try out rodent things and stick with what works for you. And, understand that what works might change with time.
Gin has a great podcast you can listen to and fasting foodie does all her regiments on YouTube. These are great resources if you want to follow her. I’ve been doing OMAD for 2 months and am about to start up/down days . I find it really manageable and feel great. I’m personally someone who needs to eat everyday at least for now that’s why I like her suggestions.