I’ve been fasting for weight loss, and I was wondering, if I were to extend the fast for longer than 7 days, how do I go about refeeding when I do stop? I want to keep the weight I lost off, so would I slowly introduce calories (i.e. 500 per day for a while, then 1000 for a while and so on). Or would I immediately get back to my maintenance calorie intake? Also, are there specific foods I should eat or avoid? I just want to understand the process for much longer term fasting more. Right now I’m doing electrolytes and everything and I feel fine, so I am considering going longer than 7 days. Any tips for a plan would be super appreciated. Thanks!
I did a 14 day fast a year ago. Very slow refeed, you don’t want to introduce food too quickly (unless you want to live on the toilet…lol). I did the following:
Day 1: Ended my fast around 3pm, had a cup of bone broth then and around 6pm
Day 2: Fasted from dinner night before until lunch: Scrambled Eggs. Dinner: Cobb Salad
Day 3 & 4: Similar to above, added nuts as a snack
Day 5: Return to normal OMAD
You will gain anywhere from 2-5lbs back, but that’s because you are starting to put food back in the system. The rest should stay off if you go slow, and continue keto post-fast. If you go back to the way you ate that caused the gains in the first place, it will all come back.
Good luck!
I would go back to at least baseline calories. Any less calories without being in ketosis can cause major craving problems and you may end up in the food restriction cycle. I recommend starting back with soups because at least in my experience I always feel very sick when I start refeeding with normal food.
Check this out. I would caution you not to spread out calories because they will lead you into starvation mode. Best to work up from smalls healthy snacks then onto large meals and eat until you feel full.
If you enter starvation mode, during a prolong fast (this is accomplished by not eating enough or eating poorly during refeeding) you will lose muscle, have strong hunger pangs, and have a hard time sleeping. Learnt this the hard way.