Finishing a 7 Day Fast

So what is your routine today? 3 meals a day with snacking in between?

I experimented with fasting a few years ago having done IF for a while. My longest fast was 20 days, I lost around 8kg in total after refeeding. On my last day I was down nearly 11kg but obviously some of that was water, food, & waste. Once I got past the hunger pains and low blood sugar, etc from day 3 to 4 I felt better but I was very cold & lethargic after about 14 days.

I broke that fast using some light fruits (watermelon, etc). I didn't have any specific food cravings but I did miss the social aspect of coffee/snacks with friends at work or sitting with the family at home.

Interesting feedback on a fast on reddit which showed that the person technically had a high body fat % since the body lost more muscle/lean tissue during the fast. * (1) [OC] I didnt eat food for 15 days and tracked data. : dataisbeautiful

* He Didnt Eat ANYTHING For 15 Days And This Is How Much Fat AND MUSCLE He Lost - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw3oeA_3KLo

I've no plans to do an extended fast and found overall it was more detrimental to my overall strength & fitness goals. I still practice IF occasionally.

The more I dive into research the more I think that humans as many other mammals not require to eat every single day.

Sound like you have used all your glycogen but didn't have enough ketones. If you do it a few times even for 24-48 hrs eventually it will balance up.

Sugar is non essential source of food.

Human body can produce enough glucose from fat to fulfill any demands.

I don't know how to start long debate your mind in a abolutely different pathway. You have read outdated books my friend. Anyhow try to fast a few times and as experiment go into ketogenic diet for a few month. I am sure you would have fewer arguments afterward.

I've used ketogenic diets for years. I understand it far better than you. Certainly you didn't read any of that in a book. Maybe if you actually tried what you claimed and got some real world experience you'd stop making up your own "science". The fact you response is "I don't know how to explain it" proves you can't back your you claims - as usual.

I mean, look at any body that has been undereating for a long period of time. They quite clearly suffer massive muscle mass loss. How can you claim that doesn;t happen. Baffling.

Once you are ketones adapted. There is no glucose requirements in fact glucogene is dirty fuel which leaves 4 types of waste that cell has to deal with. On top of that it gives you spikes of unstable energy very high to very low vs ketones steady clean energy with tones of benefits one of which is more oxygen availability to cells. Hence you can see many athletes (not bodybuilders) switching over to ketogenic diet few month before the competition to improve performance by upto 30%.

In this post you said there is no glucose requirement, in the last you said fat converts to glucose to fufill any requirement. Contradicting yourself and still wrong.

It's not possible to create enough ketones in a day you supply 100% of energy needs. You need energy from fat, protein or glucose to make up the rest.

When I say sport I also mean sport. Nothing I said above is to do with bodybuilding. It's just biology.

And you again your "understanding" is incorrect. I'm not into bodybuilding, never have been. Something else you've made up to try and justify your "special" advice.

I've no idea what your experience is based around. But its missing some fundamentals and most like quite fresh.

I'm not posting for your benefit. You repeatedly post bad and incorrect advice. I'm correcting for other people so they are not mislead. I'm not provoking you, I'm posting clear information, politely. Interesting that you can't explain your claims and instead come out with classics like "you come from wrong school". If you had a more open mind and instrad of theink everyone else was wrong it might benefit you.

I did not contradict myself. You just ripping content/meaning apart. Human body require none of glucose intake hence carbs is not essential food source. However small amount of glucose for certain operations body produce from fat or some protein if having an excess. And put blood glucose into strict control between 4-6 mmol/L. And yes human body is capable to produce more than enough energy from fat. I think I put you into ignore you just trying to annoy me for sometime now.

Never said it was essential. In fact I said it wasn’t.

it’s not. There is a limit. Which is why too large a deficit causes problems. Look at people on hunger strike or in concentration camps. There’s a reason they never look like fitness models.

Ive no idea why pointing out that simple information annoys you.

They didn’t start out like that. Thats literally the effect of starvation. The point is they rapidly lost lean mass as well as fat. They didn’t simply burn off fat stores.

Prolonged starving results in large losses because you lose a bit each day. It doesn’t just disappear after a month. It falls away incrementally from day 1. The rate of loss is greater at the start and reduces as BMR drops.

What are you referring to exactly?

There are many reasons to lose muscle mass. A part of the aging process for one, sarcopenia. But thats not really related to the above.

The fact that muscle loss occurs in other situations like old age is irrelevant to the topic really. But undereating is much more conducive to muscle loss than overeating - although that has its own issues, obviously.

What's the difference between a 7 day fast and starving for 7 days? Same questions for 28 days?

If you had enough nutrition stored for a fast, yes there would be no muscle loss. The problem is that we have limited stored energy, and the energy requirements for 7 days are beyond those stores. Plus we also have protein needs - cell regeneration, hair, skin etc.

No study shows lean mass loss? Have you actually looked into that? or are you just quoting that bodybuilding.com article? Because it not accurate. In fact, the Johns Hopkins meta-analysis referenced lists multiple studies that show lean mass loss when fasting. His own source proved him wrong, not a good start. He's next claim about better muscle retention than traditional reduced-calorie dieting is also incorrect. If you actually read the meta analysis, it's looking at VCLDs - which is 800 cals or less a day - not normal dieting. VLCDs are awful for the exact same reasons. It literally proves my point that too large a deficit can't by covered by fat store, and muscle loss occurs.

I did read the article, thanks for providing. Bodybuilding.com is not a great source imo. Some of it is valid, such as the parts about autophage and the apparent benefits to fasting. But some is just clickbait (eg meta-analysis above). The guy seems muscle building focused. He may well have seen benefits to his fast. But his fast is very different to a 7 day water fast.

The did a 2 day fast, not 7 days. Massive difference as muscle glycogen stores will buffer catabolism for a 1-2 days until they are depleted (he kept activity down and took fasted naps). Plus, he wasn't consuming nothing. He was eating bone broth and exogenous ketones multiple times a day. That's going to provide both energy and protein.

Well done. if you had balance diet before hand For 5-7 days fast you won't be depleted of vitamins. What you would probably need is electrolytes.

What about potassium?

why do you need 20 days fast?

Well I think this is an awful lot of nonsense.

If your intention is to loose weight then you have to get into new habits. That means figuring out the things you are going to eat in place of what you have to give up or drastically reduce, and doing it.

The sooner you start doing that the better and fasting is just putting it off...for 7 days.

You won't learn anything new in those 7 days. You are just delaying what you have to do.

Also, you do get into a habit of not eating which as you've said you get used to after a couple of days, but then 5 days later you ditch that habit again to start a new habits, so you have to start the whole process of starting a new habit again.

1/2 days max fasting is not a terrible idea if you are so addicted to sugar and carbs, a mini reset, for those that are finding it impossible to make gradual changes. But 7 days is totally unnecessary. You'll give yourself a food disorder if you carry on like that doing extreme things.

I think human body "liberate" fat according to energy demand. Fat person usually burn less energy in general.

In itself it won't. But it's the mentality of doing extreme things that will.

Extreme? Looking at the Bible invites people to fast number of times per year. Looking at the scientific evidence; fasting comes together with longevity and is the only mechanism to properly reset endocrine system.