The 72 induction phase is uncomfortable mostly if you aren’t accustomed to eating clean/low-carb. It’s basically a sugar withdrawal and it happens with people trying keto for the first time too. The best solution I have found to that is to keep on top of your sodium and increase water intake (all electrolytes generally, but salt seems to be what specifically helps with fatigue, headaches, nausea). I can’t imagine, if you’ve been eating clean vegan style, that you will have much difficulty with the transition.
Is a shorter fast worth it? Absolutely! Many people see great benefit to 16:8/20:4 IF protocols, and ADF is no exception. Youtube Dr Jason Fung’s explanation of the IF protocol if you’re looking for some scientific info backing this up, but anecdotally, giving your body rest between feedings has many benefits, including mental clarity, balancing out hormones, reversing insulin resistance and the like.
The benefit to fasting longer than 72 hours is more pronounced for obese individuals seeking to reverse hormonal abnormalities (insulin and leptin resistance) and those of us trying to kickstart fatburning (keto) and weightloss (of course if you eat nothing you will lose faster than if you eat once a day for example). I’m sure others can chime in here with more info. Good luck!
Hello! Not sure how valid this will be to your situation, but here’s where I am anyway. First fast ever, I’m currently at 66hrs! Last ate on Thursday night and it was a crap load of cookie and ice cream junk. I decided to not eat for most of Friday, just for the sake of giving my intestines a break. I am sporadically keto for a few days here and there, but hadn’t been for awhile going into this. I pleasantly discovered I’m rather fat adapted though, because I haven’t gone through any withdrawal feelings at all! The first 48 hours, my brain wanted to eat, but physically I didn’t really feel it at all. This morning I felt the legitimate hunger pangs though, and still do. I’ve been taking a bit of potassium and salt here and there, and have felt good in that sense. When driving to run some errands though, I felt a bit of a high in my head, and just a little hyper sensitive to stimuli, such as passing trucks and what not. Decided not to drive today while I’m still feeling it out haha. I think I’ll make it through the rest of today just fine, and plan to eat again in the morning, putting me at 84 hours.
That was a lot of info, I guess the main points just being that the first 48 hours were easy to me, and I wanted to stick it out past 80hrs to hopefully get into autophagy and see if I could notice a difference in that sense. I think ADF or 5:2 is what I will make use of the most in the future though :)
I found the first day to be hard only because of momentum. Doing it Mon-Fri took away that “I could just start tomorrow” mentality because then I would miss out on that pattern that I want. (Sometimes I have to play dumb tricks to outsmart my monkey brain. lol.)
I had cut out sugar around Easter, tho did have ice cream the weekend prior to starting (Halo Top) so wasn’t exactly in ketosis. I lean towards vegan, but a few products that I eat have egg whites so I generally just say I’m vegetarian. I’m not yet willing to give up the convenience of those items while also being low carb.
The thing that started shifting my weight was exercise spread throughout the day (we moved to a British city from suburban US and I walk a LOT). The fasting then made it so my food addiction was quieter.. but OMAD started to get really hard after being awesome for quite a while. It was making me feel like binging.
So my plan is M-F fast, Sat/Sun vegetarian keto. I’m going to stick with that until I feel like I need a change. I do drink water, tea, and coffee. I also liberally used low-sodium salt during the fast last week. I am not drinking diet sodas though I really found myself craving them a few times – which is odd because I don’t usually have it in the house. I think it was a sodium thing? I also drink sparkling water but towards the end of the fast felt like it was tasting too strong to be enjoyable.
I was doing 17:7, but ended up transitioning into a series of short fasts during the week, by way of OMAD - I eat once a day, between 7:00pm and 7:30pm, and the rest of the time, it’s all water and tea for me, and like you said, I find this easy because of keto.
I do think any fasting schedule you can stick to, is worth doing, and the more consistent you are, the easier it gets!
I’m pretty much low carb or keto most of the time and prior to this way of eating would have struggled a bit with fasting. Now I’ve lost that ‘must eat’ hangry thing I can meal skip a bit easier. Maybe try low carb a bit beforehand?