I find keeping track of electrolytes a bit annoying nor do I enjoy salt water …
Only recommendation is to keep to shorter fasts 2-5 days into OMAD and then back in again. So more of a rolling fast schedule instead of one long fast.
Play around and find what works for you. This isn’t about a one-size-fits-all approach, it’s about your own personal goals and developing a lifestyle that’s easy for you personally to engage with
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Does that mean some form of rolling fasting where you’re on a schedule? Does it mean long, extended fasts once you feel a certain way or hit a certain weight threshold you aren’t happy with? Does it mean doing some kind of reset when you find your appetite for shitty food becomes uncontrollable or you start finding it hard to regulate your portions?
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Fasting is just a tool to help you feel like your best self. But unfortunately no one here can tell you exactly what your relationship with fasting needs to be to get you there. You just have to keep trying different strategies until you find what works. One thing I CAN say: when it’s right for you, you’ll know. It’ll just feel right
I did a 50 day fast this year, lost 61lbs, and have managed to keep it off. When doing a prolonged fast you will definitely regain water and waste weight, and my experience is that is about 15lbs. It’s definitely hard to see the scale creep up 15lbs from your end weight after a prolonged fast, but that weight gain isn’t really fat gain. It also is critical that when you start eating again you really stay focused if you want to continue losing weight from that rebound/reset weight (which again I would calculate as 15ish lbs above your fast end weight).
I started my fast at almost 260, ended at 197, and rebounded up to 215ish about a month later. I have since been eating clean and doing weekly fasts of 3-5 days per week and have crept back down to about 200. I expect to hit my ultimate goal weight in the next 2-4 weeks given some focused weekly fasting, and I do not expect I will do another prolonged long term fast as I feel it’s easier to cycle fasts each week and then refocus for the next week. Long term fasts need time to recover between them, and there is definitely rebound weight gain that while not really legitimate fat gain is still definitely demotivating. While I feel that my long fast absolutely was life changing and got me close to my goal, what I am doing now is definitely easier and more sustainable. Since I have also made it more of a lifestyle change it is relatively easy for me to be consistent with it and I am not really finding myself needing to fight cravings or the desire to eat the wrong things when I do eat.
Good luck on your journey, but I definitely recommend trying different fasting lengths and schedules to find something sustainable that can work with your lifestyle because that is what is going to let you reach your ultimate goal and feel in control of your body. For me the long fast was a way of resetting and trying to push myself back to health, but it isn’t a forever sustainable option. Fasting weekly is something that I honestly have found easy and I am able to do for at least a few days each week leading to significant calorie deficits and weight loss. Some weeks I get to Wednesday night and eat, and some weeks I go all the way till Saturday, but even if I break sooner, I just refocus and keep going the next week, while trying to make good nutritional decisions when I do eat. Even days I eat, I still try to eat in a time restricted window (usually afternoon), and finish well before bed. With doing this routine, I can eat what I want within reason and know I will keep making progress. When I reach my goal I will just slip back to a daily time restricted eating schedule and will fast or not fast depending on my body and if I need to.
Good luck!