Hi all,
I'll start with the stats: M35, 183cm, SW: 93kg, CW: 83kg, GW: 75kg.
Started 10 days ago, prior to the fast ketogenic diet for 2 weeks.
I've been lurking here for along time, reading some of your comments and scientific papers.
Been doing many fasts before, mostly 3-5 days except for a 10 day fast a year ago. The most annoying thing with the fasts have been the psychological pressure and the routine of eating and constant exposure of food and snacks.
And of course the stalls. I read here that the reason for the stalls could be fat cells get filled up with water and hold on to that until you replace with more and more water. Prior to this run I fasted for 5 days, after day 3 no weight loss, made me irritated and sad and continued to 5 days with no further weight loss. So for the present fast I drank 3 liters of water per day, still stalled after day 3, kept on fasting and ignoring the scale.. at day 5 still the same weight.
So I thought I have to empty the extra water reserve to deplete the fat cells of volume. So how can I loose a lot of water? Sauna! Went to the local sauna club, there's a 95° C sauna and also 85° C and a humid one. Anyway sat there for 10-15 min intervals, dip in the cold ocean and continued for 1 - 1.5h. Lost 1 kg of weight. Thought that all the water I drank would come back directly...
Next day I weight myself to see that the loss of 1 kg still persisted, nice so now im 84 kg and left the dreaded 85 kg plateau. And today I weigh myself and see that I lost yet another kg, so 83 kg now.
I have to say that the sauna might have an effect of stalls.
Answer
You are probanly right about the sauna helping lose that extra water weight, but just recognize that if you are fasting, you are losing fat. It’s impossible not to. Any benefits from the sauna to lose water weight would be psychological, and it may not be a great idea to use the sauna while fasting as you will lose electrolytes from sweat. Just a couple things to keep in mind!
Answer
First 3 days your body is switching to keto and you would be losing water, food, faeces, and a little fat.
The plateus or stalls you are talking about aren’t really plateus at all. By day 3 you have removed a lot of the stuff in your digestive system. Then you’ve switch to keto. Then the fat loss increaces, but the weight loss on the scales will move more slowly because you are no longer dumping out the weight of food and faeces and excess fluids from your body. It’s just fat and a little muscle you are losing now. Fat contains lot of calories and it takes up a lot of space so the “weight loss” is slow, but the “fat loss” is happening. Just give it more time and don’t be as obsessed with the number on the scales. You are losing fat.