Today, I did a bit of a variation on the 24-hour fast. I fasted for 16 hours, no calories at all. I had a Powerade Zero, about five hours into my fast, after my run, which is great for maintaining my electrolytes post-workout.
Then, after I had gone over 16 hours with exactly zero calories, I brewed up a french press coffee, added Stevia, cinnamon and a quarter cup of heavy cream. That kept me going for another three hours or so.
To get me across the finish line I tried coffee, Stevia, cinnamon, cocoa, and a tablespoon of coconut oil.
I like drinking the heavy cream more than the coconut oil, since the cream doesn’t separate out like the coconut oil does, but both coffee drinks taste fantastic.
Here’s the breakdown of calories and macro-nutrients:
- Total calories: 345
- Fat: 34.4g (95% of total calories)
- Protein: 1.3g (2%)
- Carbs: 3g (4%)
- Net carbs: 1g
(Percentages equal 101% because of rounding errors)
That’s a hard core fat fast. I lost 2.7 lbs in that time, just under 25 hours (24 hours, 52 minutes) with no solid food.
The consumption of 34.4g of fat during that time, or 310 calories, probably slowed or stopped whatever autophagy that was going on during the no-calorie part of the fast, which was about 17.5 hours.
Since the vast majority of my calories came from fat, I didn’t knock myself out of ketosis or spike my insulin in any way.
For exercise, I went for an easy run about four hours into my fast, and then followed up with a core workout.
I didn’t exactly pig out before I started fasting, either. I ate my leftover vegan tofu stir fry, less than 500 calories, before I started fasting.
I broke the fast with pepperoni and fresh mozzarella, microwaved. That’s my version of pizza these days.
I didn’t exactly stuff my face for the balance of the day after I finished my fast. I was right at my daily limit, 2,300 calories.
That’s a lot of calories, but that’s low enough for me to lose weight, since I need about 2,500 calories a day to meet my basal metabolism rate (BMR), with no exercise. Add the exercise I did, over 1,000 calories, that’s about a 1,200 calorie deficit.
Often, after I do a fast, there’s a bit of a bounce-back: my weight goes up a few pounds over the next few days, like my body is saying, let’s grab those calories when we can!
So I’ll see what happens with the weight over the next few days, and post a follow-up here.