So first a breakdown of where I’m coming from: age 63; obese since early childhood; diagnosed with full-blown Type-2 diabetes since 2016; weight in the middle of January was 274 lbs on a 5’8" frame (height weight charts suggest I should be 165). I went on a strict low carb but calorie non-restricted diet in February and lost thirty pounds in about seven months. Then I ran into a wall: no further weight loss, started feeling constantly hungry (which I hadn’t previously) and my blood glucose which had been under control started edging up again. Apparently the thirty pound limit is a thing where one’s body becomes more efficient at processing fat and protein, as well as thirty pounds less meaning you need less food. I tried “intermittent” fasting– reducing my daily eating window to six hours– which didn’t help, and neither did trying to ration protein to the 55 grams per day recommended allowance. Eating just a little drives me up the wall.
So finally I said screw it I’d rather fast completely than try to restrict calories. The morning I began my blood glucose reading was 115; eating nothing but water, caffeine-free diet soda and vitamin and mineral supplements, I’m so insulin resistant that it took nearly four days of fasting before my b.g. dropped below 90. So apparently shorter-term fasts just weren’t going to work for me. As of yesterday and today it’s fluctuating between low 70s and low 80s.
I researched as best I could and apparently any blood glucose reading of 70 or above is considered safe. I’m slightly light-headed and need to dress warmer but nothing severe, and I’m working to stay well hydrated. Oddly enough I feel calmer and I’m sleeping more soundly. So I’m playing it by ear. If my b.g. goes alarmingly low, or I start feeling or showing signs of sickness I’ll break fast. Otherwise we’ll see what we’ll see. I wish I could fast until all eighty pounds I was still overweight are gone but I know that’s probably not realistic (although not impossible, there are famous weight loss cases in the medical literature).
I just came off a 7-day fast, and have done 14 days previously. During my fasts I drink three liters of water per day minimum, more as desired (I just ensure that I don’t go to bed without having put away three). I use a mix of electrolyte salts with my water (like this) to be safe.
Oh, and take it slow getting back up to eating when you end the fast. I broke mine on Thursday and pushed things a bit too fast yesterday and ate too much (and paid the price). It really does take time for the digestive system to get back into full swing…
Talk to your doctor, and perhaps ask for a referral to a dietician who specializes in Diabetes.
Your body prioritizes which tissues to use for fuel. Muscle tissue is typically targeted. In a prolonged fast, even the muscle tissue of the heart can be compromised.
Fasting often plays havoc with the electrolytes. Bones are a storehouse of minerals.
Educate yourself about the glycemic index of foods. A diet using low glycemic index foods can help to break through a plateau.
Yes, your scale is showing a weight loss. With a fast the first few pounds are water. The weight loss will slow down, as the body decides which tissues to break down for fuel. The brain uses only glucose, so that is the priority. The body can manufacture glucose from fat or protein, but it is an inefficient process, and the byproducts can be a burden for the kidneys to eliminate.
So, let’s say you lose 50 pounds. Perhaps only 25 pounds will be of actual fat. That means you’ve lost muscle mass, and the remaining fat cells are going to be lonely. The fat will tell the metabolism you have recently undergone a famine. When you resume a regular diet, the body will be compelled to store more fat to insure survival in another famine.
I’ve been on a virtually zero-carb diet for ten months. I gave it two months for the “plateau” to end and it never did. Fasting is the only place left to go.
I don’t have diabetes but can relate to the OP in terms of trying low carb diets with mixed success. I’ll share my experience with intermittent fasting: I tried it because I was experiencing a lot of IBS-like symptoms, but my doctor said it wasn’t IBS: I was simply consuming more fat than my body could digest.
I started off by limiting my eating to a single 4hr period per day. After a few days it felt like someone had been repeatedly punching my stomach for most of the day (hunger pangs). I didn’t experience much weight loss but quickly noticed an improvement in my IBS symptoms so I kept going.
After two months I reduced my eating period from 4hrs to 2hrs (this brought around another really bad period of hunger pangs) and created rules for myself for social situations. If I wanted/needed to go out to eat socially with someone I could eat outside of the 2hr window. However, if I did this I had to limit my restaurant meal size to the amount I typically order and my eating window was then cut in half to 1hr for the rest of that day. I think I lost 4 or 5 pounds over that time period, but again, weight-loss wasn’t the primary motivator for me.
After 6 months I reduced my eating window to 1hr (the hunger pangs came back again with a vengeance), with similar rules for social eating: I couldn’t order more than the typical amount and my eating window was then cut down to 1/2hr for the rest of the day. Weight-loss had been stop & go but averaged out to around 0.5lb per week.
I’ve now been going for 9 months and have lost 20lbs over that period. I don’t think cutting my eating down to less than 1hr a day is realistic for me so I’m planning to stay here for the foreseeable future. If I “break the rules” my IBS symptoms come back almost immediately so that’s a big motivator. I’m still losing weight I think? This is the slowest rate of weight-loss I’ve ever experienced.
Finished ten days yesterday; today I started feeling weak and light-headed and decided to throw in the towel. I’m breaking fast with beef and chicken stock. I dearly hope that I’m not just back to square one, that I actually got some ketogenesis to kick in.
Can you try Ozempic? Obese since early childhood sounds like you’re facing more than simply lifestyle issues. Nothing wrong with using the help that’s available.
Well in a sense it was lifestyle choices: my mother had next to no sense of what a healthy diet was and I was raised on sugared soda, sweetened ice tea, lemonade and Hawaiian Punch; sugared breakfast cereals; orange and grape juice (hardly low-sugar); copious snacks of ice cream, pop-tarts, popsicles, and doughnuts; with treats of every description. And tons of starchy foods to buffer all that sugar. I was fat as a pig by the time I was seven; basically I was Eric Cartman. If I could get to start over again knowing what I know now… but of course no one does. And then my weight loss efforts as an adult foundered until I finally realized (very late) that any diet plan had to begin with my withdrawing from carb addiction.
The problem with drugs like Ozempic is that while they are a pretty good treatment for type-2 diabetes and typically will produce a thirty-pound weight loss, I accomplished exactly the same thing staying on a low-carb diet; and having done that I was then only 80lbs overweight instead of 110lbs overweight. I’m not merely “overweight”, I’m obese (now down from morbidly obese). Given potential side effects for limited benefit, I’m far from certain Ozempic would be a good idea.
That sucks. Seems like everyone ate kind of badly in the past, but that sounds really excessive.
Have you tried exercise, specifically lifting weights to build more muscle? I’ve heard that it helps by making your body burn more calories, though it still has to be accompanied by dieting. You could also try the 5:2 diet if fasting worked well for you; some of my coworkers were doing that before Covid and it seemed to work for them.
I can’t speak from direct experience since I’ve only done half-hearted keto and skipping breakfast - similar to you I find it easier to not eat at all for that time than to have a small amount.
I used to walk for miles everywhere, until advancing age made me more injury prone. My health fell off a cliff in late 2019 when I had what I suspect was COVID before it officially got on the popular radar.
