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I did intermittent fasting for 2 months, did >36hr fasts at a time about 3 times a week. I felt amazing and saved a bunch of time and money on food. But then I

I did intermittent fasting for 2 months, did >36hr fasts at a time about 3 times a week. I felt amazing and saved a bunch of time and money on food. But then I tried doing a 48 hr fast and broke my fast with a big burrito and got refeeding syndrome and was hospitalized for a day.

echelon 7y ago
> broke my fast with a big burrito and got refeeding syndrome and was hospitalized for a day. How is this possible? Is that common? Edit: looked it up. This is a real thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome How I wonder how to avoid triggering this. Are there metabolic ramp up guides?
- jayavanth 7y ago
  Ya you have to break your fast slowly. Maybe start with a salad, then keto foods, then carbs if you're into it
voisin 7y ago
This is likely not what happened. Metabolic syndrome is not a thing that occurs after such a short fast unless you were absurdly thin to begin with and/or drank copious amounts of water and flushed electrolytes away. But even a basic level of research would have alerted you to the trivial ways of avoiding electrolyte depletion.
- outlace 7y ago
  Well it happened. I had critically low phosphate which is the hallmark of refeeding syndrome. And it’s not necessarily an absolute deficiency in electrolytes, it’s that when you break a fast with a carb rich meal, it drives the electrolytes into the cells so there is deficiency of electrolytes in the blood even if total body amount is normal.
  - voisin 7y ago
    I have fasted first significant periods for 5+ years and many times I’ve broken fasts with extremely carb heavy meals. I also participate in a number of fasting social networks (both on and offline). I am just saying you might want to investigate this further as a (relatively) short 48 hour fast, broken with a carb heavy meal, should not have led to what you are describing. Something seems very unique about this and shouldn’t act as a deterrent to others. For you personally, if it is related to the fast, you might want to try Snake Juice [0] which you can make at home and keeps your electrolytes up without the sugar of Gatorade and others. For anyone interested, Dr Jason Fung’s book [1] is an excellent primer on how to fast safely. On reddit /r/fasting and /r/intermittentfasting and /r/fastingscience are great resources for more info. [0] For 2L water: 1tsp potassium chloride (NoSalt / SaltFree) 1/2tsp Himalayan pink salt 1tsp sodium bicarbonate (Red Mill. Not processed Arm & Hammer) 1/2tsp magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salt. West Point. Must be Food Grade) [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670
    - outlace 7y ago
      I think I was fasting too often. I was literally fasting every other day, zero calories only water and black coffee. I probably was slowly losing total body electrolytes. But I didnt mention this to deter people from fasting, just to be careful. If that fiasco didnt happen to me I'd still be fasting as I felt amazing while fasting. My dad is still doing it for more than a year after I recommended it to him
_radix_ 7y ago
Umm, that isn't what is usually considered intermittent fasting (IF). IF is typically less than a day, basically 12-20 hour fasts by skipping a meal or two.
- RossBencina 7y ago
  Depends who you follow. As I understand it, restricted feeding window is not IF. IF is ~20-24 hours no more than ~once a week (cf "Eat stop eat"), any less than 20 hours you don't get the benefits.

echelon 7y ago

> broke my fast with a big burrito and got refeeding syndrome and was hospitalized for a day. How is this possible? Is that common? Edit: looked it up. This is a real thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome How I wonder how to avoid triggering this. Are there metabolic ramp up guides?

jayavanth 7y ago
Ya you have to break your fast slowly. Maybe start with a salad, then keto foods, then carbs if you're into it

voisin 7y ago

This is likely not what happened. Metabolic syndrome is not a thing that occurs after such a short fast unless you were absurdly thin to begin with and/or drank copious amounts of water and flushed electrolytes away. But even a basic level of research would have alerted you to the trivial ways of avoiding electrolyte depletion.

outlace 7y ago
Well it happened. I had critically low phosphate which is the hallmark of refeeding syndrome. And it’s not necessarily an absolute deficiency in electrolytes, it’s that when you break a fast with a carb rich meal, it drives the electrolytes into the cells so there is deficiency of electrolytes in the blood even if total body amount is normal.
- voisin 7y ago
  I have fasted first significant periods for 5+ years and many times I’ve broken fasts with extremely carb heavy meals. I also participate in a number of fasting social networks (both on and offline). I am just saying you might want to investigate this further as a (relatively) short 48 hour fast, broken with a carb heavy meal, should not have led to what you are describing. Something seems very unique about this and shouldn’t act as a deterrent to others. For you personally, if it is related to the fast, you might want to try Snake Juice [0] which you can make at home and keeps your electrolytes up without the sugar of Gatorade and others. For anyone interested, Dr Jason Fung’s book [1] is an excellent primer on how to fast safely. On reddit /r/fasting and /r/intermittentfasting and /r/fastingscience are great resources for more info. [0] For 2L water: 1tsp potassium chloride (NoSalt / SaltFree) 1/2tsp Himalayan pink salt 1tsp sodium bicarbonate (Red Mill. Not processed Arm & Hammer) 1/2tsp magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salt. West Point. Must be Food Grade) [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32670670
  - outlace 7y ago
    I think I was fasting too often. I was literally fasting every other day, zero calories only water and black coffee. I probably was slowly losing total body electrolytes. But I didnt mention this to deter people from fasting, just to be careful. If that fiasco didnt happen to me I'd still be fasting as I felt amazing while fasting. My dad is still doing it for more than a year after I recommended it to him

_radix_ 7y ago

Umm, that isn't what is usually considered intermittent fasting (IF). IF is typically less than a day, basically 12-20 hour fasts by skipping a meal or two.

RossBencina 7y ago
Depends who you follow. As I understand it, restricted feeding window is not IF. IF is ~20-24 hours no more than ~once a week (cf "Eat stop eat"), any less than 20 hours you don't get the benefits.