The past two weeks I've stuck to one meal a day (at 5pm, eating anything I want) and a snack (fruit, honey bun, apple fritter, cobbler, ice cream, etc) in the evening before bed since carbs seem to help me sleep much better. I also walked every day at a brisk pace for 30-40 minutes (my normal routine in addition to walking when I hunt). I lost 14 pounds of adipose tissue (fat) which seems like a lot for such a short period of time but with my body using ketones as an energy source instead of glucose fat comes off much quicker.

fwiw, I'm a diabetic and eating a honey bun is the antithesis of healthy eating for a diabetic. But eating within a short window has increased insulin sensitivity due to depleting glycogen stores from fasting and my blood glucose doesnt rise above 130 even after eating a pastry. It normally hovers around 70-80.

* I take 1 gram of metformin daily along with a bunch of other molecules.
* I normally eat what/when I want on the weekends.
* I'm a research guinea pig for an affiliate of Johns Hopkins & Harvard Medical Schools

How do you stay in ketosis if you eat a honey bun?

I’m curious about this, too. Are you testing to confirm this?

OP, I've been thinking about various versions of the periodic fasting diets myself. I'm not diabetic, just want to drop about ten or so pounds.

What is your age? Care to divulge your height and weight? I've always heard that the more you have to lose the faster it goes at first.

At age 64 / 5,7" / 172 pounds I may not can lose that much that fast. I walk or use the Nordic Track ski machine pretty regularly.

Yep, I'm tested and I test myself before and multiple times after a meal to log the results. For clarification, I don't eat sweets every day. And when I do my blood sugar drops to around 80 within two hours. It took a month of intermittent fasting to lower insulin resistance to get there.

Getting bumped in and out of ketosis is easy when your body runs on ketones. The way it was explained is my body doesnt have the glycogen stores (in the liver & muscles) that it would if glucose was the primary energy source.

I'm not a doc but I do find the data interesting. I'm just sharing what I'm experiencing in case anyone else finds it interesting too. I am/was diabetic, thats why I'm a lab rat

edit - I just checked my glucose and it was 69. I'm having fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli, salad, and I'll eat homemade guacamole before touching my food. I'm thinking my glucose will top out at 130'ish. Average glucose for a typical person is 180-220 after a meal.

edit - my ketone level was 2.8 before eating. Still cooking, cant wait to eat

Finished my meal at 6:15 (no broccoli, but I did have a tall glass of 2% milk), glucose peaked at 138, its now at 75 Ketones are now .6 (point 6) and will continue to rise until I eat again tomorrow (I'm comfortably full - I get full easily)

Literature says glucose peaks two hours after a meal. Mine peaks quickly and drops back to normal well within two hours. Again, explained that it's due to increased insulin sensitivity from intermittent fasting with one meal a day and occassional snacks, all within a 3 hour window.

* elevated blood sugar from frequent eating/snacking desensitizes cells to insulin which causes blood sugar to edge higher and higher. It's the cause of Type 2 Diabetes.

This is really interesting. Am I following you correctly in that you are able to eat carbs and stay in ketosis, due to intermittent fasting? Did you do a period of no carbs to get to this point?

I’ve got a friend that’s been basically strict keto 320’is days for past 5 years. He is very similar, if he comes out of keto it’s not for long. His body has really adapted to it. If we breaks from a keto diet like a pizza night, he fasts the next day.

It's possible to eat carbs and stay in ketosis, technically, I stay in ketosis 24/7. My doc say's the key is not letting blood glucose rise above a certain threshold so it can quickly drop back to baseline AND to exercise which depletes glucose stores. I see ithe evidence pretty much every day.

Insulin sensitivity vs insulin resistance is an interesting subject. The goal is to reverse diabetes (I think I'm already there) by following a low carb diet with intermittent fasting which increased insulin sensitivity. And low carb doesnt mean no carbs. A little Debbie Honey Bun contains 26 grams of carbs. Eating once a day, I could eat 2 honey buns with a high fat/protein meal and still be in Ketosis AND lose weight.

It's not complicated. Checking blood sugar thoughout the day is important to see how your body reacts to the food you eat. For instance, I used to think Sushi was healthy until I discovered Sushi rice sent my blood sugar through the roof. It's one of the worst things imaginable for screwing up my blood sugar, significantly worse than a baked potato. Some people can eat it, I can't. Now I eat Sashimi instead.

fwiw, I eat avocados at the beginning every meal. Fats slow digestion which prevents abrupt spikes in glucose and sate hunger much longer than proteins and carbs. Thats another way to keep blood sugar low.

edit - baseline ghrelin levels are now higher in between meals. I don't feel hunger like I did before.

edit - I previously mentioned I take Metformin. If the public at large knew the multitude of benefits from taking metformin, drug dealers would be peddling the [censored] on street corners and doing brisk business. The stuff is literally magic in a pill. It benefits every aspect of human physiology. And apparently protects against dementia and alzheimers from what I was told.

edit - here's a brief synopsis of Metformin https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=43RPx09X-po

Intermittent fasting is the key to give the body time to become sensitive to insulin instead of having elevated glucose all the time. I'm now eating once a day 24/7 (for twelve weeks total) as part of a monitored study but I've been doing something similar for a few years to control and reverse Type 2 diabetes. Apparently it worked, hence the reason I was bribed to be in the study

I'm having a Reuben couple slices of Napoli's Supreme Pizza & Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing for dinner (after eating avocado). I'm curious to see what my blood sugar does from the Rye Bread and Thousand Island dressing pizza crust.

Do you think fasting without a low carb diet would have the same results?

That would depend on your definition of fasting and low carb diet. The short answer, (as defined within the constraints of eating once a day or within a narrow window) is yes, the docs seem to think so.

Obviously, when eating once a day caloric restriction plays a big role in the perceived health benefits. A skinny person, particularly a Type 1 Diabetic, would probably croak.

* I can eat whatever I want. Just once a day.

Can you drink beer and do this? Lately I've tried a diet of only 18-24 beers a day as a meal. I don't think it's working.

After eating pizza and a salad last night my blood sugar topped out at 93, ketones bottomed out at .7 (within the definition of nutritional ketosis). I ate one avocado before my meal. (lost more weight)

Still blows my mind that I'm able to stay in ketosis just by eating healthy fats first. The information that my previous (old school) doc and nutritionist told me about nutrition was so wrong on many levels it borders on professional incompetence imho.

edit - blood sugar (glucose) is 83, ketones are 2.6.

edit - my wife said she noticed a change in my appearance from weight loss. My abs are now starting to show despite needing to lose more weight, I'm getting pumped to the gills! It's happening fast despite eating what I want once a day.

I once quit drinking for thirty days and didn't lose a pound. I did not replace it with sweets.

I don't drink alcohol, I can't help you there.

I simply cut back by adding a little more water to my already watered down martinis and lost a few more times. I lost enough to not feel bad about eating an occasional serving of banana pudding. Look it up.

had to have been a miserable 30 days

aerangis, what is your a1-c when you have blood work done?