How a 72-hour fast pushes your body into ketosis - Performance Optimal Health (2024)

FAQs

How a 72-hour fast pushes your body into ketosis - Performance Optimal Health? ›

A 72-hour fast, or fasting for three consecutive days without any food intake, can help your body enter a state of ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body burns stored fat for energy instead of glucose from carbohydrates.

Terming it “dangerous”, Dr Gude said a 72-hour fast usually pushes the body's metabolism to ketones and this reflects in the urine ketone bodies (starvation ketosis).

The 72-h fasting induced significant decreases in glucose level, body weight, and an increase of ketone bodies that confirmed successful fasting of the volunteers. In addition, the median of BDI-2 increased significantly (4 vs. 7, p = 0.006).

Your body may go into ketosis after just 12 hours of not eating, which many people do overnight before they "break fast" with a morning meal. (A midnight snack obviously sabotages this process.) A keto diet keeps you in ketosis for much longer time periods because you avoid carbohydrates, which supply glucose.

Fasting for 12 hours is the fastest way to get into ketosis.

What is the most effective fasting time window? Fat burning typically begins after approximately 12 hours of fasting and escalates between 16 and 24 hours of fasting.

Within the first 72 hours of the experiment, participants' bodies used fat stores as energy and, therefore, lost about 12.5 pounds on average of both fat and lean mass. While the lost lean mass was restored after the first three days of eating post-fast, the fat mass was not.

While a prolonged fast of 3–5 days aligns with the gut lining's turnover rate and facilitates cell regeneration, studies have shown that shorter fasts of around 16–24 hours can still yield positive changes in the gut microbiome, offering digestive benefits without the need for an extended fast.

Fasting Developments: Mechanisms & Immune Pathways

Results from a small clinical trial found that after 72 hours of water-only fasting, autophagy levels of leukocytes were enhanced through upregulation of upstream signaling and apoptosis was reduced through the downregulation of apoptotic gene expression.

Can you exercise during a 72 hour fast? ›

While you can exercise during a 72-hour fast if you'd like to, avoid long and strenuous workouts. Keep your body relaxed during most of the fast, or choose light cardiovascular workouts for 15-30 minutes. You may also opt for light strength training during a 3-day fast.

Signs that suggest you are in ketosis include fatigue, bad breath, dry mouth, weight loss, flu-like symptoms, and decreased hunger and thirst.

To recap, the best exercises to help get you into ketosis include HIIT, resistance training, steady-state cardio, and sprinting. However, remember that listening to your body and starting slow is essential if you're a beginner.

Fasting deprives the body of the fuel it needs, so expect to feel tired and low on energy. A lack of food can also make people feel dizzy, weak, or nauseous, and if these symptoms are particularly bad, it is important to eat something. It is also important to drink enough water in order to prevent dehydration.

Try a short fast or a fat fast

Another way to get into ketosis is to go without eating for several hours. In fact, many people go into mild ketosis between dinner and breakfast. Children with epilepsy traditionally fasted for 12–48 hours before they started a ketogenic diet.

We watched hundreds of videos on 3 day water fasts and people reported losing between 4.5 lbs to 12 lbs on their fast. This depends on a lot of factors including starting weight and height. The three-day water fast can be a powerful tool for natural healing, weight loss, and overall well-being.

The bottom line. You should avoid cheat meals and days on the keto diet. Consuming too many carbs can kick your body out of ketosis — and it takes several days to 1 week to get back into it. In the meantime, your weight loss may be disrupted.