Help!! Am I the only one who struggles with binge eating after a fast? I want to do longer fasts that are more than 72 hours but I keeping eating a lot after these short fasts that I’m afraid to do longer fasts that will require slow refeeding. Any tips to overcome this?
HELP! Struggling with binge eating after fasting
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Personally it takes me 72 hours to completely deplete glycogen (stored sugar from carbohydrates) from my liver and muscles. It’s only then that your body goes into full ketosis (fat burning). It’s been shown that ketones are an appetite suppressant.
Knowing this the shortest water fast I ever did was 4-days which was the 1st prolonged fast after a 2 week transition period of 16:8, 18:6, 20:4 and then OMAD.
For me I found that the shortest water fast where I got any benefits was a 5-day while the 7-days were even better. I just finished a 40-day on this forum and you might find it interesting to read the latest entries which focus on my ReFeed/Rebuild the Body phase.
Hope this helps!
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Me too : ( I always gain the weight back pretty fast because of binging. I’m kind of a yo-yo dieter 
I absolutely understand what you are going through! I used to have these binging tendencies as well. Now I’m finishing a prolonged fast and I have found a new outlook on food and I believe that my relationship with food has changed for the better. But I’m actually scared of this habit waiting for me around the corner!! Stay strong. These things are like muscles, we can develop them.
Thank you. I will go through your 40 day fast thread. Its encouraging to read about positive experiences with prolonged fasting not just for weight loss but overall well being. Keep it up!
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Same experiences. At my lowest weight I was at 70kg and I’m 1,61m. September this year I had balloned to 100kg but since doing IF I have come down to 87kg but still have a long way to go to get to a healthy BMI weight of 65kg at least. I understand how it must be a lifestyle now and have forsaken these crash diets that make us gain almost double the weight back.
Thank you for the encouragement. Making these lifestyle changes is not always easy. We have to stay disciplined and abstain from gluttony. Im also on this new path of changing my relationship with food. Eat to live and not live to eat is what I always remind myself and that I dont need to finish everything on my plate but rather go for small portions even when I indulge in the not so healthy foods.
I’ve had the exact same experience with binge eating, and it often got way worse the days right after a fast. Before the fast I’m doing now, my longest one was for 10 days, which ended in a binging episode. This time around I honestly feel different. I’ve listened to a doctor named Dr. Alan Goldhamer and a psychologist named Doug Lisle who have talked about the ability water fasting has on helping to overcome addictions. Both because of the detoxification process that happens a lot quicker when stopping an addiction compared to when you continue to eat, but also because the neuroadaption and resetting of the taste buds and dopamine stimulation. I feel like when I’ve fasted this long, those changes happened to a larger degree than on the earlier ones, since I then remembered the taste and dopamine release so well when less time had gone by, and the urges to binge was still there.
I haven’t broken my fast yet, so I’m not sure how it will be, but for now, I have no urges to to any of that. 
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Guaranteed your taste palate WILL change. However, you have to stay disciplined as you can always change the taste palate BACK. However, the nice thing is that after a prolonged fast you can HAVE one of those binge items and not have the physical craving anymore. I’ll have to look at those sources you mentioned as I had hypothesized it was due to the healing in the brain that occurs during a prolonged fast. Thanks for the info!
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I used to try to fast, rarely getting to 24 hours before binge eating big time. My weight only went up. When I rehab’ed my diet and got into eating 3 really healthy meals a day, no snacking, and very limited refined sugar intake, most of my unhealthy cravings got cut down to near silence. I lost 120 lbs in a year like that, without being hungry except shortly before each meal. Now I’m doing 36 hour fasts each week, and I do binge a little when I refeed, but not at all like I used to. Now, when I refeed, it’s by choice, not ‘panic eating’. I can choose a healthy, balanced meal, even though my portions are bigger on day one out of the fast. I believe that it is important to establish a very healthy, balanced diet to ensure you are properly nourished before a fast to avoid ‘panic hunger’ after the fast.
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There is controversy as to when autophagy begins but within two days you should be in the zone. I do intermittent fast daily with a short feeding window to access autophagy daily. I find longer fasts make it easier for me not to have the binging syndrome. I embrace the longer fasts because I welcome the absence of hunger after 3-4 days. No need to fear longer fasts - they are more comfortable and think of all those cells that have gone to work renewing your body. Just be conscious of your refeed and have a program in mind for how you are going to eat after the refeed. I would start with intermittent fasting and progress to OMAD. If this is uncomfortable for you start with a longer feeding window with your IF. If you have a plan you will not fail. You can do this!
Thank you for your input, this was definitely helpful.
I put a lock on my fridge and gave my son the key, just in case
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Here’s a video I made with some tips:
- Write everything down
- Make a plan
- Stick to OMAD
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Hello
First of all, as hard as it may be, do not focus on any sort of dieting.was it fasting, keto, or any other diet plan. depriving yourself of certain foods will only cause you to binge on those foods.
Moreover, Fasting after a binge can increase your hunger sensation the following day, since the leftover insulin might make you feel more hungry. thus perpetuating the binge cycle over and over and that’s why you binge eat after fasting
Check this article out, it might give you some tips about fasting and binge eating. Good luck