Zero Carb 5 Day Bacon Fast - Results

I did it!  Yay, I did a full 5 day - Zero Carb fasting challenge and I made it even more special by focusing mostly on a bacon fast while eating One Meal A Day (OMAD).

The idea came about when my friend Teresa (@ketophoria) started a Zero Carb challenge on Instagram. 

Of course I jumped at the chance to be part of this challenge because I've done many 3 day fasts (only coffee and water) so I knew a 5 day challenge (only bacon) will be easy peasy.

this recipe

5 Day Fast Completed

Keep in mind I was only eating once a day but I tried to eat until I was satiated.  Which for me meant until I was super full and almost to the point of being nauseous. 

All my meals consisted of 4-6 slices of thick-cut bacon.  Two of the 5 days I also ate a cup of ground beef and on one of the days I ate pork belly, some shredded spicy beef and sauteed green beans.   

I also went to the gym 3 out of the 5 days, mostly leg work and cardio.

Fasting Results

Total weight loss over the 5 days was 4 pounds.

Other benefits of doing this fast?

I felt really good eating once a day.  I didn't snack at all.  Knowing that I could only eat once a day, I really had no desire to snack outside of my 1 hour eating window.

• My clothes are looser.  I have a couple of pairs of pants where I normally do not need to wear a belt but by the end of the 5 days I had to put one on because the waist on the pants was loose and I kept having to pull them up.
• My gym clothes are also not as snug.  On January 1st I purposely started wearing a very snug gym shirt so that I could notice the difference as I lost weight.  I was very uncomfortable as it was a little too snug and would always wear a zip-up hoodie over it because I was embarrassed.   Needless to say that today I wore it without the zip-up because the shirt was much looser and I now feel comfortable in it.  I also used to just pull up my gym pants and keep the stretchy drawstring always tied the same.  Today I had to tighten the drawstring, otherwise, someone would have caught a glimpse of my ass on the treadmill.

Overall the zero carb challenge was a great success.

Side Effects of my Fast

Only one.  By day three my stools were fairly loose but that only lasted for two days and then I was fine by day 5.

Will I continue to eat Zero Carb?  Probably not.  I do miss eating some vegetables and eating crunchy foods like nuts, parm crisps or crunchy keto granola.

I have however decided to continue to eat Keto -  One Meal a Day  - 5 days a week.

• Never felt hungry
• It stopped me from wanting to grab a snack when I was bored
• It also helped keep my blood sugars at a normal level.

Thanks again to my girl Teresa for putting together this zero carb challenge.  If you want to know more and see what others did during the challenge,  head over to instagram and search for #ketophoriazcc or #ketophoriaefc.

If you want to learn more about fasting I suggest reading The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung.  Chapter 15 is about Intermittent Fasting.

Do you fast? Have you ever done a zero carb challenge?  I would love to hear your diet hacks and what works for you.

Follow me on instagram @ihackeddiabetes