Ep. 73 - Dr. Scott's 8.5-Day Extended fast: Why now? Routines & Frustration. When to push your window? | Fat + Protein to Lower Insulin Response when Breaking a Fast | Fasting After Antibiotics | Free One Meal a Day OMAD Intermittent Fasting Plan

In this episode, Dr. Scott and Tommy discuss understanding when it's a good time for a longer fast, how to break a longer fast to minimize discomfort, and the important role our frustration points play in fueling personal growth and development.

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Fasting For Life Ep. 73

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:00:01] Hello, I'm Dr. Scott Watier,

Tommy Welling: [00:00:03] And I'm Tommy Welling, and you're listening to the Fasting for Life podcast, and

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:00:08] This podcast is about using fasting as a tool to regain your health, achieve ultimate wellness and live the life you truly deserve.

Tommy Welling: [00:00:15] Each episode is a short conversation on a single topic with immediate, actionable steps. We cover everything from fat loss on health and wellness to the science of lifestyle design.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:00:25] We started fasting for life because of how fasting has transformed our lives, and we hope to share the tools that we have learned

[00:00:30] Along the way.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:00:40] Everyone, welcome to the Fasting for Life podcast. My name is Dr. Scott Watier, and I'm here, as always, a good friend and colleague, Tommy Welling. Good afternoon to you, sir. Hey, Scott. How are you doing? Well, my friend, this is going to possibly be one of my least favorite episodes to record. So I'm just a drop, an opening night. So everybody ready? All you listeners out there get ready for a doozy. But no. So in all seriousness, I know I just drop that in your lap, Tommy. So. I we're going to talk about my most recent longer, longest fasting journey, so as I'm recording this, I am seven plus. I'm almost seven and a half days into a fast I've never gone longer than seven days before. And there was a few conversations that came out of it, one about timing of these things, the why behind it, and then some of the details that came up during it that I did not expect. And kind of the mental, so the physical, but also the mental emotional side or the physiological versus the mental emotional side. Excuse me. So hopefully it'll be a good conversation. We get a lot of questions about, you know, help with longer, fast.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:02:02] We haven't done an episode similar to this in a long time. I have not done a longer fast on time. So the reason I say it's going to be my least favorite episode is because we get to talk about me and I'm a pretty private person. But, you know, that's kind of weird because now we have a podcast that has hundreds of thousands of downloads and tons of listeners. And it's kind of a weird statement to say I'm a little awkward, so I'm going to stop talking now and kind of let you take it from here. But before I do that, I would like to thank all of you as well, because the comments and the conversation just keeps coming in. And we just love and appreciate each and every one of you every time we get a message, encouragement, question. This is why we started doing this. So very grateful for the opportunity that we have listeners and that people are tuning in. So as I took the spotlight off of me and put it on to you guys, I did there a little deflection. Tommy will kind of walk through this together. So I'll turn it over to you, sir.

Tommy Welling: [00:03:02] Yeah, this is cool because like you said, it's been a while since we've had this conversation. It's always kind of fun because I remember first starting getting into fasting and and thinking that the seven day fast almost sounded like the Holy Grail, like that sounded like this impossible kind of mythical thing that I hadn't I hadn't done. I mean, at the time, I hadn't gone more than probably 16 hours without eating, let alone seven full days. So so just having having done that and the perspective that you gain and kind of understanding, you know, the like you said, the emotional side, the mental side, physical side of it, I think is kind of interesting. So I'm going to start with what what made you decide that now was the time to to do a longer.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:03:52] Well, you know, I hadn't really thought about that until we recorded a recent podcast where we just kind of went through some questions from listeners about, you know, how do you know when it's a good time to do a longer fart? So I hadn't really thought much about it. I've been in maintenance mode and I was kind of hanging out. But then last fall when I completely ruptured my biceps tendon away from my forearm and had to have it surgically reattached with pins and plates and screws and, you know,

Tommy Welling: [00:04:23] Your bionic now.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:04:24] Yeah, I actually do have quite a nice memory. Nice little two inch scar here overall. You know, when that happened was all about getting better as quick as I could, you know, getting my son into my truck was was the project for the day when it first happened, you know, that my arm was immobilized. And, you know, I've never had a major surgery, not a big fan of taking medication unless it's a life threatening situation, having taken an antibiotic or a prescription since. Late teens, so when they're like, hey, what's your pharmacy, I'm like, I don't have one. OK, what's the closest one of your house on like CVS as a pharmacy? They're like, yeah, I'm like, OK, well, there's one around the corner from my house. So the reason I bring up the that the medication is because I went into the surgery. Doing some consistent fasting, so I knew I'd be in a place where my body was best suited to undergo a process like that and coming out the back, and I didn't really even think about it. But there's a chance of infection. Right. And I didn't want to end up like the NFL star Rob Gronkowski, who has the top surgeons in the world. And he had a fractured forearm and they put in some screws and then he had four subsequent surgeries just to clean up the infection.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:05:49] And there's another NFL example, Alex Smith, who almost lost his life because of a compound fracture with multiple infections in his leg, like, OK, I'm just going to take the antibiotics. Can you give me a five day instead of a 10 day? OK, fine. So I took them. But what happened is, I mean that within two weeks, inactivity medication, you know, going through that experience, I was still doing one meal a day, but then my cravings just went through the roof. So I've been sticking to my one meal a day to meal a day on Sundays with the family. But I put on an extra 10 or 12 pounds of fluff that just kind of fluctuated week to week. And I was just kind of to the point of like like I'm just done with it. OK, it's time to get back to where I was at a healthy point before the dang surgery. Like I'm ready to be done with this thing. It's six months ago. I'm still not done the rehab process. I've got another few months to go, but I've been cleared to do most daily activities. Now I'm like, all right, I'm getting back. I'm good. Here we go. And I just knew for me, you know, the next six weeks, to answer your question very directly, I know took a roundabout way to get here for the next six weeks.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:07:10] We have a lot of things going on. So family coming into town. I have a business trip that I'm traveling for. We have my son's birthday where the grandparents are coming into town for two full weeks and then his birthday party, which you're invited to, by the way. You're welcome. Actually, no, just kids. That's really what that's really what my daughter wants. But anyway. And then an anniversary trip with my wife two nights away from the kids for the first time ever, two nights. And then another trip, business people coming in town and then a fiftieth birthday party. We're traveling to Dallas. We're of Dallas. So I knew that I have all of these opportunities where I wanted to feel good and be able to enjoy those without having to worry about am I moving farther away from my health goal? Blaming it on the surgery six months ago, or am I really just taking back control of the situation, which is really what fasting has done for me over the last few years, getting my health and my life back? Right. So the motivation was finally just like a frustration point of ripping the Band-Aid off and being OK. I'm just doing it so midnight, I was up late, went working, and I was like, all right, I'm setting the timer. And that was seven and a half days ago.

Tommy Welling: [00:08:39] Wow. Yeah. What I heard there was regaining the control that you felt like you'd lost from from the surgery six months ago. And so that was kind of a slow build up and then being pushed right up, ending up kind of between a rock and a hard place with the looming kind of schedule. That's that's in the book. That's right around the corner for you. So so almost feeling like there was no choice. There was no option. Like like now is the time is now or never has to go out right now. Otherwise I'm going to I'm going to hate the next six weeks or feel like I'm in a complete lack of control. Loss of control.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:09:23] Yeah, it was interesting because there's been a couple of things that have happened over the last. Seven days where our nanny is out. So my wife and I split time as stay at home mom and dad, we we split our schedule. So I have the kids. She has the kids I pick up, she picks up and then we have the family time on the weekends, but we don't have any. Her and I date nights. We have our trip coming up and my parents are coming in town. So we're like, Michael, that's a win because now I don't have to work it around a non-negotiable typically, which is a date night, right where I want to be staring at my wife, as you say, eating dinner and enjoying a glass of wine on me. That weirdo. You know, we both have a lot of business stuff going on. My wife's busy. We had a couple of things, external events that would take us out of our normal routine, which normally I'd make breakfast on Sunday mornings for the family, which would be a place of where I would eat outside of my normal window. But I plan for it every week. So just a lot of stuff aligned. And I definitely could have used the additional mental and physical mental clarity as well as the energy boost. But that's kind of where the wheels fell off on day three four.

Tommy Welling: [00:10:33] Well, yeah, that's what I was going to ask you about, too. So like, every every longer, fast is different. They're unique. And I wanted to ask you how how you've been feeling. What what's what's this seven day plus so far fast. How's that been going, how you felt throughout the process? Well.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:10:54] I know that I really dislike and it was interesting because this overlapped with some of our continuity people from the last challenge, our continuity fasting group, where there was a woman who posted like, oh, man, you know, I had this expectation I was breaking my fast, my longest fast. I've done that. I had this meal and I ate like four bites and I didn't want to eat anymore. And then I felt like the next, you know, six hours. And that was, you know, I hopped on a Facebook live in my backyard, sunglasses on. My two kids were in that inflatable pool we just bought. Right. And I'm like, I hate my life right now because I was in the 60 to 70 to our. Yeah. Which I know is my least favorite. Time window, but then in the past, where I've done my five and seven day fast, in the past I've done three or four of them. Day four is typically pretty good ish. Day five, six, seven are incredible. Mm hmm. Well, not so much this time. So I came I posted that came out of the EC and woke up the next morning and was like, all right. And then I'm like. Huh, this doesn't feel like I was expecting it to

Tommy Welling: [00:12:04] You didn't have that same breakthrough kind of feeling, so I

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:12:07] Had more cravings. It was it was I had a pickle spear. And I hate pickles. I know that's your go to I was like, I need something like. Right. And then I went back to the trace minerals did water. Luckily, it was a really busy day. But then, you know, one of the reasons for that was I had really bad sleep. Night three and tonight four and then really bad sleep night for and tonight five. So even when I got to night five. I still felt bad and I'm like, oh, so I threw the key to a monitor in the drawer, I put it away, I knew the cravings were coming like I knew I was still there. Because a number was elevated in the morning, my blood sugar was still higher than I was expecting it to be, typically by that time I'm in the 70s, I was still in the 90s, in the morning. And I'm like, what is happening?

Tommy Welling: [00:12:58] So I had been you had been you had been tracking blood sugar and ketones for the first few days? Yeah.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:13:03] Just like I'd done on my other previous longer fasts.

Tommy Welling: [00:13:07] Ok, but you didn't need any further confirmation that you felt like crap.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:13:11] Right. I was like, OK, putting this away. And then I had a decision to make on day five where I typically would have been one of the days where I would have had lunch and then done a 30 hour to the following dinner. Right. And. I decided not to and I decided to push the window, and I'm really glad that I did, because now I'm seven and a half days in and I plan on breaking that just shy of like eight and two thirds. So like eight plus 14 or 15. OK, Friday evening, because we have a family coming in and we have a dinner planned and I don't even want to break it. Like, I just want to keep going because now I've made it to the promised land that I'm like. But the original goal was like, all right, doing a reset, curb the cravings. Let's lose those 10 pounds, 10, 12 pounds that I gained because of the surgery, which I'm blaming on the surgery. You know, subconsciously my two surgeries fault. I couldn't use my arm now. I could have kept fasting. But then there's the antibiotic component, the craving component, like all of that stuff. Right. So all real life stuff. But, yeah, I'm glad I'm glad I pushed. And now I'm like trying to figure out how I'm going to end it because I really don't want to at this point.

Tommy Welling: [00:14:24] Yeah. So ending it is is a good point because any time I've gone past three days, I was always kind of a little disappointed or frustrated to end it because it was almost like, OK, well, the toughest parts, the toughest part's over. Do I really need to end it right now? So so you have a family coming into town and in a few things coming up. So how do you think you'll you'll actually end it like if it was today and right after we got off of here in 15 minutes, you were going to go break the fast? What what do you think you would do to break it?

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:15:05] If I were to break it. Well. What I what I want to do is what I've done in the past. Which is. Have the almond flour crackers with the almond butter in the natural strawberry preserves and and the two grass fed cheeseburgers and a little bit of the jasmine rice that I made for the family in the pressure cooker, the brown jasmine, organic growth in the pressure, sticky rice I made the other night, and then a little bit of a little bit of the fajitas that we had and a little bit of that chicken soup my wife made. And that's what I want to do. Because once your mind is made up like the mental, that's why I love that. I can't even remember ask the question because there's a mental component. There's the physical component that I talked about, knowing that, like, the sleep screwed up the normal process and that I don't like 60 to 70, two hours and all that physiological stuff, ketosis transition out of sugar burning and the fat burning. But the mental side is like you have that expectation to break it. So what I think I'm going to do is I know that there is going to be some empty calories in the form of alcohol because her her uncle is bringing down a very specific purchased like a special an adult beverage and don't treat.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:16:27] All right. So what I'm going to do to make sure I'm doing this right is I'm actually going to eat a handful of mixed cashews and almonds to break it. And then I like pickled vegetables. So just like carrots, cucumbers, peppers, those types of things. So I started that process. I have that because we'll probably have a couple like a like Akito based sour cream spread or something with some appetizers when it shows up on Friday and then my wife's making dinner, I'm going to stay away from the carbs and dinner because it's a chicken farro dish that has like like a heavy pharaoh in it. And it's cheesy and it's gooey and it's chicken and it's amazing. And I'm just going to stay away from it and then I'll have some protein and some veggies for dinner with them. Just a small probably four to six ounces of chicken and some veggies on the side because we're doing green beans. And then I know that once I do that, then I will have the special adult beverage that was brought to me apparently was ordered. So which is really cool and probably a couple of glasses of water and call it a night.

Tommy Welling: [00:17:39] So, God, why why are you specifically staying away from from some of those carbs during the dinner?

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:17:48] Yeah. So some of the research that we talk about and some of the stuff that we go through in the challenges is the combination of starting off with the raw nuts and the fermented foods, probiotic rich foods, bone broth, those types of things is a good way to break a longer, fast. And then I'm going to stay away from the carbs because I know that's going to cause a really big spike for me. Like, I just know me. I'm not going to be able to limit myself just to have like a small dish of it. I'm going to want, like, the Man-Sized plate, like I know my habits or I'm going to be like, no, because it's so good. I'm like, oh, one bite. No, that's it. Come on. Like, that's like, oh, I have one piece of pizza. I don't know about anybody else out there, but I can't do that. So I'm going to save the carbs for later, like I'm going to reward myself right. With the liquid carbohydrates. And I know that the combination of fat and protein first actually mutes the blood sugar spike of the carbohydrate. I'm going to do the meal and then I'll wait, if you like. Fifteen, twenty minutes and then then we'll have the post dinner libations.

Tommy Welling: [00:18:53] I think that's a good plan. It sounds like you're going to do a lot of things right to to feel good after you end up breaking this fast. And I know a lot of people are going to wonder what is the next day going to look like or when when does the fasting begin again? Or is it just is it just a free for all time after?

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:19:17] I'm going to say this lovingly. I hate you right now because I don't want to think about this stuff, but

Tommy Welling: [00:19:24] Because this is this is a real this is this is real and and hasn't you don't necessarily have all this mapped out just

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:19:32] Yet. Right now. We didn't talk about any of that full transparency. We don't talk about any of this because I didn't want to do this episode. So but I think there's value in it. So I'm willing to to be the sacrificial lamb here. I. I want to be the moderator, I like I like leading the podcasts

Tommy Welling: [00:19:51] On an eight day fast, you can do the same thing.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:19:54] Ok, I want to hold you. I'm going to hold you to that. So interesting. Saturday is going to be a busy day. So we have a trip to a local farm to table restaurant that we love here, that we love to take family to and with the young kiddos that go to bed seven seven thirty eight bed bath process starts at seven thirty. We don't typically go out to dinner late when family's in town. We'll do more of like the the the late lunch type thing to come home. Kids nap, get up, hang out, stay up a little bit later than usual. So we're really strict with because our children turn into gremlins or or little little monsters if they don't get there, if they don't stay on their on their sleep routine. So my wife and I, for our sanity, we keep them very strict. So we're going to do we're going to that place for lunch. And I'm actually not going to eat like I've already I already know that I'm going to be taking care of the kids. I'm going to be making sure and eating I'm going to be making sure Quin's not coloring on the table. She's actually really good. So it would be Xander that's like eating a crayon.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:21:00] All that little guy does is eat. He's not very little, but so I to be working on them, letting Meg, my wife, enjoy the family time and I'm just going to kind of be the the the ladies on to make sure everything goes great. We got more there on time. You know, everybody everything served. We take care of the check and we leave. Right. And then Saturday night is going to be is going to be takeout from one of the places that family loves to go to and they come into town. So I'm going to make sure that I give myself a good window on Saturday and I'm not going to be a part of the lunch dinner back to back. Stuff your face fast. That would absolutely crush me. I would be done on Sunday and then Sunday morning I'll get up. I'll make breakfast for everybody. We have a Sunday morning routine. We make these organic hash browns. We have the eggs. My wife does our egg whites. The kids just eat raw peppers like apples. So many details here. But I will be the server or the chef and then family will leave and then I'll have Sunday night dinner with the family. OK, all right.

Tommy Welling: [00:22:09] That that sounds like a solid plan. So breaking it Friday night window on Saturday evening that you already know you will be fasting during the family get together lunch, which is not just

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:22:24] Work this out in real time. So like, I like this plan because I don't want to give back the hard work and hell that I just went through like day four or five and six were supposed to be enjoyable, like day four or five. This time we're just like the 60 to 70 to our mark where I was like, why am I so hungry? Like the hunger wasn't going away. I didn't have that big energy boost. My sleep wasn't great unrelated to fasting. It was it was household stuff. Right. Storms and thunderstorms and dogs and kids. And I was like, oh, all right, whatever. So I don't want to give it back. So, like, I need to go to, you know, what was working for me before surgery, which is being very intentional with my one meal a day.

Tommy Welling: [00:23:04] Yeah, I love the plan and thanks for sharing the details on it. So if if you had to leave everybody with with something that that they can do for themselves, what piece of advice do you have from from your newfound perspective on your your longest fast so far?

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:23:27] And that's a really good question you're asking for almost like what would be the take away?

Tommy Welling: [00:23:34] Yeah, what for? From someone who has not been down the, know, four or five, seven plus day fast. What what what perspective can you can you bring from the other side

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:23:49] To to see if it's going to sound like we planned this. Join our free community Facebook group because you're going to need some support. Write down the email info at the Fasting for Life Dotcom, shoot us a message, but really would be starting with the intention of why you're doing it. So my intention how to clear it was it was I know what's coming. I want to be able to enjoy and feel good and be confident. You know, in those moments that I'm moving towards, I don't want six weeks to eight weeks of derailment because that reminds me of the holidays when I was struggling with internal insulin resistance and weight back in the day like that reminds me of the oh, I'll start next week. Oh, I'll start the six week program after my next birthday. Oh, all of that other stuff. So that's what feeling comes with it. It reminds me of that. So my encouragement for everybody would be, you know, have an intention, understand that not all time is a good time to do long fasts. Right. You have a plan, set some intention behind it. And then when you get in the IC and you get in it, know that. Remember the reason why you started it. And that's what allowed me to really kind of push through this time, which was different from from my my fast in the past. So it was a totally different experience. My last thought would be fasting is is is tricky and it moves your body does things differently. Every time you fast, your situation changes. For me, sleep was a big thing this time or last time I did my longer, fast sleeping was incredible. So just know there's going to be variables that come up, but make sure you have that intention and that anchor point as to why you're doing it. And that's going to allow you to kind of push through to the end.

Tommy Welling: [00:25:28] Oh, well said. So if you're just getting started head on over to the Fasting for Life Dotcom, sign up for the newsletter, get the Fast Start guide so you can start putting fasting into your day to day life starting today. And you'll get a link for the Fasting for Life Community Facebook group and get the ball rolling today.

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:25:49] Oh, I love it. Thanks for being. Thanks for putting me on the couch today, Tommy. Appreciate it. Thanks for making me share. Hopefully you guys found some value in it and we'll talk soon.

Tommy Welling: [00:25:59] Yeah. Thanks. Bye. So you've heard today's episode and you may be wondering where do I start? Head on over to the Fasting for Life Dotcom and sign up for our newsletter where you'll receive fasting tips and strategies to maximize results and fit fasting into your day to day life. Why are you there?

Dr. Scott Watier: [00:26:16] Download your free Fast Start guide to get started today. Don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Make sure to leave us a five star review and we'll be back next week with another episode of Fasting for Life.