Is there an alternative to Prolon 5-Day Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD)

#1

Too Expensive.

#2

Just mimic the basic calorie count and macros.

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#3

It’s expensive, but don’t forget to subtract the cost of 5 days worth of food/beverages from your typical diet that you would have otherwise eaten.

In my experience, multiple attempts at DIY-Prolon just didn’t work well for me. I was hungrier and didn’t seem to lose as much fat. Since Prolon includes various supplements and a glycerol drink, it’s hard to know why.

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#4

The first few times I did DIY by accurately measuring food weight and totaling it up in a spreadsheet. It worked fine, but on subsequent fasts, I got tired of eating the food due to the taste. Every meal was broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, etc. cooked in a bit of soy sauce.

Ultimately I find it is easier to just not eat any food except for 200-400 calories of nuts on the first day or two to take the edge off. It’s not that hard to do after you get used to it.

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#5

You’ll almost certainly lose a good deal of lean mass this way, in addition to fat. One of Prolon’s claims to fame is benefits of fasting without loss of lean mass.

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#6

Day 1: 1090 kCal of 10% protein/56% fat/34% carb
Days 2-5: 725 kCal of 9% protein/44% fat/47% carb
these are approximate, as body size, activity, and starting metabolic state can all influence your results.

I mostly look at total calories and protein: if those are good and low, you will lower your IGF and go into ketosis. The fat and carbs % can be pretty approximate, IMHO. Don’t exercise intensely during FMD, as that will increase IGF, nullifying the stem-cell priming that results in regeneration of tissues during refeeding.

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#7

I’m confident I did not lose muscle mass doing my FMD. Perhaps my organs shrunk. I definitely lost water (from lost glycogen) and reduced bowel contents. I would not say I lost weight that I kept off. But I did have a change to my body that lasted for a while. I lost all of my joint pain from lifting weights. That effect lasted for 2 months. Some of my joints remain pain free (elbows) while others are creeping back to post lifting pain (after 3 months).

I have done water only fasting in the past. FMD was different. FMD was definitely better from a joint pain perspective and a bowel disruption perspective (lots of stuff dies off with a 3 day fast; hard to restart eating without issues). I’ll do it again soon.

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#8

A must-read for everyone on this thread:

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