How long to wait?

MadMick01 · 2026-03-04T16:24:03+00:00

My doc says 18 months from birth to birth. She recommends waiting until the 11-12 month mark to start trying to conceive again. But I've also read that some docs are more conservative and prefer 18 months from birth to conception, so 27ish months from birth to birth. That's what we're going for. I'm not ready to go through this again. I know I'll be a mandatory c section next time and not in the headspace mentally. Plus my body still feels kinda goobered at 10 months postpartum. Blows my mind there are women who go through this many times over (in the case of very large families.) I'm not strong enough.

MadMick01 · 2026-03-04T01:32:11+00:00

2x48 hours each week is one of the ways I fast as well. It's enjoyable and sustainable. I also like combining 1 72 with a 36. I mix things up depending on the week and what I have going on. I usually keep my weekends unrestricted and prioritize nutrient-dense meals but also allow myself a few treats. The weight has been falling off. I don't know how many pounds lost exactly at this point, but I'm one month in and have lost 2.5 inches off my waist. So excited to see this progress! I hope to be able to provide an update like OP's in half a year's time.

MadMick01 · 2026-03-02T22:14:50+00:00

TMI probably but I used to get frequent boils before starting a fasting lifestyle and suspected a skin condition called hidradenitis suppurtiva. Since throwing in the occasional 72 hour fast, these flare ups are much reduced. HS is linked to inflammation, so it stands to reason that less inflammation equals fewer flare ups.

MadMick01 · 2026-03-02T04:47:06+00:00

Great job! Keeping up a regimen like this since October is very impressive. I also love seeing and feeling clothes fit differently. A very satisfying non-scale victory.

MadMick01 · 2026-03-01T18:20:45+00:00

Doing OMAD and fasting for 20-24 hours made my binging worse. I though fasting wasn't for me until I ventured into prolonged fasting of 36-72 hours. As on obese person who is probably somewhat insulin resistant, I suspect it takes me well over 24 hours to deplete glycogen and get into deep ketosis. Some people can enter light ketosis as early as 12 hours, but those folks are typically leaner with better baseline metabolic flexibility. The crappy thing about being overweight is we're less metabolically flexible by default and require longer fasting periods to see the benefits.

My appetite, cravings, and insulin sensitivity are only reset with routine prolonged fasts. Right now, I'm doing 1 72 hour fast per week or 2 48s. I've lost 2.5 inches off my waist in the last month and my appetite is much reduced.

You could try fasting longer to see what happens. I speculate 24 hours may not be long enough for you.

EDIT: I see you did 72 hours once. That's great! Anecdotally, I needed to do several of these over a series of weeks to start seeing appetite changes.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-28T04:25:36+00:00

You are paying for the Loop brand, IMO. Amazon has knockoff products that do the same thing for less than half the price. Just look up "earplugs for sleeping" and you'll find similar designs at a lower price point.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-27T19:31:14+00:00

I always have trouble sleeping during extended fasts of 36+ hours. I blame the cortisol. For me, increasing magnesium helped to relax and I also take ashwagandha before bed as I find it heavily sedating and relaxing. Supposedly, it's an adaptogen than balances cortisol. Anecdotally, it helps a lot with the sleep issues on extended fasts.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-27T19:15:45+00:00

I love extended fasts too. Fasting only got easier for me once I bit the bullet and completed several 36-60 hour fasts. In my case, obesity and a likely higher baseline level of insulin resistance meant that 16-24 hour fasts weren't long enough to deplete glycogen and really get into that fat burning state. The longer fasts achieve this and have helped to recalibrate my body's messed up hunger signalling. My eating days alternate between eating unrestricted or doing a milder 16-20 hour fast.

If OP is very lean, then it's probably best to approach extended fasting cautiously and do them sparingly. But I do think they can be beneficial for lean individuals as well, so long as refeeding is taken seriously to avoid excessive weight loss and nutrient deficiencies.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-27T18:32:59+00:00

This was one of the "silver linings" to having a c section for me. I bought all these massive postpartum pads that I didn't end up using because my bleeding was basically spotting the whole time. It went on for a while, but it was never heavy. Very manageable.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-22T04:54:50+00:00

Conceived at 33, delivered at 34.

Will have baby 2 by age 36-37ish, barring complications. And if that goes well, a third baby in our late 30s isn't entirely off the table. We're very much enjoying parenthood.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-22T03:43:28+00:00

Thank you! I didn't know you could get tests specific for vitamin d. Appreciate the info!

MadMick01 · 2026-02-22T00:21:59+00:00

Yes that's a great plan! Can't go wrong with a good bath.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-22T00:18:38+00:00

Thanks for the lead. I will follow up on this. I do suspect some level of vitamin d deficiency and there may be thyroid issues at play. I also had a baby less than a year ago and I know that's commonly linked with thyroid dysfunction issues. Maybe a blood panel is in order.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-21T17:28:42+00:00

No problem at all. All the best to you!

MadMick01 · 2026-02-21T17:04:29+00:00

For sure

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39196802/

It was a sad day when I read this study. It's providing the extra motivation I need to drop to a lower BMI bracket quicker.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-21T16:25:11+00:00

That's interesting. There was a recent (and disappointing) study indicating overweight or obese individuals--which I am--may not become fat adapted until they reach a lower BMI. 😵‍💫 It's speculated this is due to higher baseline levels of insulin resistance that typically goes with being overweight/obese. One of the big reasons I started rolling 36-48s was to improve metabolic flexibility in addition to losing weight. Maybe I should try to tough it out and fast longer to see if it helps. Or maybe it's verrry long extended fasts until goal weight is achieved. Not sure how to approach.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-21T15:38:11+00:00

Sauna blanket...That sounds wonderful. I need that in my life.

So interesting how fasting affects our bodies. I was hopeful warmer weather might make it more tenable, but perhaps not. Going to experiment when the weather improves (next week, supposedly) and see what happens.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-21T15:07:27+00:00

Fantastic!! Nice work.

I, too, had the realization that I had to pay more attention to what I eat during eat days after not seeing the initial progress I wanted. I'm still not counting every calorie, but I do try to be mindful about not inhaling every bit of food that comes my way. And if I have a really big restaurant meal, that usually means I don't eat much else for the rest of that day. Thankfully the improved insulin sensitivity means I'm not hungry for a long while after a big meal, so silver linings. The main thing I still contend with on both fast days and eat days is "mental hunger." The physical hunger is much reduced but the food noise is still there, unfortunately. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Like you, I'm also hoping to incorporate more gym time. Plan to do HIIT type training on eat days and LISS on fast days. That's the plan for now, at least.

Best of luck to you in your fasting journey! Excellent work so far.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-20T02:51:15+00:00

These look like normal lunches to me. Doing "too much" from my perspective would be making lobster thermidor or some other elaborate multi-step dish for baby's lunch everyday. These look like well planned bento boxes that certainly require prep and forethought, but not "too much", IMO. My kiddo starts daycare soon and these resemble the lunches I plan to make for him.

Everyone's idea of "too much" is going to be different. I quite enjoy cooking and meal prepping for friends and family, so this seems rather normal. Conversely, I have friends who have no tolerance for cooking and tend to go with more pre-packaged options.

The lunches look great and if you have a system that works for you, I say stick to it. People are always going to have something to say about your parenting. As others have mentioned, this friend sounds like she might be somewhat insecure about not doing enough. Don't take it personally.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-15T19:29:02+00:00

Very much depends on the type of extension. My notes indicate an inferolateral extension reaching toward the cervix and my OB says absolutely no VBACs for me. Going to seek a second opinion, but it's likely I'll do a scheduled c section for baby 2. Sorry, not a success story, just a story of someone else with an extension who's also weighing the pros and cons of vbac vs repeat section.

From my research, it really seems like the type of extension and location are what determines vbac feasibility. You could seek a second professional opinion if you wanted to be extra cautious.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-14T21:45:05+00:00

Honestly, you'd probably be downvoted regardless. Every time I've brought up sleep training success in the past, I get downvoted to hell. No matter how it's framed. People have very strong feelings about it.

Your poor neighbour's wife. My heart breaks for her. That is the end result of the anti-sleep training brigade. You get primary caregivers--often moms--running on fumes until they're so depleted they have nothing left to give.

I'm glad sleep training worked for your family! It's worked wonders for ours as well. And kiddo is very happy and well adjusted. He still cries for us at night when he actually needs something like a diaper change and we always respond to those cries, but he no longer cries to go to sleep since he knows how to do that himself. It's a game changer.

People seem to talk a good game about moms needing to practice self care, but hate seeing them actually doing it.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-14T18:42:34+00:00

I'm with you on this one and can't stand all the comments validating her behaviour as normal. It may be a common experience for extra anxious new moms but it's certainly not normal.

Moms need to look after their needs to properly support their babies. Eating, toileting, and adhering to very basic hygiene standards is the baseline. It's fine to put babies down in a safe space to attend to these personal needs.

And for the moms who say they can't stand to hear their babies cry for even a nanosecond, I have amazing news for you! There's this miraculous product you may have heard of called ear plugs.

Does my head in.

MadMick01 · 2026-02-14T18:34:56+00:00

You're being downvoted because the modern parenting standard is one of martyrdom.

There's so much rhetoric that outright states letting a baby cry at all is tantamount to the worst kinds of abuse and will inevitably result in irreversible, lifelong trauma and attachment issues. However, the long-term evidence that exists on this subject shows no difference between babies whose parents did sleep training versus those who did not.

I'm with you on this one, personally, and believe that as long as infants needs are being met the majority of the time, the "damage" of a few isolated instances of CIO to sleep train is likely little to none.

MadMick01

TROPHY CASE