Ever since I had to take steroids this past Spring for my allergies, my system has completely rebelled. My hormones are out of whack, and my body has become completely resistant to losing weight. No matter how strict I am with keto – even counting calories and cutting out dairy, alcohol, etc. I have not been able to drop pounds.
Even worse, every time I go off plan for the weekend or some event, additional stubborn pounds creep on. I know that a lot of you are struggling with this same problem, so I thought I’d do some research on ways to break through a weight loss plateau.
One tried and true method to bust a plateau and get your weight loss going again is a fat fast. 3 days, 1200 calories per day – almost all fat. Most people just eat an entire block of cream cheese per day, a few ounces at a time. Ew. So much NO. Maybe someday I’ll try it for experiment’s sake, but for now it’s just not for me.
Recently I started hearing about the Egg Fast and was intrigued. I’m planning to try it and track my results. I thought you guys might be interested in trying it too, so I’m posting some basics about it here for those of you who have never heard of it.
What is an egg fast? It’s a (short term) diet that consists of primarily eggs, cheese, and butter. For each egg you eat, you should eat a corresponding Tbsp of pure fat in the form of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil. You can also eat a corresponding Tbsp of full fat cheese per egg. Doing this will result in an extremely low carb, high fat, moderate protein intake that will kickstart your body into fat burning mode.
In my research on the egg fast diet I couldn’t find any scientific reasons as to why it works, but there are a lot of anecdotal cases of people who have had success with it. One of the most popular is from Jimmy Moore of Livin La Vida Low Carb who did it for a month back in 2010 and lost 27 lbs. You can read his story and the guidelines of the plan he followed here.
Low carb maven Dana Carpender also reports having some success with the egg fast to shed some stubborn pounds – you can read her post here. Most recently I read a post from The Ketogenic Woman chronicling her success with the egg fast to break through a plateau, and that’s what finally convinced me to give it a try.
There is a closed group on Facebook called Egg Fast – Stall = Breaker (diet) that I joined (and you can too if you’re interested) to get more information, and after reading through the threads it seems that the biggest issue people have is gaining the weight back when you go back to regular LCHF or keto. Across the board it seems that at least 90% of the people doing it will gain at least a portion of the weight lost back – though there are some who have kept almost all of it off with a careful reintroduction to their normal keto diet.
The key to success seems to be cycling on and off for 4-5 days a week. While on your off days, you should stick to LCHF (keto) and even then, don’t go nuts. It seems possible to lose 8-10 lbs (or more) a month this way and keep it off. To be clear, while I’d love to do that, I’m not (at this time) planning to do the egg fast long term. I’m hoping that this one week egg fast will kickstart my metabolism, and get my body back in weight loss mode so that I can go back to my normal keto routine and start losing consistently again like I have in the past. We’ll have to see how that goes.
I had no trouble losing almost 60lb on keto the first year I started – and kept most of it off until I started having severe seasonal allergies in 2012 that wreaked havoc on my entire system. Stalls can be the result of medications, hormones, age, and other factors. If you’re having issues losing on low carb now, even though you’ve had success in the past, you might need a reset like I do. Hopefully this egg fast will be the thing that works to get my body back on track, (and maybe yours too!)
I’ve customized the egg fast to my own preferences, and here are the basic guidelines of the egg fast that I plan to follow for the next 5 days:
- Bullet Proof Coffee within 30 minutes of waking (coffee with 1 Tbsp MCT oil, 1 Tbsp Kerrygold unsalted butter)
- Eat 3-5 meals of at least 2 eggs each, starting no later than 10am
- Have 1 Tbsp of butter or sugar free mayo per egg consumed
- 6 ounces of full fat cheese (cream cheese, cheddar, brie, etc.) allowed per day (eaten with eggs or separately as a snack)
- No eggs after 7pm (1 string cheese allowed after 7pm if starving, counts as part of the 6oz daily limit)
- Don’t go more than 4 hours between meals or snacks between 10am and 7pm.
- Drink 100 oz of water per day (minimum)
- Supplement with magnesium and potassium (lite salt) daily.
- Small amounts of fresh herbs, hot sauce, no carb sweeteners, and spices will be allowed – as long as they are less than 1g net carbs per serving, not to exceed 5g net carbs per day.
This may sound unduly restrictive, but you’d be surprised how many delicious recipes/combos that you can come up with using eggs, cheese, and butter (cream cheese pancakes anyone?) For those of you that are interested in trying it and want some structure, I’m working on a one week egg fast meal plan that I will post next week. I will strictly adhere to that same meal plan and will update you with my results at the end of my first week.
Update: I lost 7.4 lbs in five days on the egg fast, then gained back .5 lbs over the next two days for a net loss of 6.9 lbs. in one week. Here is a list of some of the egg fast friendly recipes I came up with and posted here on IBIH during the fast:
Buffalo Omelette
Salted Caramel Custard
Easy Deviled Eggs
Snickerdoodle Crepes
Fettuccini Alfredo
Update: Click here for my 5 Day Egg Fast Menu Plan!
A word of caution: If you are not already fat adapted and are eating hundreds of grams of carbs per day in your diet, you may not want to embark on an egg fast until you’ve been in ketosis for awhile. Jumping right in can make you feel really lousy, and may even be dangerous if you have other health conditions. Consider trying my 3 Day Keto Kickstart first and see how you do before trying something as low carb and high fat as this egg fast.
Stuck in a plateau? Is an egg fast something you’re interested in trying? Have you already tried it? I’d love to hear your results/thoughts in the comments!
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Chris Hampton says
I’m a big fella at 6ft and 265lbs. I just started working out 7 days ago and walking 1 mile per day, and also started the egg fast 3 .5 days ago. I have been eating as much as I want when I’m hungry, but being sure to add the 1tbsp of butter per egg. Most days I’ll eat about 14 eggs. I’m steadily losing 2lbs per day, consistently! I’m hoping the transition to keto diet will be smooth with minimal weight gain with my heavy gym routing and watching my diet. This morning when I weighed myself I was 244lbs. I’ve been weighing myself every morning and it’s been a steady 2lbs per day with no adverse effects yet. I’m sticking to the fast for a full 7 days and then transition to keto. I’ve never attempted any type of diet in my life, so I’m having great luck so far!
Rachel says
Starting Day 3 and lost 0.3 lbs. Looking at your lists of what you ate each day, thinking maybe you reduce the butter in other meals to make up for the butter & MCT oil in the BPC? At first it looked like BPC AND 2 eggs, 2 T butter for breakfast. Now I’m not so sure. Trying not to panic when I look at my macros and just trust the eggs. :-) Thanks!
Rachel says
In 2 days on the egg fast I wasn’t losing weight, so I did more research and found the basic Egg Fast is 2 eggs with 2 Tblsp. butter 3 times per day. You CAN have up to 1 oz. of cheese for each egg, but you don’t NEED to eat all that cheese. It also looks like you should substitute 1 oz. of cheese for the Tblsp of butter if you’re eating eggs and cheese for a meal. Once I started having 6 eggs and 6 T. of butter per day, THAT’s when I started losing weight like everyone is talking about. So, I wasted my first 2 days of the egg fast eating way too much fat and cheese. Live and learn, right?
Angela says
Hi – i have been Keto for nearly 2 years. been in a 6 month stall. I have been on your egg fast for the last two days (being home during this Covid19 thing), and my ketones were 4.1 last night, and lost 1.8 lbs. Just letting you know I have to take meds with something other than water, so must have 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, with 1 tablespoon of HWC each day. I’ll let you know how it goes by day 5.
Bella says
Hi. I would like to know how you counted 1200kcal on this egg fast. I’m already on 1200kcal everyday. And when I put 6 eggs, 6 ounces of cheese and 6 tablespoons of butter in the app – I hit 1600kcal. My question is, if I’m already on 1200kcal then going up to 1600 Kcal would suggest that I would gain weight instead of lose it since weight loss is about calorie deficit. Any idea?
Robyn says
This was the EXACT question I have. I’m very nervous about going up to 1600 plus calories from my normal 1200. Would really love to have an answer!
Mellissa Sevigny says
You don’t track calories on the egg fast typically.
Rachel says
Today I had a BPC with 2 eggs for breakfast, morning and afternoon snack was string cheese, lunch was 2 eggs, 2 T butter and the same for dinner. Calories – 1232. Read my comment to myself above. I’m now losing weight but wasn’t with all the extra cheese. I also thought the BPC was in addition to the eggs, fat, and cheese. I now count that as 2 fats. Seems simple, but not really!
Kathy says
Day 3 lunch makes no sense to me. 1 cream cheese pancake, what is the 1 Tbsp mayo for? The recipe say sugar free syrup and the deli slice cheddar cheese????
Mellissa Sevigny says
It’s basically a mini wrap. Made with 1 cream cheese pancake, spread with the mayo, then the slice of cheese, then rolled up and eaten. The syrup is for use when eating the pancakes as a breakfast if desired – not together with the cheese and mayo.
Monica says
Hi!!! I‘M from Peru and i looooove your page! I have one doubt, if i have a bpc in the morning and i Want another in the afternoon… can i take it? If i have for example 8 eggs and only 5 TBSP of butter…
sorry for my english!!! ?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Yes!
Laura says
Hi
I would love to know why you have to eat before 10am? I’m having 2 bullet proof coffees before that but can’t stomach the idea of eating before 11/12am.
Thanks!
Michelle says
I’ve done an egg fast before to get out of a stall. It was successful. Somedays I had two bpc and I still lost weight. If I had scrambled eggs I would do 1 tbsp butter for 3 eggs, then have 2 tbsp of butter available for a couple cups of bpc.
I’m starting an egg fast today and will be having egg coffee this time. It’s actually really good. If you decide to look up some recipes for it I just suggest using little to no hwc. Just modify, or find, a recipe that fits the egg fast.
Amber Waldron says
Is sugar free gum (1-2 carbs per piece) okay on the egg fast? Asking because I know it’s a “no” on the beef and butter fast. Thanks!
grace2u says
Just finished a 5 day egg fast.I always find the egg fast easier that after the fast. I am very strict with eating, always below 20 carbs a day. But here is the question..how do i transition back.
When I do an egg fast i am keeping it simple.I hate to cook so its just eggs butter cheese sometime.My eating routine is simple raw spinach some chicken breast ,Renees chunky blue cheese dressing 0 carbs 7 fat ,actually 1 tablespoon, depending how much fat i had so far. Can i eat like that the first day after 5 day fast.Oh I always eat eggs for breakfast.Just thought i was not starting right.
Thanks so much
Jill says
Starting egg fast today. I’m shhoting for 4 days to start then grilled chicken and greens over the weekend. I’m 52 and can’t lose since menopause. I’m also giving up beer for the 4 days…. just woke up and ate an egg in 5 min of waking up.
grace2u says
Hi there.I didn’t even know beer was allowed when eating keto?
Michelle says
I’m on day one and so far I’m over my calories fat and protein by quite a bit. Is this normal? I followed your day one to a T. I usually do IF and about one meal a day maybe two. I’m worried being over my macros so much will make me gain not lose. OR is that how this works?
Rachel says
I am curious about this as well! Anybody have an answer?
grace2u says
How did you figure your macros out?
Shelly says
I am wanting to try the egg fast, but the problem is, I am up at 5:30am daily to start getting my daughter ready for school which she leaves at 7:45a.m. I rarely have time to even fix a cup of coffee during this time and I am never hungry until after 8a.m. Do I need to eat an egg that early in the morning since it states to eat 1/2 hour from waking? I don’t go to bed until 10:45p.m. every night either, but the nothing after 7p.m. is easy. One other question – I have not found any info on how to go back on plan after the fast. Or did I just miss that somehow? Thank you so much. What a great blog..
Mellissa Sevigny says
Shelly it’s fine to eat when it’s easiest for you! The egg fast plan has a two day transition built into the end of it and then go to regular keto afterwards!
grace2u says
Please, where do I find the transition after a 5
Casieopea says
been keto for more than a year… 70 pounds gone… now I am stalled…I am seriously considering an egg fast – more so as a morale booster to kick start my next leg of the journey. I was wondering if counting calories is done on an egg fast? I did a prelim run with it for a couple days and was plugging it into myfitnesspal and Im over the daily allotment for fat and calories… and I am just wondering if this is a concern or if the purpose is to stoke the fires with more fat and calories? any thoughts are appreciated… since no one seems to have a body of juried research on the mechanism of how this works – I thought I would solicit responses from people who has been successful with it. THANKS!
Jessica W says
What about intermittent fasting…. think I could do the egg fast with only eating twice a day?
May says
Hi Melissa, I am doing the keto diet, but weight loss is really slow. I am thinking, if I just want to do a 3 or 5 day fast, can I pick any day’s recipe out of the 7 to follow? Like I like some foods better than others, so, say can I do days 1,2, 3, 3 and 5 for a 5 day diet? Can I substitute string cheese for other cheese as it is not easily available where I live? Tks very much?
Meghan says
I know this post is older but I’m hoping you still see my comment. Do I HAVE to eat cheese? Like if I’m full with the 1:1 ratio of eggs to fats, can I skip the cheese? I’m not a big fan of cheese, but I want to do this right. Thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny says
No you can skip the cheese!
Meghan says
Thanks!
Joanna says
10 eggs and 10 TBS butter and 6 oz of cheddar cheese comes out to 2400 calories! In the beginning of the post, you say that a fat fast is 1200 calories. Please explain the difference and why 2400 calories would ever be ok. Thanks.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Read the comments from all the people who lost weight on this plan. There is more to it than calories in calories out.
Elise Ann Wormuth says
I don’t know if this is “kosher,” but I have some roasted garlic aeoli and chipotle mayo (1 carb each) and I mixed those to make the egg salad. Tasty and kind of spicy. Fighting off the egg overload by making something a little bit different.
Danielle says
So I’ve been doing this for the last 4 days (following the menu) and I’ve consistently lost weight every day, but I’ve only lost 400g. Over 4 days. It’s nice to see the scale moving after ages, but really disheartening seeing other people losing 5lbs overnight while I’ve only lost 0.8lbs over 4 days.
hayley says
It’s probably only water weight and muscle – at the end of the day you really want to be losing fat, which takes a longer time and therefore you won’t get dramatic numbers on the scale. Fast weight loss, while exciting for the scale doesn’t really mean it’s actually fat loss. Keep at it and you will see results, try intermittent fasting and experimenting with your deficit.
Danielle says
I ended up losing 1kg from it – it wasn’t water weight, since I’d been really ill the night before I started this and had dropped my stored water already. I’ve never even seen the number on the scale that I am now and I’ve stayed that number since finishing the fast. I still need some time to see if it’s kicked my body back into fat burning mode (since I’d stalled for about 4 months) but so far I’m pretty happy, even if I didn’t lose a dramatic amount of weight like others did.
hayley says
Hi there, is the weight loss with this actual fat loss (or mainly water weight and/or muscle loss)? Also, is it effective for people who have less than 15 pounds to lose? Many thanks :)
Brian says
I guess if you have to eat something this is probably a good thing to do. But if you can get away with it I highly recommend intermittent fasting. Don’t eat anything from when you get out of bed until dinner, you would end up fasting for about 16 hours depending on how much you sleep, and when you eat dinner. Dinner should be strict keto, and if you have a snack it should be strict keto; but if you’re doing good on maintaining weight and are well below your calorie count, you don’t have to be tooo strict.
Ann says
If you read what she says… you eat from 10AM – 7PM — that’s a 15 hour fast. What you are talking about is a 23 hour fast. It might be a little hard eating 6 eggs and all that cheese in one sitting. I’ll be doing it with 2 meals, spaced out by about 4 hours apart, so basically 20 hour fast, 4 hour eating window.
Claire says
Hi! I have followed this plan to a T. From an LCHF diet I started the egg fast and ate the recommended egg/fat/cheese ratio (sometimes leaving out the cheese). I lost about 5 lbs and then gained back 2 lbs. I’m not sure what else I can do, and I’ve just stayed on it for more than a week now because I’m scared of going off and gaining. I have about 25 lbs to lose, and I’m stuck (and feeling desperate!!) … have you or any of your readers had this kind of result?? That is, very little weight loss and another plateau?