Curious about the keto egg fast? Find out what it is, and how it works.
This is an account of how I first heard about and experimented with Egg Fasting years ago. Since then I have done it many times, and have created this free 5 Day Egg Fast Meal Plan that has helped thousands of people break through plateaus and lose stubborn fat.
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.
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 the egg fast?
The Egg Fast is a (short term) diet that consists of primarily eggs, cheese, and butter. For each egg you eat, you should eat a corresponding tablespoon of pure fat in the form of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil.
You can also eat a corresponding tablespoon 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.
The biggest issue people seem to 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 with the egg fast 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.
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 tablespoon MCT oil, 1 Tbsp Kerrygold unsalted butter)
- Eat 3-5 meals of at least 2 eggs each, starting no later than 10am.
- Have 1 tablespoon 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, then gained back .5 lbs over the next two days for a net loss of 6.9 lbs. in one week.
Click here for my 5 Day Egg Fast Menu Plan!
Egg Fast Recipes
Buffalo Omelette
Salted Caramel Custard
Easy Deviled Eggs
Snickerdoodle Crepes
Fettuccini Alfredo
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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Hélène says
So have you lost more now? Did it truly restart ur loss/break the plateau?
I think even if it did for me, i’d just gain it back when I ate fruit or starchy vegs again :(
Mellissa Sevigny says
I hate horribly for almost a week afterwards Helene and still kept several of the pounds off!
Toni says
Also wondering, is anyone excercising during the fast?
Starla Lester says
Thank you for posting about this over the last week. I’m in a similar position as the one you describe: I reach a point where I have zero quality of life/am literally sick with allergies. Then I give in to steriods to “get my life back”…. and then gain crazy weight which makes me feel lousy and saps my energy/endurance. I’ve been reaching a point of desperation and will be trying your egg fast. What you are doing here with your blog is important, please never doubt that!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thank you so much Starla! I’m so sorry to hear that you are having similar issues as I am – I know how frustrating and debilitating it is! Like that isn’t bad enough without gaining weight on top of it – sheesh! I hope that this helps you – please keep me posted on your progress!!!!
Marion Harvie says
I’ve done 4 days now and lost 7 lbs! I’m going back to LCHF tomorrow, but have been thinking aboit doing a version of the 5/2 diet. I would egg fast for 2 days a week and normal LCHF for the following 5 days. Does anyone have any views on this?
Pat says
That’s pretty much my plan until I hit my goal. For me, the Egg Fast was a huge success. I lost daily and am in full Ketosis at the end of Day 4, my last day. Can’t wait to weigh in tomorrow morning. I’ve struggled months to lose and this has been the best short-term method to start the scale moving in the right direction.
Big thanks to Melissa. I noticed a new msg from her w/ the Egg Fast Menu and recipes. The next fast will be even tastier.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Hope you have at least as much success the second time around Pat! And let me know how the 5/2 thing works for you Marion! I’m thinking 3 days on/4 days off for the next few weeks to see what happens – don’t know if I could do 5/2 more than once!
Marion Harvie says
Thanks Melissa, when I said 5/2 I just meant two days of egg fast then 5 days of LCHF ! However I am now joining in with the Facebook egg fast group and am also doing the 3 day 5 day one! As of this morning after coming off the egg fast over the weekend very carefully, I am down a total this week of 5 1/2 pounds. For me this is amazing! I am so happy and grateful to you for communicating and sharing your information and knowledge with us. Thank you.
Pat says
Marion, I too am coming off my first Egg Fast, very carefully, and am still losing. I would have been happy not to gain but to continue losing is wonderful. I’m also going to try to do an Egg Fast 2 days, off 5 staying LCHF, of course. I think that will result in a solid weekly loss. I have a long way to go, like 30 more lbs or so.
Good luck!
Pat says
More good news! Completed 2nd day of breaking the fast (with 2 egg meals; 1 Low carb meal that even included light beer). Not only did I not GAIN – I LOST another .5 lb for a loss of 7 lbs in 5 days. I did the Egg Fast 4 days. Can’t wait to weigh again tomorrow. I’m also using Keto sticks daily and am in the ‘moderate’ Keto level. No dark purple yet, but who cares, this is amazing for me to lose every single day. The other amazing thing is reading this thread that is on fire with encouragement and success stories. So many of your followers have lost 30 to 50 lbs following LC. Hearing that motivates me even more to stay the course.
Can’t thank you enough for sharing the Egg Fast with us and did I mention….I LOVE IT! Have a great day everyone.
Jan says
CONGRATULATIONS PAT!!!!
Cindy says
Just finished the 5 day egg fast lost 8.4lbs. It wasn’t that boring thanks to your recipes. I have to say though day 5 was hard. Now to see what happens while I am on vacation next week. I am thinking of doing this 4 days egg fast three days keto for a while if I don’t continue to lose. I will update you on any regain of weigt lost on the fast.
Pat says
Cindy – I am on Day 4 today and have lost 6 lbs as of Day 3. What a boost to see a weight loss every day. I am stopping at Day 4 due to a birthday party on Sunday, but I’ll stay Keto compliant. I’ve found this remarkably easy to do, and have felt good since Day 1. I also plan to use this weekly or bi-weekly to push myself along and have a steady weekly loss until I reach my goal.
Another trick I used was to cook up the next day’s meals the night before. They sit in the fridge waiting for me to eat or heat and I’m free from cooking anything all day. And a tasty, crispy, salty snack I enjoyed was 2 slices of natural cheddar or Jack cheese fried til crisp. That and the one diet coke I allowed myself was a real treat.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Please do Cindy! Here’s hoping that you don’t gain it all back!!!
Cindy says
So day one post egg fast I regained 0.8lbs. Still hanging on to a loss of 7.6lbs.
Mellissa Sevigny says
That’s not bad Cindy – hopefully you’ll only gain a tiny bit (or nothing) the second day off like I did – then I just stayed in one place for 2 days which was ok for now. I’m hoping I’ll see a drop now that I’m doing another three days this week! Let me know how you do tomorrow!
Sherri says
I’ve never heard of the egg fast but have been stuck for a month at my current weight, after losing 30 pounds in 3 months on kero. The cream cheese fat sounds like a dream come true! I’m looking forward to reading about your results.
Mellissa Sevigny says
If you can stand it, lots of people have great results on the fat fast eating only cream cheese Sherri! Let me know if you decide to try it!
Jan says
Day 2 on Egg fast. Too chicken (or too vain or too in denial) to weigh myself before I started, I am going to let my capris from last year be the measure!!! Instead of cheese, I have substituted avocado. Yesterday I think I had 9 eggs, no issues yesterday even as my boys & husband chowed down on an awesome-looking, great smelling pizza (no one understands why I am mostly paleo). Today, so far, 5 + 1/2 avocado. Friday will be capri pants day! Keep it up everyone!!!
Mellissa Sevigny says
I like your strategy Jan, the scale is a big jerk! :)
Cindy says
I just started the egg fast. I too had stalled then the Dr put me on a new med which caused me to gain a few pounds so I decided to try this. I am down 4lbs on day 1. I am hoping this will help combat the new meds.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Congrats Cindy, hope you were able to keep it off!
Lucille Brocato says
As I posted in the Facebook egg fast page, I lost 6 1/2 lbs during June. I had difficulty getting off of the fast “cold turkey” without adding weight back on. I chronicled my gradual reintroduction of food. First I added raw vegetables with the eggs. Then cooked veggies. Next different protein. Both one meal at a time. Sadly, I discovered cheese stalls me or makes me gain. Initially I lost 5 lbs, then with the gradual reintroduction of LCHF food I lost another 1 1/2 lbs. It is easy to do and surprisingly I didn’t get tired of eggs. I would definitely do this again. Best of luck.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Lucille, I appreciate you sharing your method with us! I need to figure out how to keep my body losing after the egg fast – for now it gains a little and then just stops again. Hoping I’ll crack the code this week!
Laura says
Dear Mellissa,
Thank you sharing your story and challenge dropping since going on steroids. I too am on them for 1 1/2 years for chronic recurrent pericarditis, which was a complication following my open heart surgery in 8/12. I gained about 40 lbs on top of what I needed to lose after acquiring that insatiable hunger that steroids cause. I’m also hypothyroid and have read that inflammation stalls weight loss when low carbing. I’ve lost all 40 lbs in a year (mostly within the first 4 months) since changing my lifestyle and consume fruit per day (mainly berries) as ordered by my doc to help with cognitive issues due to a stroke I had following my surgery. Your website and amazing recipes have been a lifesaver for me and can’t stop gushing about it to friends when I get the chance. I’m going to try the egg fast after consulting w my m.d. and might start off by doing a day here and there first. Best of luck to you on your journey and thank you again.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks for sharing your story Laura! I’m sorry to hear about all of your chronic health problems but I’m thrilled to have played a part in helping you lose the weight! Let me know if you try the egg fast and how you do on it!
Laura says
Thank you and I sure will!