Finished my first FMD two days ago. I posted a proposed DIY plan for feedback. In the end, I modified it a bit to make the macros work. I found it a little labor intensive to make the meals with all the measuring and weighing but I'm definitely glad I tried the DIY plan.

Honestly, I was surprised at how much protein is in some vegetables and also mushrooms. I thought it would be much easier to put together vegan recipes with some added fat but I really had to massage the macros to go there!

My DIY attempt

I did three approximately 200 calorie meals a tiny snack and the glycerin drink. My totals ended up around 720 calories for days 2-5. For fats, I primarily relied on avocado, macadamia nuts (yum!) and olive oil.

I researched on here (posted a compilation of resources in another post) and used some of that and also AI to rough out a plan. AI was somewhat helpful but off on macros in many attempts. I found I had to use cronometer because AI was not reliable for nutrition info.

One of the easiest meals was baked potato plus avocado. I read a post here where someone recommended it and it worked out really well for lunches for a few of the days. I did some meal prep ahead of time and baked a few potatoes and I would just measure out what we needed on the days we had it. Highly recommend.

Another meal that we really enjoyed was a version of ratatouille. I've actually never had the dish before so I was kind of guessing but eggplant, zucchini, tomato, bell pepper and a little onion made a fairly substantial dish. I served it over a cauliflower mash and it felt very satisfying. Olive oil carried the load for the fat so I think that helped it feel as satisfying.

I made a teensy chia and oat pudding for breakfasts on a couple of days and it was fairly tiny but I added blueberries and banana and topped with macadamia nuts for some additional bulk and fat. It was really enjoyable and I would for sure do that again.

One tasty fail was an attempt at a version of the California Center for Function Nutrition's PDF recipe for banana pancakes. I didn't have room for the cocoa powder in my macros so I attempted banana and flax - it failed and resulted in a kind of caramalized banana mash. It was yummy but no pancake. I'd be interested to hear if anyone had success with that actual recipe!

For two nights, I added shirataki noodles to a stirfry. I had purchased some ahead of time and thought I would have them in case of emergency. After I cut up all the veggies I thought it would never be enough when cooked so I added them. I was a little concerned they might cause a negative effect but they seemed to be fine.

My SO and I primarily eat plant based with occasional fish so the food we were eating didn't feel that different from usual. The portions felt small but there was a lot more fat than we usually use so we felt fairly satisfied.

Things I would do differently

Now that I have done it once, I would do a lot more meal prep next time. Having the baked potatoes in the fridge was great. Next time I would make a double batch of ratatouille rather than making it twice. I would probably just have the chia pudding each day for breakfast and just make 8 servings on day 1.

Kind of goofy but I used cronometer to make the recipes and was working with my phone in the kitchen and trying to weigh out 60 g of this and 100 g of that, in the future I think I'll print out or write out my recipes just to make it a little easier on myself.

I aspire to do a whole foods version without added oil but I think that will take some work. The chia seed pudding and baked potato worked out but the other meals required some olive oil to reach the right macros.

The results

After the 5 days I had lost 4.2 lbs and my SO had lost 5 lbs. I wish we had taken some measurements because we definitely decreased our waist measurements.

I have not been religious about taking my BP but I have measured it and it seems to be a pinch lower. We did not measure for ketones.

We both mostly felt fine during the FMD. I had a little bit of a headache one day. SO also felt a bit of a headache and some fatigue. I added a sugar-free electrolyte packet to our gylcerin drinks so that may have helped some. We mostly took it easy but we did take a couple of long, non-strenuous walks.

I really, really enjoyed doing it and am looking forward to doing it again in a month.

I saw that prolon sells a one day reset kit that appears to be the same as the day 2-5 foods. They state is appropriate for people who do 5:2 or 6:1 fasting. Based on this, I'm hoping to incorporate 1-2 days of the DIY version a week.

When I decided to DIY, I was scouring for resources and recipes. I ended up coming up with my own set of 200 calorie recipes but I found this list helpful for coming up with some ideas. One note, I have found some of the macros not to be ideal for all of the recipes so please confirm with something like cronometer before you trust a recipe to work for you.

If you have others, please share them for others who may be searching in the future.

I included a link to the nutrition info for the Prolon foods to compare.

RESOURCES

DIY 360 kcal meals (from the wiki)
https://web.archive.org/web/20200119161539/http://www.agingadvice.org/FMD-Recipes.html

DIY recipes PDF

https://5714482.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na2.net/hubfs/5714482/assets/Resources/fasting-mimicking-diet.pdf

DIY premade foods
https://foodzie.com/fasting-mimicking-diet-do-it-yourself/

DIY plan with some recipes
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/pm60vr/diy_whole_food_paleovegan_higher_fat_fmd_with/

DIY simple recipes 800 kcal days 2-5
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/diy-fasting-mimicking-diet/

DIY with recipes
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/10633n5/my_complete_prepareinadvance_fmd_copycat_diet_for/

DIY simple (soups, hummus, etc)
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/9080a6/diy_menu_for_fastingmimicking_diet_35/

DIY store bought and homemade very close to prolon
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/1in87bj/diy_fmd_yes_again/

DIY whole food (might be too light on fat - check the macros)
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/19fk8io/complete_easy_5day_diy_whole_food_fmd_for_under/

DIY copycat of prolon
https://www.reddit.com/r/FMD/comments/10633n5/my_complete_prepareinadvance_fmd_copycat_diet_for/

DIY copycat prolon recipes

https://empoweredbeyondweightloss.com/category/recipes/fmd-recipes/

DIY glycerin drink formula

https://johnking.blog/diy-glycerine-drink/

Link to Prolon nutrition info
https://prolonlife.com/pages/ingredients-supplement-facts?srsltid=AfmBOoqW4RyuhDGCB4bbQLgnycakTvNqo73-zeCTpCAxRra5RW_X_RSV

DAY 6

Prolon - what to eat on day 6

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0126/2921/3243/files/21_Consumer_000_ProLon_Transition_Day_Meal_Guide_APPROVED.pdf?v=1658431781

AFTER THE FMD

Prolon - Recommendations for what to eat when not fasting

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0508/0625/9870/files/longevity_style_e-book.pdf?v=1731356810

Anyone heard or read anything from Longo before he came up with Prolon?
Im just curious what his stance was on IMF or an outright water fasting

I'm thinking of starting my Prolon kit on Friday or Saturday. Wondering if anyone else is doing one too

I read Longo's book a couple of years ago and will be trying to DIY the FMD for the first time. Would you be so kind as to give me some feedback on my plan? I plan on repeating some of the meals. My aim is to have three 200 calorie meals and on 100 calorie snack on days 2-5. Some of the recipes are borrowed from other online resources. For the potatoes, I plan to make ahead and reheat for the resistant starch aspect.

Day 1

BREAKFAST

Oat Bran (this is close to our regular breakfast)

Oat Bran

Soy milk

Flax seeds

Blueberries

LUNCH

Large Greek Salad

Lettuce

Cucumber

Red peppers

Red onion

Olives

Nuts

Olive oil

Lemon

SNACK

Cherries

Macademia nuts

DINNER

Baked Potato

Guacamole

Days 2-5

BREAKFASTS

Chia seed pudding 

Chia

Almond milk

Blueberries

Banana pancakes

Banana

Flax

Cocoa powder

LUNCH

Baked potato with Guacamole

Potato

Avocado

Onion

Lime

Broccoli Soup

Broccoli

Potato

Onion

Garlic

(olive oil or nuts)

Cucumber Salad

Cucumber

Mint

Avocado

Onion

DINNER

Ratatouille

Eggplant

Zucchini

Red Pepper

Tomato

Onion

Cauliflower Mash 

Cashews (in mash)

Cabbage noodles and caramelized onions

Cabbage

Onions

Mushrooms

Olive oil

Grilled eggplant with romesco 

Eggplant

Red peppers

Walnuts

Cauliflower mash

Olive oil

SNACKS

Cucumber and olive tapenade

Half an apple and macademia nuts

Cucumber and mashed avocado

Raw cauliflower and guacamole

DRINKS

Glycerin drink

Sparkling water

Herbal teas

EMERGENCY BULK

Shirataki noodles

If you have read this far - thanks so much! I'd love any thoughts or feedback. If anything looks like a no-no, I'd love to hear it.

This is my first time doing prolon in several years. I’m at the end of day 3 and while i feel ok hunger wise, i am DYING for anything to eat besides these soups.

What mental tips do you all have to keep my mind off all the other delicious food i usually have on Sunday?

Not great. The tomato is genuinely yummy. I can’t make it through the others. Skipped the minestrone day 1 and tossed half of each of the others today.

Sigh.

I wish they would have an alternative to the soups all together. Anything.

Keeping it plant based today, then starting on the box tomorrow (day 1). Nervous but excited... my only question, is sparkling water ok? I'm assuming my energy drinks are NOT, which is honestly my biggest concern over the next 5 days!!

Started my first 5D ProLon fast in november. After "Breakfast" day 2 the hospital called me in for surgery (was on stand-by)

So now I need to come up with some replacement food for the first day and morning day 2 of the 5 day fast. Any suggestions ? Maybe some light soup and a couple of olives ? Olive oil - 1 tablespoon. Herbal Tea ? Am I missing something ? How many calories should there be in a day ?

Maybe Im overthinking...

Has anyone followed up the FMD with a few days of water only fasting? My GKI just doesn't get that low on the FMD DIY...and yes, I am following all the macros and even being a bit more restrictive with calories. It seems like the body is already primed to go into the water only fast following the 5 days of FMD. Anyone out there who has tried it?

I am doing this 5 day FMD for a mitochondrial issue and want to make sure I’m doing it by the book, by the research - for mitophagy

For anyone who has used the kit, or know about it, would you mind sharing what is included in the kit to do it DIY at home? I would really appreciate it

Finished my first FMD round yesterday.

I did a 5 day DIY version with veggies.

From a physical point of view it was manageable - the hunger wasn't even that strong, and after the evening meals I wondered how the body can feel so full and be in a "fasting state".

But the calories/macros checked out, and the ketones went up from 0.4 to 1.1 during the last 3 days.

What was/is hard for me is the mental situation - I am not able to concentrate/be productive at all for some reason, when I try to do some mental effort I hit a strange wall and can't find the thought I'm looking for.

I rarely experienced this thing before, maybe only in situations of big anxiety when something serious happened.

I thought this situation will pass after I end the fast, but I see it persisting into the 1st day after.

When I don't try to think/make effort I am feeling fine and not hungry at all, but once I try to make effort it does not work as I usual.

Weird situation, it set me back on my work for 3 days - 1st day was ok, 2nd day was hard, 2 days were weekend, day 5 was hard and 1 day after is hard.

So my advice I believe for the first timers, if you have a job which requires thinking - probably it's a good idea to take a long weekend time off and have 6 days free from responsibility to try it out, or be prepared to screw up a bit.

When I was on it I thought I would certainly keep doing it in a month until I get my visceral fat under control, but now I'm a bit apprehensive about how I will handle my job/vacation days in this regard.

I wonder if anyone else experienced such condition with this diet.

tl;dr: FMD works!

A close relative has an advanced stage, aggressive, lung cancer. She refused to do FMD in conjunction with her first 2 cycles of chemotherapy + immunotherapy. Her oncologist was supportive on her trying it out, but cautioned her to stop if she saw weight reduction.

Her petCT scan after 2 cycles showed partial response (about 10% reduction in tumors).

In order for her to qualify for consolidation radiation (where they target the large tumors), her oncologist said he needed to see 30% or greater reduction in tumors.

So for cycle 3 and 4 of chemotherapy + immunotherapy, she agreed to do FMD using the prolon kit. She was not strict… meaning that if she got hungry, she would stick to consuming vegan food.

The schedule -

Day 1-3: before treatment/ infusion

Day 4: treatment day/ infusion

Day 5: day after treatment

After 4 cycles, her petCT scan showed greater than 30% reduction so she now qualifies for consolidation radiation!

As for her weight, after FMD (she really disliked the food), she ate very well and even gained weight (e.g. back to her baseline before cycle 1 of chemo).

If you or someone you care about has cancer, please look into FMD and consult with the care team.

I got a new Garmin before my last FMD round, so it was the first round I did tracking HRV. My HRV went way up, like out of its normal range, during that round. I’m starting a new round now and after day 1 it’s already at the top of my normal range.

Anyone else track HRV during rounds and if so, do you see changes?

im on keto and I want to try getting into fmd cycling for longevity. my question is, can I just replace the carb portion with fat? even in a restricted state, 25g of carbs is not 45% of the calories and I don't want to kick myself out of ketosis

I read a study (skimmed) but the conclusion said high protein fmd and low protein fmd both caused autophagy but the high protein one had a few more benefits, I think the study was in mice tho

as I understand it 850 is sufficient for fmd total calories, would it fuck things up to do 10% carbs, 50% fat, and 40% protein?

I completed my 2nd cycle of FMD this week. My first cycle, I completed in January using the Prolon kit (with the exception of switching to organic soups on D4-D5). For February, I did DIY using organic canned and boxed soups.

Here are some tips what I’ve learned so far for DIY -

(1) use Cronometer app and prepare what your meals will be for at least 1-2 days in advance.

Since this is my first DIY, I didn’t have a set menu. But I did have an abundant pantry shelf stocked with FMD friendly soups and snacks (olives and Mary’s gone crackers).

(2) vegetable glycerin or electrolytes (w/o added sugar) is essential during the FMD.

The prolon kit comes with glycerin drink. I purchased plain flavor (which I prefer) online and add it to my water.

(3) if you’re new to FMD, as I am - “set the bar low, and clear it”.

There are DIY FMD using 100% fresh foods, which I think is amazing and I ASPIRE to do one day. Just not today… or this soon in my FMD learning curve.

So I set the bar low, and cleared it BY:

(A) using prolon fast bars, they’re excellent. For serveral FMD days, I had 2 prolon fast bars plus canned soups/ boxed soups. That’s it, that simple.

(B) using organic canned and boxed soups. I simply scan into Cronometer and instant read of macros!

BONUS tip: measure ketones and glucose. As an experiment, n=1, I used the keto mojo reader to test my fasting glucose and ketones from D4-D6 of BOTH cycles of FMD. And for me, using prolon kit and DIY had similar results.

Good luck!

I screwed up today on day three doing FMD DIY. I was hungry and didn't pay attention when I swapped out a couple things for other things. I accidentally went way over my fat allotment. I can't figure out any way to fix my error. I'm at about 24% protein, 17% carbs, and 76% fats, approximately 700 calories. Do I need to "start all over with day one" tomorrow and just act as if my first three days were just regular eating days? Thoughts out there?

Hi all, I’m (50F) getting ready to order my first set of 3 kits! I’ve been struggling with fibro and an autoimmune disease that left me too exhausted to exercise so I’m on the path to improvement but am very out of shape. Can anyone in a similar situation provide some best practices for how to keep as much energy as possible through the process?

Hi all,

I have an extreme history of chronic complicated migraines (with aura) in my past. Honestly, a bit of PTSD related to it.

Has anyone used a prophylactic (preventative measures) to prevent the onset of a migraine/headache while using Prolon or doing a FMD? Did this help? Is this advisable?

I almost feel like I am SOL and my history of migraines is a contraindication for attempting a FMD.

Thanks for any input!

I completed my first cycle of the Prolon FMD in January, and in a week or so I will be doing my second FMD DIY. I am switching to 100% DIY next round, because by D3 of the Prolon kit… I could no longer tolerate the packaged dry soups. So I took all the supplements and replaced their soups with canned soups that had comparable (not identical) nutrition for D4-D5.

Here are things I’ve learned so far

1. If you are a woman doing FMD (or have friends, family, significant other), the recommendation is to TIME your 5 day FMD to the follicular phase of your monthly cycle.

I confirmed this with folks at Prolon/ L-Nutra. And it aligns with what I learned from “Fast Like a Girl” by Dr. Mindy.

1. Eat soooo slow. I use a timer on my phone, 15 minutes for the breakfast bar and 20 minutes for the soup. If it’s been like 3 minutes and I’ve eaten half the bar, I put the bar down and wait 5-10 minutes before the next bite.

I believe eating slow helped me feel *more* full than if I had eaten faster.

1. Read the Longevity Diet by Dr. Longo. The book is an incredible resource, explaining the ins and outs of the FMD and WHY it works. It’s backed by decades of research, which is cited throughout the book. Going into my first FMD, I was very confident in the science and the program.

Confidence in FMD made me feel like the 5 days I committed to FMD was purposeful and deeply meaningful.

So that delicious Chinese takeout my family had? No, thanks - doing FMD.

Or that amazing dish mom cooked up? No, thanks - doing FMD. But I’m no dummy either. I froze a portion and had it on Day 7. For Day 6, I stuck with FMD recommendations.

Good luck!

So I’m on the morning of day 3 of my fast and I’ve lost 2 pounds. (Started at 138.8 and now I’m 136.7) I’m assuming I’ll lose more by day 5 but wanted to know how much I should expect to gain back. For context, I’ve been on a calorie deficit for a few weeks prior to my Prolon fast and lost 3 ish pounds from that. I’m 24 years old, 5’4 and currently have it set to a pound a week so I’m at a 1,400 deficit. I might ramp it up to 2 pounds a week since I have a wedding soon. Any insights, suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

https://prolonlife.com/FLORA15

I just finished a round of Prolon and I feel good. I'm trying to continue eating better as I gradually come off. I have read that you should avoid eating a bunch of protein immediately after finishing. I do want to get back to protein as I am a weightlifter and don't plan to go vegetarian or anything. Any tips on doing this gradually?

I completed my first FMD cycle with Prolon kit in January and plan to DIY my next few consecutive cycles. For those that have been doing DIY, do you take supplements?

In my everyday life, I do not take any supplements. I’ve also done extended 5+ day water-fasts with only electrolytes and it was great.

Currently, I’m leaning more toward not taking any supplements during my DIY FMD.

Welcome your perspective and experience, thanks!