At 42 hours so far for this week. Woke up hungry but it’s been manageable.
No update yet on the phosphorus question. Just stay tuned, I guess.
How is everyone else doing today?
2018 Lenten Fasting
crunchypharmd
(Christina Heinrich)
#142
44 1/2 hours! I have not made it this point before without caving and eating. slight hunger waves, but really trying to get my salt in. So far have only had plain black coffee or green tea. avoiding sweeteners like the plague! Going to take kids to a fundraiser dinner tonight. plan to drink only hot tea. Praying for strength to get thru tonight!
ron-coleman
(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!))
#144
Made it to 60 hours and like everyone always says the second day (yesterday) was the hardest! While I have not had any physical cravings there were a lot of times my mind was telling me to go have some eggs or bacon or even a steak! Like @crunchypharmd above I headed for a bit more salt and the desires, mental games, went away.
I am planning to break my fast tomorrow, Saturday, morning at about 84 hours with a light breakfast of eggs and some bacon. I will be going to a retreat on Saturday where they have some great BBQ ribs, with sauce on the side, so I plan to really refeed at lunch!
I am down 4.6 lbs (2.1 kg) since Tuesday morning before the fast and am happy with this progress. During my previous test fast I was also down 4.6 lbs (2.1 kg) on Friday morning but during the ZornFast in January, I did 3 days on 17-20, I only lost 2.8 lbs (1.3 kg) at the 60 hour mark so I figure my body is getting more comfortable with fasting!
On my blood glucose (BG) it seems to have popped back up to the 120 area at noon yesterday, I did have a coffee with HWC from Starbuck’s shortly before I tested but I did tests last year while fasting to see if my BG reacted to having HWC with these results:
Note: I was deep into fasting by that time so my BG started in a very normal range. My test consisted of 5 readings: 1 immediately before I drank the HWC in decaf coffee and then readings at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 90 minutes, and 2 hours. And you can see there was no appreciable change in BG except that we could posit that there was a bit on an insulin response as my BG dropped to 70 mg/dl at the 90 minute point.
As I would expect, my ketones (BHOB) are rising each day within each test window so the 3 mornings have been 0.3, 0.4, and 0.6 mmol/l respectively. I am anxious to see if my BHOB get to and stay above 1.0 in the mornings following my fast as they did during the January ZornFast.
A minor temptation tonight as I will be working at the fish fry at our church; we have breaded fish and shrimp, fries, baked beans, and cole slaw that contains sugar so nothing I am interested in eating anyway. They fry everything in peanut oil and I may talk to them about trying beef tallow in the future just to see how it compares. The decision will be the price, I am sure!
Keep sending in your updates I love to see everyone’s successes!
KCFO (Keep Calm and Fast On)
ourtown
#145
It really is a mental game. In body scan meditation, you observe your physical sensations without judging them. Even a painful sensation can dissipate if you just exist and observe it. Same goes for hunger.
Virginia
#146
Today’s update from the zoo…
At 64 hours for the week so far as of this morning. Tested blood sugar a few minutes ago and it was 70, so I’m happy about that. Oh, and NSV - I’m wearing some old baggy shorts around the house these days. Yesterday I stood up and my shorts didn’t! Needless to say that after I do the laundry today I’ve just got to start packing those old rags up! Have some much smaller ones I’ll try on later that I thought I’d never get ONE leg into, much less TWO. Hopefully they’ll fit. I’m not weighing but I know I’ve dropped a little on my tummy since this fast started. Yay, me!!!
d_to_the_c
(Damon Chance)
#147
I’m at about 111hrs in right now and will be breaking the fast at some point today with some Macadamia nuts and then probably some eggs. This weekend I will be eating meat-free but with Dairy/Eggs until Sunday evening when, after Forgiveness Vespers, we will begin Lent proper and no more dairy/eggs for the remainder until Pascha. Given my results this week I’m pretty confident that I can easily fast 5 days each week and only need to worry about staying Keto for 2 days which will probably be 16:8 IF anyway.
I’ve been in Ketosis, as far as I know, continuously since June of '17 so even if I get a few more slow burning carbs in during the weekends I feel like it won’t impact me much.
gatita
#148
So far, so good.
Starting Day 3 of IFing for this week. My aim is to go to at least 5pm each day on tea and broth, Wed-Fri, and no meat on Friday.
I had a cheese moment yesterday — I made a conscious decision to have a little bit because it felt like my body really wanted protein. I’m OK with it, part of what I’m doing is just trying to learn more about hunger and cravings and discipline and how they all work for me.
I noticed when I ate dinner the last two days I ate a lot less and felt full much quicker. I’ve IFed before but never on multiple days in a row, so this was new.
Usually I feel hungry around 4 pm and then 5 pm sails right on by without me even noticing.
Virginia
#149
You’re doing great! That’s the BEST part about this, learning how YOUR body talks to you.
P.S. LUV your user name! I have a little gatita myself…her name is Trixie.
onlyjeffdavis
(Jeff Davis)
#150
If it was me, I would probably stay away from beef tallow if the purpose is to observe abstinence on Fridays. It’s probably technically allowed under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, but not the best practice. See here:
Abstinence does not include meat juices and liquid foods made from meat. Thus, such foods as chicken broth, consomme, soups cooked or flavored with meat, meat gravies or sauces, as well as seasonings or condiments made from animal fat are technically not forbidden. However, moral theologians have traditionally taught that we should abstain from all animal-derived products (except foods such as gelatin, butter, cheese and eggs, which do not have any meat taste).
ron-coleman
(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!))
#152
Congratulations on your fast! I am glad to hear your confidence going forward, believe me it only gets easier!
The mental games will never go away but you will learn how to deal with them.
Loved the update.
ron-coleman
(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!))
#153
@gatita You are sticking to your plan without any issues - you are a winner - Congratulations!
Thanks for the update.
ron-coleman
(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!))
#154
Thanks for the clarification Jeff. I knew that broth was allowed but using tallow is a bit of a grey area. I will pass it by our pastor just for a clarification.
avocadosrule
#155
I recently started a little bit of mindfulness via my phone app. I like it. And I can see how this can be easily applied to our physical / psychological sensations of hunger or anything else!
jpmenezes
(Pascal Menezes)
#159
More than 72 hours (3 days) in to my Lenten fast this Friday night. So far no problems, feeling good. Waiting for tomorrow morning (Saturday) to break the fast. Made some fat bombs to break the fast!!
ron-coleman
(I am a Dog (Dog's eat until they burst!))
#160
Just a quick update - passing the 84 hour mark feeling great and even thought about continuing on as I did last year but those ribs at lunch will do me in for sure. I’m going to grab a couple of eggs this morning just so I don’t have any issues with the fatty ribs at lunch.
Here’s my numbers from this morning:
As with the previous days my ketones seem to be going up each morning during the fast. I will be eating zero carb for the next few days and I am interested how that will affect my numbers.
KCFO!