Gonna start my first (hopefully) week-long fast...(kinda long and rambly)


(Robin Lea Fritche) #1

After dinner (big spinach and kale salad with ranch dressing, a whole tomato, cheddar cheese, and cauliflower, with a side of cottage cheese) last Thursday, around 6pm, I started my first on-purpose fast. I drank water and different kinds of undoctored tea. I figured I’d go at least 16-18 hrs, maybe 24, and I ended up going 46! It was so easy that I just kept going. I regret breaking it because I wasn’t even that hungry - it was a social situation. After I ate something, I was RAVENOUS, so I ate more. The only ‘bad’ thing was the popcorn lol. Then, an hour later…wooo…hours of intermittent diarrhea (sorry, TMI). That was last night.

Anyway, I haven’t eaten yet today and I’m not hungry, so I suppose I could just start as of last night, whenever it was that I ate some watermelon (it was at least 2-3 hrs after I broke my fast), but if I’m gonna go longer, psychologically I feel like I should eat something before I go a long time, and I also have some fresh produce that will go bad soon, which will make me feel wasteful. So maybe I’ll go eat soon.

I just weighed myself: 276.0 lbs and 60% fat, 43% total body water (I think this is a little bit independent of the others), 25% muscle, and 4.4lb bone (this can’t be right, can it?), according to my smartish scale (I know it’s not the most accurate method of body composition, but it’s easy and I’m good with a ballpark estimate). I hadn’t thought to weigh myself on Thursday, and I hadn’t weighed myself in quite a while, but I do know I have been up to about 290 sometime sort of recently.

I’m hoping for autophagy as well as weight loss, so I’m not gonna do the bone broth. I think I’ll take vitamins and add a little pink salt to a bit of my water. If it goes well, I’m open to extending past seven days, but I can’t go more than like twelve because I’m going to a Phonetics conference with a colleague and they’re feeding us. LOL. I also don’t want to explain to my colleague why I’m skipping the complimentary dinner. So I figure that at the very latest I need to break my fast around lunchtime that day.

I’m going to post updates here, whether or not anyone comments. If it goes well, I’ll copy bits of what I said and make a post on my blog. :wink:

NOTE: I have been trying to eat keto but kinda fell off the wagon in mid July and have been going back and forth. So the plan is to mostly eat keto and fast a bunch. If this goes well, I’ll do alternate day for a few weeks at least, and then I might want to do it again. ALSO, I did just finish The Obesity Code and I’ve read the extra bits from Dr. Fung’s fasting guide. I’m reading up on stuff. :sunglasses:


#2

You’re going to break your longest fast ever at a conference after having experienced major diarrhea the last time you broke a fast? You’re much braver than me! I’d tread cautiously here…


#3

PS - fasting when not fat-adapted or in ketosis can be kinda rough. But, YMMV.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #4

I didn’t say I was gonna do twelve days for sure. I’m aiming for seven, and we’ll see. I kind of got the impression from some things I read that my body may not have been ready to break the fast, since it was still really easy for me. Breaking it at the conference would be the latest time I could do it. I really don’t have a good time for that, since my schedule is pretty ridiculous.

I’ll be bringing precautions, lol. Imodium, etc.


#5

Ah, I see. I saw your reference to lunch before the complimentary dinner being the latest you’d break it, which is what caught my eye as one of your possible end dates.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #6

I have been in and out of ketosis for years. I don’t think my body has a problem switching. It’s just that I plateau pretty quickly, and then I despair, so I’m gonna try this. Like I said, two days was easy, so I’m optimistic about going longer. I hope I can do a week.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #7

It’s still a possiblity, because I am kind of a crazy, cannonball-instead-of-dipping-in-a-toe kind of person in some ways.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #9

I bought a blood glucose monitor and some keto strips (I hear they’re not accurate, but I’m hoping they’ll at least tell me if I’m in ketosis, but I can usually kinda tell from the way my teeth feel). I’m gonna order a cheap breathalyzer, too, I think.

I had my last meal, after sort of accidentally fasting another 24 hours. It took me over an hour to eat it because I wasn’t really hungry.

And oh crap, I didn’t eat all my produce! Ah well. I tried. I ate most of the the rest of the bag of spinach and baby kale, and I had some cauliflower. I finished up the cottage cheese and homemade ranch dressing…and added a bit of cheddar and bacon bits, along with some leftover pork loin, cut up. Kind of a big salad. I didn’t eat lunch because I ended up meeting a friend at the last minute, and they’re were errands to run. It was so weird popping over to the grocery side to just get light salt, spring water, and laundry detergent… And then leaving.

I made a double keto-aid and stuck it in the fridge for tomorrow. I’m drinking a single right now. I don’t love the salty taste, but I’ll drink it.

Mondays are like a 14 hour day for me, so not eating will be easy. I don’t really have time. I’m gonna try to weigh myself in the morning, but if I don’t remember, I’ll use this morning’s weight as my start weight.

Geronimo!


(Queen Shelley Hughes) #10

I’m finally having luck fasting. 48 hrs, then 24 and just finished another 48. Using keto and snake juice. Basically pink salt and potassium and it makes it easier to fast. I’m 71 and have never fasted longer than 19 hrs in my whole life! Good luck.


#11

I usually do have all heck break loose after a longer fast. I can delay or mediate it by using psyllium fiber (Trader Joes is the cheapest). I drink a tablespoon in water on the morning of the last day of the fast and again about an hour before breaking the fast and again at least once over the next couple of days.

I would suggest trying psyllium before the fast to see how you react


(Robin Lea Fritche) #12

Yesterday’s starting weight was 277.8, up 1.8 from the previous day, which didn’t surprise me because I had slept only two hours or so. Not good, I know. Was trying to get some things done.

Yesterday was harder than other whole days I’ve fasted (whether on purpose or just because I was busy). I think lack of sleep and lack of time to make tea affected that. I have food in my desk (nuts, etc.) but I didn’t eat it. I drank half a gallon of keto-aid (the amount for 48 oz was put into a half gallon bottle) and maybe only another 12 oz of water. I should have drunk more.

Anyway, I’m ready for day 2. I have no idea if it’s related, but my right I eyelid puffed up in my sleep sometime between 5 and 8 am. I would think not, but who knows what kind of detoxing could be going on. I slept in because today all I have is a 5-8pm seminar and I was hoping my eye would sort itself. Nope. Lol.

I now weigh 273.4 lbs. I haven’t checked my blood sugar because I guess I need to obtain test solution before I use it. Ugh.

My ugly eye and I better go off into the world now. Lol.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #13

Thanks for the encouragement! And that’s awesome that you’re having success!

I love pink salt. I bought an extra for my desk at school and dipped my finger in it a few times yesterday. :wink:


(Robin Lea Fritche) #14

Thank you SO MUCH for the tip!!! I’ll try that.

I’ve had psyllium fiber before, so as far as how I’d react while not fasting, should be no problem. :wink:


#15

It may be a stye, does it hurt?

My eyelid did that about a month into keto. Dry eyes can be a keto or fasting symptom. I looked online and did warm compresses, 5 to 10 minutes at a time a number of times a day. It helped a lot


(Robin Lea Fritche) #16

It doesn’t hurt, just feels kind of weird. There was some pressure, but the swelling has gone down a lot and it looks almost normal. Still feels a little weird. Meh. I’ll try the compresses, maybe.

I’m at over 52 hours now. Longest I’ve ever gone without food. I was hungry today, but it wasn’t bad. I still wish I’d kept going from last Thursday, because those two days were so easy, and then I’d be five days in.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #17

272.2 lbs this morning, 58.5 hours in. Stayed up too late again, so very little sleep (had to finish a presentation). Off to work I go, hi ho…


(Robin Lea Fritche) #18

271.0 lbs this morning. Another 1.2 lb loss. Interesting. I wonder if it will be similar tomorrow. I should put these numbers in a spreadsheet.

Yesterday was fine. I get hungry, but it’s easy to think of it as putting off eating for a while yet…“not yet, I can eat a little later…too busy now.”

My eye seems pretty normal now, so I canceled my clinic appointment today. The day went fine. Busy.

I kinda want to eat, but I’m not going to. I can do one more day. And then tomorrow I’m gonna say the same thing. I still wish I’d kept going from the first fast. That one was only two days but it was effortless. I’m over halfway done with the seven-day. I’m kind of excited to get under 270 (maybe I’ll be 269.8 tomorrow morning), since it’s been a little while since I was there. Under 260 will be even better, but I’m not getting there for a while yet, unless I extend the fast. And I have no idea what kind of regain I’ll have post-fast. After this fast, I plan to do some alternate day IF, and probably totally skip eating on Mondays and Wednesdays because it’s just convenient.

I haven’t done any testing yet (dammit), because I’m busy and haven’t looked into how to get the reading solution for my glucose meter. I did a keto strip this morning and the result was moderate ketosis, 40 of whatever that measurement is, lol. I’m too tired to look up how to write it.

Nearly 99 hrs into this!! I told a couple people today that I haven’t eaten since Sunday and really enjoyed their reactions. :wink:


(Robin Lea Fritche) #19

I didn’t post yesterday (Friday). I weighed 270.6, only a 0.4 lb loss. Not sure why. But this morning, 269.4…another 1.2 lb loss! Finally under 270. In less than an hour I’ll be at 5 1/2 days. I’m kind of amazed with myself for fasting this long. I feel fine.

I don’t know if I should use 276 or 277.8 as my start weight. The former was the morning before I started my fast (so I ate later that day), and the latter is the morning after. Either way, I really haven’t lost that much, compared to other people. My body can be very stubborn about letting any pounds go though. I know I’m in ketosis. I’ll do another strip at some point, but the way I can really tell is by the buildup on my teeth that I keep having to brush off. Always happens.

Anyway, I’m gonna go back to sleep for a little bit (maybe I’ll weigh myself again after). I was up past 2:30am correcting linguistics homework, and that was just over five hours ago.

Peace.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #20

268.2 lbs after sleeping a few more hours. :wink: That’s 1.2 lbs less than earlier this morning. Whaaaat.


(Robin Lea Fritche) #21

I’m hungry. I want to eat. I won’t. LOL. I’ve gone over six full days without eating and I sure as hell can do at least one more.

My tummy isn’t even grumbling that much; it’s because I’m looking at recipes. I’m thinking of doing an egg fast when I start eating again. Because I’m nuts. Hahahaha. Though I think I’d rather combine the egg thing with IF - would that work, or do your really need to eat all day, every day, for the egg fast to work? I suppose I should see if anyone here has posted about that. I love eggs and I’ve found some intriguing recipes, so I could see eating eggy meals when I do eat once or so a day.

I’m thinking that my schedule could be something like this:
Monday - fast
Tuesday - one meal, whenever convenient
Wednesday - fast
Thursday - one meal, whenever convenient
Friday - fast OR eat supper
Saturday - one or two meals
Sunday - one or two meals

There’s some play in the schedule to allow for social things. I suppose I could egg fast the original way over the weekend, if I’ve got no plans.

Well, anyway, I’d better pound down a bit more water and go to sleep.