Open Ended Fast Journal


#1

Hello keto forum, I’m new here.

I am starting an open ended fast tonight and am hoping that journaling my experience will help to keep me accountable. I would love company on this fast if you want to join in too. I’m fasting primarily for weight loss but also for anxiety, rosacea, bloating, a sprained ankle, hormone disregulation, and the amazing mental clarity that I experience after refeeding.

I don’t know what I weigh right now and am too ashamed to check. I’m 5’5" and 1 week ago I weighed 133#, I’m sure it’s more than that now. My ideal is 120# and I’ve been there twice this year with fasting/keto but I really struggle with keeping the weight off. My clothes are all tight and I’m uncomfortable in my skin again.

I plan to check in here and write updates multiple times per day to keep me on track. I will allow water, coffee, tea, vinegar, and salt on this fast with the option of bone broth if it will keep me fasting.

Wish me luck!


#2

Day 1 (hour 14)

Woke up early and fed my toddler leftover zucchini bread. I don’t usually eat before 11am so I don’t especially feel like I’m fasting yet. I do most of the food shopping and cooking for my family and that doesn’t change during fasting. I typically find that really hard for the first few days and then honestly enjoyable once I’m completely fat adapted.

I also have a stressful job that includes night shifts and on my last fast I was very tired and brain fogged at work. I’m thinking I might try to string together three 5 day fasts with one eating day in between and try to stick with beef only on the eating days to see if I can have a long extended fast without the exhaustion.

I feel peaceful and excited about this fast. I haven’t told anybody and I don’t plan to unless my husband asks. He gets really sick of me talking about weight, health, and food and would prefer I keep it to myself. My toddler was pinching his belly yesterday and playfully talking about his “extra fat”, which I find horrifying. I am going to do my absolute best to not talk about weight in front of him.


#3

Day 2 (hour 39)

Finding it relatively easy to fast so far and am wondering if today will be more challenging. Usually, the first day of a fast is the hardest for me but I have not been eating keto for the last month so perhaps I am still running on liver glycogen and will feel the hunger before fat adaptation later today. On the other hand, I have been mostly keto for 2.5 years so maybe my body is really used to switching fuels and it won’t really get harder to fast from here.

I feel very unsure about how I’m going to maintain my ideal weight when I get there again. The more I try to cut out dairy, artificial sweeteners, nuts, etc. the more I binge on sugar. When I try to implement OMAD, I have the uncontrollable urge to snack all day. When I count calories or carbs, I eventually binge. When I do lazy keto and 16/8, I maintain at a higher weight than I am comfortable with.

I think the sweet spot might be a 3pm-7pm daily eating window and lazy keto with occasional full day fasts and occasional non-keto treats. Honestly, I’m worried even that is too restrictive and will send me into a binge.

People who maintain at their ideal weight for months and years, how are you doing it?


#4

Day 3 (61 hours)

Yesterday I experienced intense hunger for 4 hours, so I believe I exhausted my glycogen stores and am now burning fat primarily. I slept badly again last night and am already having sabotaging thoughts this morning about bacon and eggs. I am going to focus on being grateful for the many wonderful things in my life, including my beautiful healthy body. I am going to saturate myself in this sense of gratitude and keep in mind how happy future me will be at goal weight again.

I think I will not weigh myself until the end of the fast, whenever that may be. I’m lethargic today and I have to go to work but coffee, salt and green tea will get me through.

I’m proud of myself and want to continue feeling proud, so I will continue fasting. It’s difficult at the moment because I’m alone in a house full of delicious keto foods, but I will persevere. Food will be there when I’m done fasting, food will always be there.


#5

Largely genetics I suspect. Keto & certain types of exercise suit me well but I seem to have a natural weight where my body likes to be.


#6

Broke fast yesterday. I’m a mess honestly. I had a very stressful 20+ hour shift at work and snacked on random carbage non-stop the whole time. I didn’t even enjoy the food. I’m not sure where to go from here and would love gentle advice and input. Here is my story in a nutshell (I haven’t slept so be warned):

I lost 100lbs in a year through PSMF, then keto, the keto 16/8, then 36hr fasts, then 3 day fasts, then an 11 day fast. I got to my ultimate goal weight after my first 3 day fast. I then spent the next year gaining and losing 10-15lbs and trying desperately to get to and stay at 120lbs. I was there again 2 months ago after my long fast but am now back up at 132lbs and have been eating sugar/carbs for weeks now.

I usually find it easy to fast at work, but yesterday I was just completely out of control. The second I tell myself I can’t have something (snacks, grains, sugar, artificial sweeteners, dairy, etc) I have an overwhelming urge to sabotage my efforts. I agonize over food and weight in all my free time and I hate that I feel like it’s necessary to be that obsessed. I hate knowing that I’ve worked so hard to attain my ideal weight and am unable to stay there. I feel like a failure so often these days. For the last few months I’ve been experiencing episodes of intense anxiety and depression which is completely unlike me.

Where should I go from here? What would you do?


(Bunny) #7

Your eating of random carbage and that would work great if you on a low fat high carb diet which was what was popular in the late 70’s, 1980’s and early 1990’s Aerobics and depleting glycogen stores constantly on a regular basis?

If your fasting to lose weight you need to eat more random fat and protein with a low carb diet that is why your gaining and losing the weight back and forth so fast?