Monday 25 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast - 30 days completed!

So I successfully completed 30 days of my combined Dry/Water Fast; who knew I could go so many days without eating, not so much for the absence of food rather than the willpower of staying away from food itself. Oh well, time passes after all and at the end of the journey looking back does not seem that difficult, if done once in a while.
Today I planned on refeeding with Bone Broth, I’m now sipping on my Mason jar with 1/3 of Bone Broth and some boiling water; I must to say it taste awful, I added too much water and the end result is not great at all. I’ll do better with the next jar I hope.
Last night I had hard time sleeping, as often happens, but this time my mouth was extremely dry, as I never felt before, I was trying to drink water during the night, but it wasn’t helping. I was wondering if it was a sort of sign that I should break my fast, but I didn’t feel hungry at all, just thirsty. Well this morning I was very weak, I could not walk to come to work, I took the streetcar for most of the way here and walked with lots of challenges the rest of the way, thinking that I could faint any time. Most probably it was just my mind making up this scenario, but I didn’t like how I was feeling and I was ok with the idea of refeeding on Bone Broth today, I need to have a normal life and functioning properly, otherwise I cannot continue any fast whatsoever.
My eyelids are still twitching often, a sign that I have some nutritional deficiencies for sure, but I hope once I start to eat again things will be better. I cannot wait to eat a hearty salad from my favourite restaurants. Now that I’m drinking I feel really tired, the refeeding process, let’s face it, it sucks; eating after a prolonged fast takes so much energy from the body that basically shuts me down while I’m digesting, and I’m just sipping on a little bit of Bone Broth with tons of water at the moment!
I still have lots of weight to lose unfortunately, the rate on which I was losing weight was not that fast so I would’ve needed another two weeks to reach my ideal target weight, but I could not handle another 2 weeks of Water Fast, I’m getting tired of not eating; I hope with good food and exercise I can reach my goal, and maybe I’ll do short Water Fast here and there to stabilize my weight and lose another couple of Kg. The important thing is that I don’t gain any weight and I maintain wherever I am now, or less of course. Wish me luck!

Thursday 21 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast - Day #27


I’m almost at the end of another week, on Day #27; so far I’m ok but I’m definitely feeling the side effects of so many days of Fasting. I cannot do long walks, well at least not today, sometimes one day can be totally different from another. My arms are still very weak; I don’t have much strength to do heavy lifting or things like that. Yesterday I had to change the system inside the toilet that control the water tank with the lever and so on; well it was a real challenge for me removing the old pump and unscrew the various pieces! I thought I could not do it at some point, that I had to call a plumber; fortunately I managed to find some strengths and I was able to change and fix everything, I was proud of myself at the end; not only for my handy-man skills but because it was tough on my body the overall process.
My mother is becoming a bit worried about me not eating since so many days and she keeps on asking me when I’m going to end my Fast; but I told her that I planned on refeeding by the end of next week, if everything goes well; at the end I listen to my body and how I feel day by day, and really the days pass, once into a Water Fast you don’t realize how time can be so erratic and it goes, no matter what you do, you just need to have some patience, let things go, let your mind being distracted by the bigger picture not the challenges of the moment, it won’t work easily if we engage in analyzing too much how we feel now, rather than how we would feel if we give up.
For today I was thinking on doing another enema, I don’t feel constipated or uncomfortable, but I had feelings that I could have still some residual food sitting in my GI tract that would need to be removed, so not to poison my body. I was also wondering if I would ever see any parasites coming out of my body; not that it is something that I’m looking forward to, but lots of people doing Water Fasts are reporting of getting rid of parasites and worms and nasty things like that; which is a good thing to know that they are leaving the body anyway; I personally cannot say that I ever got rid of any of those things, who knows if they are hard to go or just I didn’t notice and I actually did removed parasites in my previous fasts.
My weight loss is still very very slow unfortunately, but there is not much I can do I guess, I was hoping I would be at 57Kg by the end of this week, but clearly is not going to happen, I’m still in the 59Kg and it’s already Thursday today. I hope at least by Monday I will be able to see the 57Kg somehow. If I am in the 56/57 Kg by the begin of the next week I was thinking on switching my Water Fast to a Bone Broth Fast, always drinking water on the side but starting to add some proteins and vitamins from the broth. I already know that I won’t be able to handle too much Bone Broth for too many days without being sick of it, so I might have it only here and there during the day and for the rest my usual water intake. But I’m not sure yet, since much would depends on what my weight will be by begin of next week.

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast - Day #26

Days are passing after all, it’s been 26 days that I am not eating any solid food; never been so long without eating – I reached a new personal record! I’m still far away from my weight goal though; unfortunately I had lots of fat to shed so lots of days are needed.
So far I’m ok, morning walks are becoming a bit of a challenge, but not crazy really, I can still manage to come to the office and back home without major issues. What’s a bit harder for me is using my arms muscles; drying my hair mostly, using the hair dryer is tough and I need to take breaks every few seconds; I’m wondering if exercise can help me with that.
What I don’t like are my sleepless nights, I can’t sleep continuously during the night and in the morning I don’t want to wake up at all, maybe also because I’m getting bored at work – as usual. Apart from that I guess I’m ok, my tongue is not that white-coated, just a little; I’m not particularly hungry but I like to watch a lot of YouTube videos of Raw Vegan recipes; I also try to prepare something for my dad so I can satisfy my desire of cooking, and I keep my mind busy from the food restriction. I have to say, even while I’m cooking something delicious, I have no cravings to try or taste whatever I’m cooking, I feel fine really.
I noticed that during a Water Fast I bruise easily, and it takes time to go away the bruise; this is apparently a common thing for fasters. Today I have a bit of lower back pain, maybe I need an enema, I didn’t do in the past few days, but I don’t feel the need to at the moment. My weight is going down very slowly, as I was expecting; I estimated another 2 weeks for me to reach my weight goal, but I’ll see how the next days will go, I’m just afraid my weakness can get worst and it will become harder for me to do my daily activities.
I still don’t fit in lots of my dresses, even though I lost some weight in these 26 days, I still have a lot of fat on me, this is something that really bothers me, because 26 days is a long time to stay without food, and although there are people doing Water Fasts for 40 days, it is still a big number for me! I know I should be stronger and think that days will pass and eventually I’ll get there, where I want to be, in happiness with my body, with my cravings, sure that I killed some parasites and got rid of lots of my addictions for certain type of junk food.

Monday 18 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast - Day #24

So today is the 24th Day of my Combined Dry/Water Fast, never did a Fast longer than 24 days, so from tomorrow on I’ll have reached a new goal. I’m aiming for 40 days though, let’s see how I feel in the coming weeks.
My weight loss really slowed down, I barely lose half pound every other day; yesterday I did an enema, I felt something was negatively affecting my mood and I thought it can be related to bacteria stuck in my colon, I didn’t want to take the chance, so I did it but not much came out. This morning I registered a loss though, I was 59.9Kg – glad to see the number 5 on the scale!
I spent all weekend being lazy and what I learnt so far from my fasts is that being lazy is counterproductive if you want to lose weight; I don’t care what they say that you have to rest and blah blah, for me doesn’t work like that; I need to move to consume calories, to keep the body running. This morning the first 10 minutes, while I was walking, I felt very weak and dizzy, it got better after few minutes but I’m sure it was because I was in bed all weekend and not used to stay outside. I tried to take a deep breath when I was out but, living downtown has its negative sides, the pollution is high but what was bothering me and not letting me take a deep breath was the stink of dogs’ pee and poop, everyone has a dog in my neighborhood, and although I love animals, they stink like hell 
So far I’m not hungry, I often watch videos of Raw Vegan recipes, what to eat, what to prepare, I dream about eating something delicious, but I don’t feel weak that I’m going to break my fast; I’m really committed on reaching my target weight so I’ll keep going till I do, I hope God will help me in my journey and give me the strengths to not given up.
Physically I feel my arms very weak, I was drying my hair yesterday and I had to take breaks here and there, the air dryer felt too heavy; I don’t have issues with my legs though, I can walk – slowly maybe, but for long time. I was thinking on going to the gym from today on, just to do some light exercise, to keep the lymphatic system moving and facilitate my weight loss a bit more.
My tongue feels still awful but it’s not that white-coated anymore, I’m wondering if this is a sign that my detox process is going well. My sleep is still very bad, I sleep and wake up during the night constantly, I know my body has high levels of cortisol at the moment, so sleeping deeply is not going to happen, but after all I don’t feel much tired in the morning anyway; I would rather sleep all night though, I have to admit it.
During this past weekend, I took some supplements: Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium + D3, Vitamins B100 Complex, Vitamin E, Probiotics and Omega 3, not all in once, spread during the 2 days. I was concerning if, all this drinking, can affect my electrolytes and create a vitamin deficiency; also my eye lids were twitching, which is usually not a good sign. I will take some more tomorrow too, maybe every other day or so, it depends on how I feel. During a prolonged Fast you really need to listen closely to your body, how you feel is extremely important, especially if the Fast is not medically supervised, it can be very dangerous if anything happens.
Yesterday evening I was watching a video of a girl (most probably with an eating disorder), that was doing 3 Water Fasts of 40 days each, one after the other one, with just 4 days of refeeding. She became bone and skin eventually, but one thing that shocked me was that she was mentioning on breaking her 40-days fast with a steak! A steak! That’s just crazy for me, how come people cannot understand that the digestive system needs to wake up again after 40-days being dormant? How can you possibly expect that a steak will be digested normally, when nothing was in your stomach for 40 days?! Just crazy, if I can give my opinion, people are gambling with their health and it’s unfair to our bodies.

Friday 15 September 2017

Raw Vegan "Cereal" Bowl Recipe

Sometimes while Fasting, one thing that I look forward is to eat healthy, fruits and vegetables, and trying new recipes, never tried before. So today I have something in my mind that I got from a YouTube video. It is a Raw Vegan Cereal Bowl, without the cereals though.
Here’s the recipe that I customized for myself (feel free to do any change you like):
Ingredients:
  • 1 Crispy Apple
  • ½ Ripe Banana
  • Handful of Walnuts
  • Cinnamon
  • ½ tsp of Vanilla Extract
  • ½ tsp Chia Seeds
  • ½ tsp Hemp Seeds
  • Coconut flakes
  • Nut Milk of your choice
If you want to avoid fats altogether, you can substitute the Walnuts with dried Mulberries and keep the crunchiness of the Cereal.
  • I’ll post a picture when I’m back on eating again!
 

Combined Dry and Water Fast – Day #21

Friday 15.09.2017
Combined Dry and Water Fast – Day #21
Water Fast
Today I feel better than yesterday, my energy level seems improved a bit and my mood is ok. I came to the office with my scooter for the first time and, although does not give me the chance to walk and do some light exercise, I really liked, it’s a short trip really but I feel like at home in Rome, when I used to use my scooter to go to the subway or the train station.
My weight is going down very slowly, today I’m 60.7Kg; I registered a weight loss after the yesterday’s stall, so always good seeing the scale going down. Apart from the numbers, I prefer looking in the mirror and see my progresses; I’m still very chubby, I barely can use the leggings without feeling a sausage for my fat legs, so I am not getting skinnier fast that’s for sure. But that’s ok, I guess I’m a work in progress and I need to be strong and have patience if I want to reach my goal of 52Kg.
I was thinking of taking some of the tinctures in my morning Kidney tea, who knows maybe they will help me with the energy; I was also wondering if I should take a B12 shot once a week, that should help me too with my energy levels, but I’m still debating on this, so let’s see.
Fortunately it’s Friday today and this weekend I’m not seeing my parents, so I can dedicate to myself all the time I want. I feel that if I keep myself busy I don’t think much about the fast, plus I’m not even hungry anyway; I often repeat to myself: don’t be a chicken and keep going with this Fast, time will pass and I will be glad I did it, 100%!

Thursday 14 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast – Day #20

Thursday 14.09.2017
Combined Dry and Water Fast – Day #20
Water Fast
So I broke my Dry Fast yesterday, not because I was thirsty or anything, just bored of not drinking, but I’m also bored of drinking water anyway. Some days are not all rainbows unfortunately. I feel given up, I feel I would like to eat something delicious, fruits and vegetables. But I tell myself to be strong, after 20 days I must continue, days will pass and I’ll reach my goal and thank myself for being strong and keep on going with my Fast. I’m not hungry, just annoyed of drinking water I guess, but from a point of view this is just childish somehow, because I’m like a little kid that wants the candies, not because she “needs” candies, just to satisfy the cravings; so I better stay away from these stupid cravings.
I estimated that I could, potentially, complete my Water Fast around October 6th/7thif everything proceeds as expected. Today I did not lose one single gram from yesterday, but it could be water retention since I broke my Dry Fast just few hours ago. I have to remember that, if I want to start a new Dry Fast, I either do it for at least 5/6 days or I don’t do at all. Because 48hrs are worth nothing in terms of weight loss, and actually I’m just shocking my body that would retain as much water as it can!
So far I feel ok, mood is good, my stomach is growling often today, but I’m not hungry. I bought an unsweetened tea at Starbucks today, and really it was absolutely disgusting. Now I guess I cannot tolerate anything, I should stick with just plain water, not even lemon water, it’s bothering me that too now.
Sometimes I think on how will be my body reaction to food again, once I break the Fast in 3 weeks from now. It does seem a long time, but I’m sure time will pass quickly if I don’t think too much about it. I wish I had lots of things to do during the day, so I could be busy and not think about my Fast. It is really a lot of mental component here, because there’s no hunger whatsoever, so it’s just my mind that calls for food.
My journey though, it is still long but I have lots of weight to lose unfortunately, so I don’t have much choice, I don’t want to be fat as I am, I don’t feel well, it’s causing me a lot of anxiety, and when I’m skinnier I feel younger, full of positive thoughts, I feel like another person. People interact with me differently, I do too, I feel more confident, my clothes fit and I can use my whole wardrobe without stressing in the mornings on what to wear. I know it might seem a superficial way to see things and my life, but this is what makes me happy, and everybody is different, what makes you happy can be different from someone else. We have to find what’s right for us.

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Combined Dry and Water Fast - Day by Day

I'm starting a new Dry Fast today, in the middle of my Combined Prolonged Fast, giving a break to my drinking water and trying to improve my weight loss rate.

DRY FAST BEGINMonday September 11, 2017 @ 4:30 PM

Combined Fast Day #18 - Dry Fast - Tuesday 12.09.2017
@ 8:30 AM - 16hrs into the fast
I started my Dry Fast today, now I’m just on the 16th hours but so far so good, I’m not thirsty and, of course, not hungry at all. This morning I felt a bit “off” coming to work, I don’t think is because of the Dry Fast, since I just started, maybe just a general feeling that can be due to anything. I was thinking on doing an enema yesterday, but at the end – lazy me – I didn’t do it; today I feel more motivated since I don’t want anything sitting in my GI tract that might poison my body, because unable to release it. Today at work I’m full of meetings; I hope I won’t fall asleep in one of them. Sleep has been very bad lately, although last night I slept more than usual though.



Combined Fast Day #19 - Dry Fast - Tuesday 12.09.2017
@ 10:30 AM - 42hrs into the fast
I didn't have much to log yesterday, mostly because I was running between meetings all day. However, I really feel normal, sure my mouth is awful as usual, but it's basically the same as during the Water Fast. I'm not thirsty or hungry and today I feel much better in terms of sleep. Last night I was dreaming of eating something and I was actually chewing while asleep; since I have a retainer for my teeth that I use at night, my first thought was of how bad of me was eating with my braces on! This morning I felt a bit weak with my arms though, I had to take small breaks when I was drying my hair, but I was able to walk to the office without issues really. Yesterday I did an enema, I had this thoughts that something was poisoning inside me if I didn't do it. Well it was ok but during the night I had some pain in my GI tract, but I didn't release anything, maybe with the days, since I'm Dry Fasting I'm sure my body is trying to retain as much water as possible. Today my weight is 61.1Kg, which is 1.3lb less than yesterday. I feel I still need to lose so much and my weight loss is going so slow; but not much I can do I guess. At this rate I would need another 20/30 days before ending this fast, but it is what it is. One thing I noticed so far for this Dry Fast is that I'm not urinating at all, really small quantities and very rarely during the day, I'm wondering if in the next days I'll see any change, once the burned fats are going to release some of the stored water. My tongue so far is not that white, slightly pinky-white I would say, I really hope that this means that my detoxing process is going well and I don't have any yeast infection anymore, that would be great to know!

Combined Dry & Water Fast - Days 15, 16 and 17


It has been a long weekend for me and my Water Fast, I went to US with my parents on a road trip, it was not very tiring but at the end of the trip I felt a bit weak and fell asleep very fast once back home. So far my fast is going well, I don’t see much changes on the scale but energy is good, mood is ok, and anxiety is gone, well at least most of the part of my days – I might have some episodes in the early mornings.
During this short trip I’ve been watching my parents eating delicious things and I must to say I did not feel the desire of cheating or breaking my fast, I didn’t feel deprived or anything, which means my Ketosis is working wonder! Unfortunately, I ran out of Ketostix so I can’t check what the ketone's levels are but I would assume I’m in a ketogenic state right now.
By Sunday evening I had very dry skin but maybe was due to the fact that, during the trip, I didn’t have much chance to drink water, we were always running around, so it was hard for me drinking and stopping to go to the bathroom, so I ended up drinking just around 1L of water or so. But after I resumed my water intake, my skin went back to normal.
Last night I was watching a YouTube video of a guy doing an extended Fast and his tongue was incredibly white! I never seen something like that, my tongue is just a little bit white compared his. I guess everyone is different but that was shocking for me.
I’m thinking of starting a new Dry Fast tomorrow; the weight loss rate while dry fasting is way higher than Water Fast, and since my weight is basically not moving at all (I’m still 61.7Kg), I want to try to give a boost to this fast, plus I’m getting tired on drinking water and I’m sure once I stay few days without water I will appreciate drinking again much more.

Friday 8 September 2017

Combined Dry & Water Days 11 , 12 and 13

Not much to report for the past 3 days, my Water Fast is proceeding well, I don’t feel hungry at all and my ketones are usually pretty good, always 80mg/dL up to 150mg/dL. For some reason the Ketostix are backordered and I could not find any at the drugs stores, so for now I would just assume I’m in ketosis since I’m not eating anything, I hope I will be able to find a package somewhere in the city.
In the past couple of days I had 2 BMs, mostly liquid of course but it’s amazing to see how after more than 10 days my body is still cleaning up my GI tract. I noticed that when I suddenly drink a big jar of hot lemon water I always need to use the washroom, maybe too much water in once or the lemon effect? Who knows?!


My weight loss is slowing down consistently - unfortunately, I know it’s a normal body reaction but it’s frustrating seeing the scale barely moving, but mostly not seeing on my body the fat going away at the same rate as the Dry Fast. I was actually thinking on starting a new 5/7 days Dry Fast, but I’m still undecided, it is very easy doing a Water Fast when able to sip on lemon water or my kidney tea. Well I guess this is the price I have to pay to please my palate.


Tomorrow I’m going out of town with my parents for the weekend, I hope I can stay away a bit from the lemon water and sip only on pure water that might help the weight loss. I just hope my mother will not start to complain 24/7 about me not eating anything; it will be a tough weekend if I have to listen to her no stop. I know it can be hard to understand for people around you that you’re not eating anything, but I believe concerns are moved by genuine worries though, at least most of the times - and in my case from my mother - for sure. I just try to let her understand that I know what I’m doing, that I feel very good and if I ever experience any problematic discomfort during the fast, then I’ll break it without thinking twice.


Sometime I feel I am a masochistic person, I know exactly that if I drink my lemon water or my kidney tea my stomach really hurts, but no matter what, I do it and do it again all the times! Why is that I really don’t know. When Water Fasting the stomach is very sensitive to everything you feed with, so even a little bit of tea or just a bit of lemon juice in a liter of water can be felt as a stomachache in no time.


One thing I noticed in these days is that my strengths are slightly going down; I feel my purse is becoming heavier and heavier when I walk around, and 2 days ago I went out during lunch time for some errands with few things in my purse, now my left trapezius muscle is killing me. So be careful on where you push your body during a prolonged Water Fast or you might regret it.
Just to say though, that in general I don’t feel weak or tired, is like the mind is super focused, alert, mood is good, the anxiety is almost gone; but my body is on a different wave – maybe busy detoxing and repairing other things inside.


My mouth still feels kind of awful, but my tongue at time changes colour, from stinky white coated to light pink. The “thirst” that lot of people think to feel during a Water Fast is actually the mouth sensation that doesn’t give a rest to a Faster, is not actually thirst – especially when drinking so much water all day. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done with the tongue issue, at least that I’m aware of. We just need to cope with it, it gets better with the days – I tend to get used to, still not feeling right but I don’t complain like during a Dry Fast. Hot water usually helps though – I would suggest giving it a try.

Thursday 7 September 2017

Why I'm not losing weight on a Water Fast?


In my experience I narrowed down few reasons why I hit a plateau while Water Fasting:
  1. Lack of exercise – so to clarify I mean lack of general activities. Resting all day in bed will not help your body to consume calories, hence, since you’re in a Ketogenic state the body will not feel the need to burn any unnecessary fat. After all human body is a perfect machine. I would suggest light walks, doing errands or chores in the house, but most probably the best way is just walk for 2/3 hours a day.
  2. Lack of sleep – I found that few sleepless days and being very tired can cause a plateau, I guess even when not fasting. But it’s something to consider if looking for the cause of not losing weight.
  3. If you’re a woman and - TOM is around the corner, chances are you will hit a plateau. I know it sucks but water retention is a common thing before the period starts.
  4. Plateaus are a normal thing either if you’re fasting or dieting; I know it can be very frustrating not seeing any change on the scale when fasting believe me - but, if I’m in Ketosis I’m sure that it’s just water retention and maybe if I’m not losing pounds I’m losing inches somewhere. Be patient, usually plateau don’t last more than a couple of days, and then you’ll be back again on losing weight.
NOTE
  • I never seen any stall in my weight loss while Dry Fasting, at least in my personal experience, so I believe this thing is very rare to happen.
  • Also that might be many other causes why a person hits a plateau; I just listed some of the most common ones for me.

Tuesday 5 September 2017

Combined Dry & Water Fast Days 8, 9, 10 and 11


Combined Fast Day #8, #9, #10 (Sat, Sun, Mon)
Water Fast
The long weekend passed, mostly being lazy in bed, I really didn’t want to do much and the more I was staying in bed the more I was feeling lazy. My ketosis has been really good this past long weekend, but not much weight loss – it might be still water retention but I’m basically at the same weight when I broke my Dry Fast. As I always say there’s nothing better than Dry Fasting when it comes to lose weight. I noticed my tongue became heavily white coated, it feels awful and I realized that is one of the reason why I cannot stand much not drinking, because I want to get rid of this bad feeling but, even drinking hot water with lemon, it doesn’t help with the white-coat of the tongue at all. I had 2 spontaneous BMs this weekend, mostly liquid but my tummy was hurting me a lot, maybe my fault too because I drank too fast my water lemon and my stomach cannot handle all that water in few minutes. It happens all the times. I started to get some Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium, not much really but since I was drinking distilled water I felt I needed supplements in case of deficiency of these electrolytes. I also took a 10M probiotics in the evening, especially for the BMs that made me feel a bit off with my stomach. I know I should not take anything since I’m not eating since days but I listen to my body and if I don’t feel right, I’ll change my plans. I washed and dried my hair yesterday evening and my arms felt a bit weak, I had to take a break after few minutes, the hair-dryer was too heavy, but I think I should do some exercise, not only for my arms but for my mid-section too!


Combined Fast Day #11 - Tuesday
Water Fast
Today I’m back in the office, I feel better, I was able to wear one of my favourite dresses, not the smallest one of course but one that I love, so I’m happy for that. My weight did not change at all since yesterday and – strangely enough – my Ketosis was lower today at 80mg/dL. I think I’m drinking too much teas and lemon water. I noticed that I hit plateaus when I’m super lazy at home. I’m planning on doing an enema today, not that I feel constipated or nothing, but I can tell that I still need to get rid of old stuff in my colon. Days go slower when I’m home doing nothing, I should force myself to be engaged in something that takes my mind off the fast and my weight, it is not healthy. This morning I had my Bell Kidneys Tea with a bit of lemon, now I like the taste, believe it or not! I’m in the office sipping on some water lemon now and I think I managed to add enough lemon this time, just to bottle cap size. This morning I was thinking on starting some light exercises at home, like crunches and some squats, but let’s see how I feel.