Water Fast - Refeeding Process and my second meal of the day

Ok, so my second meal of the day is done; I just had again 2 ounces of watermelon and so far so good. This piece was cold, it was in the fridge since this morning but I was eating it in very small pieces, chewing slowly so it did not affect me much, in other circumstances I wouldn't be happy to eat cold fruit while I'm freezing here in the office. It took me another 10 to 15 minutes to eat it all, so I will resume my water around noon; I'm estimating another meal around 1:30pm and the next one I might have at home – since I'm supposed to eat every 2 hours between 9:00am and 5:00pm; not sure if I might ended up eating another 2 pieces of watermelon home or not….let's see.

Again, I wasn't blown away from the eating experience really, it was not even tasty, I'm wondering if I just bought a bad watermelon since it's almost November here. But for tomorrow I planned to buy some papaya and continue my refeeding process with another fruit, I'm not even sure I can find papaya in Toronto! I wish I was living in a tropical country…mostly because I would be on the beach right now.

I'm somehow getting impatient for this refeeding process, it feels so slow and boring, thinking that I'm not able to eat whatever I want it's frustrating. Not that I'm thinking on bingeing or anything, I'm actually fine but I would prefer staying an extra couple of days with just water than eating this tiny small piece of watermelon; but I guess I have no choice, I need to let my digestion system wake up again gently without attacking it with lots of food or anything hard to digest.

Tomorrow my papaya meals will be every 2.5 hours, so basically I will start at 9:00am ending at around 6:00pm, depending on how the eating process goes, I'm not sure I like papaya so it will be a new experience for me, I hope I will, or my frustration will be greater than today! Wish me luck!

Water Fast - Refeeding Day #1 my experience so far...

Today is the day - I started my refeeding process. This morning I brought in the office my 3 meals of 2 ounces of watermelon. First meal I had at 9:00am, I stopped to drink water at around 8:30am; I took roughly 15 minutes to eat my watermelon – chewing it very carefully - and had some water again at around 10:00am, waiting 45 minutes after my meal.

My first meal was not as I was expecting it, I've watched so many videos on YouTube on people refeeding after 21 days, or even less than 21 – and everyone was like crying while eating the watermelon, almost as it was a mystic encounter never experienced before, the burst of sensations and taste was from another world! For me….it was just like eating a watermelon really. I mean, it was good sure, sweet enough but nothing that I would cry for.

So far I'm not experiencing any sort of side effect from my stomach; I don't feel hungry nor full, I'm sipping on my bottle of water, trying to be conscious today on drinking enough liquids – I feel I'm being really bad with my water intake, yesterday definitely I was under the 2L and while doing a water fast is definitely a negative thing to do. In fact this morning my weight was same as yesterday, my Ketosis was between small and moderate traces, definitely the sugar content in the coconut water impacted my ketosis and my weight, but I want to think that also not drinking enough didn't help the whole process.

My next meal will be at around 11:15am or so, depending on how I feel but I don't think I should have any problem, let's faced it 2 ounces are really nothing and watermelon is almost all water anyway. I think tomorrow I'll register a gain in my weight, I don't think I'll have any bowel movement for what I eat today, but it's not that I'm gaining fat or anything so I'm ok with that. I guess this rule will apply for the next 2/3 days, even more going forward since the food intake will increase day by day; I don't want my body feel that I'm in starvation.

Today for some unknown reasons my skin is really dry, maybe is the cold weather and Canadian winter coming but it feels really dry, and I always wonder if it could be due to the amount of water I'm drinking, in any case I'm constantly sipping today; the key is to do small sips every now and then. I also feel always cold – apart from the weather and the office temperature – I'm sure the Ketosis doesn't help either, but I don't really feel anymore drinking the hot water, I got bored of it. I might have some decaf tea or chamomile tea after the full refeeding process. I need to do some researches to see which one is the best decaffeinated beverage I can have in the morning, I like hot drinks so I hope I can find something that will not make me miss my morning coffee; sometimes I think on buying that odd tea that the acupuncturist gave me a while ago, it was tasting like chicken broth but it was definitely tasty.

Ending my Fast - Coconut Water disappointment!

It's officially started somehow my refeeding process after 23 days with water only, so today I had a can of coconut water. I have to say I was expecting a more engaging experience from it but in the contrary: I was disappointed. I really don't like coconut, even less the water; it was like feeling forced to drink down some sort of disgusting medicine, I'm here thinking that I should have the second can but I would rather fast for another week instead!

My original plan was to drink coconut water for the first two days then during the weekend to go on real food, 2 and 4 ounces of watermelon, but…hey plans can change, especially when the experience is the first ever. So tomorrow I will have my three meals with 2 ounces of watermelon; I'll stop by to a grocery store on my way home this afternoon, I hope I can find some organic one, not easy in this time of the year in Toronto though. I will prepare 3 portions of 2 ounces each, I'm supposed to start the first meal at 10:00am and from there every 2 hours another meal, counting by the end of my meal I guess, since it might take some time for me to carefully chew and eat my fruit, that's all I will have for the day.

This morning my ketosis was still very high, I believe more than 80mg/dL, the Ketostix was extremely dark, that's a sign that I'm still burning fat, and I can believe it since I still have lots of fat to lose anyway.  I know I might go longer on this fast but I really feel it's time for me to end it, I'm getting bored of drinking only water and some days my energy levels are not great, so I don't feel doing much, mostly I feel slow in whatever I do, especially when I walk. I want to be able to go back to the gym, I lost lots of weight so quickly and my body shape is terrible at the moment, so a good exercise routine now is really needed.

Water Fasting - Refeeding Plan Observations

For the refeeding process I have a specific plan that I'm supposed to follow, in summary I have the following two basic rules (on top of some others of course):

• Avoid drinking water 30 minutes before eating
• Avoid drinking water 45 minutes after eating

Also it's important to handle the food that I'm eating in the best way possible:

• Cut the food in small pieces
• Chew the food until is completely dissolved into the mouth

One thing I planned for my refeeding days – at least the first 2 full days – is to stay home and dedicate the days to the process, since I will basically: drink, eat and rest in between; the digestion phase will take a lot of energy from me that I'm used to anymore since days now, so my body will need for sure.

So I will stop drinking 30 minutes before my first meal starts, I'm supposed to take my time to eat my 2 ounces of water melon, so it might take up to one hour, I don't want to rush it and I really want to enjoy the experience, enjoy the re-discovered taste of the fruit that I'll be having.

After my water melon I will take a rest, just trying to sleep or just watching TV on the couch, to let my digestion system wake up gently. After 2 hours or so I should have my second meal – another 2 ounces of water melon – but let's see how I feel; I read of people sleeping more than expected or just not feeling eating much, so I will just listen to my body and see how it goes. I'm not planning to have more than 2/3 meals anyway, but only if I'm hungry.

The coconut water that I planned to use for breaking my fast I actually thought I could drink it the Friday before my refeeding weekend, so I sort of prepare my body for the fast. A read a lot of contradictory suggestions on what food can be the best one to break the fast; some people suggest juice instead of fresh fruit, some other even vegetables or bone broth.

I personally don't want to start with nothing complicated, I think a small piece of well chewed water melon should not harm my digestion system, so I'll take this path for now; I am also thinking on checking out some juice-maker places to see what are my options out there, just in case I change my mind.