2019 Fast 5.0 - Dry Fast Day #3

59 hours into the Dry Fast - 71.7 Kg
Yesterday was a long day for me, I spent more than three hours in the car in order to go for a job interview - which I don't even know I can commit to it anyway (my three jobs are already keeping me really busy so far).
My energy levels are good, no Ketones checked though. This morning I had a bit of low pressure when I woke up; I feel much better now but it took almost two hours to feel normal again. Last night I had again lots of weird dreams and lack of sleep, this is really the most annoying part of a fast - I might have said it a million times I know.
I don't feel hungry nor thirsty but I can tell that my cravings are not all gone yet, it tells me that I might not be in fully Ketosis yet, my stomach is still rumbling here and there and I often wish to eat or drink something. I guess the desire of drinking never goes away, I even dreamt about it! My breath is now in the acetone-like state, it feels awful and I'm a bit concerned when talking to people. But, after all, today is just day #3, it shouldn't be so bad yet...or I hope so, I can't actually tell with precision.

2019 Fast 4.0 - Dry Fast Day #4

83 hours into the Dry Fast 
My sleep is already being affected by the Dry Fast, last night I couldn't sleep much; I woke up at 1:30 AM and that was it. I hate when I cannot sleep at night. My mouth is becoming very dry, I don't like it. I thought it will happen around Day 6/7, not now. I have a bit of lower back pain today, and my neck issues are still not gone. I'm thinking I should call the physiotherapist to see what's going on with my neck; I was hoping it will resolve by itself, but it didn't.
This evening I have to work at the banquet hall for a wedding reception, I'm actually glad I will move a bit and consume some ketones & calories in the process. Sitting always in this chair is so detrimental for my health.
Honestly, I can't wait for my parents to leave my apartment. Not that I don't want them with me, but I'm conditioning my life. I don't have weekends for myself to just stay in bed all day, or do nothing. My condo is so messy, I can't find anything in my closets, things are all over the places and I cannot stand looking at those suit-cases on the floor anymore. I'm missing the gym since they came, I kind of put on-hold my life for them. I feel I cannot focus clearly on my weight loss goals, on my food choices. My fridge is full of food that otherwise I would never buy for myself.
I'm leaving with them on April the 8th, I didn't want to go but felt forced to do it. I would rather go to Cuba for a week than there, and spend definitely less money. Oh well, I'm almost done with this so I should try to stay positive and look forward to the end of April for my personal goals...and the freedom of my own apartment!

2019 Fast 3.0 - Dry Fast Day #4

89 hours into the Dry Fast - 68.65 Kg (151lb)
My Dry Fast is proceeding well so far. Yesterday I felt so normal that I couldn't believe myself I was Dry Fasting since 3 days. I went to the gym after work, I didn't do any strenuous exercise, just brisk walk on the thread mill, a bit of exercise for my legs and a good stretching. It was a gentle workout I would say, but I felt I needed to move in some way; I'm always sitting at my desk - so sedentary is not good for muscle sparing.
I didn't do any enema yet, but I'm planning to do it this afternoon, I have somehow a feeling that something is sitting in my colon that need to be removed.
This coming Thursday and Saturday I have to work at the banquet hall; there, I always eat so much, so late at night; there's so much free food that I always feel wasting all that goodness for nothing. But this time around I would need to bring my own plastic containers and save that food for home, bringing it to my parents - although I know they won't eat it and most likely I will throw it away.....such a waste. They're picky like small children!
Today I have a bit of dry throat, I feel it's still too early to feel thirsty, I hope this sensation will go away soon, because I want to achieve my 200-hours goal this time around. My sleep is not affected so far, which is good - I hate when I can't fall asleep at night. I'm wondering why my throat is so dry, I never experienced this dryness in my previous Dry Fasts. I guess every fast is different from another. This morning my Ketostix was showing only 40mg/dL - the ketone levels in my urine are very low, considering that I had no food and no water for more than 80 hours. Maybe my ketones are used to boost the energy in my body? I read somewhere that when the ketones are used as fuel, the concentration shown on the ketostix tends to be lower. I guess I will have a proof of that in the next couple of days, checking if the ratio changes or not. To be honest I didn't see much of a change in my weight, no matter what the scale says, I don't see myself getting thinner. I usually can tell when I'm losing weight, my face looks skinnier, my big belly slims down, and even a bit my large hips. This time is not yet happening, well after all it's just 3.5 days into this Dry Fast. Maybe after 5/6 days I will see some improvements in my appearance.
So far I'm peeing with an almost normal frequency, but definitely the amount of urine is very little. This morning my urine was a lot and it was extremely dark, like more than usual healthy colour, but I think it's normal since I'm not drinking any water - not sure if this is a sign for healthy Kidneys filtration or the opposite?

I broke my Dry Fast again after 75 hours

After 75hrs I broke my Dry Fast...again. I was determined to go at least another 5/6 days dry fasting. However, my throat was extremely dry and my TOM just started and made me feel awful without water. So I decided to take a break from the Dry Fast and rehydrate again. Hopefully this time around I will drink plenty of water to make me feel ready to begin a new Dry Fast. My weight this morning was 66.65Kg, I lost some weight since I re-loaded the Fast, but I don't even want to think on how much it will raise till tomorrow!
My issue with water fast is that, after doing it for so many times, I cannot stay away from liquids of any sort. For example decaf coffee with cream, or my water with the VEGA electrolytes. Those are all piling up on my calories intake and jeopardizing my weight loss and my willpower on beginning a new Dry Fast.
Every Fast will bring you a desire of a missing texture, when Dry Fasting the only thing I desire is fresh water. While if I'm Water Fasting I want to have fresh juices, sometimes solid food as well. It's an escalation of desire of different textures. So dangerous when trying to create a discipline around fasting.
I had feelings my period was coming yesterday, I felt pain on my ovaries and not feeling well in general. I didn't notice the weight loss that I was expecting, and I wasn't sure why. Well, now I know - most likely my period increased the body natural reaction of retain water. I still have discomforts for the period but I have to endure this pain I guess, I'm not going to take any pill for that.
Right after I had some water and my electrolytes I had a BM, and I have to say I was surprised to see how much food waste was still in my bowel - since I did an enema yesterday morning. It might seem a gross conversation this - and I apologize for that - but when Fasting, what is in your GI tract assumes an important role in your wellbeing.
My weekend Dry Fasting was ok, I felt really weak at times and now I can tell that my lower back was bothering me a bit because of my period coming soon. I never felt hungry though, just a bit thirsty. But what bothered me the most during these 75 hours Dry Fasting, it was the feeling in my mouth. Lots of people report metal taste in the mouth because of the excess Ketones. Not that I usually eat metals - but I'm guessing that what it was. I tried to brush my teeth with Pink salt and Baking Soda, but the relief lasts only few minutes and I was back on my metal mouth. Need to add that my tongue is never been white coated, or at least not yet.

2019 Fast 2.0 - Dry Fast Day #1

15 hrs into the Dry Fast - 68.7 Kg (151lb)
Yesterday - while I was trying to rehydrate myself - I decided to do a small reefed, my body was asking for food, although not feeling hungry per se. So I had a Starbucks decaf coffee with cream in the morning and that lead me to an Organic Broccoli soup for lunch and big Greek yogurt with black cherries and some mango for the supper. Of course my scale this morning reported an extra Kg, but it was expected - culprit both water retention and food in my bowel. Last night at around 11:00 PM I did have some lower abdomen pain and a small BM, I think I shouldn't have had the solid mango quite yet, in my defense though I tried to chew it as much as I could before swallowing it.
This morning I'm starting a new Dry Fast and I'm really excited for it, sure I have often temptations of delaying my begin, but I'm trying to be strong, ketones are still running in my body so I want to take advantage of it. Next week maybe I'll have another small reefed like this one. Let's see how my Dry Fast will proceed. One thing that I'm fascinated about the Dry Fast is the desire of the body to feel fresh water running on my skin. This is such a normal daily action to which we do not pay much attention. We quickly wash our hands and go. While Dry Fasting for few days, this ritual becomes a treat for the skin, you would never leave that fresh running water, as it was actually drinking through the pores. Believe it or not, I cannot wait to have that feeling again, it is - in a contradictory way - ...addictive!
This past Dry Fast was for me really tough, compared my previous one. My mouth never felt so dry before, I started to have that mouth-feeling after four days or so. It never happened before, I'm wondering if it could be related to the season (heat constantly on in my condo)? I believe it impacted the duration of my fast, I could not handle anymore that dry mouth. I have the feeling that this coming new Dry Fast won't be that long either, I don't know if I'm fully rehydrated, my body will start to demand water pretty soon, and the dreaded Dry Mouth!

Another Prolonged Fast - finally begins

I was finally able to start a new prolonged Fast this past Monday, not without difficulties I must to say; I tried and tried but I couldn’t stick to the fast not even for a day! Never happened before, I always had false attempts yes, but eventually I was always able to start fasting – actually quite often beginning with a Dry Fast.

I believe it was due to my high levels of stress; I’m sure I have adrenals fatigue in this period. I recently moved in my condo and the decision was forced by combination of events, so I had to plan everything very quickly. My mother’s surgery put on a lot of stress on me too, she was always nervous because of the surgery and being so far away did not help the overall situation.

Water Fast Day #1

The first day passed quickly and without any issue, not headache this time – and I’m really glad for that. I had some stomach growling but nothing major; I was also able to go to the gym at 6:00AM and feeling ok after (but I still had lots of glucose flowing all over my blood I’m sure). No BM today and I felt somehow bloated with lots of water retention…maybe my TOM?

Water Fast Day #2

The second day was not as easy as the first one. I had lots of stomach growling - I really felt hungry and thinking about food or to give up. But I was strong enough this time and I kept on fasting. I drunk only water these 2 first days, nothing else – actually I didn’t feel thirsty so didn’t drink much.

Fasting Day #3

On day three I started to drink decaf coffee with stevia and a bit of almond milk, lemon water and a couple of chamomile teas - no sugar, I use Stevia because I know does not affect my Ketosis. I was irritable all day, not able to focus much – here and there depression feelings, maybe a detox symptom or simply my TOM coming up. In the morning I was able to go to the gym though, not a great workout maybe but better than zero workouts!

Fasting Day #4

Day four I felt lazy and didn’t want to go to work, so I took a sick day. Working 7 days a week is tough on me, I need the money though so I have to be strong and keep going for now. I wanted to stay home, relax in bed for once – without the rush to be at work by 8:00AM or earlier. It was a beautiful sunny day so – around lunch time - I decided to take my scooter and visit a store I never been before, to check some furniture for my condo. It was a long drive, but I enjoyed. I didn’t feel hungry, just the coffee sometimes doesn’t agree with my empty stomach but I’m getting used to it. Sleep is still good.

Fasting Day #5

Today is the second visit with my dietitian – he gave me a meal plan to follow but I started fasting so didn’t actually follow his plan. I’m thinking on not telling him that I’m fasting, not everyone agrees with all the benefits from food abstinence. But maybe going forward I will tell him. As per today I will see him once a week to check my weight and how I’m doing. It keeps me accountable and my insurance covers for it so it’s practically free. I went to the gym this morning at 6:00AM, and this was the first day where I felt weak in my arms, lighter maybe with my weight but starting to feel some side effects of the Fast.

I still didn’t check my weight neither my ketosis. My dietitian will check the weight for me today (a week after first weigh in) and I might check my ketones in a couple of days, it usually takes me not less than 3 days to start burning fat. Wish me luck!

Day #4 - No Solid Food Fast

Fourth day of my liquid-base type of Fast, I would no rather call it Water Fast anymore since today I had a cup of green juice (organic mix of apple, cucumber, romaine, lemon, kale, spinach and green pepper), and also I’m having my mud pudding every day so that counts too.
I feel good so far though; most of my days are just with water & lemon juice so my digestive system is still chilling anyway. I did an enema this morning, since I didn’t feel quite right with my BMs, and taking the pudding makes me always wondering if it can have a constipate effect on me. But it was good, we’re back on the mucoid plaque shape since I’m eating psyllium husk, but colour wise is not that black like when I was drinking grape juice, which it makes perfect sense. I’m sure my “mucoid plaques” would have been green if I was drinking vegetable juice instead of grape!
I managed to go another 20 minutes to the gym yesterday, today I feel my legs sore but I’m not complaining, as my man says half of the battle is actually going to the gym, and I’m trying to build some discipline around my workouts routine.
I also checked my Ketosis this morning and I had only some traces, which it means that my carbs intake is enough not to produce too many ketones; I’m still not 100% sure though if this is the right way to go, but for now I don’t want to give up my mud pudding, I look forward to it every day, so maybe when I’m Fasting on Bone Broth I won’t eat it.

My diet is becoming my main stress

Today I was reading an article regarding the Candida issues on the Candida Crusher website and mistakes to avoid; one part really made me laugh and feeling guilty at the same time. I’m copying here his words so you can see if you read between the lines yourself as well:

"Any kind of food can feed Candida, especially what we’ll look at a little bit later on is when you’re diet focused and you’re not understanding about the stress connection. Because when you become very focused on diet, it becomes a stress in its own right. You annoy the hell out of people around you. You start annoying yourself after a while, it becomes a stress. You can’t live like this for long. Lots of these diets like GAPS and SCD were not designed for you to be on for 19 years. They were designed for short duration and to get you the hell off that diet."

My Water Fast Day #9

Today's my Water Fast Day #9 – I'm feeling great, my Ketones are in large traces as 80mg/dL and my mood is improving each day into the fast.

I've been reading a lot about Water Fasting, its benefits and how to properly do it; I also watched lots of videos on YouTube and I bought 2 eBooks about water fasting information and guidelines. Overall I'm really excited about all the health benefits that I can achieve with this 21 Days fast.

But what I have been really worried in the past couple of days though is on how to properly break a fast. I did read lots of information and prepared a nice meal plan for the first 3 weeks and beyond, however I still feel a bit afraid on getting back on eating and be able to handle my cravings and binge episodes.

Online I found various experience of course, people succeeding, people indulging in junk food in big quantities from day 1! I do have the strong opinion that first days are crucial, not only for the mind of a binge eater but also to avoid dangerous body side effect. After so many days of drinking only water lots of organs in the body shut down, so I will need to gently put everything back on without shocking my body.

I read of people breaking a fast in an Indian restaurant, when spicy food is one of the top 3 things to avoid in the first days after a fast. A lady went to a Chinese restaurant to break her fast and she even ate the fortune cookie! Come on, ok with the food but leave the crap out of your system since you just detoxed it. Anyhow, I guess we are the result of our food choices and we can only blame ourselves, I include myself obviously! 

Another week with Dr. Bernstein Diet

Today starts another week with my Dr. Bernstein Diet. I was happy this morning to see that I went a bit down my 58 Kg's plateau finally! I see things more positively now, this Diet really puts you in a starvation stress and the only thing you can think about is food and weight loss.

So I went to the clinic this morning for another abdomen injection and the nurse told me that, since I reached the goal they set for me, I'm now eligible to a 4 weeks Maintenance program for free.  It is great to know that I can continue without paying for Maintenance, but I'm not done yet with my weight loss so I'll continue till my month expires and I've lost all I need to lose.

I had few days last week, where I was not losing anything, I actually gained 1 Kg one day, and there's nothing more un-motivating - in this such strict Diet - than gaining weight while following the Plan exactly as required.

For me the solution was avoiding tomatoes, or at least this is what I changed in my Diet so far. I added asparagus, never been one of my favourite vegetables so I never actually had it in the past. I guess my body reacted to this unknown vegetable. Who knows? But in any case the nurse told me that usually asparagus, cabbage and celery are the vegetables that do the trick.

It's been 3 days in a row now that I'm checking my Ketones in the morning and the Ketostix is showing a moderate to high trace of it in my sample. It was confirmed by the nurse this morning as well, she told me it was the darker ketostix she had today so far.  I noticed that it's good in the morning, till after breakfast and then there's no trace of it in my urine samples. It could be due to the water intake that dilutes the ketones or the food, not sure really.

My lunch today was a bit different than usual, I'm becoming really good in preparing omelets so I decided to bring one in the office. Since the day-before-omelet is not really appealing to me, I cooked it this morning. I had the asparagus ready, cleaned and cut in a little bowl and all I needed to add was the egg whites, so I did it. This morning I mixed all the ingredients together with some garlic powder, salt and pepper on a PAM sprayed pan and cooked. It was a nice lunch, warm and healthy. I'm thinking to do a similar one for breakfast, like with zucchini e for dinner I can just have my delicious Shiritaki noodles with some vegetables. I found better results if I don't have my proteins at night.