I had to stop my fast early. I almost made it to the 120-hour mark. I got to 110h:46m. I am very proud of that accomplishment. That is nearly 5 days of fasting with only water and electrolytes. I am fairly impressed with myself, actually.
Starting weight: 415 lbs
Current weight: 356.8
Long-term Goal: 145 lbs
Short-term Goal: 325 lbs
I didn't lose much in these 5 days as you can see. I started at 361.8 lbs on May 26, 2018, and I am at 356.8 lbs today. My weight hasn't changed from yesterday to today. Over 5 days, that is about 5 lbs total. Some of that will come back after I re-feed; I can't avoid that eventuality.
I felt "throat hunger," which is the feeling of true hunger, and that's when I knew I had to break my fast. This feels like a lump in your throat that you can't swallow; it's kind of like anxiety in a way. Well, it definitely causes some anxiety, for sure. And you also start to salivate more. There are no cravings or grumbles in the stomach.
This started to happen around hour 105 or thereabouts. I drank my water with lemon juice, magnesium citrate powder, and a peppermint teabag to try to stave off the hunger -- to try to make the lump go away. It worked for a while, but I finally caved at around 2:00 AM because the feeling intensified and started to happen more frequently.
I was hoping to be able to hold out until hour 120, but I recalled Dr. Fung saying that we shouldn't "push through" when our bodies are trying to tell us things. The point of all of this is to learn to be in tune with our bodies again. We have allowed the communication to break down, and that's one reason we are in the state we're in now: a country with an obesity and diabetes epidemic. I am part of the problem, but I am working toward being part of the solution.
By all rights, I should not have felt hunger. I still have about 210 lbs to lose to hit my goal weight of 145 lbs. That is 210 lbs of fat that my body can tap into as a fuel source. To put that into a different perspective, my body is storing approximately 735,000 calories of usable energy fuel, and I really only require about 1/300th of that daily. That means, in theory, I should be able to survive without food for 300 days!
The problem comes in when there is an imbalance of some kind. Perhaps my electrolytes are a bit off. Maybe it is other trace minerals or vitamins that I am missing. I'm not sure. I know that I did feel a whole lot better after I had a small snack.
I ate somewhere around 500 calories because I didn't want to ooverdo it. I see so many people commenting in forums, blogs, and social media on how they end up binging and undoing so much of the hard work they'd put in. And then their bodies feel so terrible after.
I recall that after I completed my first extended fast that was about 53 hours, I ate a normal OMAD meal immediately. I felt terrible! I was in the bathroom the entire rest of the day with "dumping syndrome." I am not a bariatric surgery patient, so I should not be dumping, but it can happen when eating far too much after a long period of not eating.
This time I ate 14 large black olives, 16 slices of pepperoni, and 4 one-ounce slices of cheese. That was it. It is advised to eat small, and usually the small snack is a handful of nuts or something similar. I wanted to balance my keto macros for the most benefit. It worked. I didn't feel overfull or sick after. I think it was a smart decision.
110 hours of successful not-eating graph:
Starting weight: 415 lbs
Current weight: 356.8
Long-term Goal: 145 lbs
Short-term Goal: 325 lbs
I didn't lose much in these 5 days as you can see. I started at 361.8 lbs on May 26, 2018, and I am at 356.8 lbs today. My weight hasn't changed from yesterday to today. Over 5 days, that is about 5 lbs total. Some of that will come back after I re-feed; I can't avoid that eventuality.
I felt "throat hunger," which is the feeling of true hunger, and that's when I knew I had to break my fast. This feels like a lump in your throat that you can't swallow; it's kind of like anxiety in a way. Well, it definitely causes some anxiety, for sure. And you also start to salivate more. There are no cravings or grumbles in the stomach.This started to happen around hour 105 or thereabouts. I drank my water with lemon juice, magnesium citrate powder, and a peppermint teabag to try to stave off the hunger -- to try to make the lump go away. It worked for a while, but I finally caved at around 2:00 AM because the feeling intensified and started to happen more frequently.
I was hoping to be able to hold out until hour 120, but I recalled Dr. Fung saying that we shouldn't "push through" when our bodies are trying to tell us things. The point of all of this is to learn to be in tune with our bodies again. We have allowed the communication to break down, and that's one reason we are in the state we're in now: a country with an obesity and diabetes epidemic. I am part of the problem, but I am working toward being part of the solution.
By all rights, I should not have felt hunger. I still have about 210 lbs to lose to hit my goal weight of 145 lbs. That is 210 lbs of fat that my body can tap into as a fuel source. To put that into a different perspective, my body is storing approximately 735,000 calories of usable energy fuel, and I really only require about 1/300th of that daily. That means, in theory, I should be able to survive without food for 300 days!
The problem comes in when there is an imbalance of some kind. Perhaps my electrolytes are a bit off. Maybe it is other trace minerals or vitamins that I am missing. I'm not sure. I know that I did feel a whole lot better after I had a small snack.
I ate somewhere around 500 calories because I didn't want to ooverdo it. I see so many people commenting in forums, blogs, and social media on how they end up binging and undoing so much of the hard work they'd put in. And then their bodies feel so terrible after.
I recall that after I completed my first extended fast that was about 53 hours, I ate a normal OMAD meal immediately. I felt terrible! I was in the bathroom the entire rest of the day with "dumping syndrome." I am not a bariatric surgery patient, so I should not be dumping, but it can happen when eating far too much after a long period of not eating.
This time I ate 14 large black olives, 16 slices of pepperoni, and 4 one-ounce slices of cheese. That was it. It is advised to eat small, and usually the small snack is a handful of nuts or something similar. I wanted to balance my keto macros for the most benefit. It worked. I didn't feel overfull or sick after. I think it was a smart decision.
110 hours of successful not-eating graph:
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