Examining my Instagram feed of late would reveal that my diet has been seriously deranged for quite awhile this year. My ambitions started strong early in the year, but quickly fell to the wayside after all our yard projects ended with the onslaught of summer (high temps). I permitted myself full license to eat guilt-free, but that meant an increased intake in sugars and refined carbs–my sweet tooth taking over.
It didn’t help that long fasts had the embarrassing side effects of “explosive BM” that lasted up to 48 hours. Bad, very bad, especially when you’re not in an environment to run to the bathroom every hour. I tried to mitigate the effects using chia seeds in coconut milk, with very limited success.
Short fasts ended too uncomfortably as well, since 3-4 day fasts didn’t seem to help me transition to fat-burning, leading to a spike in hunger post-fast. Weekend binges then psychologically made me ditch my plans, and I was stuck in a perpetual cycle of feasting.
Side note: I made several PRs this year due to a change in weight lifting programming, and no doubt increased calories helped in the gainz department, though I can’t say it’s physically measurable.
As soon as I hit the scale weight of 160lbs last week, I realized I needed to take back control. My clothes were getting tight again, and disappointingly, there was some new wardrobe still sitting in my closet going unworn.
I started what I hope to be a 7-10 day fast on Monday 7/24. As expected, the first 3 days were rough, but I was mentally in a good place. Not sure if it was all the Malaysian and Indonesian food I binged on the weekend prior, but the transition to fat burning seems much smoother.
The apprehension comes as I try to plan how to break my fast without the yucky disruption I experienced before. With DFW Restaurant Week dinner reservations made and my SO’s birthday around the corner, I have to be mindful of how to do this correctly. I’m reviewing my previous post for ideas.
I do need to remember to monitor my vitals such as BP and blood glucose. I experienced some high BP during days 2 & 3, which leads me to blame caffeine timing and lack of hydration, and now I’m keeping a better eye on it–and taking meds. Blood sugar measurement on Wednesday afternoon was 99.
Things I need to stay on track with:
- Monitoring vitals
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
- Avoid stress, get more sleep!
- Include psyllium husks in post-fast meal transition
- Take advantage of that spike in HGH and build muscle!
- Eat low carb or ketogenic after completing fast
I’m on day 5 as of this writing, and I’m looking forward to completing this prolonged fast successfully.
6:50p vitals:
- blood sugar = 77
- bp = 122/76
- weight = 152.8
- Sleepy