Category Archives: Fitness

Fitness

Another extended fast 8/28-9/2

As a follow up to the week-long fast that began on 8/21, I proceeded to embark on another extended fast on 8/28 to offset the weekend binge and normalize my bio-markers for the long-term.

My blood glucose and blood pressure readings look fabulous as of this morning, all within normal reference ranges. In fact, if I didn’t know better, they look like the readings of an average healthy person.

Under the hood though, I felt tired and low energy this Friday morning…and my sleep was disrupted, thanks partly to some rambunctious kitten play during the night time hours. I’d like to find out how my thyroid is doing during these extended fasts, without going to my primary care doctor and getting lectured. So I’ll be researching online blood testing to see what’s possible.

The plan is to add a few more hours to this 2nd week of fasting to extend into Saturday midday, to adjust for the Labor Day holiday dining plans. I have some Wagyu steaks and brisket on the menu, and I’d like to better control my weekend diet before going into another fast.

One frequently mentioned side effect of not going keto or being fat-adapted prior to extended fasting is controlling hunger and cravings. So far, the literature regarding cravings have not been borne out during my fasts. Ghrelin levels may have declined, and “true hunger” pangs supposedly aligning with this, but in my case, my cravings reached epic, super-normal levels. There were instances on Thursday that I was ready to break into tears and emotional distress due to the anger and sadness I endured  while riding out the powerful urges.

The discomfort became so dire that I began to wonder if I had food addiction and was undergoing withdrawal symptoms. I admit, I’ve long associated hyper-palatable foods with fast-breaking, social gatherings, and stress-regulation, and I feel certain that I need to break this chemical dependence in order to reach a balanced, healthy state. I just wish I didn’t have to pile on a supposed eating disorder on top of everything else. Aside: did undergo ToM during this fast, so that may be a factor.

For the most part I’ve stayed consistent with weight training this month, as my JEFIT monthly log indicates. I just need to remain dedicated to the regular workouts and hope to increase muscle mass.

 

 

Fitness

Results from another extend fast 8/21-8/25

It’s August 2017, and it’s Restaurant Week all month long. Frankly though, it was just an excuse for me to binge, birthdays plus adventures in dining and all.

So weighing in at 160lbs on Monday 8/21, I embarked on another week long fast…and pretty much nailed it. I intended to do 5 days or 120 hours of straight water fasting, and made it to the 119 hour mark.

The last time I attempted the extended fast was a week before a birthday. I had to rifle through my MFP food diary to see what records I logged. From 7/24 to 7/29 I fasted, then broke fast on Sunday 7/30. The transition wasn’t as rough (with the help of Metamucil pills), and I stayed home for much of that time to avoid any embarrassing mistakes.

I started another week of fasting on 8/21 and ran till 8/25, for about 118-119 hours straight fast. I had a planned lunch with friends on Saturday, and I wanted to avoid any discomfort with food. I kept strict logs on exercise, weight, blood glucose and blood pressure readings. I tried to make sure to get enough sleep (though still not enough).

As was expected, day 1  went great. It seems that days 2-4 are consistently wracked with hunger pangs and willpower drain. Days 2-3 are marked by physiological indicators of hunger…tummy rumblings and sensitive stomach. Day 4 is more of an emotional and mental challenge to hurdle. These days required bone broth to help power me through the rest of the day. Day 5 allowed me to coast to the final hours without much agony. Work kept me busy because of document updates that are due on September 8.

Fruit and salad helped to break the fast, but I leapt to a steak dinner with baked potato immediately afterwards, with very minor bathroom drama. So the fiber pills do help a whole lot more than chia seeds. But to be fair, this is less than a 6 day fast, and a much easier transition.

I estimated a food intake of about 2500 to 3000 calories each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which if the sum divided by 7 means that I would have eaten 1286 kcals roughly daily. I do have to remember there were some coffee and bone broth calories during the week to account for, but I would like to hope that I am in deficit for the week…and will account for something.

More positive news is that I kept blood sugar and blood pressure records for the entire time of the fast, which painted an accurate picture of my health status. Insulin resistance was my major concern and I wanted to be on a fasting protocol to drive down my insulin resistance and A1C (which I suspect ran up during this year).

Day 1 showed the highest glucose readings and it declined during the course of the week. Blood pressure was more challenging, because it stayed above normal reference range, and I took medication regularly to keep it down.

I need to moderate my fitness on day 1 since I tend to over achieve and end up regretting it for the next 48 hours…leaving me wrecked by the mid-week routine. Sleep is also a factor.

I’m starting a new 5 day fast on 8/28. With Labor Day soon approaching (and Wagyu brisket and steaks on the way), there sure to be much feasting going on.

Record-keeping plus more moderate feasting days guarantee better outcomes, which is what I aim for.

Fitness

Another Extended Fast experiment

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:

  1. Monitoring vitals
  2. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
  3. Avoid stress, get more sleep!
  4. Include psyllium husks in post-fast meal transition
  5. Take advantage of that spike in HGH and build muscle!
  6. 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
Fitness

Experiments in Fasting January 2017

The Complete Guide to Fasting book cover

Prolonged fasting is hard. I’ve dabbled in 3-5 day fasts since the beginning of the new year, and had to contend with several challenges that ultimately curtail any ambitions to further the fasts.

Despite that last year’s lab results revealed abnormal kidney function as well as microscopic protein spilling into urine (along with a stern recommendation from my doctor to avoid high protein and carbonated beverages–or else she’d refer me to a nephrologist), I resolved to experiment more with long fasts to improve my insulin sensitivity and HA1C results (which in the October 2016 lab sat at 5.6–out of the pre-diabetes range).

Armed with the knowledge gleaned from The Complete Guide to Fasting, the Intensive Dietary Management website, and the recordings at FastingTalk.com, I set out to add prolonged fasts regularly to my health and fitness in 2017.

In the month of January, I was able to complete a 6 day and a 3 day fast, albeit with some difficulty. The short list of problems I encountered doing these fasts include:

  1. Surviving the 3 day hump (switching the body’s fuel sources)
  2. Hunger and appetite control throughout the fast
  3. Moodiness, mainly extreme sadness and anger
  4. Watery stools while breaking the fast
  5. Balancing sleep and energy expenditure while on severe calorie restriction
  6. Maintaining hydration
  7. Uncontrolled post-fast refeeds

The possible solution to some of the issues (1, 5, 7) seems to be in planning and preparation; mainly using an LCHF or a ketogenic diet to lead into and end the fast.

An answer to issue 4 that I found after listening to the podcast at FastingTalk.com was to use chia seeds to break the fast. I whipped up a recipe of coconut milk, cream and chia seeds and it seems to have relieved some of the symptoms.

I suspect issues 2 and 3 can be improved with the combo of diet AND exercise, since exercise can have a profound impact on mental state. Along with behavior modification and more planning, I hope to address 5, 6 and 7. Clearly, thinking ahead and being mindful of the challenges puts one in a position to succeed. I plan on continuously tweaking my fasting experiments with an eye toward better outcomes.

 

Fitness

4 Day Fast + Annual Physical Results

It seems my fasting schedule has produced some concerning results when I went in for my annual physical. I did explain to my doctor that I had been fasting for nearly 72 hours before my visit, which she strongly recommended against. Which of course is frustrating to deal with. I’m attempting to perform some minor bio-hacking to improve my overall health, body recomp and performance. Long fasts shouldn’t be detrimental–not according to the research I’ve seen. But conventional medicine is still behind the times when it comes to the relationship between nutrition and metabolic function. Arguably we are learning new things every day, but I do wish my GP was more versed with current research.

If my ketone strips were to be believed, I achieved ketosis in about a day. I’ve tried to stay within the anaerobic/fat burning zone when doing cardio.

My mistake was not increasing hydration and consuming carbonated beverages for the caffeine. This apparently caused an elevated ACR lab result. Of course in hindsight, drinking soda does stress the body’s filtration system, which explained why my kidneys passed more protein into urine (proteinuria). My doc was naturally alarmed as this signals kidney failure.

So I’m being dragged back for another non-fasting lab test at which point, if the results are consistent, I might have to visit a nephrologist.

With one caffeinated beverage knocked out of the diet plan, I am hoping I don’t have to give up my morning coffee/latte.