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

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.