Fasting

Log of fasting experience

Broth

• 8 C water
• 1/2 C miso paste
• benito
• seaweed

1/19/2019 - 1/23

• 1/19 : 209.2
• 1/20 : 206.6
• 1/21 : 204.4
• 1/22 : 202.2
• 1/23 : 201.2

This was a test to see how sustainable it was. I learned a lot. I tried using a multi vitamin but that upset my stomach. I tried vegetable broth, but it was unpalatable on it's own. I don't have a record, but I believe I regained about 3 lbs in water. I did two days of no carbs before.

Day 1: Hunger not as bad as expected. Broth was gross, may need to revise. Taking vitamin early upset my stomach.

Day 2: Hunger still not too bad. Switched to chicken broth, that was better. Took vitamin later, still upset my stomach, but not as bad.

Day 3: I've been clenching my jaw a lot so I bought some sugar free gum on my into work. Having some flavor, letting my salivary glands work and having something to chew is nice. There is some concern that it may actually trigger more hunger. I think gum triggered insulin response (future note, no it didn't).

Day 4: Yesterday I started thinking my sense of smell was improving, now I'm pretty sure it is.

I stopped early in day 5 because I was still nauseous and I had stuff that needed to be done over the next few days. I couldn't guarantee it would get done while maintaining the fast. I also felt like I had the information I needed or needed to research for a future fast.

3/6 - 3/13

• 3/7: 205.6
• 3/8: 202.2
• 3/9: 200.0
• 3/10: 199.4
• 3/11: 198.8
• 3/12: 198.0
• 3/13: 198.4

Goal is 10 days. I have potassium and magnesium tablets. I'm going with bone broth this time. I am going to do 2 cups a day with 1 t of salt added. Of course lots of water, coffee and tea. I'm also going to allow myself to chew gum, but try to limit it to a few sticks a day.

I wasn't very careful about what I was eating in February, but I'm still starting much lower at 205.6.

I started out with 2 days of low carb, so I should be going in with very low glucose. The bone broth was terrible, so I only had it for lunch and I only had half of it. I was not very hungry. I did get a headache in the evening. I took my adhd medicine this time which I did not last time. I was afraid it would hit to hard on an empty stomach, but it was only a little more pronounced than normal.

I added pepper and curry to the broth and that made it mostly palatable. Still, I think I'll go back to stock rather than bone broth.

On day 3 I'm groggy and my head is just a little fuzzy.

Day 4, head is clearer, but I'm still unpleasantly hungry and a little nauseous. Weight was down to 199.4, first time under 200 in well over a year. Discovered that miso broth is way better.

Day 5, Early on, I'm feeling pretty good. Still a little nauseous and a little fuzzy, but no where near as bad as the last two days. After miso and medicine, I'm feeling pretty good. I actually don't feel hungry or nauseous at all. Again, night was hard. Strong food cravings while falling asleep. Not actual hunger.

Day 6, not much to report. Felt pretty good all day.

Day 7, started with a small increase in weight from yesterday, but I think that's a fluke. Still feeling good. I'm starting to get this weird thing that I feel an almost psychological panic for food. It's like claustrophobia. I'm not hungry and I'm not having cravings, but it's like this low level anxiety.

Cravings

• Garlic bread
• Pad Thai
• Pizza (particularly Pizza House)
• pasta, butter, garlic, Parmesan (strong)
• rice with soy sauce (also strong)
• Indian Food
• Sugarberry

April

I had intended to do a fast the second and third week of April, but I was extremely ill. I inadvertently ended up doing a partial fast because I simply had no appetite. I will resume in May.

5/8 - 5/15

• 5/8 : 202.2
• 5/10 : 197.8
• 5/11 : 197.2
• 5/12 : ???
• 5/13 : 194.6
• 5/14 : 193.8
• 5/15 : 193.2

More evidence that this is working, I didn't fast in April and I still would not say I've been eating well, but the starting weight is lower. I'm hoping that having miso from the beginning will make the start easier and less draining so that it won't be as difficult to go longer. I'm also hoping that I'm growing accustom to it. I really want to make it at least 8 days to continue improving, and perhaps I can make it the full 10 this time. I started two days late because Lauren had a fever and I was fighting a head cold.

Keto 1: Didn't make quiche just did up scrambled eggs with cheese, garlic and kale and made enough for lunch. Had eggplant parmesan for dinner.

Keto 2: Same things, eggs for breakfast and lunch. Asparagus and steak for dinner.

Day 1: Not particularly hungry. Ended up watching a bunch of cooking videos, probably not a great idea, but I do end up appreciating them more. Did not experience the extreme salivation after brushing my teeth.

Day 2: Not hungry in the morning. Had some indigestion while falling asleep.

Day 3: Didn't get weight in the morning. Most of the day was ok, started to get a bit more hungry in the evening. Worst day so far, but no where near as bad as the previous two fasts. Went to Aunt Marilyns for Mothers day which was weird to not eat, but no one noticed.

Day 4: A bit of hunger starting around 9. Went for a walk around 11 and hunger really subsided, then ate miso and felt fine. I was tired in the evening, but when I went to bed, I had trouble sleeping.

Day 5: Despite not getting a lot of good sleep I woke up easily. Very little hunger this morning. I think (based on my breath) I'm very deep into ketosis now. At noon I was feeling really good. Not desperate for miso. No cravings, no hunger. While falling asleep, I wasn't experiencing cravings or hunger.

Day 6: Slept much better. Most of the day was good but in the evening I was tired and nauseous. I decided to end the fast.

Not really getting strong cravings this time. Though I'm still obsessing over breaking the fast, but in a more constructive way. I did realize something, I keep breaking it around dinner, if I just hold out until bed, I get 8 hours of sleep basically for free. I'm far more physically adapted, but the it's still mentally very hard.

• biscuits and gravy
• dim sum
• cake in a cup + ice cream
• pizza pot pie for dinner

Interests

• Middle eastern dinner with hummus, lamb sausage (Merguez), roast veggies (Ghallaba), rice pilaf and pita

6/17 - 6/26

I ended up getting sick twice early in the month. My intent had been to finish before fathers day, but instead I started right after. I think I'll hold this pattern for July and start on the 22nd (because of social calendar) and then move it back a little in August (start on 14th).

• 6/17 : ???
• 6/18 : 198.6
• 6/19 : 195.8
• 6/20 : 193.4
• 6/21 : 192.8
• 6/22 : 189.0
• 6/23 : 189.2
• 6/24 : 187.6
• 6/25 : 186.6
• 6/26 : 186.2

• Keto) Nothing special - eggs, kale and cheese for breakfast and lunch both days. Eggplant parmesean for dinner the first day, steak and mushrooms for dinner the second. I was vinting and had to taste some wine the second night after dinner, but it was only a little, so I don't think that should throw things off too much.
• Day 1) I'm looking forward to this fast less. I think this is because now it's just routine and because my schedule got knocked off. Also first days and I'm already looking forward to "eating again" even though I haven't really missed a meal yet. I think I'm going to try and do a better job of ignoring that I'm fasting. I'm going to try and think about it (and food) less, see if I can stay more productive. I'm also going to shoot for 7.5 days. Last time I thought I'd go for 9, but I think getting those last few days is going to be harder than I thought. So I'm just going to reach for that extra 1/2 day.
• Day 2) Trying to not focus on food seems to be going well.
• Day 3) Nothing special, not too hungry, went smooth. I did give blood, which might not have been the best idea. I felt fine, though a little light headed if I stood up quickly.
• Day 4) I'm burping a lot in the morning.
• Day 5) Day was fine. Had trouble sleeping - wasn't tired then I had bad acid.
• Day 6) Same, day ok. Started to get acid in the evening and drank 1t baking soda in 8oz of water. Tasted awful, but seemed to cure it.
• Day 7) Last planned full day. Going good, looking forward to it being over.

7/25 - 7/30

• 7/25 : ???
• 7/26 : 198.2
• 7/27 : 195.0
• 7/28 : ??
• 7/29 : 195.2
• 7/30 : 193.6

This will be an interesting test. I ate particularly poorly between the last fast and the start of this one. Since this one was about on par with the last in terms of progress, I need to start being more attentive between fasts. I think I can set a goal of starting each fast 4lbs lower than the start of the previous fast.

• Keto 1 & 2) Nothing special. I did eat some popcorn on day two, but I don't think that should throw off things too badly.
• Day 1) nothing special
• Day 2) I was working on a bunch of stuff in the kitchen (peanut butter for lauren, bottling wine, pasta sauce) and figured tasting each wouldn't do much, but it seems to have thrown things off a bit.
• Day 3) Still pretty easy, definitely into keto. I did cheat a little, but it doesn't seem to have thrown me off.

Not sure exactly why, but this one was particularly hard. I ended up cutting it off on 7/30.

8/5 - ???

• 8/5 : 196.4

The last fast was not long enough, I regressed too far and I may not be able to do another full fast until halfway through September. In addition, I want to extend the experiment. For these reasons, I'm going to try a short fast. I'm not doing any keto lead in. I want to see how long it takes for me to hit deep keto. I'd like to try and make it to Friday morning. If this goes well, it may be easier to do more frequent short bursts.

• Day 1) Concerning start, I'm hungry so I'm worried that the transition is going to be a bit rough without the keto lead in.

I did a poor job of setting this up - I had rice and beans for dinner the night before as well as drank wine. Next time I could try just a half day keto but really load up on fats and protein before starting.

Timing

In the near future, I think I'm going to do a 10 day fast about every 30 days. I believe this will take a total of 6-8 fasts. UPDATE: I'm having trouble making it past 7 days, so it's going to be more like 14 total.

Once things are a bit more stead, I'm going to limit fasting to April through November. December and February are already not great. January is very cold (I'm cold during fasting and I can't go for a walk) and March still tends to be cold.

So I think the plan will be to do long fasts in April, June, August and October. I'll also probably sprinkle some 2-low-carb/2-fasting in once a month. Though this will be adaptive; if my weight is creeping up, I can do a 2/3 or add an extra longer faster in one of the off months.

The August fast may be hard to schedule, but putting it just after my birthday might work, even though it may stretch into September.

Once I'm down to something healthy, I can do short fasts regularly and when I start to hit 5lbs above healthy, I'll do a 10 day fast. At that point I may also try to go a little longer than 10 days because it simply extends how long I can go between fasts and it's easier to fast longer than to fast more often.

Days to Avoid

It tough to fast on traditional feasting days. Though completely avoiding them is probably impossible.

• 1/1 new years
• 1/10 wedding anniversary
• Early March : Paczki day
• 3/14 : Pi day
• ~6/19 : Fathers day (third sunday in june)
• 7/4 : 4th of July
• 7/14 : Lauren's birthday (closest weekend)
• 8/4 : Fletcher's Birthday
• 8/13 : My Birthday
• 11/12 : Anniversary
• 4th Thursday Nov : Thanksgiving
• 12/25 Yule
• 12/31 New Years

To Explore

What would a 2 day fast be like with either no pre-carb restriction or a short pre-carb restriction. If it's not too bad, I could do 2 days once a week. Something like Tuesday night to Thursday night. Possibly even Tuesday night to Friday morning.

I could also stop eating carbs for breakfast. Either skip it entirely or have eggs. The only catch there is I tend to be dehydrated in the morning and the soylent seems to help with that. Sort of related, I could stash some of the soylet and whey at work and eat that for lunch, or maybe in the mid-day.

I should plan distractions better. Having tv and movies lined up would be nice. I'm not very motivated during a fast so a lot of the things I normally want to do just aren't as appealing.

Technical Notes

Systems

• IGF-1
• Autophagy
• only first 2-4 day are hard
• fat adaptation / insulin resistance

Effects on

• weight
• cancer risk
• diabetes risk
• senility (myelin sheath)

2020 Plan

I've been getting good results focusing on gaining muscle mass. Unfortunately this does not work well with fasting. And I am gaining fat, though not as quickly as I'm gaining muscle.

In January I want to focus on reducing the eating window. I will also focus on eating healthier (TofuBeans). Starting the 14th I will fast every Tuesday. The most important thing is to keep up with exercise. On Friday and Saturday I don't have to stick to the eating window.

I'm not sure about February, probably not much focus on progress.

In March I want to start doing a fast two days a week. Experiment with Tu/Th and Tu/We. Consecutive is probably better, but also more difficult.

In April, just focus on stabilizing the plan.

In May I'll start doing 5 day fasts once a month. During these, I don't need to keep up with training, but I need to make sure I train right before and right after. I also want to pad the end with one day of soylent. The rest of the month I need to focus on maintaining the losses. I may want to continue a one day per week fast.