Fast Results

After a full day of eating normally, I can reflect on the experience and reveal the results. I ate my last meal Sunday at 6 PM, which is later than I have been eating lately. My standard fast is 16 hours but I try to do 2 longer fasts per week, which tend to run anywhere from 18-22 hours depending on the day and what I have going on. Fasting seems easy to me when I'm distracted, like when I'm working or like last night when I was painting. I struggled going straight from a no-fasting week directly into a long fast. My mindset was wobbly for the first part of the day. I did find, as the hours passed by, that my mental state was better and the thrill of a challenge took over. Sleep was a little rough at first but did eventually get better. Overall, despite my cycle starting on the same day, I had great energy throughout and somehow felt less burdened not having to think about food. I weighed in Sunday at 188.6 and this morning before eating or drinking I was 185.2. I didn't track my drinking but I believe I drank upwards of 2 gallon of water and tea and amino acid drinks. Things this fast taught me: It's OK to let your stomach growl, eventually it stops for a while. I also learned that working out on zero food can happen and you will feel quite amazing afterward. Probably the biggest thing that doing this reinforced in me is that often I have to do the thing I don't really feel like doing before my desire gets on board. That was true of this keto journey, that was true of working out consistently, that was true of fasting. I also learned that one of the goals I was thinking of tackling in the new year might not be realistic. Besides my fitness goal of doing 10 real push ups, and my exercise goal of leaning all the new zumba dances I recently downloaded by the end of 2023, the nutrition related goals I have been thinking of are to slowly ween myself down to one cup of coffee in the morning (instead of having a 200 MG caffeine pill plus a cup of coffee every morning) and to slowly adapt to drinking my water plain. Right now I use Now Better Foods' liquid stevia drops and it tastes so amazing I drink so much water because it tastes good. I don't really know if it interferes with fasting or ketosis but I do wonder. I have not refrained from using it during fasting in the past, this was the first time I tried it and I was pretty miserable. I am so used to having a little sweetness in my water. I think, before I make a decision about it long term, I am tempted to get a glucose monitor to see if it spikes my insulin or not. I had a NSV last week which came just as I was feeling bad that the scale wasn't budging. I don't have a sports bra, and the comfy one I have been wearing for years is so stretched out that doing HIIT cardio was making me have to use my hands to hold my "girls' in place while jumping (So much jumping on the Peleton app). I have a nicer bra that I wear when I go in public but I have major side spillage with that one, you know the kind where everything squishes out the side. Well last week I put that good bra on to see if it would support me better during workouts (yes, I do have a sports bra on order) and after I put it on it took me a minute or two to realize there was no side spillage! I have so much less fat in that area and I never really noticed! I spend my day in leggings or sweat pants and a baggy shirt with a zip up sweatshirt on top so I don't see a visual difference in my body but I know I'm making progress because my fat rolls are getting smaller, especially on my back and sides. Once my sports bra comes I might get brave and take progress pictures. So my first 36 hour fast is in the books and I am interested to see if that helps get me past the weight plateau I have been on. I feel like I'm adding muscle so I am keeping that in mind where the scale is concerned. Ultimately, I know if I keep on the path I will get where I'm going.