This year I decided to end 2017, and begin 2018 with a 5 day water fast. To best coincide with my work schedule and use up the last of my 2017 sick days, I had originally planned on not eating from December 29th – January 2nd. But as it has happened, I felt sick with flu like symptoms on Tuesday morning, December 26th, a few days before I had planned to fast. At first I thought it was stomach cramps from overeating and drinking all weekend at Christmas gatherings, and my digestive system had finally decided to revolt. But also there were sick people at each of the 4 Christmas gatherings I went to over the weekend. So it’s hard to say if it was bug or debauchery… My first thought and action to combat the first pangs of stomach discomfort was to have my normal cup of coffee, in hopes of stimulating digestion and pushing everything through, but this didn’t seem to help. When the cramps were joined by nausea, I then tried my normal SuperDuperSmoothie, hoping that the ginger would help. Also no. Then chills and skin sensitivity joined the malaise… So I had to take the day off work and stay in bed. I had some lemon juice in the afternoon but didn’t really check out what time. At this point I started considering the option of going right into my water fast. I already did not feel at all like eating, but was it a good idea to go into a 5 day fast feeling ill? Or would water fasting actually be the best thing for whatever was ailing me? I decided to start the fast on the 27th. Not eating anything the second half of the 26th, and doing a true water fast for 27th seemed to help the flu symptoms go away. I did still feel a little wonky, some mild headaches, my legs felt like they were building up with lactic acid after just walking up a single flight of stairs…and one serious bout of nausea when I brushed my tongue with my toothbrush….but all and all I could tell I was headed towards feeling better.
12/28/17 10:00 am WATER FAST DAY TWO
So today is the second full day of my water fast. I feel better than yesterday. I’m pretty positive now that starting my water fast to combat whatever it was that was afflicting me a few days ago was either an ok thing to do, or even the best thing to do.
I am going to go into work today, which isn’t ideal, but I do get the next 5 days off after today so I will be able to chill and then re-feed in leisure. I will continue to update this page with details of this fast, how much weight I lost, etc… Below is an interesting video in case you want to see this ex-NASA scientist talk about fasting among other things, at the time of this video he was on his 23rd day of water fasting!
12/28/17 9:00 pm WATER FAST DAY TWO
So work was actually easier than I anticipated physically. Whatever the weird physical weakness I felt days ago was, most likely from whatever passed through me on the 26th, it did not bother me today. I do think that in general it seems that fasting enhances the senses and bodily awareness. Maybe it is the fasting itself on a physical level, or maybe it’s mental and just my increased observation because I know I am fasting, but I did feel an increased awareness of my exertion and strength output. Additionally my nose always seems to work extra well when I fast, which is not the greatest thing when working in a dog daycare!
12/29/17 WATER FAST DAY THREE
Today is the third day of my water fast. I woke up several times last night to pee, which is why I assume I somehow lost 4 lbs in 12 hours, bringing my weight down to 172 lbs and measuring 15.5% body fat with dry feet. I felt quite good and balanced so I decided to take Dillinger to the park and do yoga at 10 am. I did a mellow hour of gentle Sun Salutation variations… It was about 78 degrees at the park and the Sun was out, so I took off my shirt and soaked in some sun during my session. I sweat just a little bit, and my muscles felt tighter than normal, but I think it has been about a week since I last did yoga, so that is par for the course. At 12 pm I weighed myself again and decided to this time make a little video of it. I wanted to take before and after pictures but because of the weird illness at the beginning I wasn’t feeling like it and skipped that, so I will just have to capture the last half that way. Anyways the results:
173.4 lbs and 15.5% body fat at 12pm 12/29/17
12/30/17 WATER FAST DAY FOUR
Last night I didn’t feel tired or like I would be able to sleep so I stayed up until about 11:11 working on my website pages. I did have some weird body sensations that felt a little uncomfortable and caught my attention. They were hard to describe, maybe my heart felt like it was beating a little stronger although normal pace, and my stomach was talking to me a lot more. Hunger definitely kicked in last night! This was the first time that I felt like I was going through hunger sensations for a prolonged time. I slept well though and had strong dreams. Today I don’t feel the weird sensations of last night, nor the hunger. I weighed myself after walking the dog and today’s stats as of 8:00 am are 169.8 lbs 15% body fat with dry feet. So the weight is continuing to come off, my stomach has flattened a lot, and it does seem like my muscles are smaller, but I wonder how much that is just water weight and reduced inflammation. My mind feels calm and in proper working order.
12/31/17 WATER FAST DAY 5
It’s 10:42 pm now…and I still haven’t put anything in my body since the afternoon of the 26th! So technically I have already gone past 5 days. By the time I take my first non water food/beverage tomorrow morning I might even be closer to 6 days of just water. In any case, I am glad I stayed true to my goal, because I really had some on the fence moments today where I started debating seriously whether I could give in and start eating today.
I think the best thing about this fast has been the stable blood sugar. Without the spikes and valleys from eating my mind has been so stable and I have been able to sit at my computer all day working on things. Also I have a strong habit of watching TV when I eat and that both distracts me from what I was otherwise thinking and working on, and can also be a time suck. So to keep it short I am very glad that I have been able to do this. I highly recommend trying it if you are healthy enough and can take some time of low/no work and responsibilities.
Weight and body fat stats:
*the body fat calculator on my scale is definitely dubious. It seems that the moisture level of my feet effects the conductivity of the body fat meter and thus the measurements. I think the “post shower” measurements are a probably the most consistent for moisture level.
Day 1 – 10:00 am 178 lbs, 16% body fat – dry feet
Day 2 – 8:30 pm 176 lbs, 14 % body fat – post shower
Day 3 – 8:30 am 172 lbs, 15.5 % body fat – dry feet
Day 3 – 12:00 pm 173.4 lbs 15.5% body fat – post shower
Day 4 – 8:00 am 169.8 lbs 15% body fat – dry feet
Day 4 – 10:30pm 170 lbs 14.5% body fat – dry feet
Day 5 – 8:00 am 167.8 lbs 15% body fat – dry feet
Day 5 – 10:45 pm 167.6 lbs 14% body fat – dry feet
Day 6 – 7:00 am 166.6 lbs 14% body fat dry feet
Here is a good article on how fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system.
and 2 more lectures on subject!
1/1/18 9am WATER FAST DAY 6
Once again I woke up at dawn, this fast seems to trigger “the early bird gets the worm” syndrome. I stayed in bed until 7 am though to clear my slumber brain, upon rising I weighed myself. 166.6 lbs and 14% body fat. Since I new I was going to eat in a bit, I decided to do a little test and see how my strength output was, so I did 40 pushups in a row. This is pretty much my max reps when I am eating so I was pretty happy with that, it seems that not eating for 5 days does not really effect short bursts of exercise anyways. Here is a little video of my strength test (max pushups) and showing off muscle to fat on day 6 of my water fast.
1/1/18 Breaking the fast
7:30 am I broke the fast with 1 cup of “Dave’s Gourmet Korean Vegee Broth”. If you ever are at the Hollywood farmers market I suggest you try it. I normally find it incredibly delicious, but this morning it tasted a little too strong of Soy Sauce. I did also drink it cold, normally it is prepared hot with a few little veggie chunks it when you get it from the stand at the Farmers Market. I will heat some more up later today for a more similar taste test. I also drank 1 cup of carrot juice, that tasted awesome. Digestion Update: I’m not sure if it was the broth or the carrot juice, but one or both of these gave me diarrhea at 9 am, but I don’t feel like that is going to happen again.
8:30 am I had a 2 heaping spoons of “Dave’s Gourmet Korean Kimchi”. This stuff is amazing, also highly recommend it! Digestion Update: I think this digested fine, as of 12:41.
9:30 am I ate 3 hard boiled eggs. Method of prep: put eggs in water, eggs on high heat for 15 minutes. I also put water in a bowl and in the freezer for 15 minutes during the boil. When the eggs are done boiling for 15 minutes I put the eggs in the cold water in the freezer for 10 minutes. This cools them and makes it easy to peel the eggs. Digestion Update: I think this digested fine, as of 12:41.
11:30 am I had 32 oz. of my SuperDuperBluper smoothie but sans the spices. Digestion Update: I think this digested fine, as of 10:00 pm.
3:30 pm I had 16oz. of my SuperDuperBluper smoothie but sans the spices. Digestion Update: I think this digested fine, as of 10:00 pm.
8:30 pm Joined the world again today, and with that comes dining as a group, so for dinner we ended up at Angelini Osteria. I was told this restaurant is amazing so I kind of threw caution to the wind and ate a little of everything put on the table. I had a whole lot of baked pita bread with spices, a couple bites of pasta, a piece of tuna tar tar, a couple bites of anchovies & beet salad, and the entire dish of grilled chicken with roasted potatoes and spinach, and lastly a few bites of tiramisu. The food here was truly outstanding, very pricey, but excellent. Hoping now that everything works its way through me properly! Digestion Update: So far so good! 10:00 pm