AL-Fa's Daily Journal

[AL-Fa]

Fast start: 09/02/2020, 12am
Reason: mostly health and energy, and good opportunity without family around
Liquids intake: black coffee in the morning, red shiso herbal tea in the evening, salt water during the day interchangeably with magnesium water. I am planning to make cold tomato infusion for potassium as well at later point.
I am considering one day dry fast, most probably Thursday, as this is the only day I don’t train, but won’t force it if I feel dehydrated.

Day 1, 09/02/2020
During the first day I was pretty busy, including quite intense martial arts training. I sweat a lot, but through the day drank salty water (approx 5g sea salt in 1L water), to keep electrolytes in check. During following days I will see if I need to increase the salt intake, as I have very low sodium in general.

In general I felt good, didn’t experience overwhelming hunger, as i am used to short 1-day fasts or IF.

At the end of the day I started feeling pain in my shoulder that I had seriously injured last year.

Day 2, 10/02/2020
Second day started with worry about my shoulder, as the pain increased to the point of having complete arm numb, and was even worse than after immediate injury and treatment. But within couple of hours the pain eased, the numbness passed and I was able to train in the evening.

Generally I felt good, no hunger issues, though smells at lunch time in the office were a bit irritating. Also at home I was able to smell frozen food in the freezer, but maybe it was only my imagination. Energy levels ok.

[AL-Fa]

Day 3, 11/02/2020
So far the day started good, though I was very thirsty after waking up and experienced a bit of headache, which passed within couple of hours.
I seem to be even more sensitive to lunch smell in the office than yesterday.
Shoulder pain is still present, but does not affect movement.
I feel a bit more hungry than previous days, but no biggie.
And also my eczema flared up a bit… annoying

[AL-Fa]

Day 4, 12/02/2020

Today was a bit hard. I felt very hungry, was a bit light headed and irritated.
But my energy level is very good, I coped with 2 hours training very well. I noticed I was moving with more ease and didn’t overthink things (which usually puts some limits on my performance). And thanks to the activity I stopped thinking about food.

Another nice thing is my sight. I am short-sighted and sometimes I have a bit of blur or fog and focus fluctuation. But since yesterday I can see clearer.

The bad thing is that my shoulder still hurts, sinuses feel a bit swollen and I got herpis, though wit application of tea tree oil it stopped in very early stage.

[Compdude]

Yes, anecdotal evidence of fasting curing symptoms of retinopathy. Only with I.F. And not prolonged fasting though.

[AL-Fa]

13/02/2020, Day 5

I believe this was the worst day of fasting I ever experienced.
I was hungry to the point of being obsessed with food. And I was also completely out of focus, what did not help me with doing my daily work at all. My body was screaming so I decided to end the fast, but it is OK, as this was my first water/tea fast for so long. Maybe it is also due to the fact that I am rather slim and have normal body fat level, and during those 5 days I lost 4 kg.

To break the fast I had hot broth with egg and my taste buds were singing 'hallelujah!" and belly (and brain) felt happy. Now I am on the track of low-carb, healthy and nutritious OMAD for next 3-4 days and will do another 4-5 days fast again.

In summary, I was very happy with the energy levels, even though almost every day I had quite intense training. My skin texture improved and I feel more comfortable in all my pants due to weight loss.

Thank you all for the support.

And I’ll be back