Just getting my daily journal up and running 
Antipodean"s Daily Journal
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Intro
Hi. I’m Lee, and I’m a mum of 2 plus 2 stepkids, living in Dunedin NZ.
Why
I’m here because I’ve been on keto for a while and, although I felt better on it, and it was helpful with some of my health issues, I was finding the weight loss non-existent. Then my partner and I tried carnivore, and while he started losing bucketloads of weight (19 kgs / about 35 pounds since the start of the year), I didn’t lose a darn thing!
However, the whole possibility of carnivore being helpful opened my mind up to other possibilities, and I started researching fasting. Which seems to be the only way my body will EVER shed fat! So since the middle of April I’ve been gradually moving into longer fasts, and I’ve lost nearly 9 kgs / 20 pounds since then! I’m really happy with the way that’s going, and keen to go on with longer fasts now.
Long Term and Short Term Goals:
Weight loss: I’m sitting just over a BMI of 30 (just into the obese category…ugh!), and I’d like to get that right down into the low 20s. In all, that means I have another 30+ kgs to go. So I’ll be here a while yet. Then I want to get maintenance cemented into my brain. So I’m going nowhere fast, pardon the pun! 
Health benefits: I’m really keen to explore the deeper health benefits of longer fasts. I’ve had ongoing issues with my skin, allergies etc, and I want to come off my allergy medication. I have good reason to suspect all my health issues are diet and weight related. I want to find out if I’m right about that.
What are some struggles you face or you have faced in the past
Allergies, eczema, asthma, rashes…all related to me being super sensitive to just about everything! I want to heal myself. Because let’s be honest, standard doctoring is doing a pretty ratty job of it. So I figure it’s about time I took responsibility for myself.
What is your game plan?
I want to learn how to fast for longer lengths of time, then fast myself down to a healthy weight, eliminating my health problems in the process.
I’m also doing other research in an array of alternative treatments, including Wim Hof, sauna, massage and the benefits of meditation.
Diet-wise, I’m still working things out, but heading towards OMAD and definitely very simplistic, basic foods ketocarnivore, with a Paleo bent. I’m definitely thinking the modern belief that eating a large variety of foods in abundance is probably quite wrong.
How do I feel right now?
Pretty good. I’m not happy that I didn’t manage to make it through my five day fast as I intended, but really happy I found this group for support! Ate today but looking forward to tackling fasting again on Monday with the group.
How will I feel once I achieve my goal?
I guess I see my goal as not just being a healthy weight but having fixed my health issues AND maintained a healthy weight for a few years. So goal is a LONG way away for me!
How I’ll feel? I don’t know. Hopefully healthier! 
Daily Affirmation
I don’t know how I found this path, but I believe it was a gift. It would be a terrible shame to waste it.
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Back again in my daily journal
Today is the last day of homeschooling the kids before they go back to school on Monday and I go back to work (I’ve been working from home during the lockdown).
So I relented, and took the kids to McDonald’s!!!
Well, kinda sorta, because you can’t eat in. Instead, it’s all drive through, and the payee poking the paywave machine at you on a stick through a window. Which she decontaminates hurriedly afterwards.
So classy.
Anyway, our three teens had “hunger busters”, which is burger plus cheeseburger plus fries plus soft drink plus sundae
Hmmm…and we wonder why New Zealand has an obesity epidemic. But hey, junk food IS now the national religion - the junkeries were opened up weeks ago while rugby is still off limits and churches are still illegal.
I think too much…I really do…
As for me, I weakened and had a chocolate shake, and now I really wish I hadn’t. OMG the SUGAR!!! I don’t think I’ve ever drunk anything so sweet!
I haven’t had a shake in years and now I know why. But I was trying to be good. I avoided the “hunger busters”!
So that was a couple of hours ago, and I’m still on a sugar high. I’ll come down eventually. But if I had any doubts that sugar was toxic, potent stuff, I’m cured.
It’s seriously powerful powder, mannnnnnn…
(floats away in a psychadelic haze)
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It’s ok to have a treat now and then. I think about 2 weeks ago I had a pint of Haagen Daz Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream. I hadn’t had that much ice cream since early last summer.
From what I’ve observed when people repress too long, they do a breakout binge, go on a guilty spiral and next thing they know its 2 years later and they’ve regained all the weight back.
Luxuriate in it and then get right back on the wagon.
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@Compdude - oh, I’m getting right back on the wagon all right! I don’t want to do that again. A few hours later I felt pretty horrible (coming down off the sugar, I wonder?) and I just wish I hadn’t had that in the first place.
I’m actually keeping a little list called “Dumb mistakes” to remind me of things I regretted afterwards. I’ve found it to be pretty useful to look at regularly. It really does help me from being a "repeat offender: classification STOOPID"
And hey, today is a new day, with no mistakes in it. Yet.
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It’s Sunday night here, and I’ve just started fasting again. Feeling good.
Back to work in the office tomorrow, for the first time in weeks. We’ve all been working from home since mid-March. It’ll feel weird to be back. I hope my brain hasn’t turned to mush too much!
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DAY 1: It’s Monday night here, and I’ve been fasting 24 hours. I feel pretty good, and it really helped being back at work today, instead of being stuck working from home as I have been the last two months. There were plenty of distractions all over the place to keep my mind off fasting, and I was busy non-stop, so the day went quickly.
Now here’s hoping all the rest of the fast goes as quickly and easily! Hahaha…I don’t think so! But it was nice to get things off to a smooth start.
Sitting here now on my sofa having a lovely cup of tea. I find it really helps with hunger, as it feels like something substantial, even when it’s not.
I know it’ll be day 3 and 4 that things will really start to get hard, and that’s where I’ve faltered over and over again. I’m not going to fail this time. I don’t know if I’ll make it 28 days - probably not - but if I get a week of fasting done I’ll be pretty happy, because it’ll be a vast improvement on what I’ve managed up until now.
So here’s the plan: I WILL make it until Sunday night (a week away) at my absolute minimum. After that, I can’t make promises. But I’ll damn well do my best.
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Day 2: It’s Day 2 of the fast, Tuesday lunch and I’ve been fasting since Sunday night.
I’m feeling pretty good. Distraction helps, and it especially helps that I’ve been flat out at work with no time to even THINK of food, let alone eat it if I wanted to! Last night wasn’t difficult either - I just sat and sipped a cup of tea while my family had dinner, and that really helped. I didn’t feel particularly deprived. It was fine.
So where am I now? Well, I’m definitely hungry. If someone asked if I’d like something to eat, the answer would be a definite yes.
But I’m not in pain, I’m not struggling, I don’t feel like things are terrible. I’m just…not eating right now. If things get really dire, I can eat. But right at this moment I choose not to.
I’m still really curious about the benefits of long term fasting, which is really why I’m doing this. If this was just about weight loss, I’d probably do alternate days, and truth be told, when I reach my goal weight I may choose to go down that path.
Or I might choose this - longer fasts, with those benefits I want to snaffle. Either way, I want to profoundly change my life and my health for the better. I’m not happy with the path my doctor - a very obese lady - seemed content to predict for me. I want better than that.
So I choose to take control of my life. I’m not a passenger here.
I’m the captain of my future 
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The one thing about fasting is the diversity of approaches.
At this time there are no credible comparison studies which shows one type of fasting is better than another. You just have to experiment to find out what works for your lifestyle and goals.
My first goal was becoming “medication free” so I did water only fasts as I wanted nothing to interfere with my liver cranking out stem cells that would be converted to new cells for my major organs and replace those diabetes destroyed cells that were consumed during the fast during refeed.
After the initial 7 days of refeed, IF on a time restricted schedule seems to work for the remaining days on the ReFeed.
For my 30-day workout phases I tried ADF; but, that wasn’t effective. Instead I do a 20:4 2MAD which works better for me.
Our bodies are so different you just have to experiment to find out what works best.
I loved not making my lunch this morning!! Its the small things sometimes that are the best. I was watching youtube Jason Fung on alternate day fasting, I was thinking after all this I could do that. Maybe OMAD every second day instead of daily? Have a really nice decent meal then fast for the next day.
@Compdude - how long did it take until you cured your diabetes?
I’m asking because although I don’t have diabetes yet, my sugars we’re starting to creep up and basically my doctor at my last check up pretty much told me I could expect to be diabetic in a few years.
To which I thought: “£¢€|¥^®©%×π`¢ that!!!”
What is 20:4 2MAD? Sorry, I’m not yet up with the lingo…
@Jessical - Gotta admit, I’m right there with you on the lunch thing. Normally my lunches would have been rushrushrush but today and yesterday I just sat quietly in a corner of the office and relaxed.
It was nice 
Q1. How long did it take until you cured your diabetes?
A1. Officially 4 months & 5 days
Q2. What is 20:4?
A2. Intermittent Fasting 20:4 is 20 hour of fasting with a 4 hour eating window.
Q3. What is 2MAD?
A3. Two meals a day.
Q4. What is 20:4 2MAD?
A4. I eat 2 meals in a 4 hour window. Also I practice TRE (Time Restricted Eating), which is I start my 4 hour eating window as early in the day as possible as the research by Dr Saatchin Panda of the Salk Institute in San Diego show our bodies are the most insulin sensitive in the morning hours after we wake up.
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@Compdude - Thanks for explaining. Cripes, four months isn’t bad work to cure what most people think of as an “incurable” disease! That’s unbelievable.
I’d be curious about why you settled on the regime you’ve adopted, if you are willing to share?
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Day 3: Day 3 and 4 have always been the days I couldn’t quite get past, and now I’m remembering why!
I woke up this morning and, for the first time in days, I was really HUNGRY.
Then I thought about it for a bit, and it occurred to me: if I’m hungry now, why have I spent all my life eating 3 or more meals a day?
If it’s taken me 3 days to get really hungry now, was I ever actually really hungry before?
Have I been living my whole life on habits, rather than reality?
It’s food for thought, pardon the expression. It’s all making me think. Do I even know my own body? And if I don’t know my own body, how can I profess to know anything else?
What the bleep is going on here?
So I’m here, sitting in my quiet corner at work during my “lunch” break again, sipping tea and pondering life’s mysteries.
As one does.
So now I’m curious. If I don’t know this basic, truly basic thing about myself, what else don’t I know?
I feel so stupidly naive…
They talk about this “mental clarity” you’re supposed to get when you fast. Is my version of mental clarity a realisation that I know nothing at all about the universe?
I think, tonight, I will go out into the frigid night air and look up at the night sky. I need to learn to be more humble than I have been.
Remembering how small, foolish and insignificant I am may help me do that.
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I’m currently on Day 27 of a 30-day Workout Phase. The goal is to increase my basal metabolic rate by increasing my lean muscle mass before starting my next 21-day fast this Friday. That requires a sufficient amount of food. I wasn’t getting me enough calories through OMAD so that’s why I do 2MAD during this phase. ADF didn’t work for me because I found I needed a sufficient number of calories daily which I wasn’t getting on “fast” days which is limited to 600 calories for men.
The 20:4 is to maximize the amount of time of low insulin levels. Recent research finds that the best way of re-setting your body set point is by manipulation of your insulin levels versus the since scientifically debunked method of “Eat Less and Exercise More”.
By practicing TRE, I minimize the amount of food that can get converted to fat. Because if there is not enough insulin to carry away glucose from consumed food, it converts that excess into fat.
Hope this answers your question.
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Day 4: Once again I’m here, sitting in my quiet corner at work at “lunchtime”, sipping tea.
I’m doing okay. I’m still pretty hungry, but not feeling actually bad about it. And, oddly enough, I’m not fantasizing about food, which is what I thought would happen.
My weight is down, which is great. My BMI is down to 30.5, so not too far until I’m out of the “obese” range, which will be a major cause for celebration!
Better yet, I can see a difference in my face and body - and so can my man! I’ve lost 8.8 kilograms / 19.4 pounds in a month, so I’m pretty happy with that. And this is me, the chick who struggled to lose anything, no matter what diet I tried! Fasting rocks!
I’m feeling happier and healthier, and I’m off almost all my allergy medication - and I was on EVERYTHING. I haven’t talked about it much yet, but I was in a pretty bad way. My allergies were, literally, killing me. Yet my doctor was offering no answer except more medication. Which seemed to just make things worse.
I was on 2 antihistamines daily, nose spray, cortisone cream, cortisone ointment, another cortisone cream, iron tablets, antihistamine eye drops, a Ventolin puffer and another puffer for asthma and I’d just finished a second course of Prednisone.
It was killing me. Now the only thing I’m on is a light hydrocortisone cream for my eczema, and topamax for my epilepsy - and my topamax has reduced by a quarter.
So I’m stoked.
I’m hoping to come off all the topamax altogether in the next few weeks / months, and a ketocarnivore diet should enable me to do that.
The only problem I’m still having really is excessively dry skin. I don’t know why. I’ll figure it out.
I’m starting to think my body was just hating my diet. I didn’t think my diet was actually that bad - it was pretty normal, with not a lot of junk food - but something was screwing me up. I’ll get to the bottom of it all, but in the meantime, fasting is giving me my life back.
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Day 5: Well, I made it to Day 5…and then I broke my fast. I started feeling pretty unwell this morning, and decided to start eating again. Felt better immediately I got some food into me.
So did I fail? No…and yes. No, because I managed to fast for longer than I ever have before. And yes, because I was hoping to go for longer.
But that’s okay. I’m just a Padawan learner. Its gonna take time for this youngling to master the ways of the Force
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Keep building up that fasting muscle 
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