Hello everyone, my name is Estefany and I’m 20 years old living in Spain. I’ve been on a weight loss journey for a little over a year now but just found out about water fast, I did a 3 day fast before and felt amazing, since then I just did IF 16/8 or 20/4 depending on how i felt.
I hit a plateau in my weight loss journey and somehow I cannot get pass the 160lbs mark (I started at 176lbs last year, and I lost a lot of fat and gain muscle, since i really like weightlifting at the gym, so maybe that’s why my scale is stuck in the 160). I still want to lose more weight, my ultimate goal is weighting 130lbs, but for now being around 145 lbs before Christmas would be amaizing!!
I’m currently 13 hours in, i’ll try to do at least 5 days and see what my results are!! I’ll update so I can also check on the rest of the journals!! Wish me luck
Hey Estefany! You’ve got this and you should be proud of starting your journey! I’m 5’2 and my starting weight was 156.8. by the end of day 3 it was 152.8 which is great! Today is my day 4. I love Halloween and candy but have a plan of how to manage the temptations. I’ve never made it past day 4 before, so I’m looking forward to that!
I’m doing a 21 day fast, and the last day is November 17th. I won’t lie, it’s been a struggle. Best I could do is try my hardest to stay away from food unless I had to prep food or make meals for my family. Today I feel positive which is much better than I have been feeling!
Would love to help motivate each other. Remember you have a whole community here for you, and if you need anything we aren’t far away! You got this!
FYI: Do light activity during the fast. That’s because you need protein for muscle building and repair. For myself, I limit my physical activity to daily walks of 1 to 2 miles.
OMG!! Those are some great results, I feel so inspired by your stories, this community is awesome, it gives me the strenght I need to continue.
As far as my journey on day 1, I got my period yesterday so I felt really light headed and my head was aching a lot so my mom made me eat a little bit of chicken broth I still don’t know if that counts as breaking my fast, I think I did but still gonna keep going today. Despite everything, I woke up today at 160.4 since I did not eat much more.
How did you do on day 4? I hope you got throught all the Halloween temptations!
I usually walk on weekdays 3-5 km since I have a long way to go from home to my university and then back home again Do you think I should do some more? I have a stationary bike at home that I could use if I need to do some more cardio
And what do you think about keeping up with the weightlifting? I’ve heard that I should keep with my training during the fasting days but without overdoing it, but I am afraid I might faint or something during my sessions but I also don’t want to lose muscle with the fast. What do you know about this?
First of all I should let you know I was a Certified Personal Trainer for 5 years. My 1st 2 years was with 24 Hour Fitness and then 3 years as an independent.
Fasting already puts stress on the body so you don’t want to add to it. The reason too much stress will raise your cortisol levels that is a hormone that promotes weight gain and hinders weight loss. Since hormone play such an important role in our bodies, I work with an Endocrinologist who is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Bottom line: Do exercise BUT listen to your body and save the strenuous stuff for after your fast and you are in ReFeed. Don’t fall into the trap of “Eat Less and Exercise More”.
@Kattystrong I’ll be honest, for me it is going to be about how my body looks and feels. For everyone, that is a different number. I know I have felt my absolute best when I am between 105-107lbs (not because of the number) just how my body feels. I am pretty active and do a lot of running (not lately), rock climbing (just started back indoors but hoping to get back to outdoors next spring), kayaking, etc. With activities such as rock climbing and running I have learned that you feel every single extra pound. I just enjoy these activities when I am leveled out at my body’s lowest, natural, and healthy weight. Can’t starve myself and enjoy these type of activities… just doesn’t work.
@Estefany_Pulgar the chicken broth won’t change the state your body is in with regards to your fast… whether it “broke” your fast or not, only YOU can decide that. Your fast is your fast… what you are fasting from and how you are doing it is completely up to you. Sometimes on my fasts I do veggie broth (I don’t typically eat meat) in the evenings, just to keep my body on an OMAD style routine… problem with this is, that it keeps your ghrelin hormone active, so this go around I am not doing that… I figure if I am at a point I feel like I can’t not give in to eating, then I’ll reserve broth for those moments so that I don’t give in to temptation… I don’t consider it breaking my fast.
In case you are curious, here is a good article on Ghrelin:
Day 4… LOL… Well if you want, you can read my entry on my Daily Journal:
It’s at the bottom. LOL As far as a sneak peak, I’ll say I did end up eating, but it was a positive experience! Thanks for asking!
I agree with Compdude when he says:
You absolutely have to listen to your body… Sooo I weight lift even when I am not fasting, so I continue to weight lift while I am fasting… I do high reps & low weight (I just started doing 4 sets of 20 reps on about 4-6 machines so it has to be pretty low weight to finish that many damn reps) as I want a lean body. I haven’t had any issues keeping up with this while I am fasting honestly. Again, I have weight to loose and my body is able to get energy from my fat storage. That said, I listen to my body… if my body says I’ve had enough, I call it a day… Same thing when I do cardio… But I’m an avid believer in consistency and going to the gym even when I don’t feel like working out (if only to stretch) to keep me in the habit. I’ve learned for me, as soon as I stop my regular routines I will completely go off the reservation! LOL I don’t want to work out and feel miserable… I feel like that gives you a negative feeling about working out… so if 15 min into my workout, I don’t want to be there working out anymore… I tell myself it’s okay, I’ve done great, I do some stretching, and I call it a day. I’ve learned that when I’m consistently going to the gym, this doesn’t happen often.
@Compdude: You said you were a Certified Personal Trainer… I’d love to get your thoughts on BCAA supplements, taking them before/after workouts, or taking them while fasting. I’ve just started taking them… I think I like them. I thought they would also be good during a fast, as they help preserve lean muscle mass while working out and fasting…
One of the YouTube channels I follow is Thomas DeLauer. He’s got informative vids. Thing I keep in mind is he does push for his sponsors and I sometimes feel he doesn’t provide perspective on all the scientific studies he cites. For example, I also follow Dr Peter Attia who stays sponsor free and he provides the proper perspectives. Anyway, I found this vid by Thomas on BCAAs very good:
Thanks Compdude! I actually really like Thomas DeLauer and watch some of his videos. While the BCAAs that I have been taking are pill form and not powdered drink mix, I still didn’t like what they said in the video about the ingredients spiking insulin. This is really not good for my fast, or for me as I am intentionally trying to avoid insulin spikes regardless of fasting… ugh. sigh.
Anyway, no more BCAAs for me… I did see that I can return them, so I have already submitted the return request!
Sure. We’re all here to help each other. The articles you’ve been posting fo help others has helped add to my knowledge base and I appreciate that. BTW, I’m halfway through the Earthlings documentary and should get back to you in a couple of days.
Oooh! Awesome! It means a lot that you are taking time to watch it so you can share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you on it, and hope your thoughts will help me work through my spiritual journey as well as my mental and emotional one.
Ok. Here are my reaction to the Earthlings documentary. First, I should let you know that I’m one generation removed from Filipino peasant farmers. When I was 3 i was taken to our family farm in the Phillipines and I distinctly remember getting up in the middle of the night and asking my aunt where I should go to the bathroom. She led me into the kitchen area of the bamboo hut up on stilts, pointed to a hole in the middle of the floor. When I looked down I saw all these pigs looking up at me! LOL
Anyway, while growing up we brought my grandparents to stay with us. I remember various times my family buying a young pig. We would tie in the backyard. The day before family get-togethers my grandfather would take the pig to a wooden bench, slam it on its back and then cut the carotid artery. It always fascinated me seeing the fountain of blood gush out. Then he would take the carcass, put it into a pit and BBQ it. Roasted young pic is a delicacy in our culture called “lechon”.
So this background colors my perspective. However, I do advocate for better ways of raising meat animals. Much more for reasons of how they are raised are poisoning us. The only way to address it, living in a capitalist society is through activism to implementing law as and with our pocketbooks. I live in California and several years ago they passed laws for making the raising of poultry more humane and healthier for consumers. Of course the breeders screamed about raising prices on consumers. Prices did rise but then by 6 months later had fallen back to their pre-law levels as the breeders recouped their capital investment costs. Another example, is what’s happening with the rapid decline in the Kraft Heinz stock price. Reason is consumers are moving away from sugary breakfast cereals to more organic choices. We’re seeing that across the food industry as more educated consumers are using their buying power to force change.
Finally, I saw a Today show interview with Stella McCartney the famous designer and daughter of Sir Paul McCartney. She is an advocate for sustainability and removed all animal related products from her fashion lines. Hopefully more consumers will chose clothing manufacturers like her and force change in that industry as we are seeing change in the food industry.
I still don’t know if that counts as breaking my fast, I think I did but still gonna keep going today. Despite everything, I woke up today at 160.4 since I did not eat much more.
Do you think I should do some more? I have a stationary bike at home that I could use if I need to do some more cardio
Thanks for asking!