End of Day 9 of Fastmas: I just wanted to update that I just used one of those ketosis urine sticks and I’m definitely in (dietary) ketosis now!
Bris Fastmas calendar
Congratulations! Once you’ve entered ketosis it’s going to get easier and easier to achieve your fasting goals. 
You go!
Congrats! Look forward to reading more on your progress.
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FASTMAS DAY 10
as expected, I’ve had a huge loss on the scale over the last week because of going “keto”. I actually haven’t gone what I can say is full keto and don’t plan to (until I can) but still keeping things very very low carb. my limit Im giving myself for now is 35 carbs per day… yesterday I had a total of 28 net carbs though and I think that’s been my most successful day. I also went to the grocery with my mom and we picked out a lot of keto friendly stuff. Like, SO much cheese. Thank God cheese stays good for a long time. It’s a mental shift Im going to have to get used to but Im looking forward to it.
Im not sharing my weighs on here (yet) but as of today I am exactly 3 pounds from my lowest weight since I started this journey. I have a pretty big milestone (-40lbs from my HW) coming up in -6 lbs from my current weight and I am curious to see if I can meet that goal by New Years Eve. I will still be doing FASTMAS by then so hopefully I remember to keep sharing my progress on the scale.
On Sunday night which was the day after my last binge episode/the last day Ive had carbs, I felt encouraged to share a “before and after” photo of myself. I have lost 34.2 pounds since the start of my weight loss journey in Fall of 2017. So I figured I’d share it here too. The photo on the left was taken October 2017, its a group photo I was anxious about being a part of because I knew I didn’t like what I saw in full body photos. I made sure to get on the side of the photo, and you can see it in my body language Im kind of gesturing to cover myself up as much as possible. The photo on the right was taken last week. Big difference I think? I actually wear the same pants but they are very loose on me and I’ve started to replace them with one size smaller. I think something I didn’t know then, that is good to know now is that sizes of pants aren’t the best indicator of how you are doing. Obviously in my case, you can gain 35 lbs and still get the zipper to zip up.
Wow, that’s a huge accomplishment!
It’s really brave if you to share it and inspire others! 
You look great!
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Congrats on your progress. Nothing like a successful track record to get you through tougher challenges.
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Especially when it’s been so much harder in the past to make that progress lol.
I started out with Weight Watchers, I had a personal trainer that I trained with a while, in 8 months I lost 32 lbs and then I moved states/big changes/new job and I ended up gaining back 19 lbs of that as of May this year.
Started back on the band wagon late this summer with IF, and using MyFitnessPal. It just started clicking a lot more for me, and I learned I didnt need to exercise in order to lose weight.
Excited to use keto and extended fasting to get the rest of this weight off in a much more common sense and easy way in 2020!
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Day 12 of FASTMAS, day 5 of Keto
I am really liking keto. A lot of the eating triggers that existed before are a lot more manageable already. Im really glad I’ve given this a 2nd look because to be honest I was hesitant to try it because of my experience with the Atkins diet in 2002-2003 ish – it wasnt a bad experience per se, but the internet wasn’t at the tip of my hands back then and I literally was only eating bacon/ eggs/ obvious low carb/ high protein stuff. Also, I hadn’t been counting calories back then at all.
@Yasemin helped influence me definitely in a good way and Im glad she and some others Ive followed dont totally discredit calorie counting as some do because that was the thing that allowed me to try this low carb lifestyle again — and I think that is reasonable logic.
Let me explain: theres evidence of all these benefits of being in a ketogenic state including a faster metabolism… but I thought about week 1: “what happens if Im not doing the carb counting thing correctly and I never reach ketosis or I have a carb in something accidentally and break my ketosis?”
Well, I then realized I can continue to count my calories. I have been familiar with the MyFitnessPal app for about 2 years now and have been religiously using it everyday for the last 4 months or so. I know my TDEE and BMR and have tried to stay within those limits on eating days. Ive honestly never gone by macros although I have been curious about them.
So, I had finally figured out that I can just continue to track my calories as I always do, and this LCHF lifestyle is easier to feel good about if I just think of it as a shift in my macros. So thankful for this realization because I am feeling so so good about shifting to keto! Another thing I have done is read material on lazy/dirty keto. Theres a very short book/guide by Stephanie Laska on amazon that I read on kindle this past week by the same name Dirty Lazy Keto that has helped confirm that this lifestyle also doesn’t need to be “all or nothing”. I realized the first 2 days of this keto lifestyle that 20 carbs per day is not easy! Another thing that helped me in my thinking here is my recent experience from doing an ADF challenge in October: while having closely monitored my ketones/glucose levels on eating days and fasting days, I noticed even though I was eating high carbs on my eating days, that over time, my body was reaching ketosis A LOT faster than it does when I don’t fast at all.
I also wanted to share this: Effects of a low carbohydrate diet on energy expenditure during weight loss maintenance: randomized trial This study found that people on low-carb diets burned around 250 calories more per day than those who followed high-carb diets!
Might I also add I am quite enjoying this from a scientific standpoint? counting macros just opened a new world of learning about metabolism, reading academic articles. I am so ready to science the rest of this weight loss journey!
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DAY 13 of FASTMAS, day 6 of keto
yay! I am officially under my lowest weight! (by .03 but still)
I have lost 2.7 lbs since the beginning of the month
My blood keto levels this morning were 0.7 mmol/L
My blood glucose was at 79 mg/dL
that puts my GKI at 6.3, that means I’m still “lightly” in ketosis but almost at the moderate level.
I don’t always test my blood levels but I just figured I would document here since I took them this morning.
I think for lunch today I am going to try some palak paneer with some cauliflower rice. I will have to guesstimate the calories by researching on MFP and online and I kind of take an average of those to log it. It is basically Indian cottage cheese with spinach! exciting
Today I am working from home. Easy peasy.
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Congrats! Celebrate the win! 
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FASTMAS day 14
keto day 7!
I want to talk about being hangry
so I’ve realized I’ve gotten myself in a little trouble with the keto snacks. @yasemin mentions this in one of her videos too – don’t just eat keto snacks all the time!
I got some of the high key brand brownies and hot cereal. I noticed the hot cereal especially is doing this for me… its giving me carb cravings.
I am going to save these guys for dessert from now on, as part of my last meal of the day.
As John Mayer illustrates hilariously, the “Eat one and throw the rest away” dance we do with treats.
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DAY 15 of FASTMAS
DAY 8 of LCHF/ keto
Day 1 of 18:6 IF
If you DON’T want to go low-carb/high-fat, then definitely don’t see the documentary titled “The Magic Pill” on Netflix.
The thing that drew me in so much was the way they use the ketogenic diet to fight cancer, diabetes type 2, and autism.
They had a story of a lady whose breast cancer went completely away without any surgery, radation, nor chemo. Now I know that is just a study of 1, BUT I have never heard of any other diet that has worked so well for so many people. It convinced me if I ever got cancer and I wasnt doin keto, I would definitely want to follow it. In fact, I’m not waiting that long. I am already working it into my life. My attitude is, “how do I know how much better I would feel if I dont try it?” do you know what I mean? I think most Americans could afford to lose a few pounds, but I think also weve just gotten used to what our shitty diets do to us. If I can adjust to a new diet, I cant wait to see what changes it makes in my life for the next year. 2020 will just be the best!!
Last night, I did something new. I made fried chicken, in lard. I’ve never bought lard before you guys. It was delicious and I am really proud of myself for trying something new. I had that with cauliflower mashed potatoes and turnip greens, and I saved the rest for this week!
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Yes, experiment to find what fits YOU. The human body is very complicated and the differences between individuals can be vast. When I talk about this subject I start by holding up a walnut. It’s a natural substitute for fish oil for getting Omega-3s. So its healthy, right?
Not for one of my friends. Eating a walnut can mean DEATH. He’s extremely allergic. One time we had dinner and he accidentally ate baklava not knowing it contained walnuts. I had to rush him to emergency as his throat started closing up on him.
As you’ve probably noticed during my Rebuild the Body Phase after completing the 40-Day I’ve been experimenting to what various actions lead to in terms of consequences. Like Alpha and Beta testing new software and/or hardware. LOL
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As I get ready to start a new work week, I am feeling good. Am going to attempt to fast all day tomorrow, I will eat again Tuesday around 11:15am. Wish me luck!!!
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Luck!
This is so accurate… I’m not good with snacks LOL It’s all junky and gets us into binging tendencies. So I’m super anti-snacking. Better to sit down and eat my OMAD. 
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DAY 16 of FASTMAS
DAY 9 of LCHF/ keto
first all day fast day of the month
having some irrational fear around fasting today. I want to do it, I need to do it, but im not excited to do it right now, lol. The only thing that has changed between last night and today is I weighed myself and had a nice loss on the scale. I am currently now only 3.2 lbs away from my goal for the month. I think perhaps I have figured to myself if I am still loosing by eating keto/18:6 then I should continue with that. I really know fasting today means more to me though.
I have a lot more to go ultimately. I want to feel in control of my eating habits and I want to be able to push through the boredom I experience without food.
strategies I am leveraging today: busy schedule from 8am- 8:30 pm, drinking sparkling water, bringing a book to work for lunch time. The book is called “Why we get fat” by Gary Taubes - the reason I got this book is I read in one of Gretchen Rubins books that after reading this specific book she quit sugar
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You can do it! Focus away from the fear and focus on your future and how good you’ll feel when you finish.
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I know motivation can be a real struggle. Just try to remember that it’s only for now, the food will be there again soon, and you will be able to reach your goals in both ways, but you’ll build up your discipline and control when the motivation is lacking!
Wish you all the best!
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end of Day 16 of FASTMAS
i just wanted to report I did not make it through the whole day of fasting. I was doing pretty good, but then around hour 18.5 I started slipping off with one snack I was telling myself at the time would be my crutch snack (this strategy has worked for me before) but then, at the end of my work day, I got some really good news about my yearly evaluation/raise. I think it was the combination of going through such a formal evaluation which brings up trauma of past negative evaluations and then the mix of good news that I couldn’t immediately share with my family / didn’t have anyone to really share it with at all that got me to decide to say f*** it for today. I guess emotional eating goes both ways for me, which I didn’t realize before. At least that’s a new lesson I learned today.
TBH I am disappointed for not achieving this fast, especially since its something I’ve been able to do before… I am tired of over-reaching, coming up short, and then the regret that comes from that. My most important goal in the world to me right now is the weight loss but I feel like maybe I need to chill out about the FOMO from not being ready to do the longer fasts for now. Besides, I have been doing at least 18 hour fasts for the last 3 or 4 days, I have been doing 16:8’s for most of the rest of the days of the month too. All that on top of a pretty major diet change which I haven’t given myself much credit for- going keto. I think for now I should stick to 16:8/18:6 and keto because it’s really manageable and would be an achievement on its own if I could keep that up for a significant amount of time.
I think failure does tend to fuel my success with fasting. For example, if I had seen I had gained a bunch of weight from last night to today, I would have had that eagerness to get back to where I was, making me more motivated than I was after seeing a nice loss on the scale this morning, as I did. It’s kinda like, hey, why do I need to put myself through a long fast which is really really hard for me, if doing keto/18:6 can actually be what takes me across the finish line?
There’s a girl I follow on instagram who is a great example of this. She does IF and keto and the weight has just been melting off of her for the past year. She’s like, 10 pounds, away from her goal! I realize now that I already have the tools that some people who are successful are already using.
By the way, tonight I saw the most heavy ketone reading I’ve ever seen before since I started which is pretty cool. I mean, the colors kind of mix when you are first trying to look at it to give it a reading, but that definitely looks darker than MODERATE, wouldn’t you say so?
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