Carolyn’s Daily Journal

#1

Introduction

My name is Carolyn and I started my first 3-day fast yesteerday. I’ve attempted it once last year, but only reached 57 hours. I haven’t been able to get close to that kind of fast ever since. But I found new inspiration to start again thanks to Yasemin and reading about all your successes here in this water fasting forum!

Why

We plan on getting married by the end of this year. I’m so happy and excited. But at the same time, I feel unhappy and anxious. I’ve tried to lose weight my whole life and I’ve been unsuccessful. How would I actually be able to do it this time around? Usually, brides are excited about trying on wedding dresses but thinking about it right now makes me cringe. For the past six months, I’ve even proposed the idea of eloping to my partner. But when I dig down, I know it’s not what I truly want. I know what I’m doing, it’s what I’ve always done - avoiding social events.

It’s exhausting. Life is too short to spend it in my room, eating, and missing all the beautiful experiences outside.

My wedding day will be about celebrating love with my husband, family, and friends. It will be about that, and only that.

Goals for May 1

Weight Loss

As of Jan 27, I am 159 lbs. My goal is to lose 29 lbs in 3 months (reach 130lbs by May 1).

  • milestone 1: 156.1 (:tada: 1/28)
  • milestone 2: 153.2
  • milestone 3: 150.3
  • milestone 4: 147.4
  • milestone 5: 144.5
  • milestone 6: 141.6
  • milestone 7: 138.7
  • milestone 8: 135.8
  • milestone 9: 132.9
  • milestone 10: 130

Fitness

  • Walk 40k steps a week
  • Go to the gym 3x a week

Fasting and Feeding

  • I don’t have specific goals here yet but plan to update this once I have them! For now I’m focusing on each day at a time.

Learning

I’d like to finish two books by May 1:

  • Re-read Obesity Code by Jason Fung
  • Read Atomic Habits by James Clear

Daily affirmation

I am the type of person who will do anything I set my mind to.

2 Likes
#2

Fast 1 (Day 1 of 3) Results

I might change this up but I think what I’ll do is put the morning weight of the current date to talk about the result of the day before…

  • Weight: 154.6 (4.4 lbs lost)
  • Achieved milestone 1 :tada: (although I probably just lost a lot of water weight)
  • My day was unusually jam-packed with things, so I didn’t have time to think about food

Wins

  • I successfully fasted for Day 1!
  • I was at a restaurant during lunch. The same person very annoyingly asked me to eat three separate times. I successfully said no to each time!
  • I went to a hockey game in the evening. I love the junk food that stadiums sell but I just got a water.
  • I usually get cravings when I’m about to go to sleep but I watched Yasemin’s latest video and was able to sleep without sneaking into the kitchen!
  • I had a goal yesterday to walk 5,000 steps but I ended up walking 8,000 steps.

Learnings

Inspiring wisdom from James Clear’s Atomic Habits, Ch. 1 - 2:

(It’s so long but I couldn’t summarize because the content is so good)

  • Effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them
  • They make little difference on any given day yet the impact they deliver over months and years can be enormous
  • It is only when looking back 2…5… years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones become strikingly apparent
  • We attempt to make changes to our habits. When results don’t come quickly enough, it’s easy to slide back into bad habits.
  • A single decision is easy to dismiss but when we repeat small 1% errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results.
  • Success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations
  • Breakthrough moments result of many previous actions which build up the potential to unleash a major change. For example, bamboo can’t be seen for 5 years as it builds extensive root system underground before exploding 90ft in the air for 6 months
  • Habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau. Your work is not wasted, it is just being stored. Complaining about not achieving success, despite working hard is like complaining that ice won’t melt as you heated it from 25 to 31 degrees. Everything happens at 32 degrees. When you break through this plateau, people will call it an overnight success. But you know that it is the result of the work you did long ago, when it seemed like you were not making any progress, that makes the jump today possible. Another example: two tectonic plates rubbing each other for millions of years, building tension… then one day, they rub against each other once again like they have been for a million years, but this time the tension is too much and there is a earthquake.
  • Goals are the results you want. They’re important because they set your direction. But you should focus on systems: process that leads to results. If you want better results, focus on your systems. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
  • Goals restrict happiness: “once I reach my goal, then I will be happy”. This means, happiness is always something that can be enjoyed in the future. You box yourself in a narrow version of happiness.
  • When you fall in love with the process instead of the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be happy as long as your system is running. Your system can be successful in many forms, not just the first one you designed.
  • Achieving a goal is only a momentary change. For example - if you have a goal to have a clean room, you clean it, you reached your goal, but if you maintain the same messy habits it will be messy again. You will be chasing the same outcome/goal because you never changed the system behind it.
  • It’s hard to change your habits if you never change the underlying beliefs that led to that behavior
  • The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain habits associated with it
  • You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you will stick with it is if it becomes a part of your identity — for example: the goal is to not read a book, the goal is to become a reader.
  • Once a person believes in a particular aspect of their identity, they’re most likely to act in alignment with that identity.
  • As you repeat actions, evidence accumulates and self image begins to change.
  • The way you change who you are, is to change what you do.
  • Who is the type of person you want to become who can get the outcome you want?

Goals for Day 2

  • Fast!
  • Walk 6,000 steps
  • Read a chapter of Obesity Code by Jason Fung
3 Likes
#3

Welcome to our fasting community!

Technical note: to keep all your future entries on this single thread just CLICK on the REPLY in the lower right hand corner.

1 Like
#4

Thanks so much @Compdude!

1 Like
#5

Welcome Carolyn!
First off, love the layup in your journal, well made!

I understand the anxiety and I’m sorry you’re being so far from happy at this moment!
Losing weight is very difficult. It’s a problem that humans never had to face throughout history until recently, and our bodies aren’t constructed to solve the problem of abundance!

However I really believe that it’s possible for you to get to where you want to be. Once you are consistent in following your plan and start seeing results, you’ll become more and more proud of yourself and get more confidence in your journey! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but it’s great that you’re breaking down your main goals into daily tasks to get there!

We’re here to support you! :facepunch:

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#6

This is so true. Thank you so much for your support Anna! This time around feels so different already!

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#7

Fast 1 (Day 2 of 3) Results

  • Weight: 153.4 (5.6 lbs lost)
  • 0.2 lbs away from milestone 2
  • This day was also really busy with work. So busy that I actually had to stay up most of the night. I got less than 2 hours of sleep. I heard that if you don’t sleep, you don’t lose as much weight… So I’m sad about that. But it’s okay.
  • Yesterday was the first day I felt weak but salt seemed to help. I definitely experienced muscle ache last night.

Wins

  • Walked 7,000 out of 6,000 steps
  • This is the longest fast so far that I’ve had in a long time
  • I had a really awesome conversation with Yasemin over the phone :heart:

Goals for Day 3

  • Fast!
  • Walk 7k steps
  • My Day 3 technically ends at 11pm tonight. Yasemin suggested that I see how my body feels. If I’m not hungry at 11pm, I should just sleep and see how I feel the next day. Part of the “see how my body feels” exercise is to post in the forum tonight, 5 reasons why I should eat.
  • Either way, I want to start thinking about what I want to refeed.
    • I’m most nervous about refeeding. While I’ve done a lot of different types of short fasts, I’ve always been horrible during the refeeding process. I get so excited and obsessed about the thought of breaking my fast. I start salivating. Even right now haha.
    • TL:DR – Whether I refeed tonight or tomorrow, I will refeed the way I planned to refeed. I just have to figure out what my plan is!
1 Like
#8

I agree with Yas, its important to have a ReFeed plan in place especially after short fasts.

1 Like
#9

Fast 1 (Day 3 of 3) + Refeed Results

  • Weight: 153.4 (5.6 lbs lost)
  • 0.2 lbs away from milestone 2
  • My Day 3 technically ended at 11:30pm but I broke my fast earlier at 5pm so that I could refeed and go to sleep at a more reasonable time.
  • It was another night of pretty bad sleep. I woke up around 3am and felt the same muscle aches in my legs. Probably didn’t have enough salt.

Wins

I will refeed the way I planned to refeed.

  • :point_up_2: I actually did this! Hahaha. This is the first time I had a controlled refeed.
  • When I took my first bites of kimchi, avocado, and tomato - it was amazing. I cannot imagine how amazing fresh food tastes after an even longer fast.
  • I ate slow and got full extremely fast. However, when I finished, even though I was full, my cravings kicked in hardcore. I’ve developed a strong habit of eating when I’m painfully full. I was able to stick to my written refeed plan and ate nothing more.

Refeed (~500 calories)

  • Bone broth
  • Tomato
  • Avocado
  • Onion and lime
  • Kimchi

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Goals for Day 4

  • OMAD: Break my fast at 4-5pm (23 - 24 hour mark)
    • Chicken broth
    • Steak, Eggs, Zucchini, Cheese?
    • Eat slow!
  • Walk 8k steps
  • Figure out fasting goals for this weekend. I have three social obligations.
2 Likes
#10

Congrats on sticking with your ReFeed plan, especially in light of your previous proclivities!

1 Like
#11

Closing out week 1

It’s been busy so I did not make time to write in my journal! Here’s a quick update of how I ended the week.

  • Friday: OMAD with steak and zucchini noodles. Just like my refeed before, I got full almost immediately.
    • I started breaking out with acne
  • Saturday:
    • Worked out in the morning. I barely did anything but it was a tough one. I was out of breath the whole time. Probably should have done more salt.
    • Broke my fast at around 44 hours with eggs, truffle oil and cheese. Super filling. I now kind of understand other people who get nauseous when they eat eggs. I wasn’t nauseous while I was eating the eggs but I became nauseous later, when I tried to eat an hour later. I was trying to eat a full dinner of sashimi but I was so full I couldn’t eat any more than maybe 10 bites (that I forced down).
    • One thing I noticed was I had restless legs after my meal.
    • I felt nervous that I wasn’t eating enough so I ended up going out to get a protein style in n out burger. It. was. good.
    • My acne got worse this day
  • Superbowl Sunday
    • I did a bit of indulging this day including carbs, probably overate, and drank 3 white claws

Wins

  • On Saturday, I watched my friends eat one of my fav meals (korean spicy noodles) and I didn’t cave in.
  • Skipped the buns and ordered protein style In N Out burger
  • Worked out fasted

Negatives

  • I don’t know if these things are related to fasting, or if it’s due to my extreme lack of sleep this week and high amount of anxiety/stress because of work… but I want to keep a record of them:
    • Restless legs - a few hours on Saturday
    • Total acne breakout all over my face, which is not a normal thing for me
  • I didn’t plan my superbowl sunday in detail enough which I think was why it was easy for me to overdo it. I didn’t set clear rules. For example, I thought “I probably will try to not drink”… instead of “I won’t drink”. And so… I drank.

My starting weight was 159 and my lowest weight this week was 149!

1 Like
#12

Week 2 Plan

Reminders to self every day

  • This week’s focus is on SLEEP. :zzz::sleeping_bed: I promise to get ready for bed at 9pm every day. It doesn’t matter how much work I have.
  • My wedding day will be about celebrating love with my husband, family, and friends. It will be about that, and only that.
  • I am the type of person who will do anything I set my mind to.
  • Let’s reach milestone 2 (153.2) by Monday morning (after all the refeeds)!

Starting Weight: 154lbs

Monday

  • Fast

Tuesday

  • Fast
  • 10 min walk morning and evening

Wednesday

  • Fast
  • 10 min walk morning and evening
  • Plan your refeed for tomorrow

Thursday

  • Refeed
  • Meeting a friend for lunch
  • 10 min walk morning and evening
  • Plan your omad meal tomorrow

Friday

  • OMAD
  • 2 birthday parties
  • 10 min walk morning and evening
  • Plan your weekend eating

Saturday

  • Eat in a 4 hour window (not keto but be mindful of carbs)
  • Traveling to an island!
  • 10 min walk morning and evening

Sunday

  • Eat in a 8 hour window (not keto but be mindful of carbs)
  • 10 min walk morning and evening
  • Plan for Week 3!
1 Like
#13

A plan helps me stay on track as it always gives me a daily goal to focus on. I also have an intermediate goal (Ex. Current 21-day fast has a goal weight based on previous fast) and a long-term goal that has a deadline of 6/13/20.

Look forward to reading your future entries!

1 Like
#14

@compdude - I really appreciate you taking time to read my entries! It’s nice to know someone is reading :slight_smile: and also gives me accountability. I totally agree with you about the short/long term goal strategy. I didn’t have it before and it’s a game changer this time around!

1 Like
#15

Results

  • Weigh-in: 154 lbs (-0lbs lost this fast, -5lbs lost total)
  • Fasted
  • Got ready for bed at 9pm! Did not sleep till late but this is a good start for me :slight_smile:

Thoughts

  • Much easier than last week’s fast
  • It’s interesting because my weight stayed the same, even after a whole day of fasting! Just goes to show the scale doesn’t show the whole story. Trusting the process!
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