Jenny in the Fasting Lane

[jenny]

Day 2 - May 16

I’m starting this journal on technically the second day of my first extended water fast!

WHY?
I’m relatively new to the fasting community. My first foray into fasting was a few years ago when I picked up 16:8 and 18:6 (basically just skipping breakfast), but I fell out of that habit in 2018. At that point I weighed somewhere in the low 180s or high 170s, and I figured I could maintain without too much effort. Wrong!

From late 2018-December 2019 I gained a TON of weigh back without even realizing it. I had a really intense job with long hours and used that as an excuse to not prioritize exercise and watching what I ate, and around Christmas of 2019 I was shocked [surprised Pikachu face] to see that I had shot back up to 210!

Since March I’ve dropped 20 lbs through a mixture of exercise a few times a week (on and off, not gonna lie), OMAD, and most recently ADF. I’ve decided to use this quarantine to really focus on getting healthy, and the cards have just aligned to make fasting more feasible (and arguably more sensible) than ever!

SHORT AND LONG TERM GOALS
Short term: Get to 175 lbs so I’m officially out of the “obese” BMI category
Long term: 145 lbs, aka a healthy weight range for my height (5’4")

STRUGGLES YOU HAVE OR HAVE FACED
I think the overarching struggle I’ve had forever is my relationship with food - I really struggle with moderation. I didn’t even realize until my mid 20s that some people can actually just buy a box of cookies, eat maybe one or two a day after dinner ONLY, and make the box last for a couple weeks. That was unfathomable for me. I would have finished that bad boy off in like, two days, so I always erred on the side of “just don’t buy it”. But then inevitably one day I’d cave, buy the cookies, and what do you know, it’d be gone in two days.

Fasting has really helped me in this regard. When I did OMAD this past March I found a can of Pringles lasting for several days because when mealtime came I wanted real food, not Pringles. I’ve even held on to a large bar of dark chocolate since March! I still struggle with moderation though, and I think it’s something I will always have to be conscious of.

GAME PLAN
Right now the plan is to simply hit 7 days. I did a 3-day fast a couple months ago and it went fine, and I hear the first few days of extended fasts are the hardest, so I keep telling myself ‘why shouldn’t I be able to do 7?’ I’ve been doing ADF and yesterday (“Day 1”) was a regular fasting day, so I just cancelled my eating plans for today and the next 6 days.

After 7 days I plan to re-evaluate. Maybe I’ll jump back into ADF? Maybe I’ll push through to 14 days? Maybe I’ll take it all the way to 21 days?! Who knows.

HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW
Honestly, hungry. LOL. But whatever. Mentally I feel pretty good! Low-key stressed about a work deadline coming up, but more in the sense that the task seems daunting - the work itself should be fun once I sink my teeth into it. I’m also experimenting with not wearing deodorant for a few days, so I’m feeling a little adventurous and…smelly? #winning

VISUALIZATION: HOW WILL YOU FEEL ONCE YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS?
Strong and beautiful af.

DAILY POSITIVE AFFIRMATION IN THE FORM OF POP CULTURE REFERENCE
“YES YOU CAN. JUST DO IT.” [Shia, obvs]

[Compdude]

Welcome to our fasting community!

Technical note: to keep future entries on this single thread, click on reply in the lower right hand corner.

I too am not a “moderator”. The key is to have offsetting “binges”. On May 1st, I bought and polished off a pint of Haagen Daz ice cream. I haven’t eaten that much ice cream since the beginning of last summer. Before I began my current journey last August 9th. I also had other “naughty” things that day because if I’m going to be “bad” I’m going ALL THE WAY! Lol.

As a result of my Day of Indulgence, I gained 7 pounds. Got back on track super motivated and lost that 7 pounds in 3 days.

From experience, the key is management. I’ve seen too many people deny themselves the pleasures of food, binge, emotionally overreact and then 1 to 2 years later wonder how they returned back to their fat and unhappy state. Have the attitude that I WILL enjoy life and understand the price to be paid and pay it. It’s one of the bedrock principles that I follow and is one of the reasons I’ve been able to stay steadfast since August 9th to become officially “medication free” on December 12th of last year (temporarily no longer true but that’s another story) and currently 78 pounds lighter than when I started.

[Tenax]

I love Haagen Daaz PB & Chocolate by the way. I remember years ago I’d go to DQ and buy probably a quart size of ice cream & a small macaroni size container each of peanut butter sauce (yes its a thing) and hot fudge. Drizzle it on bit by bit and eat the whole damn thing!

[jenny]

A couple years ago I discovered Halo Top ice cream and it was a game changer! I’m not in the US right now but I’m excited to head back, find some, and let myself indulge guilt-free (or at least with minimal guilt).

[jenny]

Day 3 - May 17

I warn you now, I’m a blogger at heart. Feel free to skim read lol.

DAILY POSITIVE AFFIRMATION IN THE FORM OF POP CULTURE REFERENCE
“I really wanna lose 3 pounds” [Mean Girls]

BRAIN DUMP
Okay so my positive affirmation is both a joke and for real. In the movie Mean Girls the character Regina George is doing a “cranberry juice fat flush” where all she drinks is cranberry juice for 72 hours, and when her boyfriend calls her crazy she just shrugs and says “I really wanna lose 3 pounds”.

Now, in the movie she’s drinking a sugary cranberry juice cocktail and she’s saying the bit about 3 pounds mostly for attention from her friends, but I sometimes call on this quote when my friends or colleagues ask why I’m doing keto or fasting or [insert other diet here] and I don’t feel like launching into a discussion about it. It generally works quite well - people pick up that I’m doing it to lose weight, but that it’s not too big a deal and I’m fine (aka not dying).

Last night I found myself really grateful to be in a work community that is so open-minded and supportive though. My colleagues were doing a barbecue so I went out hang out with them, and I fully expected to have to call on some research factoids or my Mean Girls quote again when someone inevitably asked why I wasn’t eating. Turns out I didn’t have to! Someone was just like “Ah, fasting day?”, someone else commented that they can tell I’ve gotten slimmer, and that was it. Mind blown. I guess I’ve been doing different forms of fasting for so long that they know I’m okay, and aren’t weirded out by it anymore.

On a side note, I may have to break my fast earlier than expected due to a change in travel plans. I’m nervous about fasting while traveling across an ocean and 3+ airports, because I’ve read too many articles about fasting slightly weakening your immune system during the actual fast (though it bounces back up as soon as you eat). I may change my mind and stay the path to 7+ days, buut I think I might err on the side of caution considering what’s happening in the world.

HOW I FEEL TODAY
Today has been a lot more difficult than yesterday. I’ve officially broken my record for longest fast (69 hours), so I am feeling good about that, but physically I’m feeling rough. A couple times today I got up too quickly and got light-headed, which I knew could happen of course, but it was still a shock to experience before I remembered that I’m fasting. I’m pretty tired and don’t want to move much, and I’ve had a mild headache on and off all day. This feels kind of similar to my experience with the keto flu when I did keto a few years back, so I do think I’ll feel much better tomorrow. I may just call it a night early so I can fast forward to tomorrow haha.

[Tenax]

Great post! Others here have spoken by the way of the reverse actually. That a fast strengthens your immune system. Maybe someone more knowledgable than I will pipe up.

[jenny]

Day 4 - May 18

DAILY POSITIVE AFFIRMATION IN THE FORM OF POP CULTURE REFERENCE
“Jenny’s got a body just like an hourglass. But I’m taking my time, I’m taking my time” [WALK THE MOON]

BRAIN DUMP
I only discovered that song^ a couple weeks ago and I have been obsessed. I’ve been slowly but surely adding to a Spotify playlist with songs about Jenny, and this is one of the more recent additions. Thrilled. It’s pretty diverse. Highly recommended if your name is Jenny, you’re running, you’re getting ready in the morning, or you have an hourglass figure.

HOW I FEEL TODAY
8AM: I woke up feeling fantastic! Much better than how I was feeling yesterday afternoon/early evening.

1PM: Spoke too soon lol. Feel quite light headed and a little nauseated, especially when I move. Am definitely happier lying down and doing nothing. I’ll focus on letting myself move a bit slower for the next few hours. At least I’m not hungry at all!

Also I just remembered that last night I had a dream that I broke my fast! It was super bizarre. I was in a street market and came across this little stand selling dinosaur chicken nuggets for $1 each, and I legit just put my face over the tray and ate like 20-30 of them. When the owner came out he and I got into a haggling match where I tried to be like “I only ate 15-20!” and he wanted me to give him $60 for some reason. Yesterday I read somewhere on here that the fast-breaking dream is common, but I didn’t think it’d happen so soon!

5PM: Decided to put a little bit of salt in my water at about 1:30 and I feel much better now. Guess it was an electrolyte thing!