Miko's fasting: Day 2

[Compdude]

Probably the blood flowing to your digestive system to expel the last of your ! Would be my guess. It’s the reason when I was a Personal Trainer I used to tell my clients that they shouldn’t eat anything, unless they were feeling lightheaded or faint and then nothing heavy, before coming to work out, as then they would have their muscles fighting with their digestive system for blood. It’s the same reason not to eat a big lunch of if you don’t want to feel sleepy in the afternoon.

[Heather_Spoonheim]

s it ha

Very encouraging to read your posts. I’m not in a position to do an extended fast at the moment, so I’m doing period short ones. I hope you reach your goal.

[Compdude]

Thank you.

I wish you the best and will be looking forward to reading your journey. Always curious about other successful approaches.

[Miko]

Hi Heather!

Thank you for the encouragement. Hopefully someday you are able to experience a long water fasting.

Cheers!
Miko

[Miko]

Scary episode of…

Day 8

Guys, it was not funny at all. I woke up at 3AM with need of going to toiled. I though the discharge of day 6 would do. But seems that my body still had an uncomfortable surprise for me Went to toiled and… you know the feeling of when you have diarrhea? Well, this was the same. I’m sorry but I will be graphic here so I can document everything clearly. First was hard and then a watery substance between greenish and yellowish which didn’t smell exactly as poo. It was something else but I don’t know what was it.

The scary part was that I could feel the blood going down from my head and suddenly I became very pale, started feeling hot and a hum on my left ear , no need to mention the pain on my body, right? I was running out of energy and was afraid of fainting inside the toiled. So I cleaned as I could and went to my husband who scared more than me and requested me to eat something, that it was already enough… promised him that I was fine ( I really wasn’t because I couldn’t even speak properly) and that I was going to reconsider the period of my fasting. I don’t blame him, looking myself in the mirror I seemed a zombie with no colors on my skin, neither on my lips.

Went to toilet again because, yea, there was still something left… and when I finished, I felt waaaay better. All the energy suddenly came back. The human body is amazing !!

I think this episode was a Detox one. I don’t think is a signal of having to stop because the rest of the day I felt quite well as almost all days of my fasting

So continuing with the rest of the day, hmmmm, I went to grocery store walking 20 minutes, to buy some baking powder and sugar and I made two delicious cakes to mom and hubby ( one of chocolate and one of lemon with frost ). I had lost the appetite. Before, I wouldn’t bear someone eating near me, but now I even enjoy seeing them tasting my food. At least sugary food. I think with salty ones would be different.

Afterwards, I spent all day home, relaxing, sleeping, showering, kidding with kittens, pampering myself and feeling good. Also did some stretching exercise on my legs since I read that loss of activity would cause muscle mass loss.

Starting weight: 71,9
Current weight: 64,7 700 grams is better than nothing !

Happy fasting everyone and good health

[Anna]

Those situations are very scary, and you can feel so vulnerable!
I’m glad you’re doing better again! You’re a fighter!

[Compdude]

Way to hang in there. I had 3 major detox episodes during my last fast but nothing so scary. Your courage in the face of adversity reminded me of this inspiring speech by actor, Denzel Washington:

[Miko]

Thank you @Anna. your words mean a lot to me !

@Compdude, Thank you for that video! Denzel Washington was very right and it is so inspirational. I really needed something like that

Thank you for being there

[Miko]

Day 9:

C.W 64,2. Only 500 gr (1lb) loss since yesterday. Still better than nothing

Walking to bus stop takes a while and I end up exhausted when I reach.
Peers realized that something changed in me since two of them told me: " Are you okay? You look so pale and your eyes are semi-closed" LOL
So, just in case, in order not to seem that I took some drugs and went to office like that, I talked with my supervisor. Supervisor is a nice guy, one of those people who really care for others and the well being of the employees are before than performance. His eyes were wide open as dishes when I told him 9 days of water-fasting…he was really concerned. Suggested some advises as taking broth, light veggies, etc.
Told him that I would stop when I would feel the need to, not to be worry

Hmmm let’s talk about how do I feel.

I feel fine. My spiritual status is alright. My body has been put into a lot of stress I think and it’s tired.

• I feel my skin itching. Sometimes I would scratch my legs and arms constantly. I think it is the weight loss.

• My legs hurt. It can be because the walking to bus stop. Today I also walked 45 minutes. Felt immediately exhausted afterwards.

• My eyes are watery. Maybe PC’s lights. Difficult to focus them on a determined point for a period of time.

I don’t know guys. I need to stay strong. I’m feeling weak and think a lot about food. Still, I feel it’s not the right time to break the fasting since I have came so far already and I’m in the limit of being overweight.

I don’t want this experience to end too soon.

Stay strong and happy fasting !

[Miko]

Forgot to mention that I don’t have the keto breathe anymore. Since day 7, my breathe and sweat are not that strong ., yey!

[Compdude]

Hey, I went through several episodes of what you are experiencing. Here are some questions and suggestions. I’m sure @Anna has something to add that can help:

1. You want to reduce physical exertion during times like this. It could be your body drawing away energy for detox. I’d reduce my daily walk to my bare minimum of 1 mile and even added several seated breaks. The first time I did it I felt I was going backward in my fitness and then realized that was a stupid attitude to have and that it would pass and it did.

2. Are you taking the 3 required supplements for your electrolytes: Salt, potassium and magnesium? For myself, a dab of Himalayan salt always picked me up during these times.

3. I kept a bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate 90% cocoa in my backpack whenever I did my walk as a “Break in case of Emergency”, a bottle of water and a baggie of Himalayan salt. Do you have something like that also?

4. I would also go through episodes of itchiness. Never experienced the keto rash. I think it’s just dead skin cells being canibilized from the fast. I look at it as a a required price to pay for not needing plastic surgery afterwards!

5. HOWEVER, if you have to quit because it’s impacting your work that’s understandable. Anna has the advantage of being a college student studying at home and I do computer consulting from home. We both acknowledge that if we didn’t have that edge neither of us would have been able to achieve the length of our respective fasts.

Finally, I did a numeric analysis of all 208 participants of the Oct/Nov challenge and I found that all the white collar professionals had to adjust their goals due to their career demands. The only white collar professional that achieved an extended fast was @Cream35 and it was for 14 days.

Hope this helps!

[Anna]

My skin got pretty dry during the fast and after as well, since you’re not eating any fats or get the vitamins that usually adds to the skin quality! And of course eliminating the old skin cells!
I would, like @Compdude suggested, be taking those three mineral supplements at this point, especially if you’re not resting at home!

I can add that I thought about food during my whole fast too, more or less, but it still changed my relationship to it when it was time to break the fast! I did not want to go back to the same behaviours as before, and the break from food makes it a lot easier to break habits and “addiction like” substances!

Always safety first and listen to the body’s signals

[Miko]

Hi @Compdude

Thank you for the data. Will try to reply each one of your points:

1. I think the best idea would be not to walk too much during this period of time. I maybe have to walk an average of 20 minutes daily between going to bus stop and walking around office and home. Not sure if that would do though in order to not lose muscle.

2. I wasn’t taking any supplement until your advise. Today I took, potassium, magnesium, zinc, Omega 3 and another one pill with loads of vitamins. I felt waaay better today Glad that I took those supplements.

3. Oh! No. I don’t carry no food, no salt with me. It’s a good point to consider. Still didn’t get my Himalayan salt but as soon as I do, I will bring it with me

4. That’s very interesting ! never though about it like that. I though as @Anna mentioned, that it was dry skin. But I read somewhere else that it was due to the skin readjusting itself due to weight loss. I don’t know for sure.

5. Yes. These days are being quite calm because of the holiday’s season and we can say I’m not having that load of work. I feel quite well, and I haven’t decided to quit just yet.

Thank you for all your advises!

I must ask what is that of white collars professionals?

Thank you!!

[Miko]

Day 10

C.W 64,5 Wuuuuut??

Yes. I don’t know if yesterday I wrongly weighted myself ? or… if my balance haven’t decided to die just yet. Anyways, this is a weight gain of 300 grams which make me no happy at all

Carry on with my daily journal ( because it is not all about weight loss) I have followed the advise of @Compdude and took my supplements. Feel waaay better than before. So glad that I did I was having all the required energy to focus at my job and have a good and smooth mood during the day.

Currently mother and husband are eating a delicious lunch that I can smell from my room.
Mom is worried because she sees I don’t eat anything, but I cannot tell her that I am water-fasting. you know how moms are… they get very worried.

Husband is doing an excellent job at getting her distracted and avoiding her from offering me chicken, potatoes and mandarins

Stomach ache are casual. Nothing that I cannot forget with a little bit of distraction.

In an overall, I’m doing quite fine today. Tomorrow will be the same story as the 25th. Will have to have more contact with food, but I’m sure will do just fine.

That weight gain, what could have been? It have me disconcerted and disappointed The only thing I did differently from the past days is drinking sparking water mixed with common water. So the gas on it it’s not too much. Gas wouldn’t add up 300 gr, would it?

Thank you for being there. And happy fasting!

[Compdude]

In response to your concern of losing muscle:

1. Dr Valter Longo of USC in his mice studies on the effects of prolonged fasting found that whatever small lean muscle mass is lost is quickly regained on ReFeed.
2. Dr Benjamin Bikman of BYU found that the process of Ketosis preserves lean muscle mass in comparison to caloric reduction where it is lost:

A simple rule of thumb is white collar workers shower before work vs blue collar workers who shower after work. In other words, lawyers, doctors, tech workers, etc

[Miko]

White tongue. Isn’t it beautiful?

[Fastlearner]

Nice video. Love the info. I have found youtube pulling water fasting info! Wt hell is going on. Thr gamer jays 28 day water fast is gone!

[Compdude]

Thanks. As a computer guy I naturally geek out over science stuff. Having lived through 4 ages of computers: mainframe, P.C., Internet and Mobile/Social Media I know you have to keep up on the “leading edge” to not end up being a part of the “bleeding edge” which unfortunately happened a couple of times early in my career.

[Miko]

Thank you @Compdude!

I will check on the video as soon as I have a time.
Regarding the white/blue collars, even though I am a white one, I prefer to shower at night Tight sleep smelling soap

[Miko]

Some info I found on white tongue from Quora

The surface of your tongue has 4 types of eminences or bumps called “papillae” : Filiform, Fungiform, Circumvallate, and Foliate papillae. The most common is the Filiform. They are small and conical in shape. Unlike the other three, Filiform does not have taste buds. Instead, the surface covering (aka epithelium) at the tips are keratinized . This just means that the surface is covered by dead cells with no nuclei and with a protein called keratin . Keratinized epithelia is also found in the skin (most of it actually) and when it sheds off, it is the dust that gathers in every corner in your room (no kidding!). The same goes with the keratin in your tongue, but because it is soaked in your spit and trapped in your mouth, it just gathers on your tongue, and your papillae acts like a brush, trapping it in between the crevices. When you eat, you can say things are dramatic in your mouth, so the food just rubs off the layer when you swallow. But when you decided to lay off food for a while (like in fasting) the keratin just stays there, nowhere to go. So if it is just a thin layer, this is a perfectly normal happening.

Fun fact, if you look at the tip and body of your tongue, you could also see small red dots. No, that is not chicken pox, that is the Fungiform papillae (you can guess the shape by its name)

Now, about the pseudoscience, the traditional Chinese medicine does look at the tongue- its shape and color- to figure out what is going on. So to calm your nerves, use a spoon or a toothbrush and brush the keratin off your tongue. if it turns red again, then you are fine. If it stays white, with or without the keratin, then you probably got a problem (especially if the layer is carpet like thick, that would be a fungal infection).