Thanks Alipio! I am actually more concerned about regaining the weight than upsetting my stomach. Anna’s suggestion seems prudent, I will try to follow that when I am at the end of my fast. 
My Water Fast Journal
Hopefully your heart burn will fade! Keep us posted of your keto blood test
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I am really drooling for vegetable soup 
Thanks Alipio. I guess everyone is different, I will just have to stop comparing and wondering why I am not getting the supposed-to-happen energy boost 
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Day 6 completed.
It was slightly less difficult than day 5, but I found myself extremely lethargic and yawning a lot - not great for studying. Difficult to concentrate, and had back pains. I wonder if some of these symptoms might be attributed to the fact that I am ovulating.
At some point when I was reading the messages on this forum on my phone, the images became flashy and blurry, as if someone was shaking my head. Also noticed twitching in my right thigh.
Cooked sausage and egg fried rice (pictured) for my husband. I did not feel the desire to eat, but I just miss food. Later in the evening, my husband cooked air-fried chicken legs - something that really made me want to have, but I know that is not due to physical hunger, but rather psychological.
Started to feel hungry and an empty stomach when it was near midnight. I am running out of ideas of how I can create different blends of herbal tea. So far I have had Greek mountain tea, Greek olive tea, tea made with dried hibiscus flower and dried orange peel, Greek thyme with Greek stevia leaf and mountain flowers, barley tea.
Haven’t had any bowel movements since day 2, despite the fact that I still religiously take probiotics every morning. Not sure if this is normal - which I gather is not.
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No. It can be normal if you have a healthy GI tract. On my last 21-day, my last bowel movement was Day 3.
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post fast journal day 3. 237.6lb, down 45.
blood ketone level 3.9. last week 4.8. not concerned as the difference is eating some carbs versus 0 now. stomach is generally better than while on the fast, thank god:) i had a good workout during work yesterday which helped propel the weight loss in spite of adding food and carbs. which just encourages me to try to get a longer walk on my days off. I enjoy walking, when I have the energy. I have not had energy during the fast or so far post fast. Until I start getting my calories up more, I don’t much on that front. I will jump my calories up on Saturday from 300 or less per day to 1200. so why am I only at 300? i really felt that soup and keto smoothies were the path for me on early re-feed. The lowest carb veg soup I could acquire was not keto though so the carbs were higher than I liked. In the end I want to be max 10-15 carbs per day after all this. otherwise, my focus at the moment is how I eat food. i grew up in a small family and table was minimal. we ate our food quickly and cleaned up so we could get to whatever we would do in the evening. yardwork, homework etc. i can’t remember how often my mom would say hurry up, how often my dad would say eat everything on your plate. then that bad habit of rushing to eat carried over into work, especially as once i started my desk job career, i ate at the desk a lot. either not paying attention to my eating. or rushing because i felt guilty, eating at work! i most recently realized how f’d up my eating was when i realized the incongruity between craving a meal so bad…then eating it so fast! so, my goal is to slow down and savour the flavour and texture of my food. its really a different experience for me to take my time eating.
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Thank you Alipio, that sort of relieved my concerns for the bowel movement.
Before the fast, despite the fact that I take prebiotics and probiotics on a daily basis, have greens powder as a a supplement and having vegetables in my meal, I was still chronically constipated. I have a Chinese physician in Taiwan (where I am originally from), whom I had been going to for years. To redress issues of my constipation and poor circulation of blood flow, I have to ask my mom to ship the Chinese medicine from my Chinese physician every 6 months now that I live in the UK.
Since starting the fast, I have stopped taking my Chinese medicine, hence I was a bit concerned about the bowel movement as such.
Thanks for sharing your story Bob! It is incredible how our childhood experiences shape us to be the person we are today.
One thing I found that made me not want to binge eating and snacking at all was when I sit down with the whole family (I grew up with grandparents and uncles and aunts, we all lived together. So when mealtime comes, it was a big family eating together at a round table) and eat together with them. My grandma would usually cook up so many different dishes, so even when we all liked different things, we could all mix and match and pick the ones we liked to go with either rice or congee. But sadly that is simply not doable for me here in the UK, as it is just me and my husband. We like different things, and it’s just not practical or economical for me to cook the way my grandma did, especially with law school. Nor is my cooking skills that superb. 
Day 7 completed!!! Never thought I could come this far. I think I would want to extend it to 10 days.
It was easier today than the previous days, though I still suffer from dizziness and occasional hunger.
Late in the evening, around 10pm, after working on my dissertation continuously for 5 hours, I truly felt I needed to have something to make myself feel better as, at this point, no amount of water and herbal tea with Himalayan salt seemed to be working.
So I had miso soup (made with pure miso - about 1 tbsp - and water). It did make me feel so much better, though I am concerned if the miso would kick me out of ketosis or break my fast, since some people suggest that miso is too high in carbohydrate?
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Technically anything with calories and/or carbs kicks you out of ketosis.
Practically, it depends on how your body reacts and the amount of calls/carbs. I’ve researched this question to death. I’ve also discussed this with Anna here in the forum and my endocrinologist at USC Medical School.
Oh no!!! What should I do? I felt so defeated and frustrated with myself… 
- Let it go. Its over and done with. What did you learn and can you use it for future success?
- Celebrate the achievement. Since I’ve been here from the beginning (Oct 2019), not many achieved a fast as long as you did.
I’m celebrating your WIN!
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I wouldn’t worry about the miso soup. It will probably lower your ketone level a bit but I don’t believe 8 carbs a day are going to kick you out of ketosis. I think logic applies here. We kick ourselves out of ketosis when we exceed our recommended max carbs. for the average female I believe the number is about 50, males 75. If you don’t have them, buy some keto sticks. They are a cheap peace of mind.
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Day 4 post fast.
No weight drop overnight but I’ve realized my scale (Nothing fancy there. Just a cheap Taylor digital) Does not register changes under .5lb. maybe even up to 1lb. Not concerned! No heartburn yesterday at all! Yay!
Tomorrow I switch into my 10 carbs or less keto plan. 3 days of salads. I have 2 secret weapons to make it more interesting. A sesame steak sauce that I love on steaks, vegetables and salad. and i found a chipotle mayo yesterday I bought initially to put on my keto taco pie as I love burrito sauce and sour cream combo, but I know it will taste awesome on the salad too. And both are keto friendly! I’m a thousand island guy from way back. just can’t get into vinagrettes at all so these are both huge finds! Realized as I had my soup this morning that my eating had sped up. Old habits die hard.
So my initial plan to eat was at noon daily on OMAD but I think I’m going to try when I get up instead. Its when I’m most hungry during the day and I do believe in the theory that when you get up your metabolic furnace has fired up to get you ready for your day & thats the best time to feed it…and I need my energy for my physical job. So I’m going to go with that flow and see how it goes. I am finding otherwise I’m not hungry after my refeed thanks to the fat content in my food I assume. I’m looking forward to moving into the high fat/mod protein/low carb phase here. I had a little bit of discomfort I think starting to eat solid again (a constipated feeling) but I think I’m good now.
starting to wear my smart watch again to track steps and calories as a bonus. not that I’m tracking calories persay beyond planning to be at no more than 2000 per meal, but I find it motivating to see my daily calorie deficit numbers tracked.
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I wish my body’s defense mechanisms would kick in like this!
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Yes. One of the research scientists I follow is Dr Saatchin Panda of the Salk Institute in San Diego, California. He’s one of the leading authorities on Circadian Rhythm. His research shows our bodies are most insulin sensitive in the morning. I use his proposed Time Restricted Eating which integrates Intermittent Fasting with a specific time feeding window.
Specifically, my 1st meal is either after early morning workout or when I wake up and no eating after 3pm.
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Update today…I had my first coffee in 3 plus weeks. Damn i missed it. I used whipping cream and swerve in it. Intentionally a hint of sweetness versus “brit tea” sweet like I used to.
Found out today I’m on permanent layoff in 2 weeks. 2nd time in 11 yrs a world crisis cost me a job. Last time it happened I spiraled to a place where it almost cost me my life. I don’t intend to let this get the best of me. Or cause me to emotional eat.
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Thank you Alipio!
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Thank you Bob! I have ordered some keto sticks from Amazon, hopefully I will be able to track my ketosis when they arrive.
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