My Water Fast Journal

Thanks @Tenax :slight_smile: :two_hearts: I think I have exhausted all the herbal tea flavour I could possibly concoct :expressionless:

When you struggled with that, how did you keep yourself going?

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Almost sheer will power honestly. It helped in a way I was struggling with my stomach issues as I was at a point of where I thought maybe coffee and various teas (inc cinnamon, ginger types) were adding to my stomach problem so I decided at that point to scale back to water only. Now, that being said the one I did when I felt I really needed a taste of something, was 1 cup of broth every couple of days. It did not impede my fast or weight loss and did not affect my state of ketosis. Bone broth they say is best, if you have the resources to make it, but I didn’t. But I did have beef, chicken, thai and vegetable broth so I mixed it up for variety. I believe the broth did help me survive through the monotony of the fast.

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Thank you @Tenax, that was helpful! I think Dr Jason Fung also advocates having 1 cup of bone broth whilst fasting. In case I really feel I need to eat something, I will try to have broth.

I have actually been contemplating about investing in Instant Pot
since I can get bones at a relatively cheap price at my local butcher.

I’m not sure he does but some of his superstars in the book do!

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Day 12 completed - only 2 more days to day 14, and then I will see if I can still carry on from there.

Feel hungry and tired, and studying a what I would consider a very badly written legal journal further exacerbated my feeling jittery and irritated, to a point that I wish I would never have to read that journal again. Took a nap for about an hour, started reading another piece of legal writing - this one is so much better, I felt so much more at ease.

Some say emotional cleansing can happen during the fast. I am not sure how, but somehow I felt extremely testy and peevish today.

My husband has been playing on the online games the whole day (literally), and I wonder whether I still see a future with him, on top of his emotional affairs. I have been debating within myself, praying for guidance, weighing pros and cons, on whether I should stay or leave since last September, when I discovered that he had been having an online affairs with a 19-year-old Japanese woman living in Philippines.

I could feel that fasting is clearing my mind a bit, but I am not sure if, in the end, fasting would lead me to know what I should do.

Apologies this daily update is very personal. I have been hesitant to talk about this, so in the very beginning, I only mentioned that I have been going through a very grave personal trial. But this is it. This has been weighing on my mind for a long time now.

My major stressors are my marriage, and getting myself through my finals and graduation with a good grade, on which my existing job offer at the law firm predicates.

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I read his book, The Obesity Code, some time ago, and I think he included 1 cup of bone broth in his menu for his fasting clients. :slight_smile: :grinning:

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Thank you for sharing. There is a clarity that fasting seems to bring to things. There are things about my journey to the dark side and plans to commit suicide in 2014 that I never shared with anyone. Shame? The reality of it? About day 12 of my fast over a cup of coffee about pretty much everything about it. (i consider her to be a friend still and we split 20 + yrs ago) I don’t know why, but it felt like the time to tell someone other than a stranger. I felt no emotion in doing so. And I wonder if it all came from the fast.

In any case you have multiple major stressors in your life. Career change, possible end of your relationship. The fast will probably do you a lot of good in the end and you’ll be stronger for it, in everything.

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Day 13 completed - today is probably the best feeling day I have had in the past two weeks. Not in the sense of feeling full of energy, but rather just a feeling that at least I could get stuff done and concentrate without feeling fainted.

Didn’t sleep much last night due to stress, but got up at 9am to meet my tutor online for the revision class. Afterwards, I studied for a straight 5 hours without moving from my chair. I was focused on keeping up with my schedule and I needed to get my morning studying done by 2pm. But I guess that was somewhat a good thing as my concentration was better today, so much better than yesterday I would say.

Afterwards, I went out to do grocery shopping for my husband and got myself some pork bones from the butcher. I felt so jittery and awful yesterday, and thought that I better cook up some bone broth just in case I am on the verge of giving up. My Instant Pot will be arriving tomorrow.

It was much better grocery shopping today as I didn’t feel fainted or dizzy like last time. Went to the shop to get BLK water (alkaline water with electrolyte and Fulvic trace minerals - basically water with volcanic minerals, so 0 calories). I did drink this water before my fast, but never noticed any difference it did to me. But boy did I notice the difference today! I don’t know if it’s the minerals or the electrolytes in it, I felt so uplifted after drinking it.

My husband had been playing online games all day again, he was even on the headphone and microphone to talk to his game mates and laughed out loud whilst I was video conferencing with my tutor. Sometimes I feel if he could feel this happy with his gaming and game mates, does he really need me? He is still talking to that woman he has the affair with - he said they are just friends now, all those feelings were gone, and he is trying to talk to her less, I just have to trust him. But every time I saw him typing message on his phone, I am in hell. I don’t know if I could endure this pain any longer. I am scared of leaving, but it also made me wonder if I am not allowing enough time since he said he is trying very hard. I don’t know if it is because of fasting, but, at night, I had a distinct feeling that reminded me how suffocated I used to feel at times when we were dating. He is the kind of person that demands a lot of love and care because of some childhood issues, even if I had given him my all, it would still not be enough for him.

I hope fasting would continue to provide me with some clarity as to what I should do next.

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Wow. I think you will find the clarity you need. Reading your post I could understand your resentment. You are working hard on yourself physically, mentally and with school and it sounds like in a relationship with some deep issues. Its a lot at once. I remember when I tried to lose weight and quit smoking at the same time. Couldnt do both at once.

At one point when I was in a very stressful point at work in 2009, I went to a counsellor I was feeling so depressed. She said you are experiencing all the major stressors at one time.

Death or loss of a spouse
Loss of job or change in job
Physical issues

I think there was one or two other things as well. I remember she had this point system and if you are over 300 points you are at a dangerous stress level. I was at 500 Plus on the scale. I was probably lucky I didn’t Keel over from a heart attack at the time. Lol

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Day 14 completed!

That being said, day 14 was a difficult day for me. I could not continue sleeping as I felt anxious of all the studying I have scheduled myself to so. But when I did wake up, this overwhelming tiredness washed all over me, rendering me unable to concentrate and do anything.

After struggling for the larger part of the day, I felt so exhausted that I took a nap around 5pm, only to wake up at 6pm again - without any alarm.

Apparently sleeping did not replenish my energy. To distract myself, I went into the kitchen and cooked the bone broth in my newly arrived Instant Pot. Took some time to figure out how to operate on this.

For no reason, after my husband went to sleep, I suddenly felt a surge of mental clarity and completed my scheduled studying for today. Also prepared some notes and essay plans for my virtual meeting with one of my module tutors tomorrow morning. I seem to be doing better without him constantly cooking, eating and playing online games in the same room. Though it is very weird that my energy came after midnight. :thinking:

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You are doing great! I find my energy at weird times too, like waking up 4 hours after going to bed wanting to take a walk. If it wasn’t still chilly outside overnight, I probably would have done it. But I need to get a few more hours sleep. Busy work morning ahead.

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Day 15 and 16 completed.

Did not have time to come check in the previous days as my exam dates are fastly approaching.

Day 15 was better, but on day 16 I started to feel stomach pain and low energy again. I am still extremely dizzy whenever I have to stand up from a sitting position, that includes just sitting up from bed when I wake up. I wonder if that is a sign from my body to tell me to end the fast.

Regardless, I persevered. But I ended up sleeping a lot and still felt lethargic, which is awful for my studying schedule. I could not concentrate at all. Often very distracted and just wanted to let everything go whilst I know I can’t.

I am guessing my stress factors have a lot to play in this. I had some very lengthy and difficult conversations with my husband on day 16 as I have some important decisions to make, which further drained my energy. A lot of people said days beyond day 4 or day 7 were very easy for them, which is not my experience at all


Day 17 - very sorry to say I decided to break my fast and eat something as I started feeling extremely nauseous, developed chest pain, wanted to throw up but nothing came out. I was feeling very unwell, and at this point, I made a decision to eat something.

But of course I felt really vexed about having to break my fast on day 17 when I am this close to 21 days
I had some chicken soup made in Instant Pot and some seaweed.

I think perhaps I should start the fast again tomorrow


Thanks @Tenax! I am sorry to say that I broke my fast on day 17
 :frowning: :sob: though physically, I really could not go on because of how unwell I felt - though it could be seen as an excuse. I wish my will power were stronger.

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No ones judging here! By most peoples’ measures thats a longgg time!

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If I could jump back on the wagon tomorrow and continue for another 17 days, can I still say I did a 17+17 days’ fast with 1 day break in between and pat myself on the back? :sob:

One thing that worries me the most is the detriment this 1 day break does to my weight loss goal
does that mean it’s reset back to where I started, or can I still capitalise on all my hard work before today’s break?

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Lol. WE will still pat you on the back. As long as you are still in ketosis I imagine you could go back into it easily
but heck, maybe take an extra day or 2 to figure out, if its physical
what caused you to break it? And can you fix that before next time.

I don’t recommend it. First, do a 8 to 9 day refeed. You’ve fasted long enough that you’ve cannibalized dead cells from your major organs and your liver’s produced a bunch of stem cells. During refeed those stem cells will create new cells to repopulate your major organs. Then you can decide if you want to jump back into another prolonged fast. For myself, after refeed I always do a 30-day workout phase to build the body backup.

That’s the pattern I’ve done covering a 40-day and two 21-day fasts. Fast-Refeed-Workout and repeat. But that’s just what works for me because after my 40-day I had reversed my T2 diabetes so all this time I’ve been rebuilding my diabetes ravaged body.

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