Sandra's 21 Day Water Fast Journal

[Quesara]

I did my last extended water fast back in April, and have been trying to do another one since I finished my final exams in June but just kept failing. In between now and then, I had done a few 3 to 4 days’ water fast, but was never really successful to hold on longer than that.

My last personal record was 16 days, and I hope this time I can at least surpass that goal. I have put on a fair amount of weight during lockdown and it has cost me greatly my self-esteem and confidence in every aspect of my life. I no longer have the confidence to go back on the ice even though the ice rink re-opens in early September, and most of the time I am just reminiscing how wonderful it once felt when I could fit into any of my beautiful dresses in my wardrobe and looked good.

With me starting my legal practice course now (a mandatory 1-year course for all solicitors in England before they can start practising), I often found myself barely have time to eat or even get a cup of water for myself when the meetings are scheduled back-to-back. If I am going to eat mindlessly in a rush, I might as well skip meals and fast.

I start my fast on Monday 21 September. I still come to this forum and read inspirational stories from people here from time to time, but I just didn’t have time to create a new entry until now - I am taking a bit more rest as I am feeling slightly under the weather. I recorded down how I feel in my own journal during the past 2 weeks when I did not have time to come here to write, so I will just transport them here now.

[Quesara]

Day 6

• Sense of smell is hightened, smelling the aroma of cookies and bread
• feel the urge to eat not because I feel hungry, but I recognise that it was a mental hunger

• Looking at website selling clothes makes me feel good that I am on my way to a more beautiful body and will be able to fit in those pretty dresses

• Face seems to be a bit thinner, less fat on the jaw, eyes seem to be brighter, skin smoother, but still feeling the pinching pain from the belly and stomach fat when I sit down
• low productivity
• feel cold and sleepy, keep yawning, difficult to concentrate
• so uncomfortable to feel the thigh fat rubbing against each other.

[Quesara]

Day 7

• feel cold
• grumbling stomach, feel a bit hungry (I recognise that this is one of those hunger and detox symptoms as this is the day when body starts to eliminate toxins stored in the fat instead of surface toxins)
• lacking strength and energy to study, feel extremely tired and fatigued.
• discharge of some dark black thingy (probably because I have been making myself some hibiscus rose herbal tea?)

[Quesara]

Day 8

• woke up at 5am (with alarm) to study, feeling extremely tired and fatigued, lacking any energy to study, but still force myself to push through.
• went to the bank to open a new account (which took 3 hours owing to the incompetence of the bank staff) and did some grocery shopping for my husband. Was completely exhausted after I came back home with unexplainable sore legs and achy calves.
• slept at 12am, didn’t manage to do as much studying as I intended to.

[Quesara]

Day 9

• slept quite a lot (7 hours), woke up at 7am to study
• feel frustrated after attending back-to-back meetings (4 hours), feel as if I were the only one who couldn’t get it all figured out.
• watched the final episode of the Japanese drama (about banking and slightly touched upon investment banking), Hanzawa Naoki 2, to relax in the evening.
• feel today has gone past rather quickly. Aside from feeling tired and fatigued, it wasn’t a day that I felt that had gone on for longer then I could bear in relation to fasting.

[Quesara]

Day 10

Woke up at 5am to go skating. Had a lesson scheduled with my coach at 7.30am, but it takes me an hour and a half to travel to the ice rink, and I need some time to warm up and practice since this is he first time I am back on the ice since lockdown and since the ice rink re-opened on 7 September.

To my surprise, my spins remain intact - my camel spins and sit spins are all alright, but my jumps had gone completely haywire. I think the main reason being that I am afraid to jump since I haven’t skated for so long. All my jumps have become small and under-rotated. Will need to build up all my skating skills and jumping techniques again with time.

Not sure if this is due to fasting or the fact that I haven’t been active since lockdown, I was already gasping for air and breathless after being on ice for as little as 15 minutes. And within that 15 minutes I already developed a sharp headache in the front lobes of my forehead. Very very poor physical stamina at the moment.

Planned to do some more studying after I got home from skating, but found myself completely drained of any residual energy. So I took a nap for an hour.

Went to do colon hydrotherapy as scheduled. Saw a lot of black waste being discharged. The therapist told me that those are all the toxins processed and eliminated by my liver that’s why they are black. (So I guess I should tap my liver for a job well done during fasting?)

On my way home, did some grocery shopping for my husband. They are all his favourite food, and watching him have them with pleasure makes me happy.

I felt slightly hungry both in th afternoon and in the evening, but I felt a bit better after having some sparkling water.

I felt that it was a very long day today, especially that I felt so tired and hungry.

Slept at 11.30pm.

[Quesara]

Day 11

• it was mid-Autumn festival today, feel sad that I can’t have the mooncake and barbeque, which is my family tradition on this day.
• attending back-to-back meetings (6 hours), feeling annoyed and peevish that other people don’t take in my comments, especially when I have substantial experience working in the financial industry, comparing to them as a bunch of legal students with no finance background and experience whatsoever and just trying to use theory to nail through business finance course. (I normally don’t feel this way, and by the next day I realised that the reason I am feeling this way is because of PMS).
• feeling cold and extremely tired
• calves ache a lot and very sore despite constant massaging (I am not sure whether this is because of my skating or fasting or a combination of both)
• feeling hungry

[Quesara]

Day 12

• it’s my birthday today, but had to attend attend back-to-back meetings (4 hours) on property law and business law.
• feeling VERY hungry and cold.
• having a mild fever (not sure why, but definitely not Covid), feel sick, can’t concentrate, extremely fatigued, felt as if I could collapse any time.
• foggy brain, feel that I desperately need a proper rest which I hadn’t been able to have since thr start of this course on 7 September.
• still forced myself to push through and study from 7am to 6pm, despite my condition.
• period arrived in the evening - now I understand why I have been so tired and cranky these past few days, but fasting seems to make the situation much worse.
• lie down early but still couldn’t sleep. My body is tired but my mind is stressed and awake. So I took 2 tablets of magnesium.

[Quesara]

Day 13

• Day 2 of my period
• still not feeling good. The fever is gone, but with the heavy flow of period, I feel extremely tired and fatigued. Feel extreme weakness, lack of energy and resolve to do anything.
• no menstrual pain: I usually have excruciating period pain on day 2 (so, pick my poison: excruciating pain or fasting with hunger pain and nausea?)
• feeling very hungry, as I usually do when I am on my period.
• drank a lot of water, but lips remain dry and hunger won’t fade. Taste bitter within my mouth.
• feeling cold…

[Quesara]

Day 14

Day 3 of my period

• period flow heavier than usual on day 3 of my period (my flow usually subsided on day 3)
• woke up at 7am (no alarm), planned to do some studying, but soon felt tired again and went back to sleep at 8am and woke up again at 10am.
• feeling slightly better than yesterday, but still pretty nauseous.
• still feeling very hungry and cold
• this is also a hard day for me as I felt the day had gone on for forever…such a long day, especially when I felt so hungry and lacking of any energy to do anything.

P.S. really need support to get me through this week…as I am feeling so nauseous and some indescribable sense of discomfort…but I really want to persevere to 21 days…

[Quesara]

Day 1 to 5

• Didn’t have time to record down anything on my journal, but I relied on prayer and the inspirational messages from a book, How to Lose 40 Pounds (or more) in 30 Days with Water Fasting, to help me hang on.
• Sadly, the book’s inspirational message ends after 10 days, after which the author just told you to go back to message for day 1 and repeat it again - that’s not very helpful, is it?
• the first 5 days were the first difficult stage for me, as I constantly wanted to break my fast and thinking that I can restart and fast any time again. But then I also remember that is also the mindset that led me to failing so many times between now and April when I fasted 16 days.
• I am really glad that I hanged on.

[Quesara]

Day 15

Period day 4

• physical detox symptoms: nausea, stomach pain, slight fever, feeling cold…feeling very unwell, though slightly better than yesterday.
• feeling tired constantly, slept a lot…feeling weak and fatigued.
• having heavier period flow than usual.

I think these past few days have been the most difficult days so far into my fast. Comparing these physical detox symptoms to the first 5 days, those first few days when I just started fasting feel like a breeze. I hope these detox symptoms will go away soon.

[Quesara]

Day 16

Period day 5

• having heavier flow and more prolonged period than usual as compared to when I am not fasting.
• feeling slightly better than Day 15, but hunger remains strong, possibly because I am losing precious red blood cells by the minute.
• having emotional detox as past unpleasant memories washed over me all of a sudden.
• feeling cold and tired, actually dozed off for 5 minutes during one of the meetings.
• body is tired but mind is still restless. Took 2 magnesium tablets to aid sleep.

At this stage, feeling pretty nauseous to take anything in the tablet form (including multi vitamin, magnesium, etc), but I still forced myself to take them as I would otherwise feel worse.

Hoping this tormenting week to pass quickly.

[Quesara]

Day 17

Period day 6

• period is definitely bring prolonged as a result of the fast, and the flow is still heavier than usual, hence I continue to feel hungry.
• not a nice feeling to wake up feeling hungry - I cannot understand for the life of me how other people reported feeling great and not hungry at this stage. I guess everyone is different, and hopefully I will get to the stage of mental clarity and not feeling hungry anymore soon.
• woke up at 5am to travel to the ice rink and train with my coach. After barely an hour, I felt as if I could collapse any time. And like my session a week ago, I had a sharp headache developed whilst on the ice. Jumps were better today, but field moves were not.
• on my way home from the ice rink, I had to climb multiple staircases and change trains multiple times. Literally collapsed on bed the moment I got home.

[Quesara]

Day 17 - continued

This entire day was just characterised with extreme fatigue and lethargy, and strong sense of hunger that just won’t fade, I had to lie in bed the whole day. Felt as if this day would never end.

People often talked about how the first 5 days would be the most difficult, but I would argue, for me at least, the real test and struggle lie in the third week (day 14-21) - or it might just be that the third week just happened to coincide with my period which makes it unbearably difficult.

At around 10pm, I was so fed up with all the crappiness I was feeling, so decided to take some potassium capsules. Thought it would make me better - little did I know that I just made the decision to make myself even worse. Immediately after taking the capsules, I experienced stark stomach pain and nausea, wondering why I would do this to myself. I made the decision there and then that I would never take the potassium supplement again in my life.

After the pain and nausea had subsided, I did feel a bit less fatigued, but I reckon this is the cost I shall never want to pay again on account of the pain and nausea.

[Kyle]

Catching up on your journal, Happy Belated Birthday!

https://media.giphy.com/media/L0SVtu86DgL21RkZAB/giphy.gif(image larger than 4096KB)

Good job on the length of your fast. Sounds like it has been a difficult week… hope your experience improves before you are finished.

[Quesara]

Thanks @Kyle for the frogman! That was hilarious

Reading other people’s journal gave me the sense that I can do this also, but in reality it is so much harder! I hope it will become easier as the day progresses. I don’t know how other people do it whilst cooking for children - for me it is so hard when my other half is constantly cooking something like cha siu pork in the open kitchen in our tiny London flat - there is no way for me to escape.

[Quesara]

Day 18

Period day 7

• my period is finally coming to an end, I hope it will become at least a bit easier from now on.
• emotional detox: had a thought that I already worked my ass off to get my law degree, why do I have to do this legal practice course? Can’t I learn this on the job like the American attorneys do?
• had a dream that I patched things up on an unresolved issue.
• still feeling tired, lack of energy and strong hunger pains.
• tried to put on my jeans from when I just got married, realised that I need to do this for 30 days instead of 21 days for me to look good in that pair of jeans…but mentally and physically (mainly because of the pain in my stomach), I don’t know if I can do this beyond 21 days…if anyone got any tips, would greatly appreciate it.
• really miss being with my family and Taiwanese food.

[Miramar]

Hi Sandra!

My first fast was supposed to be 21 days, and I had holiday stuff I realized was going to cut into my refeed time so I wound up doing 17.5 days.

Did a bunch of other mix ups after that and kept losing overall.

And now on day 4 of my next goal for 21 days.

This is a lifestyle change. I support you whether you decide to keep going or take a refeed break at 21.

It can take some time for your brain to catch up with your body as well. Fasting is great for making you question a lot of things. There’s mental reprogramming going on.

I too had some severe detox symptoms at 16 days kicking in.

It’ll be interesting to see if that kicks in again on this round, but already things have been going so much smoother.

I like cooking, and while I have an urge to make things I’ve had no desire to eat. I made some kimchi because it’ll take about 3 weeks before it’s ready to eat .

Converting to all size 14’s and seeing 160’s on the scale is fueling me. I have a dear friend whose mother passed and she’s sending me her mom’s shorts .

You’ll reach your goals. It’s ok to feel crappy, and it’s ok to take a rest and resume too - because again it’s a lifestyle change.

It’s such a different experience on the long fast. I’ve been thinking I may do it once a year when I achieve maintenance mode just for the spiritual cleanse it provides.

[Quesara]

Thank you so much for the encouragement @Miramar! Unfortunately I had to break my fast today as I was simply feeling too ill and nauseous. I feel I had let myself down as I was so close to the finishing line, but the fasting has started to impact my studying and academic performance which I am not willing to risk, especially with the uncertainty of pandemic and that my job offer is conditional on me obtaining good results this academic year.

I plan to start with a few days with diluted vegetable juice, homemade bone broth and cooked vegetables, and slowly re-introduce harder-to-digest proteins like eggs and poultry.

I hope by following this regime, I will continue to lose weight.