I started this process in the evening on 5/31/2021. I want to go 20 days.
Why?
Well, people say that you can go 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. So, I better stop at day 20, right?
Funny, not funny.
I estimate that I weighed 250 – 260 pounds on 5/31/2021. Given my desk job and level of physical activity I think that my body has plenty of fuel on reserve. If I was skinny, 20 days would not make sense at all.
Another way of looking at it is that losing 1 pound per day would be ambitious. That's a max loss of 20 pounds. I have more than 20 pounds in fat reserves. Lets say that I am off by 100%. I have more than 40 pounds of fat reserves. In one of the Dr. Berg videos he states that a "skinny" person has approximately 70,000 calories stored in their body. At a 3,500 calorie per day metabolic rate, that's 20 days of fuel.
Let me be honest though, I don’t have much experience here. I have never done this fast or a blog before. Please consult experts before embarking on something similar.
So, here’s what’s been happening the first six days:
The first six days were easier than I thought they would be, but the first evidence of not understanding fully what I am doing are signs of the “keto flu”, and in this context I am not talking about the keto diet. By starving my body of calories and carbs, my body is entering or has entered ketosis. From what I understand though, that may not mean that I am "fat adapted", that my body is adapted to efficiently using body fat for food and that's when the flu symptoms present themselves.
The first few days of this process I had some symptoms that I wouldn’t say are typically “flu like” for me, but were symptoms, in general, that you could associate with the flu. I have had numbness and tingling in my extremities and in my head. It was almost like I had a “funny bone” pain in the form of a dull headache. If I get a headache when I have the flu, it is a pounding headache. My stomach hurt and I had some nausea, but this was an empty feeling, not a “my stomach is rolling, and I am going to vomit” feeling. Nothing on the other end, by the way. I had a bit of a stuffy nose, but is also dry and allergy season where I live.
The flu symptoms went away when I did two things: started drinking electrolyte water and taking a keto specific multivitamin. I don’t want to go out of ketosis (on day 21, I plan on transitioning to the keto diet) so I am making my own simple electrolyte drink consisting of water, apple cider vinegar and salt or an electrolyte powder and water mixture made for keto dieters from LMNT. After getting those things in my system, I feel a lot better.
Sorry if this turns out into a bit of a ramble, but because it’s also my first post for 6 days and I still have a lot of questions. I am going to touch on a lot of things in a bullet form.
Water Only Fasting: I think a water only fast is/would be dangerous in that there may be limited electrolyte and essential nutrients (vitamin) replenishment (depends on the type of water). Based on my experience, just seems like a really bad idea and a recipe to get your body out of whack really quickly.
Zero Calories: It’s almost impossible to get to zero calories. The LMNT, other electrolyte packs and flavor enhancers have up to 5 and 10 calories per serving. Vitamins, in all likelihood, have some calories. Fiber supplements doses have up to 10 calories. My plan is to drink 2 - 3 of the electrolyte packets per day. The first day that I had them I drank, about 3 or 4, I must admit.
Coke Zero: I love Coke Zero and there is a lot of debate online if artificial sweeteners, such as the aspartame and acesulfame potassium that are found in Coke Zero, will take you out of ketosis or not. I was drinking 2 – 3 Coke Zeros per day the first couple of days, but I have suspended them until I can see what is happening to my body chemically when I drink one. I ordered a glucose and ketone tester yesterday as well. When it arrives I will do some tests and post them.
Powerade Zero: I had one Powerade zero and it uses sucralose. I will do an insulin and ketone test with sucralose as well.
Fiber: I am concerned with how my “plumbing” will work when I end the fast. I had a mild stomachache on Friday and took about a teaspoon of Konjac powder in water. It helped, but I had to ask myself if this is still fasting? Does anyone have an opinion here?
Mental Performance: One of the benefits of fasting and ketosis is supposed be heightened mental performance. In the first six days, I will say that I do not have better focus. I would say that it is unchanged. I will say that I have heightened alertness absolutely. Think parents and a newborn or possibly combat stress. I am just really tuned into noises, sites, and sounds. For example, I am sitting in an office writing this and I can hear birds chirping outside. That’s a first. Also, I think my recollection has been better. My mom asked me about a couple things from 20 years ago and I could remember names and places.
Sleep: I am definitely a bit “wired” from the fast so I am going to sleep later and waking up sometimes before the alarm. I don’t feel more or less well rested.
Weight: I would guess over the first week that I lost 5 – 10 pounds judging by my stomach. I don’t plan on weighing myself.
Exercise: I haven’t tried exercising yet. I have felt light headed with no danger of falling down a couple of times, so I have delayed this. I may start walking a bit on day 7.
Hunger: This has actually been easier than what I thought. Some websites said only do a long-term fast if you can stay at home and meditate. Even at day 6, I get strong hunger pangs 3 or 4 times per day. One thing of note, personally, I think it’s harder to do a very low calorie diet. I did very low calories (<800 per day) for a short period when I lost 50 pounds in the past. It’s easier to just say no, than to say just a little bit.
Body Pains: I’m 44 and there has been no real noticeable changes in body pains. One of the benefits should be inflammation reduction and therefore pain reduction, but I haven’t noticed that. I don’t have have a lot of aches and pains to begin with though. There have been a few stomachache type pains periodically.
Temperature: I have a felt cold a lot. I have read that this is normal. It's been in the 90s here this week and sometimes 90 didn't feel bad and sometimes if felt hot.
Uncertainty
After 6 days, I have a philosophical dilemma (potentially). Based on the Fitbit, I’m only burning 2400 calories per day. Based on some online calculators, I could be burning 3500 calories per day. If I am exercising regularly, based on past experience, I know that I can burn 4000 calories on Fitbit relatively easily. If I continue the fast for a “challenge”, these data points don’t matter. But, from a weight loss perspective, if I burned 4000 calories per day and ate 1500 calories per day, I would have a 2500 deficit. That’s a deficit of 100 greater by eating and working out hard than by fasting and sitting. If I can’t do some light exercise or walking, I may cut this short, because it doesn’t make sense from the weight loss side and I’ve gotten most of the long-term fast benefits (autophagy and ketosis) already at Day 6.
My plan going forward
16 oz Water and 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar: 2 times per day
Electolyte drinks: 2 – 3 times per day
Coffee: as desired
Tea: as desired
Drinks with artificial sweeteners: to be tested.
Walk an hour per day.
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