The other day after eating too much for dinner, after eating too much all day, and after drinking too many sodas throughout the week, I decided to fast for three days. I wanted to give my body a break, retake control over my predilections and vices, get a jumpstart on some weight loss, and generally reset. Upon finishing my dinner around 7pm, I ate nothing for the next 72 hours. I drank mostly water and some herbal tea (no caffeine). Once in a while I chewed sugar-free gum.
Day 1
From about 10:30am – 12:30pm I became irritable, found it hard to concentrate, and endured hunger pangs. Ordinarily I already would have had cereal around 8am and a snack around 10:30am; my psyche and body were protesting missing out on these rituals. As the day progressed, I felt better. I worked out lightly with weights. My senses became more acute, and I appreciated sipping herbal tea and chewing sugar-free gum. At night I felt very tired and fell asleep easily.
Day 2
I awoke early in the morning with a headache. I weighed myself to discover that I had lost three pounds since commencing the fast. My headache lasted until early afternoon. I was not hungry; however, I felt exhausted and spacey for most of the day.
Day 3
I woke up extremely thirsty. My weight had dropped another three pounds. I felt weak. After drinking a lot of water and returning balls for my son’s morning basketball shooting practice, I felt better. I did not have a headache on day three nor was I hungry. Later in the day, my calves ached, I was very tired, and I felt cold. I felt similar to how I have felt with a fever. I felt bad enough that I deemed myself unfit to drive.
Epilogue
At the end of my seventy-two hour fast, I ate a modest dinner. By the next morning, I had dropped another two pounds. My total weight loss was eight pounds. In review, I think my body was shocked by the lack of food but also by the lack of caffeine. I learned from fasting that I could power through hunger pangs, headaches, and sleepiness without reaching for snacks or sugary and caffeinated beverages. After having fought through three days without food, it is easier, now, to resist bad habits.
Moving forward, I am experimenting with intermittent fasting. From what I have researched, ketosis begins about twelve hours after eating. Ketosis is when the body doesn’t have enough carbohydrates to burn so instead it burns fat for energy. Ketosis picks up steam around sixteen hours after eating. Accordingly, I have been skipping “the most important meal of the day”: breakfast. After I finish dinner between 7 – 8pm most nights, I don’t eat again until at least noon, the next day. That gives me at least sixteen hours when I’m not eating, some time for ketosis. I also try to work in exercise during the fasting period for extra fat burn. Finally, I’ve been trying to eat a big lunch and then nothing until dinner. Previously, big lunches made me sleepy, and I eschewed them in favor of snacking throughout the afternoon. So far, I’ve felt fantastic. I haven’t had the urge for a soda at all. Also, I’ve felt better running than I did previously. We’ll see how this plays out.
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present
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