Water Fast Day 6 - back to work.

First real day back to work and being in contact with clients finally.

My Day
My day started at 7am, an hour later than I should have got up as I didn't have my alarm clock on. I was at the computer by 7:30 as one of my vivid dreams last night was the solution to some code I was struggling with yesterday so I wanted to get that coded up before I forgot.

My physical and mental being.
I feel much better than yesterday, although it was nice to see new people I felt quite drained at not getting the "How to's" done and didn't have much motivation and went to bed contemplating breaking the fast.

Today however I feel great again, the code didn't take long to do and I already have the day mapped out, mainly calling clients to wish them a happy new year and see if there is anything urgent.

Lunchtime came and went without a hitch, been to the chiro this morning too and still felt great, considering I was on the brink of ending the fast yesterday and although today has been OK I'd like to get back to my normal energy levels and deal with stress a bit better seems as I have client meetings this week.

We shall see in the morning .....

Water Fast Day 5

I forgot to do this entry yesterday as I am now at the morning of day six, however I shall just skim over the memories of yesterday.

I felt much the same in that I still ached a bit in my legs, my thoughts were clear and food was a nice thought but no hunger was present. Also still damn cold!

The morning I had planned on starting work as I was wanting to write some "How to's" for the systems I develop to help customers understand the importance of nurturing the systems which I was hoping to start on at 10am. As it was we had visitors at 11 so the morning was made up of cleaning and moving things around and training the dogs. No sooner had I sat down than It was time to put the pooches in the van and go back in the house, which at the time I felt quite happy about but by the time I had actually sat down to start work it was 1pm and I just felt complete frustration. Usually I would have overcome that and ploughed through my work but just couldn't. I ended up doing a total of 2 hours constructive work and packing it in at 5pm in exchange for doing some research.

I learnt that it is quite true what the blogs I have seen say about fasting, I certainly don't cope well with emotions when on a fast, giving into frustration and also when I couldn't figure some sections of code out I felt pretty stressed and couldn't shake it.

So I went back into the house and carried on studying about running a smallholding. It still makes me smile now how you crave food so much when not fasting just because it is a channel for emotions. Whereas you really should be getting the emotion from something else and not making an attachment to that emotion through food.

In the end I went to bed at 8pm and had a relatively good night sleep, other than some mad vivid dreams and one lucid one which was a first for me. Shame the subjects were not good ones.

Water Fast Day 4 - Ketosis Central

Today has been nothing short of awesome and I feel great and mentally alert, still damn cold but as mother dear always says "Stick some more clothes on"

My day

I started with an appointment with the bank at 9am, being a little early we sat in a coffee shop, surrounded by lovely brownies and chocolates and the inviting smell of freshly ground coffee. The smells were amazing, I feel that my smell is much better, either that or I am noticing the smell of food and drink more. The walk to the bank was just as wonderful, with the smells of bacon sandwiches, fresh roast chickens from delis along the high street. One thing I did notice was that although it smelt wonderful, I had stopped craving the food but just thought that it would taste lovely.

While I was in town I did a bit of shopping, went to get the new smallholding magazine along with some books and a ketone testing kit. I figured at this point my body must have used all it's glycogen stores and gone into ketosis or at least be on the way. As you can see from the test above I have already reached it, which explains the reduced cravings.

When I was leaving a shop I let a nice lady through a door, tipped my hat to her and wished her good morning.

20 minutes later while looking at some books she appeared with her husband in the same shop as I. Whilst contemplating which books I should choose she opened her wallet, smiled, and passed me over a £5 voucher for the store which was valid until the 10th but insisted I take it. I found that bit of karma really set my day up and felt really good all day.

The rest of the day was just walking and training the dogs and about 5 hours of programming.

My general physical feeling

I am still cold but becoming used to it now, this morning I walked the dogs with just a jumper and t-shirt on, the temperature is about 7C. My hands are constantly cold, although I have done a lot of typing this afternoon so my arms haven't moved.

Detox is still happening, white tongue and some achy limbs. The Ketosis test kit tested high this morning as you can see from the photo and is now at the top of the scale. Being in nutritional Ketosis theoretically should reduce hunger and that has definitely happened as I haven't had the usual argument with myself, trying to justify eating a grape or one small spoon of yogurt  It's amazing how you try to convince yourself that it will be OK, fortunately I never gave in to the strange wrangles.

I am definitely moving slower than usual, perhaps 10% slower, plus getting up from being sat down needs to take a touch longer, otherwise the low blood pressure sends me a bit dizzy. Did that once when shopping for books, first and last time I forget that rule!

Mentally I am clearer than usual and am not taking modalert through this fast so can definitely confirm that you do have clarity of mind, which is great seems as I have been programming this afternoon.

It's evening time now and I am probably going to get through 3 litres of water today, I feel so much more thirsty today.

Well, that's all for now folks, catch you on the flip side.....

Water Fast Day 3 - The cake climax

Another day, another bottle of water.

Mind you I could of murdered a cake last night. I have a weakness for Christmas cake and shortly after posting yesterdays blog a little voice from the kitchen asks "I've finished tea, can I come and sit on the sofa and eat my cake" closely followed by the wonderful vision of a plate of Christmas cake and a glass of Baileys. MMMMmmmm. That for me was the climax of my hunger!

Although it came close this morning while walking the dogs and a fellow dog walker turned the conversation onto bread and butter pudding. Needless to say I was very hungry this morning.

Not to mention our groceries were delivered this morning! They came while my other half was at work so I had to endure 6 bags of glorious food stashing . I then remembering the order from this morning "Feed the dogs the ham as it's only got a couple of days on the use by and I don't want it"... Now they know how it feels to have a 3rd party sit and salivate while you are eating. Needless to say neither of them offered me any and I tucked into another cup of tea.

All the usual detox signs are there especially last night. Every muscle in my body seemed to ache, the bed felt colder than usual to the point where I had to wear some clothes in bed. Fortunately I don't feel dizzy like previous fasts. My tongue is the usual white so there are still things making their way out of me at the moment.

I've tried something I read online the other day and done some exercise  just some sit ups and some push ups. What a difference that made! As tiring as it was (only 20 of each) I did feel a huge rush of energy and felt much better after them, so maybe I will do that a few times a day.

The rest of the day has been rather uneventful, spent most of it working on my own projects ready for the return to work next week and avoiding Facebook  just seems these days people use it to whine and talk to dead relatives, very strange. I have found one really awesome feelgood thing today which is  watching an fantastic 24 hour film online that constantly made me smile and gave me that warm happy feeling inside. http://24hoursofhappy.com/

Well that's nearly the end of day 3, nite all.....

Water fast day 2 - careful where you park!

It's a lovely day outside but my god it's cold (8 degrees C), not colder than normal but I am certainly feeling it more now my body temperature has dropped. I have done the usual couple of miles walk and some training with the dogs in the morning.

The rest of the day consisted of a few phone calls from the surveyors about the new house, some messing around on the internet and about half the day I spent working.

One question I keep asking of others that are fasting, is how their lifestyle differs, if at all from their normal one. There is no hard and fast rule about how you should live your life when on a fast but the more relaxed the better. Over the past few weeks I have spoke to many who have carried on working, although it may be worth pointing out that their work is much like mine, very little in the way of traveling and mainly sitting at a computer all day. Although there is a lot to be said doing a fast in a warmer climate, the days maybe longer but the warmth would be welcome.

Hunger has come over me in waves today. Parking outside a fish and chip shop this afternoon whilst taking some items to the Post Office wasn't the best idea I had, but it wasn't long before I was back home and treated myself to some ginger tea.

To sum up today i've been a touch hungry, a bit tired, aching legs and generally peaceful and calm.

Long Water Fast - Day 1

This is my personal diary into a long water fast, how long is yet to be seen although it will not last more than 22 days as I have to shoot on the 25th of the month and will need to be reasonably active that day. It is always best to pick a time where you are least stressed and considering that I will be moving to a new house in February I thought it best to do a fast now so I would be on top form for moving day.

I am not a religious person as someone asked today, my reason is simply one of detox. Previously fasts have proved to be beneficial with the best one curing me of urticaria which at the time I was taking 3 1-a-day hayfever tablets to keep it under control.

The Christmas break has certainly been one of indulgence and I'm not looking forward to the initial detox seems as yesterday's meals consisted of duck and noodles for lunch and a 1/2 pound cheeseburger with chips and a bottle of champagne. I hasten to add that yesterday bears no resemblance to my daily food and drink intake and anyone reading this should be aware that it is best to start a fast by earing healthy and less calorific meals on a run up to the fast.

It has been 24 hours since I have had any food, today has consisted of two cups of white tea and 1.5l of mineral water. Considering the amount I ate yesterday I would assume at this point I am burning the glycogen stored in my liver so should finish that store at some point in the night.

Feeling fine so far although i'm picking up on the smell of food more which is giving me pangs of hunger, hopefully by the time I return to work on Monday I should have overcome the tiredness and brain fog.

Happy New Year to one and all. x

3 Day water fast - Day 3

Well, its the last day and I cannot remember much about the day. I started off walking Frank at 7am this morning for an hour and did some work until 12pm, at which point the phone and emails went mental. The next thing I know is it's half past five and the food delivery is due any-time now. I guess that will be the hardest thing of the day, putting it all away.

As I have said in the last post, the more you fast, the easier it gets. The third day of my first fast was horrid from memory and so many times through the day I thought to myself "it's OK if I have a quick snack, I'll be eating tomorrow anyhow" but somehow managed to muster up the willpower to make it through.

I was asked today about the detox, whether I felt any benefit. As I mentioned in the page on fasting, there are so many sites on the internet full of information. You will find people doing 1 to 40 day water fasts, brown rice fasts, fruit fasts, dry fasts etc and many claims to helping with weight loss, curing illness etc. My personal take on the benefits are as follows:

Weight loss:
Fasting is a bit extreme to do for weight loss in my opinion, taking this week for example over the three days so far I have lost 10lbs. Great if you want to loose it but a bit harsh in my eyes.
There are many that say loosing weight this way means you will only put it back on, what they forget to say is "if you carry on eating trash when you finish your fast". For each water fast I tend to loose 3lb per day and then put up to 3lbs back on when breaking the fast, however I don't carry on putting on weight after this, even for long periods of time.

Energy:
some people have differing ways they are affected by the lack of food and therefore energy, personally I find myself more focused and clear on what I do. Although I get cold pretty quickly and do get a little light headed sometimes.

Detox:
Fantastic benefit of which I was a huge sceptic when reading about healing powers of fasts. Don't get me wrong, the detox effects can be a little painful, my legs ached the first time and I do ache all over a little each time since. The toxins come out in many ways sometimes making your sweat smell more than normal, breath starts to smell. Most of all though I personally buy into the fact that your body goes into a repair cycle, the reason being is that I suffered from Urticaria (Hives) for many years which I controlled using piriton. I started with one a day and ended up taking three once-a-day tablets each day. Each trip to the doctors would be the same story about cutting food out from my diet and no other help, but even Frank would break me out into hives. However, after a couple of fasts over a 4 month period (4 day water followed by 10 day water) I stopped taking tablets altogether.

I still eat the same food, red meat, chicken, dairy, curries, pizzas, Chinese and Guinness. Although not in the same day! So the theory of it being food cut out of my diet is hogwash.

Having said all that, these are my experiences and they may not be the same for all.

Looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast, which will be some fruit and yoghurt (usually muesli) and finally tasting something other than water and lemon.

Hope this sheds some light on the topic for you all, have an awesome time ;o)

3 Day water fast - Day 2

Well I guess I underestimated the amount of work and ended up working while 11pm with a 7am start again. On the up side it's now 10am and I have forgot all about food until a client mentioned they are going to lunch just before I get there.

Felt a little bit light headed this morning when I got up but feel great now, had a couple of cups of green tea and just about done a litre of water so far. Cooking Franks breakfast was a small struggle as I love beef mince and that looked tasty!

Concentration and energy I don't feel a lack of, I walk and train Frank an hour in a morning and an hour in the evening and working as a developer with my head in code all day isn't a problem. Only noticeable thing is the cold,  usually I would be in shorts and t-shirt down to about 14 degrees C but today its the same and I have two fleeces on and still a touch cold. Just checked the local METAR which says its 10 Degrees outside but its still hot in the office, not that Frank notices as he is currently running around in the rain chasing his own shadow.

Starting to ponder over what to eat when I come off the fast, not that it is long enough to warrant being uber careful in regards to food types. The first fast I did ended up with a macdonalds breakfast which defeated the whole object. If it is a fast over a week I generally start off with fruit and some cooked veg on day one after, then veg and maybe some tuna the day after and then day three or four introduce some chicken. Basically progressing from easy to digest foods through to raw meats ( I love steak tartare ). I would like to state at this point that I am not a health food person, nuts and berries are great for the animals, I prefer red meats preferably raw or as near as you can get, love fish and chicken. Having said that I'm not a massive lover of sweet things since I turned 30 and my body decided that it wants to convert every spoonful of sugar and fat into body lard! Not overweight and neither do I want to be.

Dinner no doubt will fly by as I have a few online meetings and then off to see a client so ill be back this evening for a quick update on this post.

My god I'm feeling hungry, having to do the food shopping on-line earlier didn't help and there seems to be lots of cooking and baking programs on TV. Still no-where near as bad as the first fast, all I remember from that was how hungry you feel all the time and the constant wonder if you have the willpower to get through each day. Needless to say if you dig deep then everyone has the ability.

3 Day water fast - Day 1

Day 1 - Monday
I cannot say that there was much in the way of preparation for this fast and in all honesty had a heavy night of drinking on Saturday which I have to state is not the norm, so I am looking forward to a quick detox. The reason for choosing today to start with was simply my diary, I have a pretty relaxed start to the week and the back end of the week will be spent in a business exhibition and also a flying lesson, which I will not be the most calm of days looking at the weather forecast!

I started the day with a cup of green tea which is pretty much the norm these days, after the first fast earlier this year I switched from normal Yorkshire tea with milk (apparently I make it strong) and switched to green tea which I find easier to drink now. Then set off to work with 1.5l of mineral water.

Strangely this morning feeding Frank (Springer Spaniel) some chicken didn't bother me in the slightest, I am usually having some breakfast at that point but was already in the mindset.

Started work at 7:30am this morning, I figure I would get some small jobs out of the way early doors and get the office nice and warm because I do get quite cold when I am fasting. It's about 9am now, feel fine, no real appetite as such, I guess I will update this after lunch and tea.

Lunchtime came and went and feeling a bit peckish now, been through that whole "just a bit of something will be fine" feeling and fancied a curry for a while for some strange reason. Other that that, things are pretty much fine. Although I am bored already with plain water, I get bored with tasteless water very quickly and after drinking a litre this morning I really crave a taste. To get around this I usually have a squirt of jif lemon, or as I found more recently jif lime just to make it taste a little better.

Night time now, just got back in from walking the dog and probably the hardest point of the day as I had to cook off some chicken and make bacon sandwiches, bacon has never smelt so good! Still, that's 24 hours gone by and still feeling great, just a touch hungry. It's at this point I realise the quirks of when I fast, craving strange things, walking to the fridge, opening it and then remembering to walk away again. Few more hours of steady work while watching the TV and finish off the third litre of water and the day is done. Happy days! :o)