3 weeks (21 days /521hrs) Complete!!

I’ve done many many fasts since the the end of Nov 2017, too many to count. The longest before this was 7 days and most were about 3 days with a lot of back to back with 1 meal re-feeds.

This time though I wanted to go longer and I did two back to back fasts but couldn’t make it past 63h. So I changed my start time from 7pm to 2pm and slept through that time frame which made it much easier. I use the Zero app on an iPhone to track.

I’m 30yrs old, 5’2 and my heaviest weight was 129lbs. I lost about 10lbs over 3 months with CICO (didn’t love it), then discovered fasting. My weight at the beginning of this fast was 117.8lbs. My final fasting weight is 100.2lbs. From experience so far I’m expecting about 5-8lbs to come back as water weight and intestinal weight. I know that might seem low to some, but I have a very petite frame and I love to run and am dealing with an injury; I’m really hoping less weight will be a bit easier on my body. I did not exercise at all this whole fast because of my doctors instructions, but normally I don’t have any problems whatsoever running or doing crossfit/weightlifting or playing tennis while fasting.

While fasting I have coffee with cream (mostly only 1 a day), green tea, oolong tea, rooibos and chamomile.

My plan from here is to start some light body weight exercise at the recommendation of my physio. Im excited to build back up and feel strong again. My injury is so damn depressing.

I’m really excited to start eating for maintenance though! I’ve used my fitness pal for ages but am going to start using Chronometer instead. I love the way it tracks nutrients so precisely and has so much cool data and charts.

My net losses for this fast:

• Weight: -17.6lbs
• Neck: -1”
• Arm: -1”
• Waist: -2.25”
• Hips: -2”
• Thigh: -1.5”

Some interesting points I noticed:

• Weight loss was about a pound a day EXCEPT if I got stressed and got very little sleep. In those instances I would gain a pound instead!!

• I didn’t drink as much water as my old fasts. I used to force myself to drink about 3 litres but this made me nauseous and lightheaded by the end of the day so I had to supplement with salt. This time though I drank when I felt like it and had a much easier time. I only felt bad when I forced myself to drink a few litres all at once one morning for a blood test.

• Emotions are what make me hungry, so being mindful of that helped a lot! The most difficult is if I’m stressed or sad and want to comfort myself with food. But with practice in my previous fasts, I’ve been able to disassociate (or more likely dampen) my emotion-food connection. It’s much easier for me on an extended fast. It was smooth sailing after day 4. But only after I learned how to recognize and deal with negative emotions. That being said I’m extremely stubborn so for once that works in my favour!

My first meal was 130g of cucumber and 55g of avocado. I’m avoiding salt as much as possible because I made that mistake once with salted nuts and wound up with Edema (swollen ankles and puffy face). Otherwise I’m sticking to mainly nuts (because I freaking love them) whole fruits and veggies with some fish and eventually occasional meat. I’m taking it very slow reintroducing food but so far so good!

I’m going to keep tracking my weight and measurements and I’ll share them in a week if you like. I’m personally curious to see how much comes back and if it impacts my measurements or just my weight.

I might do another DEXA scan too. I had one earlier this year when I weighed 109lbs and my body fat was 29% and my muscle mass was above average. So I’m not sure if I’ll even bother. I know my body fat went down so meh I’ll see.

Anyway! Super long but I thought I would share in case it helps anyone else out. I love this community and appreciate all the good vibes and support. 😊✌🏼