36 hours into first fast in about 9 months (TW: history of pregnancy loss)

#Background : (skip to the bottom if you just want the current fast facts)

March 4 this year I found I was 3 weeks 3 days pregnant :) This was (lucky) pregnancy #8. I’d had 7 losses in 2 years prior, no known cause (no problem getting pregnant, just couldn’t stay pregnant) which were devastating, to say the least.

My last loss was in August of 2020 which prompted a serious foray into fasting to get my blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight under control. I told my husband I didn’t think I could take another loss so I needed to get serious.

From the end of August to the end of November I did rolling 7 day fasts (fast for 7 days, eat one meal, back into another 7 day) pretty consistently, taking some breaks here and there mainly around my period. December to end of February I was practicing maintenance doing mainly intermittent fasting and throwing in 2-3 day fasts here and there.

I lost around 65 lbs (265ish to just under 200, gained back about 10 lbs by March 4, primarily water weight since I was pregnant), went from 7.1 a1c to 4.9, and bp normal. I got off bp meds and metformin for the T2 diabetes.

I was purposefully trying to not get pregnant (my cycles are like clockwork so we just avoided sex when I was near ovulation). And then welp I didn’t pay attention to the calendar but #8 stuck :D I had planned to get to normal/healthy weight before we tried again but at least I had gotten just to the “overweight” category.

So no more fasting for the pregnancy.

I stuck to keto for most of the pregnancy which did a great job keeping my blood sugar in check and helped with the weight gain. Also, I was technically intermittent fasting just because I never eat breakfast, but I don’t really consider skipping breakfast fasting.

In the end I’d gained about 30lbs. Started pregnancy at about 210, ended at about 239.

Baby arrived exactly 5 weeks early on Oct 12, induction on Oct 10 due to sudden pre-eclampsia. Despite being so early he was incredibly healthy and needed no nicu stay at all and he was discharged at the normal time. You’d never know he was a preemie except for his size. I ended up needing a few more days in the hospital due to the pre-eclampsia sticking around and jacking up my blood pressure.

The stress of a newborn and being awake all the time meant I just ate whenever I could and whatever was easy (definitely didn’t live on mcdonald’s, sandwiches, poptarts, cereal, and rice krispy treats, lol).

Ultimately breastfeeding didn’t work out as he could never latch properly since he was a preemie and pumping was literally hell on earth so I stopped pumping after about 3 weeks and switched to formula. Still makes me sad I couldn’t breastfeed him but formula definitely does make sleeping easier since I don’t need to wake up every 2-3 hours with baby to pump and my husband can take one or two of the night feedings.

This also makes fasting more feasible since we’re no longer in survival mode.

He’s almost 9 weeks old, we’re in a decent routine even though he’s still eating every 2-3 hours and I wanted to get back into fasting to lose the baby weight and more. We initially wanted 2 close in age but with the ordeal I went through in birth we’re not sure.

But I am sure that I will be at a healthy weight if we do decide to have another!

#Current fast:

So I decided yesterday to start a 24 hour fast (kind of estimating that the last time I ate was like midnight). I had planned on just doing 24 but fasting has always been shockingly easy for me and here I am almost 36 hours now and I’m going to keep going for now. Maybe I’ll get back into rolling 7 days but I’m not doing anything rigid just yet, just going to go with the flow.

Current length: 36 hours Starting weight: 240.6

I was not eating keto prior to the fast so most of the weight loss will be water weight.

Feeling great. Reduction in inflammation from eating carbs so my back feels so much better yesterday after less than 24 hours.

I will be eating very low carb/keto in between my fasts but I’m making room for some moderate carb meals now and then just because they’re usually easier to make especially since my husband doesn’t do low carb.

Sidenote: Rolling 7 days are NOT for everyone! Please don’t jump into that without some experience and proper electrolyte supplementation is absolutely required

#Electrolytes and re-feed meal:

For electrolytes I have a 2L water bottle that I mix each morning with
Pro-tip: Use a weekly pill box to prepare your salt mix for the week

• 2 L water
• 7 g Morton Pink Salt (which gives ~2.7g sodium) (fyi pink salt isn’t special, I just like it because it’s pink and why not splurge)
• 8 g NoSalt (which gives ~2.9g potassium)

I add this to the water or tea I drink throughout the day.

Remember: This is what works for me and I’ve had to adjust it as I’ve lost weight, electrolyte need is very personal and you need to experiment to see what works best for you

For breaking my fasts:

I always break my fasts the same way:

• 2-3 hard boiled eggs
• ~1oz of cheese
• Some salami

I eat that while I’m making the main meal:

• Steak or chicken
• Spinach+Broccoli+Green Beans

I usually do all three sides and then just eat as much of everything as I can until I’m satisfied but not uncomfortably stuffed

#Thanks for reading :)