Hello fasting my old friend.
I am 37 hours into a 72 that will probably stretch to 84 hours and it is going so much easier than I was expecting. Prior to getting pregnant (IVF pregnancy) I lived a very fasting focused lifestyle, completing one 21 day fast, two 10-14 day fasts, and regularly doing anything from 48 to 96 hours, including rolling 72s for a couple months. I feel great when I fast, for the most part. I did attempt to do some fasting after giving birth, mostly to help with the sheer amount of inflammation I was dealing with, but usually after about 24 hours I felt uncomfortably hungry, and they were just not easy fasts at all. I stopped breast feeding last week and decided to try fasting again. I want to listen to my body more than anything. If I feel I need to stop a fast I do. So far, after 37 hours, I haven’t had any hunger and am really starting to feel more like myself for the first time in over a year.
While, yes, I do want weight loss, the sheer joy of fasting is enough to keep me going. I am hoping to do a series of 72s, taking breaks for the holidays and our planned vacations (Cancun for Thanksgiving, and New Orleans for Christmas). If I wasn’t signed up to do a double red blood donation on Saturday Morning I would probably try fasting until my body says I’m done.
Dirty fasting: water, black coffee, LMNT electrolytes, and occasional diet coke.
Weight info: HW 283lbs, pre-pregnancy weight: 176lbs, Weight at delivery: \~235lbs, current weight 189lbs. Goal weight: 150lbs
You got this!! Definitely listen to your body. Maybe try one meal a day for a few days before and after fasting. That might help.
I tried to jump right back into fasting after all my kids were born, while I was breastfeeding. I assumed since I was also pumping it would be fine but it really messed up my supply. And I kinda paid for it in the end.
I just finished my first 88 hour fast. It wasn’t too bad to be honest. Like you, the first day of the fast is ALWAYS the hardest. I do a few things to make it easier to get past the 1st day: 1) do some cardio, usually light cardio on treadmill for 45 minutes, a bunch of walking outside. I get in around 10,000 steps on the very first day of my fast. Doing this always makes my fast easier. Im not even sure why, but i feel less hungry for some reason. I don’t do anything hard, just walking. Another thing I do to make it easier to transition from the glycogen depletion phase at the 24-32 hour mark to ketosis is that on the last day before the fast, I usually eat a low carb diet of salads, chicken, fish, nuts, avocados, eggs etc. This helps me a bit by pushing into ketosis faster and makes the transition easier.