Well, Day 5 of the fast has come and gone! I am now well into Day 6 and going strong.
I will say, I had times today when I was quite hungry, but I was able to make it through without eating anything.
Muscle Pain
Probably my biggest problem today was muscle pain in my legs. It was actually worse today than yesterday. I did make it through though, and I even went out and did some walking. I had a meeting at a restaurant with a new friend, and I walked up there, only about a 10-minute walk each way. As I said, the meeting was in a restaurant, and the food did not bother me at all.
Blood Sugar
My blood sugar today was stable in the 70s and 80s. I just checked it a few minutes ago and it was 82, so things appear good. I feel fine, no hypoglycemia. I am very happy about this.
Blood Pressure
My blood pressure was a bit higher today. Still good, but for the past few days it had been too low. I did decide to use one of my blood pressure medications today, just to be safe. Keeping my blood pressure low is important for my heart health, and I want to protect my heart, so I did it.
Weight Loss
274.0 – Lost 0.6 pounds.
Since beginning the fast I have lost 7.6 pounds.
Less than 5 Days left!
I can already smell the end of this fast, and I am excited to make it through the 10 days! On Day 10 I will be seeing my Endocrinologist and I am excited to see him. I am sure he will be shocked at my blood sugar levels, they are so low! It will be interesting to see his reaction to the fact that I am off of Insulin now too.
Everything is going well! I remain excited about the fast, and I feel that I am learning from it. Learning about myself and my body. It is a nice thing!
🙂
Glad to hear ts going good for you Bob, I’m worried the muscle pain might be a lack of potassium which is something I have dealt with. Be careful because that can stop your heart.
I have been taking potassium. The pain is pretty minor.
Are you taking magnesium? The reason I ask is without magnesium potassium cannot stay in the body.
I am not. Doctors assure me though that all of these nutrients are in ample supply in my body and it is not a worry.
Bob Martin, you are having your labs monitored during all this, aren’t you? This is not something to take casually. Fasting for 10 days could be fatal if you aren’t monitoring your labs and something goes awry. The return to eating can also land you in the hospital if not done very carefully.
John Jackson Yes, I just got back from the lab in fact. I am aware that breaking the fast has to be a slow and planned process and I already have a plan for that. This is all being done with medical supervision from multiple doctors. 🙂 No need for concern.
Just listen to your body, Bob. Take care.
That’s what I am doing, Sonny. Thanks.
I admire you for doing this, Bob. Most people can’t or won’t. God Bless you.
Thank you, Gil. After my health problems in the past year, I decided it was time I took control of my health! This is a step in that direction! 🙂
Well, I’m keeping up with your progress…it is inspiring…I can only imagine how proud and joyful your family is about how you have handled your health….Thanks for sharing so much with us….I learn from you all the time.
Thank you Gil. It is something that I am very inspired about these days! By sharing, if I can help others take the same step that would be very rewarding to me!
You have more discipline than me! Good for you! glad you’re staying strong
It is not really discipline. If you get your body into ketosis first, then fasting is very easy. Ketosis is when your body burns fat for its fuel. When you are in ketosis your body has plenty of “food” to use even if you don’t eat!
Ah, I remember ketosis. That was always my goal during the Adkins diet back in 2001. It worked well for me; but, unfortunately I’ve renewed my acquaintance with carbs since then :p. But, at least I’ve never gone completely back to the size I was pre-Adkins.
Hmm, interesting idea. I know that, whenever one is trying to get rid of a bad habit acquired when learning an activity, stopping that activity for a short while seems to help because, the muscle memory associated with the bad habit attenuates during the absence, making it easier to avoid those bad habits when restarting the activity.
I just hadn’t associated stopping an activity as being the same as fasting, but, that’s EXACTLY what it is… In this case, it’s stopping the (bad) HABIT of eating, so that, later, they can be replaced with better, healthier habits. I’ve already recognized that the majority of my eating is done during periods of boredom; now to do something about it. Maybe I won’t always be the heaviest person in the room when I go back to PH (although I will still usually be the oldest and the one with the least amount of hair 😀 ) :p
Hi, Lazarus. Everything you say makes a lot of sense. When I started the fasting, it wasn’t about weight loss, but about controlling diabetes. The weight loss that I’ve experienced has been really good though, and I’m very happy about that I’m learning a lot about my body, and how I function. So far, it’s really been a great thing for me.
When on Adkins, I began to understand diabetes a lot better because, in a lot of ways the diet is similar to being diabetic by choice. I also learned a few sneaky ways to determine which foods had hidden carbs, and, to tell the difference each different type of carb had on the body.
I found out that starch-type carbs have a much worse effect on the body than just sugar carbs do. Certain artificial sweeteners, specifically the sugar alchols like malitol, sorbitol, etc, were just as high glycemic as regular sugar.
And some fruits were the same way. For example, on the surface, raisins and prunes appear very similar, but raisins have a much higher glycemic index than prunes and will adversely affect blood sugar levels.
The most important things I learned were, whenever you see <1g in the carbs section, on the nutritional chats, it usually means the product contains .99g of carbs. And the biggy; any food labeled as NON-FAT or REDUCED-FAT usually contains double the sugar than the regular version. After all, flavor comes from fat and oils, so, if you reduce the flavor-creating ingredient, you have to add more sugar to imitate the flavor.
Oh, one of the sneaky ways to tell a particular food has a lot of carbs is if it's one of the gassy foods. The gas is caused by complex carbohydrates that the body cannot completely digest. This includes beans, any member of the cabbage family, etc. Sugar alcohols, and large amounts of fiber are the other causes of gas.