Now the reason why I did another prolong water-only fast again is because I didn’t take advantage of how I completely reset my body for an incredible healthier lifestyle once again, to maintain all the healing I just experienced. My 2nd fast started on April 12th 2021, and by July it was going all downhill. I consumed my mind with so much other stuff and worked crazy hours, so my health took a back seat as I indulged in call the wrong foods for my body, not to mention I was practically sedentary apart from my daily walk with my dog, which usually wasn’t very long in the hotter months. Needless to say, the many very bad habits and food additions I picked up from July up until October caused me to gain 15lbs of fat! I can’t even give credit to gaining muscle as part of that weight because I wasn’t working out. was a completely different person! I tried to rationalize it in my mind as "me loving and accepting myself just the way I am" but that was a horrible state of mind driven by denial and not true love for myself at all. I did regain a little muscle after the first fast that I lost during the water fast, but that was shortly after, before my big weight gain from July-November.
So, I made a conscious decision, that because I missed the "healthy me" and all the passion for health and vitality that came with that, and hated how my body now looked, that I had to do something about it! I reached 130 lbs, which was my highest weight in well over a decade, and that was my red flag to do something drastically different to get back on track. I'm now 41 lbs, and I realized very quickly that my body doesn't bounce back quite as quickly like it used to so I need to stay conscious of that!
I knew I wanted to do a prolonged fast to kick things off. When I mentally decided that, nothing was going to stop me! I was going to do everything right, and plan, plan, prepare. I wanted to get started right away, but I knew not to do it during my menstrual cycle, so I set the date for 11/11/21 for my last dinner meal, so 11/12/21 would be my first fasted day, exactly 7 months after the first one. And let me just add that the first fast was so life-changing, because not only did I fast from food, but also social media, movies/tv, and I got a lot done! It was challenging, my body felt things it had never gone through before, yet also so enjoyable for me! I felt so incredibly accomplished after and appreciative of the abundance of food I have and accomplishing such a fete. It gave me a new perspective on how fortunate I really am, that it’s a choice to feel that deep hunger, with an end date it sight, something too many people suffer with on a daily basis in poverty, I was very humbled
Fast forward to October 31st, Halloween. I decided that would be the last day I consume any sugar up until my water fast began. I did so successfully! Not only that, but I ate a very healthy restrictive, yet extremely enjoyable diet to ease my digestion into the fast, and interment fasted up until my fast.
For the first 8 days, November 1st-8th, I basically had oatmeal chia, vegan protein powder, flax seeds, almond milk, pre-biotic powder, and a banana as my first meal, with a couple days of just blueberries, almond milk, protein powder and flax seeds as an alternative for my first meal for variety.
Then I had a huge salad for dinner, that included spring mix greens, a variety of veggies, a cut up orange, walnuts and/or sunflower seeds, canned corn, and some Italian dressing. It was basically the same thing I would have every night for months before too, a favorite to eat something healthy after all the junk of the day! I got plenty of protein daily and had all my vitamin supplements to prep my body. I also changed up what I added to my salad, with one day having salmon, another day a sweet potato, but mostly chickpeas. There was one dinner that I enjoyed a veggie soup that I made from scratch.
I also did enjoy a cup of coffee with nutpod creamer (an almond milk and coconut milk creamer) pretty much every morning. I would walk my dog first thing in the morning, then around 10am I’d have my coffee and most days went for a long 2hr walk at around noon. Then when I got back it would be time for my first meal around 2pm-3pm. I also made sure I was done eating by 7:30pm at the very latest. My total calories for each day were between 1,200-1,400 calories, so I was in a calorie deficit.
Then for the 3 days leading up to my fast I knew to get fat-adapted to help ease me into my water fast. I had an average of 50g of carbs daily. Still very delicious meals. I excluded the banana, and anything else that raised the carbs, keeping carbs under 50 g, and added a ton more fat (90g-100g). This did help me get into ketosis.
My weight this morning was 130.5 lbs and 30.6% body fat. I'm not sure how accurate my scale is with body fat%, but I can rely on it to show me an increase and decrease from the day before.
