Great stuff Mike. Very inspiring. Thanks. I'm currently at hour 38 of my fasting. Things are going well. I too, am surprised at how I'm not craving food as badly as expected. It sounds good right now, but decaf green tea and a cup or two of coffee are surprisingly satisfying. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that I have so much time on my hand. I've also been surprised to find that eating is such a routinized part of my life. Have you found that you've changed your eating habits since the fast? I can imagine that I'll be cutting some part of my eating time out. I'm now able actually recognize that I consume more calories than my body requires. Ammar, a friend of mine, a physician and muslim (fasts during Ramadan), whom I consulted before fasting, revealed to me that he only eats one meal a day regularly. He estimates eating between 1200 - 1800 calories daily and never thinks twice of it. For a 48 year old guy, who notched a game changing goal in our mens over-30 soccer league Monday night, I see this working for Ammar. I'm reconsidering some large post-fast changes in my diet. Have you made any long-term changes?
Awesome Jeff! Keep it up! I've noticed how easy it is now to skip dessert. Pass up extra calories I don't need. Or if it's late for dinner or I miss dinner, it's easy to say "oh well, I'll eat tomorrow." I'm gluten-free now, also, which makes a difference (I have a rare allergy, not an intolerance or celiac disease). When we have tacos for dinner instead of a tortilla I wrap up my tacos in big leafs of lettuce -- wonderful! And at restaurants I'm ordering a salad instead of a burger because of the bun. My veggie intake has gone way up and that is making a difference I'm sure. I feel extraordinarily good as of late. I'm keeping active, walking every day, doing pushups, and doing hard work in the yar. I see a change in my body, leaner and more muscular. I think I'm doing pretty well for "an old man" of 46. Three years of chemo were pretty devastating to my body, but you wouldn't guess it to see me know (except for the tatoos from radiotherapy). Have I grown a new immune system? It will interesting next month when I get a scan and blood work and can see if there's any change in my numbers. The last 24 hours of my fast were really interesting. It felt like a buzzing in my bones, which was probably psychosomatic, but fun to feel anyways. Kind of like a phantom phone vibration. But while those are annoying, this felt wonderful. I'm going to do a 3-day fast every six months. I've got everything to gain!
Thanks Mike. 21 hours to go and I feel great. Freakishly good actually. I've been running 2-3 miles every other day prior to fasting, and I think that if I feel so good tomorrow, as I start the third day, I may just go for my run. Two miles seems nice. Glad to hear you're doing so well man. I've been hitting the veggies too. Slipped some as the summer months hit, but since last fall it was veggies or fish. I've been throwing in lots of exercise too. Used to hate running. I always laughed at the t-shirts the kids who ran high school cross-country wore, "Our sport is your sport's punishment". Now though, I find it really satisfying and relaxing. By the way, I look forward to hearing about your blood results. My chemo was a walk in the park compared to the beating you took. Rock on bro.
Hi mike. I'm finishing my three days without repast midday tomorrow (it's 10pm here) and I thought I'd revisit this old thread while my housemate cooks himself a steak. Do you mind if I ask how your last round of tests went? More specifically, do you reckon the fasting made much of a difference?
Hi, thanks for asking! The last tests were a few weeks ago and they came back clean. Impossible to say if it made a difference, as they could have come back clean regardless. But I like to think it helped. I'm going to do it again in December. Every six months. How has your fast gone? Harder or easier than you thought?
That's extremely good news to hear! I hope you celebrated in suitable fashion with large glasses of tempranillo and a stroll around a nice park. It's remarkable how much your commentary at the start of this thread mirrors my own, especially the part about being confronted with lots of spare time. I've also found myself dwelling far more in the present these past couple of days, but perhaps that's just a natural consequence of spending more time paying attention to how I feel. All up the hunger is certainly bearable and more than balanced by the novelty value; I think once every six months like you plan would work well. I do find myself thinking a lot about food, however. I should also note that, while I recently resumed running after a long hiatus, I've held off from strenuous exercise for the duration of the fast, primarily because I wanted to be confident that I could still manage my workload.
I think most people consume more calories than are required on a daily basis. Similar to Ammar, there are many days when I only eat one meal a day, such as today. Logged my walking, running, and food from today and came out at a net of about 1400 calories. Usually hover between 1500 and 2000 on days when I don't eat out with friends or party. On the same boat as you with running, used to hate it but nowadays I'm on the 2.5 - 3 mile boat just about every other day. It's a good excuse to be outside when it's nice out.