Starting my first extended fast today. Current weight was 206 when I weighed myself at the gym yesterday, and then I had some pretty indulgent Super Bowl food last night. I'm planning to continue fasting until Friday Night, when I will break my fast with a broth based soup and fruit. From what I've gathered, I shouldn't really worry about a multivitamin if it's only 5 days, but I am planning to drink some Apple Cider Vinegar, Lemon Juice, and Pink Salt diluted in water tomorrow and Thursday to help with lost electrolytes. Also planning to hit the gym for some light exercise on Wednesday.
If everything works out well, I think I'll try to do this the first week of every month or every couple months until I'm closer to my fitness goals.
Okay, follow up.
I've been sticking to my above five day fast plan, but I'm choosing to end it a day early. It's not necessarily that I'm hungry. In fact, one of the biggest surprises of the last four days is that at no point have I legitimately felt hungry. Sure, I've missed food. I've even become fairly fascinated by food, watching a lot of recipe videos on YouTube and what not. But that's not why I'm cutting my five day fast to a four day one.
The more I've been reading up about fasting, the more I'm seeing how it is very important to break your fast carefully. While I think it's probably easier to ease out of a short fast like my four day one versus an extended several week one, this is my first stab at a longer fast, and I want to be careful. The reason why I want to break my fast early and gently is that tomorrow I'm going to meet up with friends, who are certainly going to want to eat out, and honestly I'd like to eat with them. I was planning to eat something light tomorrow to break my fast like soup broth, but I figure if I break it today gently, I can afford something maybe a little more substantial, like a salad or vegetarian dish.
Do I feel a little guilty for waffling on a five day commitment? Yeah a little bit. Does part of my feel like I'm using the above as an excuse to wuss out, especially since I'm so close anyway? Also yes a bit. I'm sure my friends would understand if I told them I'm trying fasting and need to be careful what I'm eating. But then I've got family stuff the next day, and meat is certainly going to be involved, which I definitely don't want to eat if I'm not ready.
So yeah, I went out and bought some organic cranberry juice (100% pure cranberry juice, no sugar), a 6 oz package of raspberries, and a bottle of V8 original. Nothing too substantial, as I want to be careful about reintroducing food into my system after a week off, but enough to get things moving again.
So, final results: I weighed myself on Sunday, and was at 206 pounds, but then I had a good amount of food for dinner (super bowl plus last meal before the fast) so I was likely a bit heavier than that by Monday morning. Today I was at 201 pounds. Granted, I'm sure the weight of food in my system and any water weight lost will put me at 203 or so once I get reacclimated, but even if that's the case, a net 3 pound loss in four days isn't too bad.
Anyways, I think I'll try my hand at an extended fast again next month, and will plan to start on Saturday or Sunday so I don't have to worry about weekend plans getting the way. For now, one meal a day intermittent fasting has been working just fine for me, and I don't think I'll have trouble continuing on with that. I was a little over 210 (probably 212 or so) when I started about three and a half weeks ago, so 10 pounds in that time is certainly beating my original 1.5 lb per week goal. I imagine this will taper off, but it does bode well for my 170 by the end of July goal, and I'll adjust that if needed.
