46 hours of fasting experience

Today, I managed to complete 46 hours of fasting. I could have managed 48 hours too, but then I had to drink another cup of coffee. I didn’t want to do that.

By the 45th hour, I was quite hungry so decided to break my fast by 46 hours. The reason was that I didn’t want to eat a bigger meal later in the evening. By breaking my fast at the 46th hour, I had 2-3 hours of eating window. So, I had a liver soup followed by a bigger meal. I wanted to have a proper meal so had chicken curry and rice with other proteins.

I finished my meal with some hung curd, blueberries, and low-carb brownies, which I baked. I wasn’t very happy with the brownies, but I ate them anyway. After a couple of hours, I had a protein shake. That way I had a decent amount of protein, which will help me in my workout tomorrow.

I am glad that I finished my meal earlier as now I can sleep peacefully. I did have a short nap after my meal too, probably because my meal was a bit too heavy. But it was not too bad. I woke up and managed to do regular chores.

In terms of weight loss, I managed to lose almost 2.2 kgs since I started the fast, but then I gained back 600 gms after my meal. My weight on Friday evening was very high so it was good that I could fast it out. I want to now see how much I lose at night. In the last 5 months, I haven’t lost much weight, in fact, I have gained a few due to not being as strict with my diet. So, it would be good to at least go back to the number I had around New Years.

Overall, I was very happy with my 46 hours of fasting. I was able to do a lot of walking too. Yesterday, I walked a bit over 10k steps and today, I managed to walk around 7.5k steps. I could have walked a bit more, but I had a lot of chores to complete to get ready for a busy week ahead.

I have done one longer fast of around 44 hours, around New Year. At that time, I had started my fast from the 30th evening until the 1st afternoon. At that time, my experience was very different. I had to have more cups of coffee, most of them with cream and butter. I also had a lot of electrolytes. But this time, I didn’t have as many cravings. I generally felt that my body was more ready and prepared for a longer fast.

To be honest, I was very excited to have completed 46 hours of fasting with more ease. I love the feeling I get when I do longer fasts. It feels good to not worry about eating for a day or two.

I think I will try and do a 36-hour fast every week. This will really help me in achieving my health goals. Let’s see how it goes.

Fasting is a good strategy for someone like me, who can easily put on weight. Every time I manage to do a prolonged fast, I feel much better.

Tomorrow, I have a heavy day as I have to go for an early morning workout and then I need to start working on a work report. I should have completed the work report by now, but it got delayed due to unavoidable circumstances.

24+ hours of fasting experience

Today, I have already fasted for over 24 hours. Currently, I am in the 26th hour of fasting. I have seen that usually when I cross the 24 hours of fast, I can fast for almost 30+ hours. Now, I just need to sleep and then wake up in the morning.

Usually, the day I wake up a bit late, it is easy for me to do a longer fast on those days. This week, my workout sessions were strenuous. My trainer increased the reps & weights. I was just glad that I could keep up.

Yesterday, after my workout, I was very hungry. So I ate a bit more than I normally do but I closed my eating window a bit early. I also felt a bit sore after my workouts, so I slept early and also woke up a bit late.

But the best part was that I felt refreshed in the morning. So, I just had a glass of water and went out for my short walk, which involved buying some fresh groceries such as chicken, meat, veggies & coconuts. Sometimes, I get stuff delivered, but on some days I like to buy it myself as it’s all just down the road. To be honest, I like to observe the bazaar culture of small shops/ businesses that sell these things.

Usually, I wake up early and I am done with my walk before the markets are opened. But today, all the shops were open for business by the time I headed out.

When I reached home, I got busy in cleaning & prepping all the items. Sometimes, I feel that I should keep a cook, but then I remind myself that I enjoy cooking for myself. It is at times therapeutic because cooking allows me to be creative. It also brings my attention to the present moment.

With a low-carb lifestyle, it is easy to cook for myself, as it doesn’t require a lot of work.

So, my breakfast time was spent in running errands and doing chores around the house.

It is only around 2 pm that I felt the need for coffee. I, not only, didn’t feel hungry, but I also didn’t feel like drinking coffee in the morning. I like breaking my routines. Sometimes when we break routines, it helps us realize if they are still important for us.

So, for lunch, I really had a cup of butter coffee. This was followed by another cup of black coffee.

Then, I had a zoom meeting with one of my friends, who is taking my metabolic health coaching. It was good to get an update from him and answer his queries. As of now, he seems very happy as he has made real gains in his health journey.

Not only his food has changed, but he has started working out with a trainer.

After my conversation with him, I decided to complete some more work around the house and then go for a walk. If I had stayed home, I would have needed another coffee. I was also itching for a walk, as it’s been a long time, since I was able to go for a long walk.

So, around dinner time, which is early evening for me, I went for a long walk in the park. It was not as hot and humid as other days, but I was still sweating by the time I completed my walk.

The walk was pleasant. I was surprised to see a lot of flowers blooming in this hot weather. So, I had to click a lot of pictures so that I could paint some of them. Towards the end of my walk, I noticed a lot of children playing on the slides, teenagers hanging around in groups, and elders keeping an eye on the children or walking or sitting in pairs enjoying the evening.

As I exited the park, I noticed the evening sun peeking out from behind the trees. it looked beautiful. I like watching the setting sun. The way its golden yellow-orange color filters through the greens, imparting them its brightness always transports me to the banks of the Ganges in my childhood.

I was lucky to grow up in a residential school, where watching the setting sun was a ritual. All of us would occasionally gather at the banks of the Ganges to watch the sunset. As a child, I always wondered about the nature of light and how transforming it can be. It still delights me.

So, that’s been my day today. I think I am going to end the day by meditating before sleeping.

It is not easy to fast for 24 hours and more. But it is easier with a low-carb diet than on a high-carb diet. I also find it easier to fast, when I replace my meal times with other work.

The more I fast, the better I feel. Yet, I know that I can’t overdo it.