Keto Update Number Five: My First Thirty-Six Hour Fast

I'm posting in the midst of my first thirty-six hour fast. I ended up doing a 56 hour fast on vacation but that was only because I had a stomach bug and by the time I felt any interest in eating again, twenty-four hours had already gone by and I thought, "heck, let's see how long I can make this last."

This time is much more intentional. I've been gradually trying to "strengthen my fasting muscle" and have been doing sixteen-hour fasts almost daily, two twenty-hour fasts, and one twenty-four hour fast. It's interesting to observe that the hardest part, regardless of the length, is always just before the end of the fast, when I know it's time to eat and my mental state changes to "I can't wait to eat!" And then those last few minutes or hour until I actually can eat are torture.

When I first learned about keto, I thought, "no way could I ever do that! that sounds miserable!" And then I started to warm up to keto and learned about intermittent and extended fasting and thought the same thing, absolutely no way could I ever fast. Even trying to fast a few hours for Yom Kippur used to make me sick and headachy.

But gradually, the more I learned, the more intrigued I became. It turns out that that sick feeling we feel while fasting is from running out of glycogen, aka the short-term supply of stored sugar we have in our muscles and liver. But when we are in ketosis, our body is burning fat and most of us have endless supplies of body fat so we don't nearly as hungry when we don't eat. You know, in theory.

And in truth, it's been much easier than I expected... but it's still not easy, at least, it's not easy some of the time.

In terms of my reasons for why to fast, well, according to the work of Dr. Jason Fung, fasting allows our body to heal and rejuvenate all kinds of cellular damage in the body (I am overly simplifying). It also allows our basal metabolic rate to actually speed up. When we fast, we produce adrenaline. That's why when you are really hungry, you are rarely sleepy. You tend to feel hyperalert. Calorie deprivation causes the metabolism to gradually slow down but fasting actually speeds it up. Totally counter intuitive but he's got tons of evidence to back it up.

Fasting can also, of course, burns lots of calories and stored fat. I'm especially interested in burning visceral fat and hopefully reversing my presumed insulin resistance which causes my PCOS. Reversing insulin resistance is a great way to promote one's odds at longevity.

Plus, for vanity reasons, I would love to lose another ten pounds.

So here I am, fasting away. Imperfectly. I have a coffee in the morning with a splash (or more) of heavy cream which is not ideal but apparently won't totally derail things if it's less than fifty calories or so. I've been drinking water mixed with Ultima electrolyte powder which helps with hunger (and electrolytes, which can get depleted with both ketosis and fasting) but any artificial sweetener, even Stevia, can spike insulin and thus slow weight loss. After watching a coaching session on Facebook today, I was resolved to switch from Ultima to bone broth but actually, having the bone broth made me hungry! Which was really tough because I was drinking it as the girls ate dinner. Serving food and having a tray of gingerbread under my nose while fasting was not easy! So I had a few salted almonds.

Finally, I just had to muscle through the cravings as they ate. That was the first time all day that it was really challenging. Other times, I just mixed up a big bottle of (weak) Ultima and swigged it until the cravings passed. It's really true what Dr Fung says about fasting -- hunger comes in waves, and then passes... and also, hunger is not exponential. You aren't twice as hungry on day two as you were on day one, and three times as hungry on day three. It actually starts to diminish over time. And otherwise, I tend to feel really good and clear-headed... but also a bit more irritable, especially with my kids. Or maybe it's just that one of them was more annoying today than usual, Hard to say!

After dinner was finally over, we all took a hot bath together which was nice since I had been irritable, and also because I was cold... when learning to fast, one's basal metabolic rate can slow down, causing the faster to feel cold. Supposedly with time, my body will get used to this and I will actually feel hot while fasting! Sounds nice. It's chilly here in SMA at this time of year -- though lovely and warm in the sun in the middle of the day -- so it's hard to tell when it's me versus the weather. At least I am nice and warm now after that bath and covered with a blanket on the couch.

I am hoping I won't have trouble sleeping tonight from the fasting-related adrenaline plus hunger but otherwise, I feel pretty good. And I am excited to see how far I can go and if this will result in any visible changes. My underwear is starting to feel slightly baggy! My butt is definitely -- slowly -- getting smaller, which is a nice change. But that final bulge on my stomach -- the one most significant to health -- is stubborn. I want to see that gone. My optimism about that shifts wildly from hour to hour. Wish me luck!