Keto Update Six: First Forty-Eight Hour Fast

Nearly eighteen hours fasted!
(Ignore the goal -- I don't know how to adjust it on a daily basis
so it's set for my standard day of 16:8 fasting to eating.)

(I forgot to publish the last post so that's why it looks like I just ended it today but it actually ended two days ago.)

Today I am trying a moderated fast, my first! There's a whole group of us on a FB site that are all following the same schedule all week, with the caveat that we are spread around the globe so everyone is in a different place in her fast. But it's still cool to have company! I really wish I had a fasting buddy. I have a couple keto buddies and it's so helpful but so far they don't fast. I think for me, with PCOS and also with having a relatively small amount to lose but a stubborn metabolism, the fasting will be necessary. Either that or I have an obsessive personality and can't do anything halfway. Probably both!

Unfortunately, I ate some non-keto food last night. Leftover pigs in blankets from Saturday night. I just didn't have the mental energy to resist.

But I am being kind to myself and I can see that I really needed that, mentally. And so I will try to remember and not be frustrated when the scale isn't moving steadily downward as I would like. Changing one's way of eating so drastically is not easy! When I think about the fact that I am attempting to fast forty-eight hours today, and to fast three times in total this week, I am amazed! I would have never considered this a few short months ago.

So if it's two steps forward, one step back, or even the reverse... I am still progressing overall.

Today I am also not drinking Ultima (electrolyte solution) but instead, am drinking water with apple cider vinegar and salt. Fasting makes people lose a lot of water and also electrolytes. Failing to replace the salt can cause water retention. Clearly, I don't want that! But I am surprised to find that water with apple cider vinegar and salt is surprisingly tasty!

I went to my first Piloxing class this morning since our vacation and it was TOUGH but also felt really good. I could see my workout shirt was noticeably baggier, which was nice. (I'm working hard not to think that it might have been baggier still a few days ago.) As a New Year's resolution I've started doing at least five push-ups off the bathroom counter every time I use the bathroom, and to do a few quick biceps curls at least once a day and I can also see more definition in my shoulders which is nice.

I'm currently almost eighteen hours into my fast! I'm kind of glad it's almost time to go get the girls and then sit in a dance studio for a while. It will be a good distraction. Thinking too much about this makes it harder.

Keto Update 5, Part Two: The End of the Fast

I made it to forty hours! 

I'm pretty excited because I want to take part in moderated fasting events through FB starting Monday and the first one is forty-eight hours. So I wanted to see how close I could get. Getting past the forty-hour mark feels significant.

So I was disappointed that bone broth derailed me last night, and that I ate a few almonds as a result, but I'm proud that I powered through anyway and I assume I got most of the benefits of fasting anyway? In any case, nothing I can do about it now. Onwards and upwards.

I was worried I would have trouble sleeping but I actually slept amazingly well and woke up feeling really good, just thirsty. But not particularly hungry. I made the mistake of stepping on the scale and I had actually gained 2 kg! I measured my belly though and it's down about 1.5 inches from when I first measured. It's just a piece of floss so I don't actually know how big my circumference is in inches.

I noticed my bra is a little baggy in addition to my underwear.

I'm trying to stay off the scale as long as I can, now! At least until after I get my period -- PMS always makes me extra hungry AND retain fluid.

I decided to end my fast at 1 pm and felt like I could eat a horse! I started with some smoked salmon and cream cheese, then made leftover spinach, mushroom and brie "crepes" (made with almond flour and lots of egg). I also made ninety-second keto microwave mug "bread." I could only eat one crepe, to my amazement, though I ate extra spinach and mushroom plus the whole microwave mug bread. I finished it off with a decadent square of Lindt 90% dark chocolate. Yum.

Keto spinach, mushroom, and brie crepes

I'm hoping to eat again in about five hours, and to squeeze a workout in before our friends come over for a family slumber party. After dinner I hope to fast eighteen hours and eat within a six hour window tomorrow... and then do my first ever group, moderated fast. The schedule is a forty-eight hour fast on Monday and Friday and a twenty-four hour fast on Wednesday, with an 18:6 fasting/eating schedule in between. Looking at the schedule, the hardest part may be getting only one meal after the forty-eight hour fast before launching into a twenty-four.

The other slightly complicated thing is that I don't want to end a fast at 9 pm -- not a good time for a big meal! So I have to be thoughtful about when to start my fasts.

Forty-eight hour fasts on Monday and Friday with a twenty-four hour on Wed. And only one meal between the forty-eight and the twenty-four. Yikes! 

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!

Keto Update Number Four: Getting Back On Track

Feeling thinner on departure day

We came home from our vacation to certain disasters challenges. We got home and dropped our luggage and immediately went on a (slow) walk to the health food store and vegetable stand to get fresh food. We got home and I started cooking dinner. I found a bunch of rotten produce in the fridge so started throwing things away and scrubbing out refrigerator drawers as I cooked.

It wasn't until we were about to sit down to eat that Calliope went to get ice for her water and we realized that the fridge and freezer were dead. No power for god knows how long. I suddenly realized why the refrigerator had smelled bad, and why there was so much rotting produce (which I had expected would survive our trip).

We sat down to eat and after a few minutes, Calliope suddenly felt nauseous and retired to the couch. I started scouring the neighborhood, looking for a place to stash the organic (aka not cheap) milk and cream I had just bought as poor Calliope started vomiting. Finally, I found a friend that was home and left things with her and dashed back home to comfort Calliope.

I sent a message to our landlord and put us to bed. But not before eating a bunch of trail mix. Waaaah. Not good for keto but I was emotionally spent and searching for comfort. It could have been worse. At least it was lots of nuts, which are good for keto (along with raisins and M&Ms which are obviously not good for keto).

The next morning I was mad at myself and tried to fast and.... ate more trail mix. Sigh.

I also cleaned out the freezer which was pretty disgusting. Luckily poor C was feeling better.

Unfortunately, I realized that whatever zapped the fridge and freezer also killed the microwave and put out a bunch of lights. Plus I had let our gas supply run down to zero -- it went down faster than I anticipated -- so I couldn't cook or run the dishwasher or even heat things in the microwave. Not to mention shower. Sigh.

So it was another rough day.

Luckily the refrigerator and freezer is now fixed. The microwave should hopefully be returned today. And supposedly a gas truck should FINALLY be showing up today. Fingers crossed. We showered two days ago at a friend's house but my hair is feeling disgusting right now. And I have a massage scheduled for later today because they were too pricey at the resort.

On the plus side, in addition to the refrigerator being repaired, I went 22 hours fasting yesterday. I'm on track to go about 25 hours today. When I woke up this morning, my ketones were finally high again. Tomorrow I plan to do two meals to boost my metabolism up -- continuing to eat only one meal a day can slow it down over the longer term (but keeping my eating window short allows for low insulin levels and higher growth hormone levels to repair cellular damage and lower insulin resistance). And then I am hoping to try to (?eventually) stretch to a 36 hour fast. Apparently they are ideal for healing insulin resistance which is associated (or causes) PCOS.

Since we got home I gained back about four pounds that I had lost but lost one again today. My ketones are finally back up above 2 today which feels like a huge success. I'm drinking tons of water with a little Ultima for electrolytes which helps with hunger. Yesterday I had a big steak with salad, grilled veg, and a portabello mushroom covered with some kind of gooey cheese. So good. Looking forward to a nice dinner out with a friend tonight -- first time without my kids in more than two weeks.

Looking forward to pushing through the challenges and reaching my goal which is ten pounds away. Fasting 57 hours after my stomach bug made me lose quickly so I'm hoping 36 hour fasts will help too, and quickly!

This is a little embarrassing to share but here's a photo of the old me and the newer me... First time I have ever asked someone to take a photo of me in a bathing suit!

Keto Update Three (A Few Days Old) and Puerto Morelos

Five cousins

We are headed home from our all inclusive in Puerto Morelos with my brother’s family.

We had a wonderful time. Amazingly drama free. Very slow paced and occasionally I felt antsy but mostly it was great. His kids are 10, 3, and almost 2 so combining that with my kids, 3 and 7, that’s a lot of littles — four under 4. All with nap schedules. So we only left the resort once, to go to a crocodile zoo/animal rescue site. It was surprisingly interesting and every group gets a private tour so we learned a lot in a short time. My favorites were the medium sized cats.

Unfortunately, we never got to the village of Puerto Morelos but there’s always next year! I hope we will do a trip like this every year because it was so great to see the kids playing together. And not being guests in someone else’s home meant no stress for me about imposing. And not having to cook or clean up from meals was great for all of us. Of course, eating in public with three toddlers has its own stress — we broke quite a number of dishes, and our meals were certainly never relaxing — but it was a worthwhile tradeoff, overall. And the food was great.

I was really nervous about keto eating on vacation but it actually worked out great. There was always grilled fished and meat available on request, and guacamole at many meals — great for adding both fiber and fat with minimal carbs. 

I’ve given up on tracking because it makes me feel miserable and stressed to think about how much food I am “allowed.” I can’t believe that a computer can be smarter about what my body needs than listening to my body. 

Amazingly, it all seems to be working! Perhaps because I did a fifty-six hour fast after the stomach bug! I can’t wait to get home and weigh myself on my questionable scale but for now, I am looking at old photos of myself and comparing them to new ones and shaking my head in amazement. I keep looking at them over and over again because I just can’t believe it. I never ever thought I would get back to a place where I liked my body again. I’m so everlastingly grateful!

A few days ago, my thighs were looking wobbly. I thought that perhaps it was because I haven’t been working out. I never, ever miss my workouts like this but I didn’t have wireless (to stream my workouts) and then this week I would have had to workout in the bathroom during Amelie’s nap time to have a workout opportunity. Not only did that not appeal, Calliope was watching her shows in the bathroom then. So I’ve skipped.

So I was a little worried about the wobbly thighs and started doing a few squats but otherwise figured I would address it when we get home. But then the next day, I woke up and looked in the mirror and my thighs were noticeably smaller! And the wobble was much less.

I had a woosh! I’ve read about them but didn’t think it would happen to me. But basically, your body burns fat but fills the empty fat cells with water. But then after a few days more of ketosis, the fat cells empty and release the water. So there’s a sudden weight loss (and volume loss).

I never imagined my thighs would get smaller. It’s terribly exciting. I have a little gap between them when my legs are together now. I never thought that would happen for me again.

Another interesting thing is that when I have little tastes of non-veto things at night, not only are my ketones lower in the morning but I’m also more hungry and more desirous of carbs things. But when I stick to nuts at night, I’m not nearly as hungry in the morning. Better eating = less hunger certainly reinforces the keto habit! 

In one last bit of news, I just paid a chunk of money to participate in a four month training course to become a certified pediatric sleep consultant. I’m hoping to pair this training (and my considerable interest in sleep) with my pediatric NP background to forge a new career as a “digital nomad,” helping new families with sleep issues, regardless of their location or mine. If I can get this sorted plus be at my goal weight (not there yet but not too far off), I would be in heaven. Wish me luck!

Amelie adores her cousin

The whole family

Keto Update Two

It's been four weeks since I re-started my Keto experiment.

The bad news was that I could never get my ketones high again after our Hanukkah weekend with my couple of slip-ups. I was technically still in ketosis but hovering between 0.9-1.2 where I had been 2.2-2.5 the previous week. Frustrating! Moreover, I just wasn't feeling satisfied after eating. I was trying to eat tons of green vegetables with plenty of fat plus as much meat as I felt like I needed and it just felt like something wasn't clicking.

Then last week we left home in San Miguel to travel to Mahahual, Mexico, a tiny town on the Yucatan peninsula near the border with Belize. I knew food options would be limited in Mahahual so I brought some serrano ham (doesn't need to be refrigerated until opened) and cream cheese along for the travel and was amazed that I didn't eat anything sugary or carby along the way. Usually I have zero discipline on plane flights. This was an amazing first for me!

We arrived and I was able to get turkey and tuna and mayonnaise (the kind made with bad fats but oh well) and eggs of course so that was a relief. Plus tomatoes and achayote (a yummy green vegatable that tastes like brocoli stem). We were having a great time visiting our friends there until we all got hit by the stomach bug. One at a time, on successive days, which was lucky in that I could focus on the sick one, one at a time, but it meant we didn't get out much. The last day, our friends started to get it. Ugh. Getting other people sick is the worst!

Anyway, the day I got sick, my last meal was at about 10:30 am. I didn't want any food the rest of the day because I felt so miserably wretched. The next morning I felt much better, just weak and a bit wobbly, but I decided that since I had already gone 24 hours, why not keep on fasting and see how I felt? According to my book on fasting, it actually gets easier after the second or third day. I didn't have a goal in mind and I figured I could just see how I felt. And that it might be good to give my stomach a change to further recover anyway.

I ended up fasting 57 hours! I couldn't believe it! I would have NEVER said I could do that! But according to Dr Fung, as one's body learns to burn fat (ketone bodies) instead of glucose, we actually get very good at it. I did get some headaches, which is apparently typical for those new to fasting, and will eventually wear off. But otherwise my energy felt great and I never felt nauseous or any other symptoms of low blood sugar. I only decided to eat at that point because food just sounded so good. My ketones as of the that morning (I broke my fast at dinner time) were 3.6! I had never gotten above 2.5 before and that had been a couple weeks prior and more recently had been stuck around 1. I had a half a protein granola bar that night after dinner.

The next day (ketones again 3.6 despite breaking my fast and especially, having the half granola bar) I was thinking I might do a 16 hour fast -- that is, have coffee (with cream, which technically is breaking the fast but is a low enough number of calories and pure fat so shouldn't spike insulin much) and then eat lunch. But at lunchtime, I just didn't feel that hungry. So I waited for dinner! The only challenge was that I had trouble feeling full at dinner without eating carbs. I had two generous servings of brocoli with melted butter poured over it, salad with cheese and vinagrette and peanuts, grilled squid, grilled fish, spare ribs and finally some cheese to try and fill up (we have since moved to an all inclusive resort near Cancun so we were eating at a buffet -- I didn't have large portions of any of these). I never felt completely satisfied but it was good enough. Until I got back to the room and felt hungry again. I ended up eating some almonds and one of the kids protein granola bars. Not ideal but I just needed something.

This morning I woke up feeling good. I was curious what effect the granola bar would have on things. My ketones had dropped to 2.6 but that is still moderate ketosis and quite good. I had coffee with plenty of cream plus a few bacon crumbles from Amelie's plate. And again just didn't feel like eating lunch! I can't believe it! I want to measure my ketones again before dinner. I've never checked them in the afternoon before so I'm not sure what to expect.

I don't have a scale here -- hoping I can sneak over to the gym at some point without the kids to see  if they have one -- but I feel like I'm losing. So exciting! I've never had ANY diet work before. And fasting in some ways is so easy. I LOVE not having to think about my food choices. I just don't eat. Nothing to prepare, nothing to clean up, nothing to debate. It's awesome!

Keto Update One

It's been two weeks since I've started my keto experiment.

The good news is that I got into ketosis, as defined by my ketone meter, pretty quickly. And it seems like I've dropped a few pounds, which is pretty amazing for me who usually can't lose any weight due to PCOS... except I dropped about five pounds from my move to Mexico and trying to get enough sleep and eat consciously... which is a lot easier when I am not flat-out exhausted from the craziness of work plus single parenting in NYC.

The bad news... it's not really bad, but this doesn't feel quite has effortless as many people make it out to be. I do feel hungry and unsatisfied some of the time. My hope is that this will pass as my body gets more accustomed to burning fat instead of glucose for energy. And I must admit it's definitely not as hard as I thought it would be. When I tried Atkins years ago, I NEVER felt satisfied. I do feel satisfied now, it just wears off more quickly than I would like.

Unfortunately, I had two slip-ups this past weekend, one as a result of eating too much meat and not enough vegetables at a restaurant meal (they didn't offer enough veg so I compensated by eating too much meat) and then having cravings for crackers which I succumbed to. Sunday we had a Hanukkah party and I really was fine not eating any latkes but then it felt weird as the host to not even taste the food I was cooking and serving. So then one bite turned into three latkes as they were divine.

I was also feeling some social anxiety this weekend about whether or not to go to a benefit concert for the kids' school -- I ultimately decided to skip it -- and having a low turnout for our Hanukkah party. The anti-anxiety effects of keto can't come soon enough! Luckily or not, it's hormonally related and not constant during the second half of the month. So I feel better now but I can't credit keto for that.

Anyway, I'm feeling very grateful because it doesn't seem like these two slip-ups caused any weight gain which is a first for me in my long career of dieting.

So overall I am feeling good but I'm looking forward to feeling a bit more satisfied with this WOE. It's not terrible now, but it could be improved.

I used up the last of my lancets today. Ketones were 1.2 and fasting blood sugar was 85. So I'm in ketosis but not as high as last week when my ketones were up to 2.5. I'm guessing that's because of my weekend indiscretions. Hopefully my Amazon package with more lancets and test strips will arrive soon! It's definitely very reassuring to see when I am in ketosis. Much better than weighing myself.