So, yesterday I was having a great day doing my 23:1 fast and I got a notice that it was time for the retirement party for one of my friends, and I jumped up and ran over there, because I nearly forgot, and they had ordered in all kinds of food and cake. It was at 2:30pm (I usually fast until 6pm) but I had been fasting 19 1/2 hours already and so I didn't feel too guilty when food was shoved in my face, the moment I walked in the door people were handing out pieces of cake and plates and forks for the food.
So this is what I ate (since I decided to go ahead and join the festivities and eat):
Cut up fresh broccoli florets (about 5)
Baby carrots (about 5)
Cut up celery sticks (about 6)
Small finger sized salami bites (about 6)
Small cubes of Colby jack cheese (about 4)
Small Whole Orange Pepper (1)
Spinach dipping sauce, about 2 tablespoons
Turkey wrap (small 3" round) wrap rolled up with cheese, lettuce, turkey, tomato (2)
And, cake... yes.. cake... 1 fairly large slice of Chocolate & Vanilla cake. With decadent frosting and custard filling.
Let me tell you... Oh boy, that was the best tasting cake I have ever had. Mostly because my body was like "PARTY!" because I have not been eating any carbs or sugars, but, I ate it without guilt, because well, why not? It's not like I eat this every day anymore.
But, let me tell you about the after-effects.
Immediately it felt like someone lit a fire in my furnace, I started sweating, and felt really over-hot, like my metabolism kicked in full speed, and wow, what a shock. I also felt really high, light headed, goofy, buzzed, floaty, and too fuzzy headed to even read an email when I got back to the office. I stopped doing all my work and just was out of it. I told my boss, I'm sorry, I feel like I just drank a bunch of alcohol and smoked a bunch of dope. I'm just way out of it.
I went home at my normal time 5pm, and immediately had to strip out of my sweat soaked clothing, and jump into the shower, to top it off it was hot outside where I live (which is inland 15 miles or so from the ocean in a hot valley) and even after that shower, I could not cool off. Normally due to fasting, I feel nice and cool, even on hot days I never feel too hot, but after eating that sugar, my body was struggling to cool off.
I ended up getting really edgy and grumpy and felt like crying, I was miserable. I couldn't even go downstairs and help with making dinner because I was irritable and hot and grumpy and felt like I was sweating buckets, which was weird.
My boyfriend made me dinner and brought it upstairs.
For dinner I ate:
4 BBQ ribs (marinated in lemon juice and soy sauce)
A good portion of fresh cut green beans sauteed in butter, garlic, salt, pepper
And, 1/4 cup of rice (which I opted to have because I thought the cake messed me up enough, that 1/4 cup of rice wouldn't do any harm worse at this point) - and it was delicious, but it wasn't like I ate it fast, I barely picked at the rice as I ate.
But, right after eating I went into a deep sleep coma by 7:30pm, I was out, I couldn't even stay up to watch the movie in my room that we were watching.
I woke up at 11:30pm soaked in sweat, I had to get up and jump into the bath and wash off. I was having severe night sweats. I never get these! At least not for many many years, and last time it was from Ibuprofen, which does the same thing to me.
Mind you, I was sleeping with no clothing, no covers or blankets, or anything on me, the window was open, with one fan blowing in the cold air from the window and another fan at my feet blowing on me, it was nice and cool in my room, not hot at all and I could not stop the night sweats.
I went back to sleep at midnight and once again the night sweats woke me up several times, every time I rolled over I was covered in sweat.
It was as if the sugar in the cake totally was like coal in a furnace. My body temperature was nice and hot and I was definitely burning that energy very very efficiently.
I thought for sure when I woke up that I would be bloated up, but I wasn't, and I think I burned a lot of calories while I slept. So, I think it all turned out okay in the end.
Today, I am doing another 23:1 fast. I am doing these 5 days a week now.
I don't regret the cake, or the night sweats. It was a nice treat, but I am back on track today, and doing well.
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Hey WM, this sounds chaotic and I think its brought home why you needed to change your life style by eating well exercising and fasting as you are pre diabetic and the sugar after not having any showed its effects.
I would imagine when you've reached your optimum weight and your blood sugar levels have returned to normal your reaction won't be like this. But what is really important your taste buds will have changed so that high sugary foods have no appeal as other nice healthier treats replace them.
So well done for your other choices at the buffet and for being back on track today.
I find your posts very interesting and entertaining as they are descriptive, open and honest, so good for you. 😊
Your boyfriend was very thoughtful to make you some dinner, and I think your dinner sounded very delicious. Glad you're feeling better now, and I hope that you have a good day tomorrow.
I was interested to read your experience of 23 :1 fasting. I am a bit of a novice. Does that mean you fast for 23 hours of a day and allow yourself a 1 hour window to eat?
I have been experimenting with intermittent fasting but I am trying the 16:8 ratio. I have a window of eight hours to eat in a 24 hour period. It seems quite positive for me.
Does your fasting affect your concentration and energy levels? I would worry that it is too restrictive to be done for more than a few days at a time?
For myself, I am hoping eat healthily and roughly maintain a reasonable weight to help manage health conditions as I age .
So It's better nutrition and optimum health as a goal rather than weightloss?
Each to their own. We all try and make life style choices that suit our needs. I have been very restrictive with sugar too and can tell when I have a sugary item as it keeps me awake late and feel restless too. It is very hard to quieten the sugar monster within us. We can try again tomorrow?
Well, to be honest, it's not so easy to put into a box like "Oh it's the 23:1 or 16:8 fasting style" It's close but I'm not strict. When I say I do the 23:1 fast, yes, it means I fast for 23 hours and then eat for 1 hour, but in fact it's more like I fast for 23 hours or more, and then eat one meal, and maybe a snack that may encompass an hour or two. Lately what I do is I eat dinner around 6pm, and then around 6:45pm or so I have a non-sugar or low-sugar dessert like sugar free jello with whip cream (less than 1 Gram of sugar) or some nuts, or maybe some blueberries or a piece of cheese, as a snack, and that might be around an hour after dinner or so. So, lets just say at this point I stop eating around 7:30pm, so maybe between 6pm-7:30pm I am eating, but no other time of that day, and then maybe the next day I will go all the way until 8pm before eating, but maybe not. Maybe I will eat at 7pm or 6pm. All I know for sure, is I skip breakfast, and I skip lunch and I only have dinner, usually 5 days per week. But, sometimes I do it for 4 days a week, or sometimes 6 days a week. I'm not super strict. What I am strict about is paying attention to how I feel. If I feel like I need to eat, then I eat something, be it a hard-boiled egg, some fresh cut up vegetables, or some cheese or nuts, I eat, but I don't eat carbs and sugars as an option when I am being diligent about fasting and reducing my A1C levels. But I do go out sometimes with family, and even though I have good intentions all day long and have fasted successfully for days on end, they invite me to have a dinner with them where there are carbs, like baked potatoes, or a dessert item, or pasta, or rice, and I will have a tiny bit, but I opt almost always for not having those things.
Back to the fasting piece... so 16:8 is really a good fast, and some of my friends are doing that and watching their calorie intake and are having great success. I don't watch calories, I just watch carbs and sugars instead.
Also, when I started, I didn't do a 5 day on-fast every week. Sometimes I did it 3 days a week only. I don't plan it out strictly, but if I come to work and I am not feeling too good, and I think maybe I should break my fast and eat something I will eat, but I will eat:
Fresh veggies
Berries
Lean Meat
Nuts
Cheese
Eggs
You see? So, I am not starving myself.
For me, fasting is a cleansing experience. And, since I am overweight, my body really benefits truly from fasting in more ways than a lean person's would.
I started out doing 16:8, and once that became easy I started trying to go longer than 16 hours, and eventually went 18:6, and then I did 22:2 for a long time, and then I went crazy with it and did 48 hours straight and then let myself have a free day to eat when I felt hungry, which ended up being very little because my tummy shrunk so much.
Now I'm happy with 23:1, but it's really more like 22 1/2: 1 1/2 if you want to get technical.
I find it very very easy to fast now. I feel more alert at work, I have no cravings for any snacks. I don't desire to snack. I drink ice water all day long and my mind is clearer than it has ever been, and my body feels nice and cool, even on hot days, some hot days I feel chilly even, and wear a sweater, because fasting does that, it cools our body down a lot.
I no longer feel uncomfortable at work, I've lost 33 pounds and all my cravings for snacks.
So, when it's dinner time now, I look forward to my meal, and I really enjoy it, and I am really careful about what I put in my mouth (except for the other day when I had a bit of cheesecake - that's another story that I already just posted about), but otherwise, I am very diligent. Very proud of how good I am doing and it's easy for me now.
This is an example of how I eat now:
Breakfast
----- just water - as much as I want, or green tea without sugar, or coffee with only half-n-half
Lunch
----- just water - as much as I want, or green tea without sugar, or coffee with only half-n-half
Dinner
Any combination of:
Small portion of Grilled meat (chicken, fish, pork, beef)
Large side of vegetables (usually several types; carrots, beets, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, etc)
Avocados, Lemons, Limes
Salad
Cheese
Olives and / or Olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper (salad dressings)
Limit: pasta, rice, breads, starchy veggies, beans - if I eat them, it is in very small portions.
And on the days when I don't fast (which are rare now, since it seems like I am fasting every day now for at least a 16:8 minimum)
I still eat those kinds of foods, and always opt for a very light meal.
I don't feel like I'm starving, and I don't feel weak at all. I feel like I have a lot more energy, and my body feels much better and I feel more alert, and a lot more comfortable on hot days.
Side note: If you try fasting, and you feel like you are starving the first few weeks, respect your body and listen to it. Sometimes that starvation feeling is actually thirst. Drink a lot of water and see how you feel after a bit. If you feel really weak, perhaps you're not getting enough nutrition, and have a boiled egg, or some nuts. You will know if you are having cravings because of sugar and carb withdrawals, because those feel like munchies kicking in, they don't feel like you're really craving nutrients, but more like "Gimmie snacks! Gimmie sugars! Gimmie nommy noms!" Those are not starvation feelings, those are addictions, those are cravings and those suck, and if you give in to those, well... it's gonna be a lot harder, believe me. I just try to appease my snacky cravings with healthy things like carrots and hummus or a handful of assorted nuts and a slice of cheese, or a boiled egg, or two if I feel hungry.
Any bit of fasting, even 14:10 is fine, just knowing why fasting is good is the key. (It helps you burn fat, since you're not taking in carbs and sugars).
It's not about starving yourself at all, and when you go off fast and eat an entire bag of donuts and drink soda, and eat candy or snack on chips all day for the next 8 hours, don't expect miracles, because yeah, I used to do that, and that is the wrong way to try to lose weight.
Fasting will work "IF" you also change your eating habits. Remove those sugar cravings and carb cravings by beating those addictions to really get the most benefits, with the least amount of food-craving torture. And fasting will become bliss.
Thank you for your lengthy reply. I know there are many positive aspects to intermittent fasting. You are very determined and managing your health issues well.
I feel the positive benefit of having a late breakfast and early evening meal to maximise the benefits of a lengthened overnight fast : I try not to be too rigid about it?
I would worry that my body was deficient in basic nutrients and lacking enough nourishment if I felt cold on a very hot day and needed a jumper? Please be careful with yourself?
The mind is incredibly powerful. We are all very able to ignore important bodily symptoms ? Fasting can become dangerous?
I suppose we can do what feels right and are able to adjust our eating regimes at any time?
I know I would quickly become dizzy and very prone to falling it I ate only once in a 24 hour plus period?
I have mobility problems from birth and am getting older? Bone health is so important? I found out that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men will get osteoporosis in later life? Look after your bones too?
My two children have birthdays in early August so I am knee deep in birthday 🎂 and cream cheese frosting? For the first time I made a big red velvet cake.it had enough sugar just in the frosting to bring on type two diabetes? Good job it's only once a year?
Have you heard of the 800 calorie diet by Dr Michael Mosley? It's a 12 week nutrient rich eating plan for people with type two diabetes.He himself changed his diabetes status through careful eating and exercise.
The body is very clever and adaptable. I admire you and hope all goes well for you.
my reasons for time restricted fasting are to reduce symptoms of acid reflux caused by a recently diagnosed hiatal hernia. To reduce weight gain, to geto a healthy weight, to help mobility issues and joint pain. From aging ... Osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis , on top of my long term physical disability , which has also caused early onset osteoarthritis. As you can see , I have multiple reasons for trying to keep a low weight? I m struggling with sugar and Pringles? They are so tempting and it is hard always walk away ? I usually try avoid foods with a sugar content and limit carbs. But I am definitely experiencing the odd blip at the moment?
I am temporarily losing the sugar battle at the moment? Hence the 🎂.
I guess the important thing is to keep trying despite the occasional lapses. It makes us human? I admire your will power and determination
I should note that I take vitamins, and minerals and supplements to support my health. In fact, I take pre-natal vitamins so I get more than enough nutrients, and take extra biotin and today I am going over to get fish oil capsules from my local health food store. Because I eat meat (fish, chicken, etc) every day at dinner, and a large variety of salads and veggies and I do consume fruit, olives, berries, nuts, lemons, avocados etc as well as cheese frequently, I don't feel like I'm missing too many important nutrients, I might be, but I don't feel like I am. There's no daily recommendation of sugar, or carbohydrates. ❀ But I feel amazing and my skin is glowing and my eyes are bright and I feel stronger than ever! ❀
For me, fasting got rid of inflammation, aches, pains, migraines, fibromyalgia (which I did have but not since the 11 day fast I did a few years back), IBS (reduced significantly- only have flare ups when under a lot of stress), and just the general depressing- I just can't do anything - too tired, too lazy and too achy feelings that I had been living with.
I've lost 35 pounds so far, and there's this beautiful, peaceful, relaxed, calm feeling that I have, and I feel so much healthier mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It's quite hard to put into words how completely different I feel.
But, listen to your body, that's all I really do. I really pay attention to how I feel after I eat something. I only eat in small amounts to give myself time to see how I feel, and I try to allow my body to completely digest everything and to not put any more food into my body until after it's had a good rest from the digestion.
I've tried a lot of diets in my lifetime. I've done many where I felt like I was starving, and sick the whole time, I have gone to the gym, and pushed myself, and I have done the protein shakes and smoothies and still,... the most success I have had, which is measured by not only how much weight I have lost but how easy it was and how good I felt was by not putting food in my mouth continually all day long. By stopping that, by cutting out carbs and sugars and giving my body a break from those things for extended periods of time, I have learned that this feels the most natural way to be.
I want to encourage you to find what feels right to you, and do that. Everyone needs to find what feels right for them. What is right for me, may not be right for everyone. I would never want to make someone feel that there's only one right way. You go to a book store and there are hundreds of books on weight loss, dieting, fasting, reversing type-2, etc.. every author found something that worked for them.
This is me, this is what works for me. This is the best I've ever felt. And, this has been since May 1st. Just over 3 months, and it's so easy for me, shouldn't getting healthy be easy, instead of hard? It's awesome.
By the way, last night at the movies I looked down at the skin on my hands, arms and legs and it was absolutely beautiful. It no longer looks dry and ashy and flakey, and it looked as if I had rubbed coconut oil all over my body and I had to stop and touch my skin and wonder "What lotion did I use today?" and I realized I hadn't put any lotion on my body, my skin is just so smooth now, and not itchy and flaky any more. For me, that's a sign! Whatever I am doing... it's working. Lustrous skin and hair and bright eyes just can't be if there is malnutrition or if I am somehow hurting myself.
I'm glowing.
Maybe it's the pre-natal vitamins... haha but whatever it is. It's happening and I'm happy and in love with my body for the first time in years.
You are right to do what works for you. Well done. I have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia too. I think it affects people so differently ? It is a bit of a catch all syndrome? I have experimented myself with fasting to reduce pain from inflammation? It does help. We try to find what helps. Through trial and error and persistence!
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