u/its_hammertime

is this one of the things that fasting can help with?

I have a uterine polyp that the fertility doctor is telling me I need to get surgically removed. I’m new to extended fasting, but it just occurred to me that I might be able to fast it away?

I’ve only ever done five days, but I might have time to do a seven day fast before the ultrasound to check to see if it’s still there.

is it possible this could work or would I be wasting the effort? TIA

Hey all!

I'm on my third day of fasting and it is way easier than my first 36hr I posted a month ago. I hadn't been able to do 24+ since then, but I practiced IF doing 16-20 hrs a day. This helped build the fasting muscle for sure, so I planned on doing a 24 hr but have kept going since I haven't felt the need to eat.

Also I've been eating keto w/ high protein for 6 weeks but not really feeling great on it. Ketone levels were never high based on ketomojo tests until Day 2 of my fast. This morning I had a GKI of 0.5! I am hoping this sped up the fat-burning adaptation and when I get back to eating keto I'll feel better.

Anyway I wanted to share a few things that have helped me with my fast this time:

• stayed away from my kitchen, where I normally over-eat
• took a tbsp of olive oil with my multivitamins on day 2 (otherwise they make me gag)
• seeing my ketomojo show deep ketosis was really motivating to keep going
• Couldn't sleep at all the first night, what made me finally knock out was taking a shot of olive oil w/ salt and then listening to a podcast to help me drift off to sleep
• Second night I made a 'broth'. A cup of boiled water with a dose of salt and a sprinkle of each: garlic powder, onion powder, fennel seeds, turmeric powder, dried oregano. And then listened to a podcast again. Paying attention to the words helped occupy my mind and it helped me drift into sleep. It worked, but also I was exhausted from not sleeping the previous night.
• Sleeping with an eye mask makes a huge difference to block out all light
• My garmin watch tracking tells me that eating late at night poorly affects sleep, but I used to looove eating at night. I ate right up until bedtime before IF. I slowly shifted my IF window earlier, trying to stop eating at 6-7 pm. So during the fasting day if I can make it to 7 pm I know I'm good bc I don't want to eat later than that and poorly affect my sleep. Eventually I would love to stop eating at 5pm, however that means I won't be able to have dinner w/ anyone, so I'll probably maintain a flexible schedule long term.
• very much agree w/ all the don't trust a fart advice, wowzers
• only drank tea and water w/ salt, no premixed electrolytes, coffee, carbonated waters or sweeteners

I'm meeting a friend tomorrow, not sure if I want to break the fast for that or be awkward and tell her I don't want to eat anything. But it would be nice to keep going and test my limits while I still feel really good!

what are you all drinking that’s yummy?

lately I’ve been making a “hot cocoa”

w ginger powder, cocoa powder and salt. no sweetener, sometimes i add chili flakes

what are you all drinking?

I'm on day 3 of no caffeine and I think I broke through the worst of it. Feeling happier today. Just wanted to celebrate. I quit successfully last year but something about vacation just screams coffee to me so I fell back on.

Hopefully I will abstain for a year this time.

most days it’s the same but a few days are higher and lower. a few days being lower I can see by not wearing my watch or something. does anyone know why this would be?

Hey everyone I’m not sure where to post this, but just something on my mind lately.

I’ve already given up a lot of my vices. I stopped drinking years ago, not really into tv any more, just gave up social media, trying not to be a crazy spender/shopper. My last addiction is sugar and food.

but without all of these I feel like I’m so boring. What’s next? What do I do with myself. I think this is why food is so hard for me to conquer. I’m not sure what else to do.

Has anyone gone through this phase? What are you spending your time on?

I love visiting supermarkets and checking out the tinned fish variety! I just splurged on a 14.99 can of mackerel, really intrigued to see what an expensive can is going to taste like...

But anyway during my adventures today I saw for the first time, canned cod liver!

Does anyone eat this instead of supplementing fish oil? I can't stand fish oil supplements, they're all fishy and rancid tasting, but cod liver was delicious! I'm so shocked that it took me so long to discover this. If you like the taste of liver, you should like canned cod liver too!

I really didn't think I would be able to make it to 36 hours but I am about two hours away from finishing my first 36h water fast.

Here are my thoughts about it:

1. I was the one that posted last week about not being able to sleep unless I feel full. I forced myself to stay in bed, played my rain white noise and eventually I fell asleep hungry a few times this week. I realized that I was using food to induce that 'sleepiness' coma feeling. I feel like I sleep much more lightly right now, probably adjusting, but I don't necessarily feel more tired. I think that 'deep sleep' feeling I had was just a food coma. Sleeping hungry is not as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part about it is the feeling of hunger before sleeping but I can move past it and fall asleep eventually.
2. I'm a snacker and a grazer so it has been a complete overhaul of habits and dealing with boredom and random urges to eat. It's been simpler to say no to everything than to debate with myself over and over throughout the day (sometimes I work in a kitchen). I am curious to see if it will carry over on my eating days. Dr. Fung says no snacking, so I want to carry this habit on and only eat at meal times.
3. I was so productive. Holy cow. In order to occupy my mind and not think about food, I had to do something. I checked several items off of my to-do-soon list that had been on there for weeks. The free time from not eating, and not being sleepy after eating is incredible.
4. It really really helps me get through the fast by listening to audiobooks about fasting and reading other people's stories, hence I wanted to share mine too.
5. I'm only about 10 lbs away from my goal, maybe even less. By my estimations that may take 15-20 36hr fasting days to get there. That seems so much simpler and easier to do rather than calorie counting for several months. I know the last 10 lbs is a mental game and this approach seems so much more freeing and achievable for me. Calorie counting has always had a negative appeal. My goal finally seems doable.
6. Like I said earlier I'm a grazer. I have felt hunger the entire 36 hr fast. I have learned to ride the waves, but I have yet to feel that 'no hunger' feeling that a lot of people have spoken about. Probably because I am new to fasting. But I am interested in learning what that feels like and hopefully can achieve that soon.
7. I'm in the latter half of my menstrual cycle and it's not recommended to fast too long here. I was interested in pushing myself further and seeing if I could do 48hr water fast, but instead of that I am thinking I will have two cans of sardines today, hopefully extend autophagy a little bit and then a normal day on Friday.

Thanks for the support in this subreddit! It's been really helpful to get through the first 36. I am looking forward to the journey now :)