24 HOUR FAST (walking is no longer enough!)

(I've been Intermittent Fasting [IF] for over 12 months...read more)

(And here's a transcript of a talk on the subject I gave to my local humanism society recently - it contains pretty well all I've learned over the past year.)

Thursday 28th March I don't need to lose any more weight, so I'm practicing a form of 6:1 and a half. By which I mean one day a week I will fast for 24 hours then eat a normal meal, and on another day I'll fast for 24 hours then eat only 600 cals until the following morning.

I've just completed a 24 (nearly 25 hour) fast with only water and coffee - and, until I ate, I was absolutely buzzing.

I ran a 2 and a half hour teaching session this afternoon, then spent an hour and a half shopping - visiting 4 shops. As I went from shop to shop I found myself giving a little skip, then breaking into a jog - I had so much energy, that walking was no longer enough. Even with two heavy shopping bags, on the way back to the car, I gave a little skip, then jogged back to the car - about 300 yards away. I ran for 50 or so yards, walked a few paces, then broke into a jog again. I just couldn't contain myself. 

Another thing - I've now eaten my dinner (which consisted of a small glass of stout, 4 curried wedges, 3 large serving spoons of chilli, with a glass of wine, followed by mango and ice cream) and I'm absolutely stuffed. YET, with 95 calories left of my 600 calorie allocation, I'm casting around for something else to eat.

I'm coming round to the conclusion that it would be better to carry on the complete fast until the following morning, because I wasn't in the slightest bit hungry when I ate. I already know that not eating breakfast and lunch is the best way for me to go for 24 hours - eating 3 small meals just causes me to feel hungry all the time. I'm certain I could go the whole day without the 600 calories and then just eat normally on the next day.

Friday 5th April

I'm planning a new routine for fasting this coming week. My normal routine is a 24 hour fast on one day and eating my 600 calories for dinner - followed a couple of days later by a 24 hour fast and a normal dinner.

But this week I intend to combine the two - so that I'll start fasting on Sunday evening at 6.00pm, say, then I'll fast all day Monday and go straight into a mini-fast on Tuesday. So I'll be going 48 hours with just 600 cals.

This should make it a bit easier on the organisational front - I'll only have to make sure I have the one early dinner in the week, rather than two.

Wednesday 11th April
I found doing my 6:1 and a mini-fast on consecutive days very doable, and I'll probably continue like this for a while.

The only downside was that, after a 24 hour fast on the Monday I could only manage about 22 hours on the Tuesday. But that's no big deal in the great scheme of things. 

I must admit I'm enjoying having 5 continuous days of eating normally - haven't done that since I began over a year ago!

Went a bit mad with my lentil and potato curry (the ultimate comfort food!) with some wine late yesterday evening - but, to make up for it, I fasted all day up until 7.30, so no harm done.

And I have to admit, I was feeling pretty 'high' whilst fasting - it's a great feeling!

Thursday 12th April

Reflecting over my attack of evening munchies the other day, it really was a win-win situation. I thoroughly enjoyed my late night snack - and then I thoroughly enjoyed fasting the next day!