When people asked what I was planning to do and eat at Christmas, they were mostly shocked at my response. My partner and I had planned to do a three day “water only” fast from 23rd – 25th December.
I have written elsewhere on my blog about the process of doing a prolonged fast. It most definitely isn’t for everyone! This is the third time I’ve undertaken a prolonged fast since 2021, two 3 day fasts and one 4 day fast.
I have found it useful to keep a daily diary of how I feel each day and we routinely keep a check on blood sugar reading (blood finger prick test) and ketone levels (also a blood finger prick test).
The aim of the fast is to get your body rapidly into ketosis – and then through carefully restricting carbohydrates, maintain that state for as long as possible.
The aim of fasting for me is enjoy the health benefits of autophagy.
As I’ve written previously about the actual process of the fast, I’m concentrating in this post on the physical effects of my fast – in my experience this has been very different each time. I’ve also shared what I ate when ending the fast, as we attempted to keep our carbohydrate intake to around 20g per day. You can read more about that here.
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Saturday 23rd December
Woke about 8am, feeling energetic and positive.
Blood finger prick test done. 2 x cups of green tea, one tulsi and 1 Qi detox.
Usual exercise – ball bouncing 8,000 steps, 1,300 calories. Felt ok.
Around 2.30pm started to feel colder and tired and started yawning. I made my way upstairs at about 3pm as I was feeling cold, physically tired (both side effects of fasting) and wanted to watch a film but my partner couldn’t decide on one. Got into bed with the electric blanket on and watched two films. Lights off at 9pm, slept well until about 7.30am.
Partner woke about 4.30am and got up – he was full of beans (I wasn’t).
Sunday 24th December
Woke about 7.30am, feeling ok, but less energetic than usual.
Blood and ketone tests done. 1 x cup tulsi and 1 Qi detox.
Usual exercise – ball bouncing 8,000 steps, 1,300 calories. Felt ok.
Monday 25th December
Bit of a struggle today and I didn’t come downstairs all day. Felt very fatigued. Watched a lot of TV. Didn’t do any exercise.
At night time, slept quite poorly, tossed and turned, aching kidneys. But apparently according to my FitBit “slept” over 6 hours and I didn’t feel too tired the next day.
Tuesday 26th December
Enjoyed breakfast and coming out of the fast. My usual cup of tea (Earl Grey) tasted pretty awful!
Surprisingly after not eating for three days, there is no desperate urge to eat food. After the first 24 hours without eating, hunger pains vanish and I just don’t miss food at all. No hunger pangs and no yearning need to eat.
The day seems to last forever without the routine of planning, preparing, eating meals and the tidying up afterwards!
As advised, I limited calories to 446 and attempted to keep my carbohydrate intake to below 20g – which is quite a challenge! Full fat cottage cheese, kefir, half avocado, mixed berries, a coffee, 1 x tea with semi-skimmed milk.
25g carbs, 446 cals, 389 exercise cals
Wednesday 27th December
Still in ketosis. We travelled to Stratford to collect my Mum who had been spending Christmas with my sister. We went armed with full fat cottage cheese and half an apple to eat when there (apples are surprisingly carb loaded).
Ate half an avocado and 100ml of kefir before we left. Then half avocado and 50g of sauerkraut when we got home.
20.3g carbs, 580 cals, 363 exercise cals
Thursday 28th December
Good sleep, woke at 4.45am (both of us). Feeling full of energy and ready to get up. Started work on a batch of bone broth and a slow cooker beef casserole. The bone broth needed cooking on the stove top for over 8 hours so it meant an early start.
I also made a batch of celeriac mash and prepared some Brussel sprouts. I am planning to do my usual exercise tomorrow and laying off the cooking – we have plenty of food to enjoy.
Interestingly, my pain (which had got quite bad in my knees recently) is so much better. I will monitor as may be coincidental.
34.4g carbs, 1187 calories, exercise calories 1,256
Friday 29th December
Good sleep, woke 6.30am, feeling refreshed (7+ hours sleep). Still in ketosis. As we are at home today, I planned the days menu more carefully so as to ensure minimum carb consumption.
Did my usual exercise session. Energy levels were good. Pain had subsided. Made a batch of celeriac remoulade. Dinner was steak with a creamy mushroom and mustard sauce which was heavenly!
Drank a bottle of kombucha before bedtime, which bumped up my carbs by 9.1g!! Lesson learned.
27.7g carbs, 1184 calories, exercise calories 1096
Saturday 30th December
Not a great night as awake for 2.5 hours in the middle of the night. Not feeling too tired this morning though….
Still in good ketosis – (2.2) We received a surprise invitation to dinner tonight, a paneer curry – so this may push me out of it! I have chosen to be the designated driver and will go easy on rice or dessert.
Discovered avocado olive oil, soured cream mashed together – makes a lovely salad dressing.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring with eating out tonight and no control over what will be on offer…..
139.4 carbs, 1828 calories, exercise calories 1067
Sunday 31st December
Amazing sleep – 7 hours 42 mins and an hour and a half deep sleep, Score 91. Even more surprisingly, I appear to have got away with still being in ketosis – 5.6 (moderate level)
Enjoyed a lovely meal last night, it was made by someone who was vegetarian. No alcohol consumed and managed to avoid the nibbles on offer. We ate various veggie curries, rice and chapati and a very sugary dessert – profiteroles with a chocolate mousse.
Dinner this evening was just too fatty/greasy for me – sea bass fillet with keto cauliflower cheese (cheese, soft cheese, butter, double cream)
Drank kombucha before bed (9.6g of carbs)
34.8 carbs, 1611 calories, exercise calories 909
Monday 1st January
Lack of sleep due to seeing in the New Year but also woken with an early morning text from my daughter.
Did my exercise. Still in ketosis!
Quiet day at home. Lunch was smoked salmon and scrambled egg followed by half a grapefruit, which was lovely and refreshing. Dinner was steak with mushrooms, red onion, red pepper, courgette.
34.4 carbs, 774 calories, 1007 exercise
Tuesday 2nd January
Had trouble getting to sleep but then slept solidly for about 6 hours! One big chunk of sleep without waking. But little deep sleep. Woke 6.30am.
Still in ketosis – 5.4
Did exercise in 2 sessions as Sam was working with me in morning. Bounced whilst talking to my sister. Dinner was chicken parmigiana cooked in the air fryer served with cauliflower rice and soured cream. Surprisingly delicious.
39.8 carbs, 983 calories, 998 exercise
Wednesday 3rd January
Slept well. One big chunk of sleep without waking. But little deep sleep.
Up and exercised, still in ketosis (5.0)
Bit of a slip with a nutty Kind bar during the afternoon, but not bad as almost 2 weeks with absolutely no treats or snacks! Didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I might though.
Ate an apple late at night.
54.9 carbs, 1078 calories, 1142 exercise
Thursday 4th January
Ketosis level 0.8
Sleep was ok. Went into town and got soaked in a rain storm. Could have murdered a slice of Dundee cake with a cuppa when we got back, but resisted. No keto strips to test tomorrow. Have ordered more for delivery tomorrow.
Friday 5th January
Decent enough sleep. Wasn’t able to do a keto reading until the afternoon as we were waiting on a delivery of keto strips. Did my exercise session.
Still in ketosis. 1.3 (so better than yesterday)
Sister was here. Made curried parsnip soup which is high in carbs.
44.3 carbs, 1185 calories, 1524 exercise
Saturday 6th January
Slept well, still in ketosis 6.4. Probably out tomorrow. Ate my first bread – toasted bagel thin, slice of toast and breadcrumb topping on a celeriac and parsnip bake. Made 2 x cauliflower cheeses and made a parsnip and celeriac bake in readiness for this evening (with salmon fillets and tender stem broccoli). I’ve enjoyed the task of finding foods which will fill us without overloading on the carbohydrates.
144.2 carbs, 1934 calories, 1488 exercise
Sunday 7th January
Out of ketosis, well and truly. 19.3 GKI. My carbs were 144.2g yesterday (bread, bagel thin, Florentines, parsnip and celeriac bake (breadcrumb topping) and Bombay mix (40g of which = 20g carbs!)
Here’s ’til the next Fast!