Day 7 - My 4th Day Fasting and Muscle Cramps

Whooooohoooo! I made it through a whole week of alternate day fasting. I wasn't sure if I could make it at some points. This diet is hard but it does seem to be getting easier on fasting days.

Today was pretty standard. I drank broth and tea, had a bit of coffee. Broke my fast in the evening at 5 pm. I had a lovely piece of chicken breast with Italian dressing, green beans and a small baked potato. Logged in at 525 calories. Then I had  2 pieces of gluten free bread and a banana. That put me up to 825 calories for the day. It seems to me that the 500 calorie goal is far too little since I am nowhere near normal body weight.

I also started having muscle pain and cramps. At first I though I pulled a muscle but I had to laugh at myself because I was doing situps when I pulled the muscle in my leg a few days ago. Today both my legs started to hurt. It felt like I was going to have a charlie horse. If you have ever had one then you know they are truely horrid.

I did a bit of poking around the internet and lo and behold lost of people who fast get muscle cramping. There are two camps of though on this A) that toxins are being released from the fat you are losing or B) there is a potassium deficentct causeing the cramps. I tend to believe the its potasium. Had a banana last night and they went away in a few hours.

Another symtom of this fast is acne. Yes, my chin is all broken out in nasty cystic acne. It hurts.

Day 6 - The 3rd Eating Day

Another day of food! I should be stoked to eat anything I want and as much as I want right? Tell that to my stomach. Today I had a sausage, scrambled egg and a rice tortilla. Then one bite (yep only one) of a banana. Lunch was a tortilla with a slice of cheese, a half cup of rice and a cup of curry. I ate the tortilla and about half of the curry. My original portion was 1/2 to a 1/3 or what I would have normally eaten and I could even finish it. I was so full I felt like my stomach was pushing up into my chest. It is pretty crazy how much your stomach can shrink in a few days.

I did have a piece of chocolate cake this afternoon. It was left over from baking on my last feed day. I wanted it and was really looking forward to eating it. For some reason at 7 pm I had no interest in eating. Duh, guess I should have skipped the cake for real food. Dinner happened at 8 pm, mostly because I didn't want to eat any later than that. I had a quesedilla with half a chicken breast and a nectarine. My goal was to have a salad but my hubby ate the salad at lunch. Grrr. Again even though my portion wasn't large, when I was done my stomach was over full.

I logged my calories at the end of the day just to have a look. I was under 2000 calories so with my last fasting day I average 1352 calories. I can hardly believe how consistent that the days are averaging out to with out any effort.

I got on the scale this morning and I am down 4.8 lbs since Day 3. I did not weight myself on the very first day I waited until I had one fast and one feed day under my belt. Honestly, I was afraid of the number and very relieved when I was what I thought it should be. 4.8 lbs in 4 days. I am amazed! I know it's inside of the first week but its very encouraging. I am going to try to weight myself every 3rd feed day first thing in the morning for consistency.

Wish me luck tomorrow. Hope I can make it through another fasting day. 

Days 4 and 5 - A Feed Day and a Fast Day

Feed days are easy. Fast days are hard.

I breezed through Day 4. I had scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast. Then for lunch I had french fries. My daughter and I made a cake. She has been harassing me about chocolate cake for days ever since she was other little kids make on the BBC. So we made it gluten free and it was pretty darn good. I had a decent dinner with a small serving mushroom pasta and salad, and small piece cake for dessert.

Could I have eaten more healthfully? Quite certainly but I really enjoy the idea of being able to have cake when it is there. Do I make cake often? No way. I also would make icing cause it's just sugar and fat and at that point in the day, after having french fries it wasn't going to happen. I also did not snack at all in the evening. I was so full from dinner that I did not want anymore, which was odd because I had the same portion size as my mother who is notorious for her small portions. It is also odd because snacking is my favorite past time in the evenings. Sometimes I can't even control myself. Usually, it means that  I have either eaten too many carbs in the day or I was trying to cut out calories I the days which made be go off the rails in the evening.  I also find it happens if my thyroid levels are out of whack (or I forgot to take my pills).

Roll forward to my 3rd Fast Day. Fast days are hard. The only thing that gets me though it is drinking broth and the knowledge that I can eat a decent meal for dinner and then eat all the next day. The funny thing is I don't eat all day the next day. I find I have been only eating 3 meals and no snacks.

I drank a lot of water and hibiscus tea on this fast day. Yes I could have drank green tea but I don't like it. I went to the bathrooom a million times. Probably every 30 minutes. I really struggled with not eating this fast day. I was convinced I was going to crack. My husband made curried paneer. It smelled amazing. I was consumed with the thought of food. I almost had myself convinced that I was going to break my fast early but I toughed it out till dinner time.   I did not have the curry, I though it best to save it for my eating day. I had pulled pork (hold the bun) with a large salad. After dinner I was feeling bloated and overly fully. Around 9 pm I was missing my old snacking habits. I wasn't hungry but I wanted to snack. I also knew I had gone over the 500 calories again. It seems I eat around 750 each fast day. I had another cup of chicken broth instead of completely ruining this diet experiment. This time I put a little curry powder in the chicken broth - PURE GENIUS.

Well, all in all I am enjoying the days I can eat regularly and I am not a fan of the fasting days. Hoping it gets easier as I go.