erikahollister's Journal, 03 Jul 23

Good luck you gals. Well, not luck. God bless you, that's better! I average about 16 hours daily. Today is 20, but am having a rough day today. Plus my blood pressure is weird. Sometimes 90, sometimes near 180.  

And a reset from a diet that may be too high in salt 

@Snowwhite Thank you! Blood pressure (and glucose levels) tend to drop when fasting and/or eating keto. Be careful with those meds. 💜 

@Kenna Salt is actually a good, important nutrient especially when fasting or on keto. It has caught a bad rap for years instead of the real culprit, sugar. 

Reporting on the "check in" post... 38 hours in & feeling FANTASTIC!!! Weighed in this morning. Down 2.6 lbs, but not going to record until the end of the fast. I'll record the total lose all together then. My son and his gf went to the store and bought stuff to make spaghetti about 8 pm last night & cooked it in my kitchen. The spaghetti didn't interest me at all, but they sautéed the onions & bell peppers first. Boy, that sure smelled good 😆. I had nowhere to run, because my niece was also here visiting, so I couldn't just up & leave, etc. I just stayed focused & determined, and became uninterested. Hope you ladies are doing well! 💜 

Zen! Good job on making it past the smell of cooking onions, that is my drool point. My post office is right next door to a lovely hispanic family with 5 kids, my rear windows face their home and when she starts cooking OMG! Some days I go to the window and simply stand there and inhale! As a native Texan, Mexican food is my favorite, closely followed by my hubbys family cooking Cajun. They all use cooked onions and to me it means the beginnings of something that tastes awesome! 

@Deb... Yes, ma'am! I'm the same way! I could eat sautéed onions right by themselves! Normally, I even raw onions on just about everything. Raw onions & cilantro is banging on a salad. Love Mexican, Cajun, and just good ole plain Southern cooking.  

40 hours fasted. Feeling good. Not hungry. About half way. Mowed 5 yards yesterday on my rider. 

@Erika GREAT JOB!!! 🙂 It was extremely hot here yesterday, so I really didn't get out. I had planned on going into the pool with the grandson yesterday evening, but I let something get in my way. I'm going to try to make that a daily activity though. 

You are rocking it Erika!!! Keep it going! 

Thanks, ladies. The scale's not moving much, but I've been drinking a lot of water with salty electrolytes. I am getting some ketones (2.1), to that's a sign that there's some fat burning going on, and at this point, one hopes, some autophagy. 

That's a good sign, Erika! 👍I'm not really into testing ketones these days, because I can taste/smell them...lol. Do you weigh first thing in the morning? I've found that works best for me. I have 2 teaspoons of salt in my water in the mornings, and that's about it. 

47 hours in and absent of cravings, thankfully. Am breaking fast tomorrow morning at 67 hours. Hubby went to 4 grocery stores to find sauerkraut. Apparently, it's trendy now 😅  

I read a lot of people here writing about fasting and it is clear that most have not done much reading up on the subject. Fasting for women is different than for men. There are guidelines for breaking a fast and subsequent meals that seem pretty important in my way of thinking. And yes, fasting, if you don’t know what you are doing can be very dangerous. IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF NOT EATING.  

Breaking at 48, ladies. I've got some good 🐂 over there waiting on me. Like I said, I want to test out my tweak so badly. ...and there will only be a few days to test it before July 9. 

Kenna, I'm not breaking fast with saurkraut, although it would not be a problem for me to break a 60+ hour fast with saurkraut. There is a small group of people here who support one another's choice to fast for weight loss and improved health. All of us posting in this thread have learned about fasting through books, articles, lectures, discussion panels and casual information. What causes your concern that "it is clear that most have not done much reading up on the subject?" 

I've been fasting every other day for months. Dr. Boz on YouTube is big on sardine fasts. Sardines have been a great addition to the current way I'm doing keto/carnivore, Dr. Boz says you should use sardines as a metric for how hungry you actually are, i.e., if you're hungry enough that sardines don't sound too bad, then go for it. I've stretched 24 hour fasts into 36 and 48 hours on several occasions pretty effortlessly.  

Great job Zenus! Keto on! Phil, yes, sardines have been a good addition to my diet. They are so densely nutrient that they really kill hunger for a long time. Nice to have you back here! And Kenna, it takes a lot of research for me, before I feel confident stepping into fasting. I've done a lot of reading and have many fasts under my belt. I'm not sure why you would assume that people are not taking care to educate themselves. 

@ Lady D. I'm liking sauerkraut too, It makes a good condiment for my steaks! :-) Congrats on the successful fasting!  

@phil, I would fast for QUITE A WHILE if I had to break with sardines...lol. I know about all the benefits, but...umm um...lol. Now, I could do canned salmon or jack mackerel...lol. I've been doing a little fasting off & on. The longest fast I have done has been 91 hours.