The FastDay Forum

Aaarrrrggghhhh having a major sugar craving day, and I think that if I don't indulge it to some extent, it will only get worse. I haven't had much in the way of sugar now for quite some time, but just occasionally I know that things are in a bad way!! I know we all get those, most of the time I can overcome it, but today it is monstrous and may need feeding, just to pacify it!
#justsaying.......!!!!

Any dark chocolate or almond bark in that little fridge of yours?

[Debs]

Dark chocolate, but it won't fill that sugar hole! Found some rice pudding, so that may do it.

[Debs]

So, I succumbed to my sugar craving and had my sugar for dinner. Got it out of my system and successfully fasted today. Slightly over the 500, but that's ok, I'll take it after yesterday.
Back on the fat fast tomorrow as I managed to get some cream cheese which is quite a feat where I am! Still missing my avocadoes though!!
How is everyone else going?

I made this on Sunday and just had to share! It was delicious, even my OH loved it who is a self confessed carb-aholic! He told all his tradie mates about it at work the next day, took it in to work the day after, they all tried it and loved it!
I'm sure it might have been posted before but it's so good that, if so, it needs to be posted again!
http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2014/05/07 ... ower-mash/
I also made zucchini (courgette to you pommies) pasta the other day - so yummy!!

I'm definitely going to try that kelkester.yum!
I'm going good @DebsI do a normal 500 calorie fast on Mondays the a 800 calorie fat fast on Wednesday and Thursdays ( I chose 800 insteadof 1000 calories as this is half of my tdee and I don't find it too hard). Not sure if weight is shifting but I've been getting a few comments that I have lost more weight and I feel a bit less around the tummy area. I have a wedding in 3&1/2 weeks so I'm motivated to keep on track as the dress I bought is nice but will look better if there's less gut there. Today I an having 4x 200 calorie Mimi meals breaky- 1 egg ,1 egg yolk,1tsp butter lightly scrambled. , lunch 30 grams macadamia nuts, same again for afternoon tea, the same egg thing that I had for breakfast for dinner.
Xxx julianna

Woops I've been eating pre measured packs of 30 grams of macadamia nuts when I should have been doing 20 grams.when its 100 calories approximately for every 10 grams I'm glad I found out now. There is pityfully little in the pack for 20 grams! So tomorrow for lunch I've cut up 60 grams of brie instead. Yum!

I guess I belong in this tent for now. I have started a new regimen, inspired by two forum veterans ,@carieoates and @rawkaren. I am going alcohol-free for the month of November as part of my plan to be more moderate in my overall consumption. And thanks to Karen, I discovered the "No Fail Fat Burning for Women" by Skye St. John. The author is adamant about going alcohol-free for the 21 day program so I thought, now is the time. I know Karen was not happy with her ultimate result but I want to give it a go. It is very Atkins-like with ultra- low carb, high fat. It doesn't specifically comment on protein but based on info here, I am trying to keep it moderate. I had purple pee yesterday!
I was a bit scared about stopping 5:2 as I have had success over the past year but have been stalled just short of my goal for months. This is actually a version of 16:8 although you do have bulletproof coffee in the morning which has a lot of calories. I am on day 5 of 21 and have lost 3.5 lb.

I know it is early days and I don't think I can continue it forever (unlike 5:2, which I think I can) but will continue and let you know how it goes.

@judithn. Glad this is helping you and great job so far on your change of regime . Be interesting to see how you go after your 10 day carb depletion phase. I was happy with the percentage body fat loss but not weight. I'm not on the protocol at the moment as I have just had my saliva tests results back and need to regroup on whether this might be doing me more harm than good. Stay tuned and do keep us posted.

For those of you who are interested in the complexities of low carb and cholesterol, I found this site really interesting. http://bjjcaveman.com/2013/03/14/the-ef ... ol-part-2/

@judithn. I have just had my saliva tests results back and need to regroup on whether this might be doing me more harm than good.

@rawkaren, ignore this if it's intrusive - I was wondering if the saliva tests were for cortisol etc.? And if the result was interesting enough to suggest an explanation for your weight stability?

@judithn. I have just had my saliva tests results back and need to regroup on whether this might be doing me more harm than good.

@rawkaren, ignore this if it's intrusive - I was wondering if the saliva tests were for cortisol etc.? And if the result was interesting enough to suggest an explanation for your weight stability?

@ssure. I will try and answer your question, but the truth is I don't know! However there are some clues as to why my weight is not going down and even gaining whilst fasting with low carb. Here is the readout.

First I decided to do the tests because the low carb diet was giving me palpitations and I started not to feel great. The brain fog disappeared, but I never got the great feeling that others have on low carb - nor the weight loss! What did not help me is that I 'remembered' that I have an egg sensitivity from an IgE test from years ago and I had been mainlining duck eggs as part of the keto diet!

My cortisol reading was low. Low cortisol is consistent with adrenal exhaustion and potential links to hypothyroidism. However I have read somewhere that a keto diet can temporarily push you that way. So despite carb cycling, it may go some way to explain why I was not losing weight (and continue not to).

In tandem, my DHEA-S was higher than expected, but only slightly. This was a surprise and whilst this is a good thing when you are younger (and a sign of youthfulness), I understand that it could be a sign of insulin resistance in older people.

So where I am confused is that the ratio of highish DHEA-S to low cortisol seems a little unusual and I can find no real studies apart from in post traumatic stress disorder candidates! I also don't know if cortisol drives DHEA-S or the other way around. I'm not a medic and I'm careful not to self diagnose. I'm just very interested in solving my problem.

On other numbers, my estrogen is low-normal and progesterone is high (I take a topical 'natural' cream). My testosterone is slightly higher than normal but I think this might be driven by the DHEA-S. However my libido is non existent -

So where am I now? I'm going to get a second opinion when I'm back in California. I'm lucky to live in an area where there are both endocrinologists and naturopaths who will re-run all bloods and saliva tests. I want to do this when I'm not low carbing to the extent that I was. I probably also need to think about my supplements. For example I take D3 which I guess can be classified as a hormone. My preference is a naturopath as they will probably suggest more holistic therapies rather than an endocrinologist who will probably go down a conventional route.
So for now, IF, caffeine and VLC are all contra-indicated, so I have decided just to eat normally whilst I'm in the UK and withdraw from coffee. However after 18 months of fasting, I think I'm going to find it very hard indeed to break the habit.
Any and all insights welcome! Thanks for asking Oh and @peebles, I have no doubt you have great insight into this. Be grateful for your words of wisdom.

[carieoates]

It would be very interesting Karen to see if by eating "normally" you reset something,
Basic 5.2 maybe a possibility of a 16.8 eating window.
Luckily, I've not had to take any supplements yet of any kind. Don't even take a multi vitamin,
It's safe to say that our appetites are different after fasting, so maybe a little way hey will do you some good.

@carieoates. Am going to take a break from fasting and just continue to calorie count (which I do anyway). It's the only thing I have not tried. Counterintuitive I know, but am now getting thoroughly fed up. It's been almost a year now

I can't believe that this tent has been quiet for almost a month, so I thought I would post a picture of my home made grass fed burgers. I had to order the beef online in the UK as I can't get it in the supermarkets like I can in the US. The burgers have a blend of salt, black and white pepper, paprika, dried onion, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Freezer now stocked!

*Tumbleweed rolls across the road* stopped by the beautifully shod foot of Karen! @Rawkaren
Have you tried Ceylon cinnamon? Been reading about it's amazing properties and wondered whether to find some, looks like a web only job.