Has it been 8.4 days Already? Has it been 8.4 days Already?
Has it been 8.4 days Already? 
Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,825
Ok, yes we have reached 8.4 days. Seems it went by pretty quickly and easily. Mostly i have felt quite good with only occasional feelings of weakness. A more refined report on light headedness is that when i go from laying down or tying a shoe to the upright position too quickly, i get light headed. When i am sitting and then stand, i can do this quickly and without caution. Still no sign of heartburn, which is really nice. Strangely and surprisingly i woke up this morning with the slightest headache (after 8 days with no such symptom). It is so mild as to not even be the least bit of an annoyance, but somehow i felt it to be worthy of mention... even if only because i found it to be so unexpected 
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The light exercise continues nicely. Yesterday i was hiking in the forest, took one wrong turn on the way back and ended up hiking for about 4 hours instead of the 2 i intended... meanwhile with a growing thirst. Taking it very easy on the uphills, prefering not to encounter them, but to no avail ;). Since i was planning on only two hours, i drank a small surplus of water before leaving and didn't bring any with me, so i was NICE AND THIRSTY by the time i got home. I can't recall an instance where water was quite so eagerly anticipated and so immensely satisfying .
The deep pain in my left ankle is not fully recovered but is feeling quite a bit better. The very mild headache i woke up with is already gone. The tiny growth under my left eye "grows tinier". Seems to be one of the tougher types of growths for the body to absorb as discussed by Shelton or it would have been completely gone by now.
Hunger: To review, i was not feeling much hunger sensation in the first 1.75 days (which is unusual). That 2nd evening, however, i was hit pretty hard with appetite, which persisted for about 4 hours before i went to sleep. Over the next 3 days appetite was pretty mild, but would arise frequently for short periods. By about day 6 to present, physical appetite has been all but absent with very little exception.
However, within this absense of physical hunger i was watching a couple of nature shows last night. Grizzly bears were eating salmon that were swimming upstream as they were leaping up a small waterfall. In the other program there were a billion (yes a billion!) sardines migrating and dolphins and a certain species of diving bird were waiting for them... watching this i was overcome by the strongest emotional craving for sardines!... all with no feeling of physical hunger :). This lead to a strong craving for nuts as well.
This was my strongest temptation so far, but i focused on my desire to reach the 20-30 day goal. It's not like i could eat the foods i craved anyway (needing to gradually work towards them over several days), so this provides an added layer of protection against a premature breaking of the fast.
Once i feel this strong of a craving (and not before), it helps me to take in the aromas of food. So i opened up a can of sardines and poured some mixed nuts and a little piece of the sardines into small containers and enjoyed whiffing them for about a half hour 
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So i will continue one day at a time, enjoying each day as much as possible and i hope soon to have achieved my 20-30 day goal... and once again i would be immensely delighted to encounter "a return to genuine hunger" within that timeframe.
Oh, i almost forgot the weight log.
Weight log at 8.4 days:
Scale weight and "estimated real weight" upon start of fast: 192
Scale weight today: 174.25
Estimated real weight today: 184.4
Overall weight loss (which still means nothing to me): 17.75
Estimated real weight loss (fat loss): 7.6
Estimated temporary weight loss, water, intestinal content and other (i consider the small amount of protein i am losing as temporary as well, expecting to put back double that amount within a very short time upon refeeding): 10.15
Today i found myself reaching the mini goal of 185 real pounds. The next mini goal of 180 is 6 days away. The body fat is melting away quickly 
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Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,707
Hey there Archus,
Yeah, the 4 hours was accidental. I turned the wrong way in the forest and was lost . I am making every effort to keep the exercise light, dramatically lighter than when i am eating. When i ascend a hill (which i prefer to avoid as much as possible), i take it very slow and keep my heart rate under 65% of max. Sometimes that means taking ten steps and holding back, just to let my heart keep calm. Mostly i have just been walking an hour in the morning and another hour at sunset.
Scale weight is just what the scale reads and estimated real weight (my own term, not anything established) is my starting weight minus only the estimated fat i burned. A lot of that scale weight consists only of temporary losses, most especially a lot of water and a reasonable amount of intestinal contents. By the end of this fast i will expect to have about 15 pounds of temporary loss that will be back on my body 3 weeks after breaking the fast, eating light and healthy.
Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Willowley
15 y
1,641
Hi Mighty Sun,
I really enjoyed reading your post. You are doing great and I'm sure in part its due to eating all that healthy nutritious food before the fast.
"Once i feel this strong of a craving (and not before), it helps me to take in the aromas of food. So i opened up a can of sardines and poured some mixed nuts and a little piece of the sardines into small containers and enjoyed whiffing them for about a half hour ."
How funny you are Mighty LOL. I love this, sardines and mixed nuts. Tell me, could you actually smell the nuts over the almost overpowering smell of the sardines? 
I wouldn't think you could ha ha.
Anyway I know you'll reach your goal, I wish you smooth sailing from here on.
Willow
EDIT: I bet next time you go hiking you'll take a bottle of water huh? Glad you made it out of the woods.
Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,648
Hi Willow :),
"I really enjoyed reading your post. You are doing great and I'm sure in part its due to eating all that healthy nutritious food before the fast."
Thank you. I agree with you that this is the key also.
"How funny you are Mighty LOL. I love this, sardines and mixed nuts. Tell me, could you actually smell the nuts over the almost overpowering smell of the sardines? I wouldn't think you could ha ha."
Interestingly, of the two i enjoyed the smell of the nuts more. I haven't eaten out of a can in well over 100 days and with the sardines i actually smelled "can". Otherwise the sardines smelled ok, but not nearly as great as i expected.
"Anyway I know you'll reach your goal, I wish you smooth sailing from here on."
Thank you for your vote of confidence. I do hope so. It's really going well so far to be sure.
"I bet next time you go hiking you'll take a bottle of water huh? Glad you made it out of the woods."
Yes, i was overconfident that i knew this fairly unfamiliar terrain better than i did. Carrying water is my new policy unless i know the area very well .
Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,639
Hi Jean,
"congratulations mighty, sounds like you're doing great."
Thank you very much .
"I had to laugh about your wrong turn. (sorry:)) I did the same thing when taking a hike around the airport. There were two different trails, one 12 miles and the other around 16, and I somehow got on the longer of the two. I only had enough water for the shorter trail so I ran out with about 2 miles to go, which is normally not a big deal but it was one of the hottest days of the summer - around 102 degrees. By the time I was finished I seriously thought I was going to pass out..."
haha, i was actually lost . I had taken the path once before, so i was sure i knew the way. A few seconds of not paying attention could come at a high cost. I still don't know what happened. Perhaps i will go back in the next few days and see where i could have messed up. Decided hereforth when hiking in unfamiliar areas to take a little backpack thingy and carry water and a book .
Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,688
Hi Trimnut,
"Well done Mighty. A fine post... Best of luck with your progress. You would appear to have it well under control."
Thank you ;).
"Sardines are wonderful an important and occasional indulgence for me. The fresher the better."
I should like to seek these out in fresh form, especially since i no longer eat from cans. They are easy to find?
"Amused by your mental progression to nuts and your ability to let all that musing go."
The temptation to break the fast was furious, but in this case my desire to reach goal was too strong an enemy ;).
"It is a nuisance having to "budget" you energy and then mucking it up. For me the most difficult thing about my fast. I enjoy physical work and lots of it. I don't like my current lack of real energy."
I am excited to get that back too, perhaps more than i have had since i was 18. What would really be great would be to exceed my physical well being at the age of 18... and i believe this is actually possible at 47, building from a perfectly cleansed and restored body.
"I am on day 12 and so far no issues bar energy. Except this curios phenomena: My saliva is back to normal, my tongue virtually clear, Breathe back to normal, skin has lost any pallor. But as yet no decided hunger pangs. Just occasional thoughts and short under two minute "pangs". Does anyone have any thoughts?"
Congratulations on your day 12! Interesting positive symptoms. I wonder if perhaps you are getting close to "genuine hunger".
"I have the start of what I set out to do: reduce my Blood pressure to where I want it and set a platform to reform my eating habits. I look forward to the diet work I now need to do carefully and slowly. I am still working through and understanding where I may have been wrong in the past. Mainly fine tuning I suspect."
These are such good goals. In my opinion, deciding in the midst of a fast that you will emerge healthy and how you will proceed with this is half the battle.
"Mighty Sun Tzu if you are a reader Wole Soyinka's short story would be a fine addition to your literary experiences. A short purely personal account of "The Art of Fasting"."
"The Art of Fasting" . I am going to the library today. I plan to check out various books on fasting. Seems unlikely they will have this (it's kind of a small library), but if they do i will get it... it sounds great.
Re: Has it been 8.4 days Already? Mighty.Sun.Tzu
15 y
1,688
Hi Chrisb1,
"great post. I do love to read personal accounts as they go along their fasting journey."
Thank you. I really enjoy reading the accounts of others as well, yours being one of the most excellent of all with the elimination of lieukemia .
"BTW. Shelton did recommend mild exercise for fasters if one of their main goals was weightloss."
I was really interested to see in "soil" where Shelton stated that fasters grow stronger and stronger as they approach 20 days (something i personally don't feel within my own body), another guy who during his fast challenged a reporter to a race (and won) (again, i have actually tried high intensity cardio in a fast and it didn't agree with my body)... and the super strength of one or more individuals while fasting including one guy who set all kinds of strength records, i believe 9 days into a fast (again, when i try to lift a 50 pound bag of cement in a fast, it feels foolhardy, not to mention heavier than when i am eating). http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020127shelton.III/020127.ch16.htm But i can say from personal account that walking 2 hours per day (or even longer if i was to choose this) feels very good for me, well within my limitations, not at all exhausting and i believe that it keeps me feeling better and stronger throughout the fast.
I remember also reading of some Russian fasting master (perhaps fasted 20,000 patients if memory serves) who "insisted" that all of his patients walk for at least 3 hours per day.
Fat loss yes is one of the important goals for me this time around (because when i am eating i prefer to focus on building, not more weight loss). I am ready for my body fat % to be more or less exactly right and i do believe this fast will make it so. I am confident that the other goals of deep cleansing, repairing, rejuvenescence and improved mental, emotional and spiritual well being all will come too, whether i burn more fat or less fat.
"Just wondered what your target weight is post fast, and whether that fits in with an ideal BMI for your bone-frame size."
While i favor body fat % as a measure because BMI doesn't accurately represent body fat % in a fairly muscular person, (moderately muscular in my case), i will give you both. According to the index i found, at 185 in real weight (yesterday) i was 25.9 (which this index calls "overweight". I estimate my body fat % here (based on pictures i have seen at each level of body fat %) to be 12% conservatively (possibly 11, but let's say 12).
Actually i will interject here, i googled for "what does 8% body fat look like?" and found this site: http://www.exer-phys-club.com/bfguidearticle.html
... which can give people an idea of what various %'s look like.
In 5 more days when i reach a real weight of 180, i expect my body fat % to be 10% and the bmi will still tell me i am overweight at 25.1 . 8 days after this, i will be at 175 with and estimated 8% body fat. bmi 24.4 (barely normal, bordering on overweight). Finally if i was to go 8 more days (30th day of fast), i would reach a real weight of 170 and expect my body fat to be about 6% with a 23.7 bmi. Any lower than this would almost certainly begin to be a less than optimal level and perhaps even an unhealthy level of body fat. 6% body fat exemplifies "lean" and I believe 6% is the level at which competitive body builders (one of which i am not ) trim down to for competitions. I believe this is the level they trim down to because i don't believe 5% would reveal any more "definition" than 6%.
In answer to your question Chris, i would like to see a real weight of 170 or 175 and at either of these weights the bmi would tell me i am at the higher end of normal.
