Fasting newbie looking for support, advice, encouragement?
I am a first-time faster, wanting a detox for my body, after living in a physically toxic environment overseas for two years.
I am struggling because I am underweight for my height and age (5'6" and 108 lbs on a good day), so if I talk to anyone about fasting they automatically assume I have an eating disorder.
The reality is, I eat TONS. I eat more than my husband, who is significantly heavier and more active than I am. In fact, I eat so much, I think it was making my digestive system just shut down, especially as I haven't been very physically active for several months, and my BM's less frequent.. such that I can feel there is junk stuck up in there that just hasn't made it out. I was having a whole host of symptoms, one the most pronounced being extreme lethargy and needing to sleep 11-12 hours a night.
My friend who is a personal trainer did some BMI measurements and said that I have a healthy amount of body fat and muscle mass, despite being "underweight." In the fitness world she says my body type is called "athletic."
So I decided a detox could be both right and safe for me.
I originally wanted to do a three-day water fast, but I only made it 24 hours. This was this week, Sunday to Monday. By the 16th hour or so I was throwing up bile and felt horrible. I was really concerned that I'm too skinny to be doing this, and so I ate the first piece of fruit I found after forcing myself to the 24-hour mark: a cherry. Unfortunately this made me throw up (and I could tell it was from how acidic it was). I waited a few more hours, then drank some broth, and ate a little piece of watermelon, and finally held those down.
But.... I could tell just before I ate again, my body was recovering. For instance, I had some old scars reappear on my body, and I also began feeling a bit light (in a good way). Though I was "tired" it was not like the lethargy and fog I have become accustomed to - it was just no food intake sort of weakness/tiredness.
I reflected on this and wanted to 'continue' the fast (even though I had broken it), and so I didn't eat anymore the rest of Monday. Monday night I had the best sleep I've had in quite a while, and Tuesday I woke up feeling like a new woman. Seriously. It was great. That one was also about 24 hours, or a little more.
I thought maybe that was "good enough" for now, because despite feeling great in some ways, I was also quite taxed from the puking. I also feel an immense amount of pressure because I know that if my family knew I was fasting, they would tell me I have an eating disorder, etc...
So, I again re-started eating later on Tuesday, and slowly increased my range of food. When I ate my first dairy, I started having postnasal drip and cloggy sinuses again. I realized these had gone away during the fast. And so, here I am again, wanting to restart the fast AGAIN, because I realized another way it had started helping me.
Another thing concerning me is that I've developed a yeast infection since starting all this, and I'm not sure if it's related, or how.
So... I am not sure if fasting again is wise or would be effective. I've basically just done two intermittent fasts (call it a 4 hour break between the first two, but for this one it's been almost two days of extremely low calorie intake with lots of veggies). I'd like to fast again, but is it worth it? And what will happen? Will it be like restarting? Will I have to yak bile again...?
For scheduling reasons, I only have about another 24-36 hours to fast (with another 12-24 hours tacked on to that to give myself enough time to ramp up with just broths, etc).
Also the whole experience has just been difficult and a bit scary. Hoping for some encouraging words, maybe advice if appropriate (please don't be so harsh with me.. I'm a newb and I know I'm not perfect).
Thanks for reading. Sorry it's so long. (TL;DR just read the last paragraph...)
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