Post Fast: Day 1

by Celes |
Health

This is the Day 1 post-fast update of my 21-day fast in Feb 2011 and probably the most in-depth fasting series you will ever find online. If you’re new to fasting, get the full background here: Fasting Experiment. Access all my articles on fasting: The Fasting Series.

Yesterday I was really excited about breaking my fast, so I couldn’t sleep much the whole night. My stomach growled on and off too. I kept thinking about being able to return to eating again, and the healthy food I can start eating soon. Even my dreams were about breaking my fast! Also because I had rested so much in the day, I didn’t feel sleepy at all.

Finally at about 8+am I got up to do some work on the computer. At 9:30 am I drank some water, under Loren’s recommendation not to drink anything in the 30 minutes before I eat. And finally at 10 am, I took out the watermelon from my fridge, weighed a 2-oz piece, and started eating.

The watermelon was very juicy and sweet, in a good way. I carefully chewed every bite, making sure I had chewed it into very small, digestible pieces before I took the next bite. In the past I had always eaten in a hurry or ate while I was doing something else, never appreciating the food for what it is. This time I made sure to fully enjoy the consumption process. I finished the 2 oz and didn’t feel any craving for more watermelon or any other food.

Afterward I think I had some digestion problems though. My stomach grumbled on and off and felt “heavy.” I took a nap at 11 am, with the intention to wake up at noon to take my next portion of watermelon, but I ended up sleeping all the way till 3+pm and felt very groggy. It seems like the digestion brought my body into a deep sleep, deeper than my usual sleep during the fast. Which is interesting considering it’s just one piece of watermelon! The same thing happened when I had another 2 oz watermelon at about 3:30 pm — I took a nap and got knocked out into a deep sleep till about 6:30 pm, again feeling groggy when I woke up. I just had another watermelon at 7 pm, and right now my head is feeling heavy/groggy again (it’s 8:30 pm at the moment). In fact I’m experiencing a slight headache with the grogginess.

I take this as my body adjusting back to digestion mode, so I don’t think it’s a case for concern. I’ll proceed with Day 2’s post-fast consumption guidelines. Since I have a 4-hour workshop in the first half of the day, I’ll have a 4-oz serving before the workshop, followed by another 4-oz serving during the break. I have a coaching session after that but it’ll be easier to plan that since it’s a 1-1 meeting.

Other than the slight digestion issue and the grogginess, everything’s been well. No more detox since I’m effectively out of ketosis (though I still have a little bit of the phlegm that I mentioned on Day 21). I’m able to work on my laptop for long periods without feeling drained. That’s important as I’ve to catch up on my preparation work for my workshop tomorrow which I was not been able to do during the fast.

Update: I connected with Loren and he told me that the grogginess is a normal sign. He mentioned refeeding can be a tricky process, and I’ve experienced first hand how much energy it takes to process food — roughly 50% of our energy goes into our digestive tract actually! I would never have guessed that just digesting a small piece of watermelon can take this much energy. Imagine consuming heavier food like meat and dairy products! That’s a lot of energy channeled into our digestive system! With this clarified, I’ll proceed with the Day 2 refeeding plan tomorrow.

My weight this morning is 56.3kg / 124.1lbs (pre-food intake), which is the same as my weight yesterday. I didn’t weigh myself after eating as I don’t think it makes much of a difference and I don’t want to make this whole fast weight-centric. I’ll continue to weigh myself every morning for tracking purposes.

My next post-fast update will probably be Day 4 or Day 7. See you guys then and thanks so much for all your continuous encouragement! I really appreciate it!

Update: Post-Fast Day 4 update is up!