With a lot of changes in our life I was distracted from fasting, and BG levels went up especially after quitting Trulicity injections. It was a mistake, warning on Trulicity medication regarding possible thyroid cancer scared me and I was not taking it for over a year; with BG levels creeping up I decided to look up results of any study on the subject. Turns out, the levels of thyroid cancer in patients taking insulin injections are higher than in patients on Trulicity injections. So, I am back on Trulicity which makes fasting so much easier, plus 36 hour fasting periods have a much better effect on my BG when I eat: glucose levels go down faster after eating, and I wake up with lower BG morning after the day I was consuming food. 

Stay calm and fast on..

It is the truth universally acknowledged that salt consumption retains water in human body. I have never noticed how much till I stepped on a scale after a fasting day and the reading didn’t make any sense.  Expecting to be rewarded by 2 lb down I was stunned by reading 3 lb up instead. Really? After 36 hrs fast?? I was dismayed, and then I thought back and realized I used a different brand of broth. Looked at the label and it was 800 mg of salt per cup! Ouch. 

Gotta be careful about added salt in your fasting liquids, look at the label before you buy.

I’m very excited about the results of the last 10 days, not only I successfully eased back onto 36 hr fasting 3 times a week but also made progress switching to Keto diet. Fasting goes smooth, no particular hunger pains and thought of breakfast next morning keeps me going. Blood glucose levels go down at about 2 pm now (thanks to low carb meals) and I get serious chills for about 2-3 hrs. Apparently, its an indication that my body is switching from carbs as a source of energy to stored fat (see book Life in Fasting Lane by Dr. Jason Fung). I sip hot  bone broth to warm up.

To estimate success, I weigh in before breakfast (after 36 hr fast) at about the same time, and results are amazing. Last week weight was going down 1.5 – 2.0 lb each morning after fast, I can only assume that keto meals on “feeding days” made it possible. I tried several new recipes like steak and cheese stuffed peppers, taco salad on bed of romaine lattice, chicken tights and sun-dried tomato in cream sauce. I try to add green salad or steamed cauliflower to these meals, which makes me feel better – high fat and high protein food is a little heavy for me.

Looking forward to another week of intermittent fasting!

I am back on track with fasting 2 times a day, only 24 hrs fasts so far but it’s a progress. I was propelled back into fasting by episode of my diabetes drug interaction two weeks ago. Janumet and glipizide caused something that looked like pancreatitis to my physician but blood tests came back clean. Of course, I stopped taking these meds for 5 days till they could see me at the doctor’s office, and while I was waiting for tests I did some fasting and took no meds at all (no diabetic meds, no usual duo of simvastatin and aspirin, no vitamin pills or any supplements). 

I went cold turkey and stopped eating for 24 hrs and taking meds at the same time. When I visited with good doctor, I felt great and blood test showed no liver or pancreas issues.

Trying to control my diabetes with fasting and metformin, no more fancy meds. So far my average BG levels has not changed – no higher and no lower than when I was on janumet.

Turkey day was overcome with cauliflower gratin for me and stuffing for hubby only. Leftover carbs hit the trash on Saturday, and salads are in!

On New Years Eve we’ve received news of a sudden death in the family, my much younger sister died in her sleep from multiple unexplained blood clots. Tragic news sent me reeling, depression set in as I tried to make sense of these events. Nothing else was of any importance in comparison, several months I did no fasting and just drifted..

After several months I gained back 11lb and started thinking about getting back into my fasting routine. Spring sun helped, how do you get back to life after such change? Slowly, with support of family and friends. Taking time in the garden to watch things grow from previously frozen and seemingly lifeless ground. Listening to morning sounds in the wind and flutter of wings. There is death but there is also life.

Doing better – last week 2 days out of 5 I was able to finish my 36 hr periods of fasting. After taking step back I am returning to my routine and continue the fasting that worked for me so well in 2020.

Fall is finally here with cooler weather and better chance for dog walking and gardening. May be I get more exercise in cooler weather or perhaps reached the point where less body fat means faster / better metabolism: I am enjoying increased weight loss on a fasting day compared to Summer months. A1C changed from 6.2 to 5.8. Yay!

Let me just say that skipping a fasting day is ok, I am the boss of my fasting schedule and can adjust it any way I want. It feels good to have freedom to do what you want like NOT fasting on a Labor Day and partake of all cook-out goods that were grilled, and all side dishes that were sliced, dressed and served for the holiday – this celebration marks the end of Summer. 

At the same time, I miss “morning smiles” and intense enjoyment of food after a fasting day I’ve skipped. Getting used to my new schedule of fasting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday makes me miss the familiar feeling of well-being, taking a break from digesting and increasing lightness inside my body. Skipping fasting day feels like I have been overeating, I am not sure how I could bear the constant feeling of overeating in the past, my mind set has changed after 8 months of intermittent fasting. After two days of weekend I look forward to Monday fast to balance the eating days.

I wonder what it will feel like during Holiday Season 2020. 

After loosing 40 lb I find myself falling through neck line of my 3X blouse or a noticing hollow front of a tunic hanging in front of my waist. Should I get some new clothes? I think so, gifting myself with an item of fashion as opposed to item of food is a highly desirable change in the way I think – it is exciting and it changes my way of thinking what reward is, stepping away from “eating as a reward” to “glamour as a reward”.  Yesterday I signed up for Stitch Fix to try stylist picking my new look, and I am getting new haircut too! 

Recently I have noticed that on every fasting day (36 hr fasting) I start feeling cold about 4pm in the afternoon, and at the same time I feel like taking a nap. I assume it is due to change in the way my body is handling lower blood sugar and burning 10 years old fat – I have arrived to the exact body weight I had in 2010. I also noticed my morning BG at the end of fasting day is about 105, and on the morning after fasting day is in 120s (used to be 130s). 

Going forward with fasting and potentially loosing additional pounds over course of weeks and months, I will be going back in time: “this is my weight when I was 15 years younger” and “this is my weight when I was 20 years younger”, and so on. 

Wow! and they say time travel is not possible 🙂

After making several changes to my fasting schedule I decided to find out how things I eat on a “feeding day” can change results in lower blood glucose levels and better weight loss progress.  In May my weight dropped 4lb and I still have 5 days to go (two of them fasting days).  Starting May 27, my chart is going to have additional tracking column “daily carbohydrate” which will reflect how many grams of carbohydrate I have consumed on a given date with grams of fiber next to it. If I can figure out the correlation between fasting, grams of carbs, grams of fiber and weight reduction I can be nominated for “Most-Slimming-while-Social-Distancing Lass of the Year” award 🙂