My 10 Day Fasting Results
Intermittent Fasting is getting rave reviews for its positive impacts on the human body, including weight loss, improved insulin and leptin sensitivity, cognitive performance, muscle gain, energy, immune and detoxification improvements. These are just some of the benefits people are talking about.
So how does all of this translate into lifestyle design?
There are many ways to intermittent fast, including water fasts, 16–18 hour daily fasts, 20 hour fasts, 2 days per week fasts, fasting mimicking dieting, and prolonged fasting. All of these techniques have their time and place and understanding an individuals goals, current state of health, and lifestyle factors, go into the decision making for successful incorporation of an fast. Without knowing all of these items, plus a few others like genetics, it is just a guess and will likely be an unsustainable approach.
There are also lifestyle hacks that compliment a fast and make the process much more manageable and fun, for the person. Things like bulletproof coffee, exogenous ketones, amino acids, cardio exercise, saunas, and even small amounts of food consumption, all have a place in the right conditions for the desired result — for instance, small amounts of berries and whey protein are excellent when training heavy and looking for muscle gain. The function of these hacks is to trick the mind and body by doing things to make your fast a lot more manageable while still keeping pathways activated that lead to all of the benefits. That is called biohacking!
Personally, I love fasting and I love all forms of fasting and varying hacks. I do intermittent fasting 5–7 days a week and once or twice s a year I do an extended fast, a 5 or 10 day fast. In my mind, this helps me hit the reset button to my dietary habits. I am human, and like anyone else, once I start eating “bad” foods, they tend to compound over time. I let go and allow myself to do more and more. After a while I start to feel it, mostly through low energy and belly fat. These fasts also seem to stimulate my metabolism and make things more efficient. They also help me clean out my organs and I also form a natural gravitation toward healthier foods. Lastly, there are many behavioral epiphanies that I experience while fasting. The world, including our own thoughts, run at high speed while a faster can only sit there and observe; observe the reactionary state we mostly live in. So, in sum, there are many subjective benefits to fasting, but what actually happens to the body, my body?
I recently decided to do a 10 day fast, and track my progress and results. I have been a customer of Purium Superfoods for years and have done their 10 Day Transformation on several occasions and was satisfied with the results, so I used their products to help me along. The kit includes a green shake, amino acids, a colon cleanser, and a gut repair formula. My goals were to cut belly fat and gain more energy. I didn’t want to lose muscle but thought it would be part of the process. I used varying fasting methods and hacks, including nothing but the formulas provided (24 hour fast w/hacks), small amounts of food at dinner (20 hour fast), and small amounts of food at both lunch and dinner (16–18 fast with hacks). (Note: the food menu was open only to berries, watermelon, cucumber, steamed broccoli, and avocado; I could choose one.)
Getting into the fast was pretty easy, mostly because I am well adapted to fasting already. So what would normally be a hard first 3 days, turned out to be the steps that took me right into full ketosis. Because of this my energy and brain function sky-rocketed in no time at all -the first time I did this cleanse, it took me 7 days to hit full ketosis. This energy and brain power was by far the biggest benefit I experienced.
The total results of my fast were great in some areas and not so great in others. I tracked my blood sugar, ketones, body weight, body fat and lean fat. I used a KETO-MOJO Blood Ketone and Glucose Testing Kit and Fit 3D Body Scanner for measurements. And here are my results:
I scanned myself using the Fit3D machine before and after my cleanse. I started out with 32.8 inch waste, 148.7 lbs, 19.09% body fat, 28.4% fat mass, 120.3lbs of lean mass, and a 77 body shape rating. My fitness level was surprisingly low and cardiovascular risk was moderate.
When I completed the fast, I ended up with 31.8 inch waste-a loss of 1 inch, 141.7 lbs-down 7 lbs, 19.46% body fat-up .4%, 27.6% fat mass-down .8%, 114.1lbs of lean mass-down 6.2%, and a 84 body shape rating-up 7 points. Both my fitness level and cardiovascular risk moderately improved.
In summary, these figures show as small reduction in body fat, a decrease in muscle mass, 1" off of the waste (belly fat), better cardiovascular and fitness level predictions.
In addition this, I looked at blood sugar and ketone levels. I have consistently had issues with blood sugar and so this was a major test — especially since that is what intermittent fasting is suppose to do right, increase insulin sensitivity? Well, it did, significantly. I started with a blood sugar reading of 98, what I have been running even with a clean diet and minimal intervention. Over the course of the fast, blood sugar slowly decreased during the same testing time in the am, 96, 94, 86, and even a reading of 65 at a later time of the day. Total fasting blood glucose dropped 12 points. Ketone levels stayed moderate, between .6 and 1.8, just enough to put me into ketosis but not too much to be concerned.
So, did I lose too much muscle? Likely, yes, and at the same time, research shows that fasting increases growth hormone levels, therefore preserving muscle. So what happened? Well, we also know that the growth hormone surges are taken advantage of during the re-feeding period, not while in the fasting period, so in order to take advantage of that hormone surge, I have to start eating again! That’s what I am doing now and will update you on those gains.
So, what goals did I accomplish with this prolonged fast using hacks (greens and amino acids) with varying fasting styles (16–18–20 hour, fasting mimicking) for 10 days? Energy and cognitive performance, yes. Fasting blood sugar reduction and insulin sensitivity, yes. Belly fat loss, yes, cardiovascular risk assessment improvement, yes. What did I lose? Muscle.
Now, if you are considering a long term fast such as this one, look at the benefits I attained and see if those line up with your goals — if you don’t have much muscle to lose, long term fasting may not be a good option, but to improve blood sugar or fitness level, it may be. Stay tuned for my re-building report in the next 30–6o days. If this strategy is not optimal for, perhaps you will discover a more suitable method for you in upcoming chapters. ;)
