Failure…

Well I tried my best, but after hours of smelling that delicious roast and energy levels depleted I caved. People said and my research told me that after about the 36 to 48 hour mark it would start to be easier, almost more automatic…it wasn’t to be. I pride myself as being a guy who follows through on every task I set out to do most of the time my determination and sheer stubbornness can power me through. I made it to the fifty-seven hour mark and after attempting to distract myself, walks, reading, writing it all came crashing down. First an apple to wake up my stomach and digestive tract, an hour later a plateful of roast and mashed potatoes along with green beans. As soon as that all went down, all went black, no I didn’t faint, but boy did I ever have a hardcore nap not even the cat shoving his face in mine woke me from my slumber. Although I missed my mark of seventy-two hours, the fifty plus I went is something not to hang my head about.

How I Felt

The initial 24 to 36 hour mark wasn’t that difficult to complete, even with food being prepared around me I wasn’t overly tempted. On the positive side the bloating I experience went away and is still gone now even after that meal and a small breakfast, also no rolling stomach or the sometimes constant feeling that I have to go. This fast made me more aware of the amount of water I need is much more than I get on a regular basis, cutting back and staying away from refined sugar is also important. At times I felt that my brain was clearer, other times I felt disoriented and kind of confused, maybe that is the cleaning out process? Like I said I was able to do light exercises and stretching, which is always needed regardless what I’m up to. Energy levels weren’t quite what I expected, leaving me tired and off my game, not a feeling I like. I think the 72 hour water fast was a bit much, even for me, go big or go home to start with and even besides the fact that I have cancer (and this has been proven to have positive affects in fighting it) my body and build is not meant for prolonged fasts, genetically I already have a very fast metabolism and am I high energy guy.

The Take-a-way

To be honest with you I’m pretty happy with the results I achieved and even fasting for the length of time I did even surprised me a bit. I’m a generally eat all day kinda guy, to keep energy levels high, so having some major swings during the fast I honestly didn’t like. After getting some food back in me last night and a rock solid sleep along with a healthy breakfast this morning I’m feeling much more sharp now, re-focused (although it didn’t help my eyesight).I believe the fasting helped with that, doing some housekeeping and cleaning out some of those cobwebs that have developed over the years, especially the last three. I also lost about 4 or 5 lbs in that small amount of time and fro me that will take time to put back on. I think if I were to do this again it would be more of an intermittent fast say, 15 to 18 hour fast, followed by the 6 to 8 feeding window. Now this isn’t something I recommend for everyone and advise you to consult your doctor first, specifically if you have an underlying health condition. Even though my condition at this point is stable after not eating for a couple days my mind wandered back to when I had bowel obstructions, something I didn’t consider when I started. Although it’s been about two and a half years since I’ve had one I probably should’ve started with closer to a 24 hour fast and see how my body would react. Fortunately I’m fine and besides the ongoing gloomy weather here in southwestern Ontario I think that the fast did do some kind of reset and I feel pretty good, so failing to reach a goal isn’t always a fail. It’s something you can learn from and understand that the only way to better yourself is to at least try. If you’re afraid to fail you’re not really living. I was pleased about my growth here that I just went ahead and book a flight to Puerto Vallarta for the beginning of the New Year. But, until then I plan on continuing my December Blogmas. So, if anyone has any ideas go ahead and leave me a comment and speaking of comments, I have been able to fix my site here so comments are now easy to leave and no longer a sign-in or confusing run around anymore. Just comment and submit, also subscribe, like and vote. Attached is another video for my YouTube channel consider subscribing to that and help me reach 100. Cheers, Steve