Diary Of A 36 Hour Fast
The purpose of this endeavor was not to promote the pros or the cons of fasting. There are plenty of resources readily available to support whichever side of that debate you may choose to advocate. I have done a 24hr fast enough times it no longer feels like a challenge, and I wanted to push myself to achieve something more.
From time-to-time, I like to challenge myself with these kinds of self-imposed “hardship.” I have found they help me to become more comfortable with being uncomfortable, which makes it easier for me to push myself out of my comfort zone whenever I feel a change is needed. This challenge would be no different. It was intended to be a test of my mental fortitude.
If you’ve done something similar, please share your insights in the comments down below.
Spencer Coursen Side Bar: I was feeling a tad gluttonous after Thanksgiving’s feast and Friday’s left-overs, so I was able to mentally justify this — somewhat of a suck-fest — as my “Turkey Tax.”
Here’s the play-by-play of how it all went down:
Saturday, 28 November 2020
19:45 Just finished the last meal before my fast. I had a rice bowl comprised of jasmine rice, grilled broccoli, olives, red and green peppers, and filet strips. For dessert I had a protein bar. (I didn’t really want the protein bar, but since there was only one left in the pantry, I didn’t want it to be tempting me during the duration of the fast. Better to have it out of sight and out of mind.)
20:00 Clock starts now. Nothing but black coffee and water for the next 36hrs. Here we go.
21:30 Mind games are already starting. I’m not even remotely hungry, but my mind is telling me that I want a snack. Why? Because I can’t have one. Ugh.
I gulp back half a liter of water just to fill my stomach.
23:00 Finished the rest of the liter of water and head to bed.
Sunday, 29 November 2020
04:00 Woke-up craving pancakes and bacon — which is my typical cheat meal on a Sunday morning. The little voice inside my head tells me this fast is a bad idea, and I should just scrub the whole thing. I consider it, but don’t give in. Back to bed I go.
05:50 My dog is up…which means I am up. I down a full liter of water while the coffee is being brewed. Then it’s outside for some morning frisbee with the pup. It is damn cold. My thoughts turn back to bacon and pancakes.
06:30 I open the cabinet to see if I have the makings for pancakes. I do. I even go so far as to look up my favorite pancake recipe. I come danger-close to cheating, but my dog looks up at me with a disappointed expression and I tell him he’s right. I put the bag of flour back up on the shelf. More coffee for me.
07:30 Pup takes a nap so I do the same.
07:45 Nap was short lived. Pup wants to play.
08:00 I don’t feel the need to eat, but I want to eat. Which is one of the benefits of doing a fast…reminding yourself of the ability to recognize the difference between the two.
09:30 Pup is restless, so I fill up a thermos of water for him and a large Yeti Rambler of coffee for me and we head out for a 5-mile trek around town lake.
12:30 We made a few stops at the dog parks around the lake. Both of us are proper tired. Decided to swing by a Starbucks on the walk back home. A pup-cup for him and a Venti Americano for me.
13:30 Shower and change. Pup is racked out on the floor of my office while I knock out some work. I have a full mug of coffee and a liter of water sitting next to me. Food is the furthest thing from my mind right now. That’s gonna change.
14:05 Refill of coffee and water. I open the refrigerator door more out of habit than anything else. I don’t even feel the need to reach inside. I just wanted to open the door.
14:30 No more coffee. Water only from here on out.
14:45 I reconfirm that the Eagles don’t play until Monday night. I’m correct, but check the sports scores anyway. Tennessee is up 35 to 14 over Indiana. Giants are ahead by 3 over The Browns. Dolphins up by 10 over the Jets. Patriots up by seven over the Cardinals. Panthers up 11 over the Vikings.
15:50 Do I need a burger? No I don’t. But do I want a burger? Yes. Yes I do.
15:52 I want fries too…
16:00 Fun fact about fasting. Every commercial will be about food. Food you can’t have. Food you don’t really even want. But because you CAN’T have it…you WANT it even more.
16:30 Workout. Nothing crazy. Some mobility and bodyweight exercises.
17:15 Stretching. Feeling sore from Friday’s leg-day. Today’s 5-miler probably didn’t help.
18:00 Shower and change. Sipping water while I let my TENS machine work it’s rehab magic on my shoulder.
18:10 My mind is thinking about what I want for dinner. My typical 24hr fast is from18:00hrs on one day to 18:00hrs the next. Which means both my body and my mind think food will be coming soon. The leftovers from that rice-bowl I made last night is sounding pretty damn good right now.
18:15 Interesting that at no point in the past 24hrs has my stomach grumbled at all. Not even once. If I was doing a 24hr fast that definitely would have happened by now. All of the cravings for food so far have been mental. I have wanted food, but I can’t really say that I have ever once felt “hungry.” I wonder if that’s the by-product of the coffee stimulating my system to the point where it acting as an appetite suppressant or if my mind is simply recalibrating my body’s expectations that it’s not so much “starving” as it is “depriving.”
18:45 At this point my mind is doing that game of self-sabotage where it tries to convince me that a 24hr fast is good enough. I mean…how much better can another 12hours really be for you anyway? Just do the 24. Who cares about 36? Just eat something. Come on! The kitchen is RIGHT THERE!
Well, you want to know who cares about 36 hour mark?
I DO! And I will be much happier with my own reflection in the mirror at the end of this knowing that I conquered my inner-bitch.
19:20 Pizza! Pizza sounds really good right now. Pepperoni and green peppers. Thank God Home Slice doesn’t deliver or else I’d be in real trouble right now.
20:00 OK. 24hrs down. Should be all down hill from here.
20:15 I don’t know how much water I’ve had today, but it’s been a lot. I lost count somewhere after the 4th or 5th liter of Fiji Water and I just drank another one.
20:55 Note to self: STAY OFF SOCIAL MEDIA WHEN FASTING. The Gods of social media are mounting their efforts against me. Tim Kennedy is deconstructing a turkey sandwich. The Rock is devouring banana pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup, and Joe Rogan is showing off a plate of his famous Traeger grilled elk. And I…I want to consume ALL OF IT.
21:06 I just finished brushing my teeth. The toothpaste never tasted so good. The dental floss never tasted so minty. The mouth wash never tasted so…green.
22:05 Going to bed soon. Feeling good about how things are going. I have every confidence at this point that the 36hr fast will be a success. If I was going to cheat, I would have done so by now. And I didn’t…so I won’t.
23:00 I’m not as tired as I should be. This is the problem with trying to “game the fast.” Had I only had my usual cup of coffee or two, I would definitely be ready to go to bed, but since I drank an entire pot of black coffee PLUS the Americano from Starbucks, I’m WIDE AWAKE. Probably going to be a long night.
00:35 FML! What should I be doing? Sleeping. What am I doing? Researching recipes for how to smoke a meatloaf on the Traeger grill. Why? Because meatloaf sandwiches are awesome…and I want one.
Monday, 30 November 2020
05:45 Pup is up and so am I.
06:00 I gulp down a liter of water while waiting on coffee. Not a shred of hunger. In fact, haven’t even considered eating anything since the Satan-inspired scroll through my social media feed last night. I only have two hours left. I got this.
06:15 Damn does this coffee taste good. My sense of taste and smell are definitely heightened. Reminds me of being in Ranger School when I was so hungry I could smell if someone had gum or opened a packet of peanut butter from across the patrol base. (You winter class grads know what I mean)
07:15 Yeti full of coffee in hand and we’re off to the dog park.
07:40 Twenty minutes to go and my stomach is giving me the first grumbles of hunger. Still at the dog park and it’s a 1.5 mile walk home so food will have to wait.
09:10 OK. Home from the dog park. I feel great. I feel like I could probably push this longer but, I have a busy day and an intense workout planned for this afternoon, so I’m calling an end to this here.
The past 37hrs were challenging, but not what I would categorize as difficult. Biggest obstacles were the mind-games. Once I settled-in to the fact that I wasn’t going to back down, the temptations to cheat became less frequent.
Most challenging time-frame was definitely between the 18hr and 24hr mark.
I know I said that this was more of an exercise in mental toughness than for any physical benefit, but I weighed myself as I do most mornings and there was some weight loss (-4.4lbs), a slight reduction in body fat (-1.8%), and my muscle mass did increase by a very small margin (.5%). I’m using a My Life Digital Scale Analyzer for these metrics so take these numbers for what they are.
I also have every certainty these numbers will jump right back up to where they were once I start to resume my caloric intake.
Biggest question now is, “What am I going to eat?”
Steak and eggs for breakfast you say?
Don’t mind if I do.
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