Fasting Experiment Record 11/23~11/28
Nov 23
1400: Woke up feeling good, weight around 74kg. Only concern is if instead of burning fat, I may be burning protein (muscles). Some research I have been reading suggests that if too sedentary then muscle will just be consumed, but if it is active it shall be okay especially if it is only a 24h fast. I burned at least 2000 calories yesterday so in total 4000 calories needed for the day. I should have consumed more food I think.
1646: I feel better handling the normal activities than days before when sedentary. I do not feel extremely tired, but I also do not feel with whole lot energy too. This is only third day so I cannot expect too much. Not as much hunger as it felt last two days though.
1800 Felt already hungry, possibly because I did not eat the extra calories I needed for the amount of activities I did. This probably is not good since muscle made break down. Still, I could be patience and not eat till 2000
1950~0200 6h Meal Window. This time I made it longer. Meal wan mainly Chinese Hot Pot( vegetables, tofu, chinese noodles, and pork slices ), 2x15g protein bars, and later a protein porridge bowl( protein powder, plain yogurt, oats) and normal porridge bowl. Protein porridge bowl did not taste as expected.
Nov 24
1300 Wake up, weighting around 75kg, though I suppose it’s the lack of water.
1500 Diary Entry. Still feeling good and with energy to normal life activities. Drinking water and coffee of course.
2200~2300 Training 10k run, it did not feel like Nov22 run at all. That day it felt really hard, today it was it felt pretty good though heart rate was kind of high (160bpm average) plus pace was normal 5:18. I may have become more used to run fasted than before, and heart rate is high due to more cardiovascular activity to burn fat since pace was mostly aerobic (L2~L3).
Nov 25
0000~0200 2h Meal Window (saba fish x2, mango vegetable juice, 1 toast, lettuce tomato salad as fibers, ground chicken, 2x flour tortilla, 2eggs, porridge bowl x2)
0300 apparently just tasting sweet things may trigger insulin raise, which is sth to avoid during a fast. Hope my tooth paste did not trigger anything.
0530~0800 Ride with Giordano. Not technically a fasted ride since few hour since last meal. Pace was really comfortable and pushing up Mochikoshi pass felt nice.
0930 still feeling ok though I wonder if I lose more by not taking protein after riding. Hopefully some tea with minerals may help me recover minerals and some micronutrients to last till night meal. Feeling thirsty too though, though not desperate for water either.
1800 I have not been feeling good. Mostly because teeth has been hurting since morning. But also i still feel tired and hungry (not like dying but I can feel low energy levels compare to other normal days) from the ride since I did not replenish any nutrient since morning ride.
1900~2100 2h Window Meal -> Mainly Indian food so not much protein this time except the protein bar I ate later
Nov 26
1900 22h fasted ->Went for a simple ride to the mall for groceries. Felt light at 74~75kg and with some energy since probably ate too much carbs and fat last meal. In conclusion, feeling normal but not hungry.
2200~0000 2h window meal after 25h fasted. (sliced pork, grounded chicken, chijimi (vegatables +chijimi flour), 2 eggs, 1 toast, 2 mandarines, 1 banana, 2x porridge bowls)
Nov 27
0400 some tea to keep studying. Probably gonna have to break fast today since going to Atago, Sasari, and Hanase later with Gio and company. Looking forward to it though.
0800~1700 Long ride with Gio, Ali&Sid. Had to break the fast if wanted to keep going.
Default supplies 4 calorie mates and protein bar.
60km Intermediate break with some juice, 2 onigiris, and one chicken
90km Lunch break was around 1200 with tako rice (rice+ meat sauce +some salad)
1800~0300 Big Dinner (Taco night) with Miura and company. (Taco including meat, chili sauces, avocado, cheese cream, eggs, tomato, onion, and jalapeno + tortilla chips and pineapple, some alcohol few times)
Nov 28
1500 12h fasted thanks to having slept long and weighting around 76kg, maybe the effect of food? Felt needed to eat but apparently it was just a dehydration sign.
2100~0300 6h window meal after 18h fasted. Fasting is getting easier to keep as long as no intensive exercise. (Indian food (too much nan maybe), 3xprotein bar, avocado, 1 toast, 1 tuna can)
Some intermediate observations:
22/11/22
-While sedentary (eg. studying), even when busy there is an occasional hunger feeling
will this be suitable long term? May depend of how long the fasting is and if exercise is done during it
-While exercising, if it is not intensive(unless wanna risk bonking too fast, so mainly L2, L1) no hunger feeling, but mostly thirsty
22/11/26
-Weight has been going down lately, and I feel really light while fasted. Though I end up weighting 2kg more just after eating.
-When busy hunger is not a problem, and when not that busy hunger comes occasionally but since around day 4 it is not much of a problem.
-Energy levels during the day feel stable. I do not feel like hyped neither sleepy. I feel like I can easily focus on what I do, if there are no other distractions.
-On days after training (2 times, L2 short 2h rides), I did not eat after practice so even though I felt stable in energy during the day, I felt often cravings for food while the energy level felt stable but low indeed. In summary, I felt tempted many times to eat and my energy levels were stable but low while fasted after base training.
Suggestions on what to do: I could…
-Forward the window meal so to include training time too since it is important to get the nutrients too just after training, specially the protein and replenishment of glycogen stores.
-Only drink amino-acids so to not interrupt the fast, since they also help in muscle recovery.
-Allow only to break the fast if training so to refuel proper later, and then just keep on adjusting window meals conveniently.
-Allow to break the fast only on some days, when I know it is gonna be hard, like the weekly saturday club practice. I definitely need carbs for that.
Side note: As pro-cyclist Rigoberto Uran says “when the it starts getting uphill, I start to pray, so please guys pray with me”
