Paricia Yellow's Journal, 17 June 2021

I generally fast from 7:00 at night but try to eat around 12:00 the only thing I can do for my depression is walk or swim I hope you feel better I know what you are going thru 

Thank you so much Ridemariel for responding,it's very important to me. I hope we both get better <3 

Can you talk with your primary care physician? It can be temporary/situational or ling term self care. I've been on antidepressants for 25ish years now. Some episodes in my life has caused a needed raise in prescription and then settled back down. It is literally a chemical deficiency in your brain. If you had low iron in your blood, you'd take a supplement. Please take care! I'm thinking of you. 

I've been there many times. I dont know what makes me snap out of it. I have been injured, and walking hurt, then Covid then doing what I want, and quitting for the day or on a Monday. When 'I'm good' I do a modified daily fast. This is something that is sustainable for me. I dont eat at all after 8pm. What I try to do is eat clean loads of fruits and veggies. I have a juicer and find if I load it up with good stuff for breakfast (after my caffeine fix of coffee or tea of course) it makes me feel good each morning and sets the tone for my day to make better choices. I have my 'breakfast juice' as late in the a.m. as possible, usually around 10...so this gets me through to lunch without starving. Effectively this means I am fasting from 8pm until noon each day (liquid/juice is still fasting). If you dont have or can afford a juicer, a blender is good. Just stay away from heavy fruit like banana. It's fun to make concoctions, be creative and most of all gives you your power/control back. Shopping for healthy stuff is cool too. Good luck to you, and know there are others out there who slip and fall, get sick of themselves and have to push forward , starting over again putting one foot in front of the other. You will too you can do this. Posting here shows you are ready!  

Liquid juice is not fasting. Anything with calories breaks a fast.  

I battled depression for many years. It usually went hand in hand with weight gain and uncontrolled hunger for sweets and carbs like bread and pasta. I had a truly amazing escape from this dual problem when I went gluten free. I haven't had any depression for over ten years since I went gluten free. I feel so much better and I've lost 50 lbs that I've kept off. I need to lose more, but at least I'm not battling depression and uncontrolled appetite. A low carb lifestyle is more about mental health than about weight loss for me. A piece of birthday cake or a piece of pizza sends me into a black place and it takes a week or more to recover. 10% of celiac patients have no intestinal upset, but serious neuro symptoms including anxiety and depression. For me carbs, especially wheat are dangerous. 

I wish I had really mind-blowing words of wisdom for you. The best I have are the words I tell myself. You. Are. Worth. It. Simple. Well, that and "Be the person your dog thinks you are" 😁 

Erikahollister. Not so. My Indian friends drink juice whilst fasting literally for religious reasons. Talking bout home pressed, not high fructose. There is also a very famous fast with lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne. Anyway, I did say modified and it works for me. 

<3 Ridemariel,Rosie,BadJujugurl,Scarlett.Erica... <3 Thank you all my friends for your precious words! I will consider everything you told me and adjust it a bit in a broader plan, to break this vicious cycle. Fasting is my first step,as to clear my self from the trash that has accumulated, and I decided to start today, with my birthday, a 7 day fast.Then I will cut gluten too. I also remembered,yesterday, this fact about how several peptides we ourselves release through our habits get us hooked on them, and that changing habits is also something physical that we build on with patience and then comes in a kind of automatic way. I expect a high level of difficulty for this fast,as I've had lots of chocolate these days as well and other carbs,but hunger isn't my concern,I', rarely hungry anyway. It's about fighting the compulsion to fail, mostly.It's funny and ironic, how many days and months have gone by with the same sequence of thoughts and actions. How we burry in our souls and bodies our will to live freshly. Thank you all once more, I hope the best for us all <3 

The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism and quality of life as you age. Fasting is a sure way of losing lean body mass. Intermittent fasting can be fine(16/8), even if not ideal but I would never suggest fasting for days. At least two meals per day with plenty of protein. 

Diablo thank you for sharing your knowledge, from what I've seen you are an expert on fitness issues. I'll have to double think then...  

If you lift, and you're ok with temporary muscle loss because you just want to get the fat off quickly(and muscle, unfortunately), it can be fine because muscle memory is real and as you raise your calories back to maintenance levels, you can regain the lost lean mass, but if not, I don't think it's a good idea. Just something to think about. I've seen someone on this very forum have success with it. 

Yes,muscle memory IS real, and I'm lucky to have a good ammount of muscle due to both athletic history and maybe genetics. So I'm sure that any mucle loss will be temporary as you said. I don't lift much but at my home I'll always pursue and enjoy doing any heavy lifting, I'm well built for that. I crave the mental benefits of a relatively long fast. As for the overall weight I want to lose which is 10 kgs,the initial fast would be a good first kick but the refeedng is even more crucial.I already fear that 7 days is not a very realistic goal in this point of time but this challenges me even more, stubborn-minded as I am. History will be the judge... 

Happy Birthday! 

Longer fasts (longer than 24 hours) should be medically supervised. The longest medically supervised fast was 382 days and the guy had plenty of muscle left at the end because he had plenty of fat to use up at the onset of it so don't be scared by people saying you will lose muscle. You body will preferentially use glucose, fat and then after all the fat is gone, it will break down muscle. If you have plenty of fat, muscle loss is not an issue. In fact, human growth hormone increases during in the fasted state so gaining muscle is easier and you can find articles about working out in the fasted state.  

Actually, looking at your profile, you only weigh 132 pounds, so extended fasts are probably not healthy. Fasting does not cause eating disorders, but they can exacerbate them. I would ask my doctor about fasting and if it is the right thing for your situation.  

Muscle loss is an issue with fasts beyond 24 hours. There's a common belief among people who like fasting and particularly in the low-carb community, perpetuated by chiropractors/minor YouTube celebrities like Eric Berg, that the increase in growth hormone during fasting is useful to muscle hypertrophy. This is incorrect. Growth hormone in the physiological range is not anabolic. You can listen to Layne Norton, PhD, discuss this idea and why it's wrong here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKCLavkZw8 . Unless you're extremely obese, fasting for days is a risk and should not be done without the close supervision of a doctor. In fact, even if you are extremely obese, you probably should still have someone following you and aware of what you are doing if you are going to not eat for days. 

Triangle-Woman, LaughingChevre (interesting names both), thank you very very much for your contribution in this dialogue. My conclusion till now is that I could make my effort,I've already started the fast yesterday at 16.00. However I'll set an open end to the it, and in case I feel weak I'll break it. Of course this weakens the challenge too, a bit, but i must stay realistic.Again, thank you guys all for your encouragement and support!  

I am a bit goat-obsessed, Patricia. I hope you take care of yourself and don't ignore any signs of weakness or dizziness. 

Prolonged fasts do usually see an uptick in protein in the urine, but that’s because of autophagy and not the result of canibalizing the muscles. Muscle loss will be insignificant even with longer fasts as long as you have fat stores to draw from and you stay active. Your body preserves muscle while it can so that you can use those muscles to acquire food. It doesn’t really start breaking down muscle until fat stores are depleted and organs are endangered. At that point all bets are off and muscle tissue will be broken down for food.