Foggy head  

Today is my 2nd day of the 16:8 fasting window. It is 8pm and my last meal was at lunchtime - 12pm. Today I feel generally better then yesterday. My head is less foggy and there is only a light feeling of hunger currently. There is something quite rewarding about not eating. Somehow I already feel a benefit. I am grateful for this space to share my experience. I am also drinking tea without sugar. I think due to less food the green tea is more tasty.

Thanks for your questions, Nick. You are young and have a life ahead of you. Fortunately, with OMAD you should be able to get to your desired level of fitness. However, don't worry too much about exercise for now, until you have reached a good comfort level with OMAD or any other form of IF you end up using.

I started with OMAD immediately because I was trying to follow General McChrystal's plan. so I had to do exactly what he did since the other alternative forms of IF were not available to me. So I was very motivated and stayed with it despite the initial discomfort. It was my last chance to lose weight before my age could catch up with me. Within 3 weeks (or maybe less), I was adapted to my new lifestyle, and I never looked back.

Physiologically, it is possible that you are going through a withdrawal of your sugar addiction. You are going through a transformation from a sugar-based metabolism to a lipid(fat)-based metabolism. Since ketone bodies released from your body fat are far more effective at producing energy than sugar, you will soon be surprised by your energy level. This seems to be quite consistent among OMADers. Your foggy head might be due to low sugar levels in your blood. I did experience something similar recently when I tried a 2-day-fast. Be sure to monitor this change. You should increase your caloric intake, perhaps fat-rich nuts, butter or coconut/olive/avocado oil. Also, be sure that you get enough Potassium and Magnesium. If you are hungry while fasting, take some Himalayan salt (a pebble or two might do), this will help with the hunger and assure you that you have enough electrolytes. If the foggy head persists, it may be wise to see a doctor. 

Take your time with the 16:8, by all means. Once you are adapted to that, then you can challenge yourself with OMAD. That should be the ultimate goal because it will come fitness, autophagy, growth hormone, and ketosis. All beneficial effects.

Hunger is controlled by the hormone Grehlin. It spikes at the same times every day. If you eat at 7 am, 12 m and 7 pm every day, Grehlin will go up at those times and you will feel it when you are in Fasting. If you decide to skip breakfast, you will feel hungry until 7:30 am or so, but if you hold, you will have no problem with fasting until 12 m.

My OMAD is at 11 am, and I only feel any hunger worth mentioning at 7 pm. I just get busy and ignore it, and it goes away as easily as it comes.

Hi Juan

Thank you for all your guidance. Really appreciate it. It's amazing and inspiring to read about your experience. 

Today is going well. Perhaps tomorrow or Friday or Saturday I'll go to 20:4 or OMAD. 

I'm taking a magnesium supplement with my SSRI medication. I think fasting may help me to come off the SSRI longer term. 

I'll look into finding potassium.

Regarding the hunger "spikes" at certain hours, I just noticed it this evening, that around 1800 I became hungry, because I normally eat around this time.

Hi Juan

Thanks for your blog. It is very helpful. There's no "like" by each blog article, or a commenting area, so I just wanted to tell you here that the blog articles are very helpful.

Today I started 20:4. 20 hours fasting, 4 hour eating window. I was willing to go to OMAD today, but, I had an interview at 0930, and felt the need to be gentle with myself. So my window was 9am to 1pm. I have very busy days, with a lot of using the intellect, also meeting people, working with computer, etc., and I used to think that I needed food in order to have the energy levels to do these things, as well as to look after my children at night. However, through your blog, I'm learning that's not necessary. That energy actually INCREASES as I will let go of my carb-sugar-rich diet, which never satisfies me with my energy level, anyway. This also explains to me why exercise has been so hard - so difficult, for so many years, even since I was a teenager. It's because I've always a eaten high-carb, sugar-based diet.

The first benefit I am seeing is a lighter belly. It is still big but there is something more subtly lean about it. I am really looking forward to the day when my belly is not so obvious through my clothing, which often results in an unconscious desire to hold it in - which is NOT good for deep-breathing, centering, exercises. Especially when doing presentations at the office!

One concern I have is my SSRI medication. I may call my pscyhiatrist to let him know I'm changing my diet and any guidance. But I think my body is so accustomed to the medication (which I take at night), that it's OK. I noticed the last couple of nights a difficulty sleeping, and this may be to do with taking the medication on an empty stomach. It has been really unhealthy that I would always eat before taking the medication, filling my tummy before bed!

Throughout the day, there are times of hunger, and times of not being hungry. When I wake up after sleeping, even after not having eaten for 16 hours, I do not feel hungry! I find that amazing. Throughout the day I do feel hungry sometimes for long periods. If I'm having a stressful meeting at work, or doing too much multitasking, this gives a stronger urge to eat and accentuates the feeling of weakness. The weakness and foggy head as you said before is about sugar addiction. That makes complete sense. But from your blog I know this is just the process of going through the discomfort until my body stops producing the hungry hormone in the morning and at night.

This is really inspiring as I'm changing a whole lifetime of eating patterns. I'm 32, but I had a test done where they measured my age and actually, physiologically speaking, they told me my body is at age 40, according to fat storage, muscle mass, etc. So physiologically I'm 8 years older than my real age.

I had some guidance that I’m perhaps going too fast. As an Enneagram 3 this is to be expected! So I think I will go back to 16:8 tomorrow, and take this gently. The reason is due to my lifestyle, which is extremely busy with taking my 2 year old son to playgroup early morning (and all the organization around that – dressing, breakfasting, etc.) and then going to work, having very busy days at work, and then going back to pick up my son, taking him home and helping to look after our 4 month old! For now I will keep my I.F. to 16:8 with eating hours between 0630 and 1430. Additionally, I will focus on bringing my diet to low-carb and high protein. I think this is going to be much, much easier in comparison to previous efforts to do so, because of the fasting window and removing the food addiction. My body will get used to using fats for energy rather than sugars. For breakfast I will eat oats with banana and then eat lunch around 1130. I will ensure I eat nuts/seeds/eggs and other protein-rich foods. I will try it like this for 2 weeks and then review. I just got the sense I’m rushing too fast to 20:4 given my schedule at the moment, I feel it’s best to take it more slowly. This will also give me more and more time to become more educated about the body and fasting in general.

On the other hand, I just noticed already a change in my tummy, which is less inflamed and lighter. It's amazing how quickly that has occurred and it's quite motivating. Therefore, I'm having second thoughts about my previous message. I will meditate further on how to proceed.

Today has been a day of 20:4, I will eat again tomorrow either at 9am, or 12pm. If I reach 12pm it will be the first time I've gone to OMAD.

As I mentioned I am on SSRI medication, which is for OCD, anxiety and depression. I've had these symptoms for 8 years. Spiritual/consciousness work has saved my life. And now I am fasting. It's such a profound change of lifestyle. It is the opposite of what I've ever taught my body. It feels profoundly spiritual yet physical.

I do have anxiety arising regarding the fast. And that's because I'm entering the unknown. Because every step forward always requires a leap of faith.

I am really interested in OMAD because of my desire to become healthier and fitter. I always "downsized" my weight, which is at least 5kg too heavy for the max range of healthy weight for my height. I read earlier that someone who is 186cm should be somewhere between 69kg and 86kg. It will be so amazing when I can see a flat stomach.

But I'm also very interested in how it might help my mental symptoms. I rarely experience depression these days, because I feel so inspired by this path and am embracing all challenges. However, anxiety/fear/OCD I still have strong symptoms. I can manage them through Witnessing and through spiritual work.

I look forward to the day that I start naturally feeling the desire to exercise, as you wrote about on your blog, Juan. It might take time. I will just keep going until it comes. Intuitively, I know it will happen. And exercise will help my anxiety levels. But I also read something briefly about the link between the gut and seretonin - the root of OCD is supposed to be about seretonin defiency, hence SSRI's - selective seretonin uptake inhibitor. If the gut produces something like 90% of the body's seretonin, and I have subjected my gut to so much unhealthiness, never giving it a break, for many years... perhaps this fasting holds promise to helping me get off the SSRI medications.

Either way, I'm happy to do this even if it's only for the physical benefits (losing my tummy).

I used to have hunger spikes between 18:00 and 20:00 hrs. Now I don't feel anything different. I only feel hunger at about 10:30 hrs, as I approach my one meal time of 11:00 pm. 

I also experience lethargy between 13:00 and 14:00. Sometimes I resist it by taking a second cup of coffee and focusing on some activity. Sometimes I surrender and take a nap, particularly on weekends. Occasionally on weekdays when I am not to busy with work, and then I make up for that time in the evening.

It is really amazing how many hours we spent preparing and eating our meals. My one meal takes no more than 1hr, including preparation.

"This also explains to me why exercise has been so hard - so difficult, for so many years, even since I was a teenager. It's because I've always eaten high-carb, sugar-based diet."

I certainly identify with you on this. Of course, I had to discover OMAD to understand that. I am so glad that you have posted this message because I am sure others will benefit from your experience.

Being carbohydrate adapted makes you sluggish, particularly after every meal, and we don't think that there is something wrong with the food, we think that there is something wrong with us. We might be self-loathing, thinking of ourselves as old, weak and lazy, never realizing that it is all physiological. Insulin makes us preserve our body weight and it does it by reducing our metabolic rate and building our fat stores. 

I am going to refrain from giving you medical advice regarding your medication. Suffice it to say that you need to have a doctor that hears your concerns and your medical history. Your physiology is changing and even your mental conditioning might change. Fasting makes your brain adapted to ketone bodies, which is a more efficient use of energy. Therefore, it is quite possible that you may be overcoming previously difficult illnesses. Again, be sure to make your physician aware of your OMAD regimen and your desire to quit using medications. He/she might be able to lower your prescription or remove it altogether is you are making progress. Only your MD is qualified to make recommendations about that.

There is nothing wrong with adapting to your new lifestyle. Here is a paper describing the effects of IF on Insulin resistance. The paper says that Plasma free fatty acid and 􏰂-hydroxybutyrate concentrations were 347±18 and 0.06±􏰀0.02 mM, respectively, after overnight fast but increased (P<0.05) to 423±86 and 0.10±0.04 mM after 20-h fasting, confirming that the subjects were fasting. In other words, IF can put you into ketosis effectively, after 20-h fasting. The goal of doing OMAD every day is a good one and should be your long-term plan. The result will be insulin sensitivity, prevention or even cure of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and reduction of energy storage in the form of fat. 

Halberg, Nils, Morten Henriksen, Nathalie Söderhamn, Bente Stallknecht, Thorkil Ploug, Peter Schjerling, and Flemming Dela. Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding on insulin action in healthy men. J Appl Physiol 99: 2128–2136, 2005.

Do I get it right that you have had IBD? I suggest that you try and find some articles about IBD and OCD as well in the literature and see if Fasting has been used to treat these conditions. Perhaps you can use https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed to locate articles in the subject and share them with your physician if you find something of interest.