Why I went 60 hours without food

 

Yep.  It sounds a little crazy I know.  That is exactly what I thought when I first heard of my friends doing a 60 hour fast.  Well, thankfully I am not above a little crazy so I started some research.  

Let me begin by saying that there is more than just water involved.  I also added in a supplement for body and brain fuel so no starvation going on here, get that out of your brain and cal down for a minute!  Let's start off with the Why

Purpose: To Detoxify, Repair, Regenerate and Reset our body both physically and psychologically. + Mental Clarity, Acuity and Accomplishment + Starve the micro-biomes of sugar + Brain Metabolism Adaptation (The Sugar Shift) + Increase Growth Hormone Levels + Detox...The worse you’ve been, the worse it will be. Toxins will be removed via skin, breath, bowels.

Now, I'm not necessarily looking to lose weight here, I don't need to.  What I do need is a shift in my body, over the past 2-3 years while my weight has remained virtually the same, my % body fat had increased from 16-18% on up to 25-26%  I work in the fitness industry, I'm not sedentary, and I didn't like where this was heading.  I am a hard gainer meaning it takes a LOT of work for me to build muscle so I knew I was going to have to make a conscious effort to stop this trend.  I have always followed a higher fat diet because that is the science that I align myself with and I'm wanting to follow more of a ketogenic diet as I come out of this.  Enter the 60 Hour Water Fast & Ketone Cleanse!

I'm not going to go into full detail & run folks off from boredom, I'll just say that I trusted the research that I read and I made the decision that felt right for me, telling myself that I would stop without judgment if something didn't feel right.  A nurse friend of mine joined me and we agreed to be accountability partners (this became SO important)  There is also a FB support group we joined (I can add you!) and we embarked.  

We started a bit earlier than the group due to work and travel plans so at 9:00pm on a Thursday night we stopped ingesting any protein, carbs, or fats and started our clocks.  My goal was no less than 100 oz. of water each day of the fast (I struggle with water intake and want to hit 50 oz. daily but like most people I often fall short).  I went to bed with a large bottle of water and slept like a baby.  Following is my recap of the next 60 hours.

Hours 0-9.5 Get ready for bed and sleep, that was easy!  I actually have slept so very well since starting with this supplement, it has been one of my favorite benefits that I've experienced (Once I decided to stop resisting waking up at 6:30 am!)

Hours 9.5-17.5 Friday morning, Up and ready for work, I had my morning packet of Max (caffeinated) and life was grand! Now a little intermittent fasting is nothing new for me, I don't like to eat early in the mornings so no big change here.  This was a bit of a busy day at work with a few back to back meetings and 2 practice workouts.  During this phase of the fast guidelines are to get in a good workout so that you burn through your glucose and glycogen stores so we wanted to 'spend' lots of energy today. ✔

Hours 17.5-22  Friday afternoon, I ran from one thing to the next (a bad habit of mine!) and while I did keep my water bottle full I did not have my mid-day supplement pack.  I felt it, and reached out to my friend who pointed out to me that duh...my sugar appeared to have dropped! I shook up a drink and immediately felt better this turned out to be the first and only time I wondered if I would need to stop.  No hunger pains, no cravings and water intake is going well! Finished the workday and went home, the hubby is out fishing so no worry about dinner...not yet!

Hours 22-26 I wanted to go to an essential oils class tonight because my accountability partner uses lemon essential oil in her water and I wanted to learn more about this so I go to a friend's house for the evening. It was so nice, there were beautiful looking and delicious smelling snacks, fruits, salad, and even some ketogenic diet friendly foods since her mom follows a ketoogenic diet! I thoroughly enjoyed looking at and smelling the foods but was not compelled to cheat or break the fast at all.  I brought a non-caffeinated Max with me and was fully satisfied. I also got to enjoy some amazing company and laughed more than I have laughed in ages!  I have some awesome friends!

Hours 26-34 Home to sleep again, this passes time wonderfully.  I did break the 100 oz. mark yesterday and yes, I did go to the bathroom a lot, no GI distress though!  Slept well as usual and got up this morning to go teach Boga, a floating fitness workout that we offer at our outdoor pool.  I fixed my water bottle with lots of ice and shook up my caffeinated Max and headed off to work (Hubby left before me for more fishing so no breakfast duty either!)

Hours 34-38 Taught two classes back to back, showered, made a round around the facility and headed home... I'm still feeling great, no grumbling tummy, no fatigue, no weakness! Today the shift from sugar metabolism to fat metabolism should kick in, I'm making regular check ins with my friend and she is right there with me, she may have had it worse though, she went to a BBQ last night and didn't even cave! I'm telling y'all the cravings aren't there!

Hours 38-43 The time I fear the most...being at home with nothing to do.  I knew it before going into this but I tell you what I really know it now.  I am a snacker, I eat out of boredom and I will eat anything...I will also eat the whole package so I don't have to worry about eating it later - especially if it is less than healthy because I won't want to keep that unhealthy stuff around, you know!  I'm feeling good and the yard needs some work so I set out to mow and weed-eat. Yep. In the Texas heat.  It was the s-l-o-w-e-s-t yard work I have ever done! But it kept me busy and trust me I took so many rest, water, and cool down breaks I also popped a few rocks of Himalayan Sea salt throughout the day to keep electrolytes balanced. This is a cool article on salt too:It's Not Salt's Fault  So anyway, I drank my mid-day Max and other than snooping obsessively in the cabinets and fridge for a snack that I knew I wasn't going to eat, another good day!  Now, about this snooping - this was not out of hunger, it was out of habit, note to self.

Hours 43-49 The evening.  Hubby is home and loves to cook so he took care of his own dinner at this point I'm pretty glad for that.  I continued distracting myself, had my evening Max and made another mistake. I got on Pinterest. 😮 I knew what I was doing too! I just wanted to innocently look at some good ketogenic recipes and start planning a grocery trip! Planning my breakfast, dreaming of food and delicious things!  It was only mildly tortuous 😏 But then I drifted off to sleep and all was well.  Still no hunger pains, still no GI distress, no headaches, etc.  This does make me feel good about where I started from, had I not started making some healthy changes beforehand this could have been a bit more ugly!

Hours 49-58 I went to bed with my breakfast all planned out, visions of eggs dancing in my head!  You're going to get tired of hearing this but I slept like a baby again.  I don't get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, I just sleep.  Until 6:30 and then I wake up, it never fails.  I didn't want to wake up at 6:30 today though, I wasn't having breakfast until 9!  So I made myself lay there tossing and turning for a little longer.  I didn't get up and get another bottle of water like I should have and a headache started to creep in, I knew why.

Hours 58-60 About 8 am I forced myself up to get a bottle of water, goodbye headache. Hello stove!  at 8:30 am I started pulling out my breakfast supplies and getting so excited!  I whipped up some eggs, avocado, bone broth, and...bacon.  The bacon was a bad idea, it wasn't part of the plan and I see why! It sure tasted good though!

First Meal Post Fast

Post Fast Day 1: After breakfast I went to church, now today calls for breakfast only and a small snack or so I'm still having my Max regularly and still aiming for 100 oz. of water for the day.  So, about that bacon - I did not feel good and I could tell it was bacon related, a little queasy and a little headache but nothing ridiculous so I'm hanging in there.  This evening we have a dinner at church, fries chicken, potato salad, and tables full of desserts!  Now my snacks should have been small bits of fruit but I broke guidelines and had a bit of salad and a nibble of chicken (meat only) instead! Felt okay about it and stuck with no dairy, sugar, etc.

Post Fast Day 2: Never. Have. I. CRAVED CARBS like I have today. Never! Without willpower and time invested I could have devoured a buffet of pasta, bread, pastries, cakes, cookies, you name it! Today was a mild struggle but I just had to remind myself that these were the very things that had gotten out of control in my diet and this was exactly why I needed this reset. Power through, complain a little, and en the end I'm proud of the progress.

Post Fast Day 3: Carb cravings are gone, water intake is easier and easier each day and I'm consistently hitting my 50 oz. goal with no trouble and a completely normal number of restroom breaks! I've not had sugar cravings and I've just been slowly adding in new foods, monitoring how my body feels as I add them and making a decision from there on keeping the foods or not.  I'm happy with my progress so far, I'm on vacation right now and don't have the urge to splurge (I am considering a sno cone later today though) and Monday mom and I will be headed to Trader Joe's and JR (the hubby, fisherman extraordinaire) will embark on the ketogenic diet! Pinterest here I come!!

I'll update again later on with my progress! Oh, and speaking of progress - while you don't weight during the fast, I an conscious about not losing weight so I utilize a tool at work called an InBody to track changes in my body composition.  In the past month my weight has virtually remained the same, only my usual fluctuations of 1-2 pounds. In the time I've been supplementing with Keto//OS my body fat has been dropping, from its highest point at 26% to my post-fast 21% and not only have I maintained muscle mass but I've gained muscle along the way.  I couldn't be happier -- imagine the update as I implement a new workout routine and begin to focus a bit more on myself and my health!

If you want to try a fast of your own, or even just add in the daily supplement it is so easy and so good, just Email me, Facebook Me, or just Place an Order!

I've Decided to be Better

😞😞😞

I hit a slump, a pretty good one too. For a good while not too long ago I was pushing and struggling to make things happen all on my own.  I kept up pretty well too actually!  But the day that my husband got back home and I had him to help me out, that's the day that I started to fizzle out.  I literally quit doing everything.  The exhaustion caught up with me and when I got up in the mornings I just wanted to sleep, when I came home from work I just wanted to sleep.  It was not at all what I had envisioned.  It was boring and depressing, I was boring!

My eating habits that were once pretty decent got out of control, we didn't have a meal plan so we often ended up eating out at the last minute.  That also meant no leftovers for lunches so out again for lunch.  Don't even talk to me about the cost - convenience has a price!  With this lack of energy and poor fuel my already questionable workout habits became non-existent.  JR and I did go for daily walks for a short period but eventually we lost the time and energy for that as well.  

I hit a wall.  I knew that I couldn't let myself continue like this, not for myself, my health, and not in my line of work!  I had to make a change.  That change is still in progress but I feel like I'm on the right track.  I have changed my diet and supplements and have gotten an amazing energy boost from that.  I recently completed a certification that will be life-changing for so many, myself included simply because there is consistency and accountability involved in the workouts.  

I'll be taking steps to keep moving forward & I'll be updating my progress here, feel free to creep, join me, ask questions, etc!  From here on out, I am on fire! 🔥🔥🔥

What a Woman!

It is no secret that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pink is everywhere you look! It is a great reminder to women that we need to be proactive in maintaining a healthy body. There are so many aspects to women’s health that keeping up to date on the variety of signs and symptoms of good health should be an ongoing part of your routine. When was the last time you stopped to look at how well you are taking care of your personal health and well-being? If you are like many women it may have been quite a while. Here are few reminders on some of the important facts and symptoms associated with some of the major health risks that women face.

Heart Health
While we often think of women’s health issues relating mainly to breast health and menopause it may be surprising to note that heart disease is actually the number one killer of women in America, one in four women die from heart disease. While it is a natural course of a woman’s life cycle, menopause can cause physical changes that can impact your heart health. In fact, studies have shown an increase in heart attacks among women after experiencing menopause. If you’ve followed a healthy lifestyle and continue doing so at menopause, your risk for heart disease and stroke is lower.

Ovarian Cancer
Early ovarian cancer usually has no obvious symptoms, though studies have indicated that some women experience persistent, nonspecific symptoms, such as bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, or urinary urgency or frequency. Women who experience such symptoms daily for more than a few weeks should seek prompt medical evaluation. The most common sign of ovarian cancer is swelling of the abdomen, which is caused by the accumulation of fluid.
There are no good routine screening tests for early or late detection of ovarian cancer. It is usually found at an advanced stage due to the fact that there are few major symptoms that draw attention to the fact that something is wrong; most symptoms can be vague and mild. An estimated 21,290 new cases of ovarian cancer are expected in the US in 2015.

Breast Cancer
The most common symptom of breast cancer is a lump or mass in the breast, which is often painless. Less common symptoms include persistent changes to the breast, such as thickening, swelling, distortion, tenderness, skin irritation, redness, scaliness, or nipple abnormalities, such as ulceration, retraction, or spontaneous discharge. Breast pain is more likely to be caused by benign conditions and is not a common symptom of breast cancer.
An estimated 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the US during 2015; about 2,350 new cases are expected in men. Excluding cancers of the skin, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women.

Self-Care
Women are notorious for spending more time taking care of others and less time on their own needs. The trend toward taking more time for yourself is not a new idea, it is often just hard to do. When it comes to maintaining health there are a few simple practices that are a great start to maintaining health.

• Be physically active most days of the week

• Eat a balanced diet rich in lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables

• Use relaxation techniques to cope with stress

• Get enough rest/sleep most to all nights

• Avoid tobacco products

• Limit alcohol to one drink per day or less

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Schedule routine preventative care and health screenings

The choices you make today affect your quality of life in the future!

7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Training

7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Training

If you’re spending your time and money on personal training, you deserve to get great results. As your trainers we are here to guide you, teach you, and motivate you but you have to be the one to put forth the effort. Remember, showing up for a workout is not the same as working out.

1.     Drink Water.  This is the single most important thing you can do for your body.  No less than 8 cups (4 bottles) a day, no excuses.  Use natural water infusions but try to stay away from additives and artificial sweeteners.  Did I mention that there are no excuses?

2.     Show up on time. Every minute you’re late takes away time you have scheduled and can throw off your workout plan.  Life happens and we all run late on occasion but if you are arriving 10 minutes early for your warm up this should not be an issue.  If you need to cancel a session a 12 hour notice is expected.

3.     Clean up your eating. No amount of working out can override a less than ideal diet. Incorporate more whole, natural foods, and limit eating out.  Your trainer can spot a bad diet in your measurements so be truthful about what you eat, end of story.  If you feel that you need to hide the fact that you are eating something then you shouldn’t be eating it. Turn in your weekly logs or you may be removed from the following week’s schedule.

4.     Don’t be negative. Your trainer will have a hard time managing your program and results if you claim to be exercising more or eating better than you really are. Be honest and open about what you’re willing to do; then let your trainer be honest and open about the results you can expect.  Remove the word “can’t” from your vocabulary, there is always a modification.

5.     Set clear goals.  You trainer cannot set goals for you, they can guide you in the right direction, educate you on healthy goals, but ultimately you have to want it.  Use the acronym SMART for your goal setting and handwrite all goals in your log or journal.

6.     Come into the gym on your own.  Show your trainer that you are making an effort and not relying solely on them to do the thinking for you.  Your training program is a partnership and if you are here to make a change and become more healthy and fit then show it!  Enthusiasm breeds success.

7.     Be well rested. Your fitness recovery and progress, as well as your available energy for workouts hinge on adequate sleep. Showing up exhausted drastically limits the potential of your sessions and increases risk of injury.