The fasting journal · matched to fast day 35
Day 35. The Metallic Taste Is Back
Day 35. Friday under the gazebo, the gnome tucked under one arm, the glass of water waiting on the table. It is the start of the Labor Day weekend and John opens the way he always does, with the number.
190.9 pounds. Down 0.4 from yesterday and 37.7 pounds below the 228.6 he weighed on August 1. BMI reads 28.9, body fat 31.9 percent, muscle 37.2 percent and the day burned 1995 calories. Three losing mornings in a row now since the avocado plateau ended.
How do I feel? I feel good. I feel fine. No issues here.
Almost pinkish
The strip stayed blank. While I still continue to lose weight, my ketone strips are not getting any kind of sign of ketones in my body. So we are just going to keep drinking water. We are going to stay on course.
Then the honest part. Today it was almost pinkish. Maybe it was just me hoping that it would be. We will see.
That is four blank mornings after the day 30 food. His own first week ran the same way, blank through day 3 and color on day 4. The strip only shows ketones that spill into urine. John’s theory is still that the extra water he is carrying is diluting everything. His answer has not changed. More water, water only, wait for the color. He says he is confident it will start reading something.
The taste
People are asking me about the metallic taste in my mouth. I am starting to get that back. It is a pretty strong taste.
Anyone who has fasted for more than a few days knows this one. It showed up for John in the first week and faded. Now it is back. The question he keeps getting is how he deals with it. So he laid out the whole routine.
He does three things when he brushes his teeth, morning and night.
One, regular toothpaste. Full disclosure, on an electric toothbrush.
Two, a little bit of baking soda mixed with some water into a paste. He scoops it up onto the same toothbrush and brushes again. He calls it the second layer of toothbrushing.
Three, a rinse.
Between the three of them, he says, it clears the taste out of his mouth for the whole day and the whole night. He also warns that it is strong. His guess at why it works is that the pH in the mouth changes and the baking soda helps with that. That is John’s experience and his theory. It is not advice. Anyone with dental work should check with a dentist before scrubbing with baking soda every day. It is the same rule as everything else on this site. He is under doctor supervision with monthly bloodwork. He tells people to get their own.
The weekend
Not only is it Friday, it is the beginning of the Labor Day weekend. He wished everyone a happy one, said he would let us go, raised the glass and drank.
Yesterday was about the four inches off his waist. Today was about the two things nobody sees on a scale, a blank strip he wanted to be pink and a taste he has learned to scrub away. If you are new here, what water fasting actually is explains the setup he is running.
Day 35 done. 55 days to go.
Quick answers
Does brushing with baking soda help the metallic taste from a water fast?
It is what John uses and it works for him. Twice a day he brushes with regular toothpaste first. Then he makes a small paste of baking soda and water, scoops it onto the same electric toothbrush and brushes again. Then he finishes with a rinse. He says the three together clear the taste for the whole day and the whole night. His theory is that the baking soda changes the pH in his mouth. That is his experience, not a study. Anyone with dental work or gum trouble should ask a dentist before adding an abrasive like baking soda to a routine.
Can a ketone strip look almost pink and still count as zero?
Yes. John held today's strip up to the chart on the bottle and called it almost pinkish. Then he admitted it was probably him hoping. The lowest color on the chart is a beige zero and the next step up is a pale pink for 0.5 mmol/L. Anything short of that pink is a zero. The strips are read by matching color at a set time after dipping. A faint tint that never reaches the first square does not count. He logged it as zero and the site shows zero. Wanting a number is not the same as reading one.
Is losing 0.4 pounds in a day slow five weeks into a water fast?
It is slower than his average but not unusual. John has lost 37.7 pounds in 35 days, which works out to just over a pound a day across the whole fast. The first week moved fast as water left. Now the daily number swings between small drops and the occasional bump. Yesterday he lost 0.7 and today 0.4. He is not treating any single morning as a trend. The waist, the ring and the shoes from day 34 tell him the direction is still right even on a 0.4 day.
Does a holiday weekend change anything on a long water fast?
Not for John. Day 35 landed on the Friday before Labor Day and his plan is the same as any other day. Water, the daily weigh in, the strip in the morning and the video. He wished everyone a good weekend and signed off. The hard part of a holiday is usually the food around you, not the calendar. He has already had his one deviation on day 30 and he says he is staying on course. The doctor supervision and the monthly bloodwork do not take the weekend off either.