The fasting journal · matched to fast day 39
Day 39. The Shape of a Pear
Day 39. A bright afternoon under the gazebo, the American flag gnome tucked into one arm as usual. John comes in sounding rested for the first time in a while. For once the most interesting thing he says has nothing to do with the scale.
184.9 pounds. Down 1.1 from yesterday and 43.7 pounds below the 228.6 he weighed on August 1. BMI is 28.0, body fat 30.3 percent, muscle 37.7 percent and the day burned 1953 calories.
How do I feel? I feel good. I feel great actually. That is the strongest version of his health line yet.
Maxed out
The strip did something it has not done on this fast.
According to the keto strips, I am at a 16. So I am maxing out the burning rate of ketones in my body.
Sixteen is the last square on the chart. There is nothing above it. One morning earlier it read 4.0 and four mornings before that the pad was blank, so the whole climb out of the day 30 avocado has now run its full length. It skipped the 8.0 square on the way, which looks like a leap until you notice the chart’s steps get much wider at the dark end.
Worth keeping the strip in proportion. It measures what is leaving the body, not how fast fat is going. A concentrated morning sample reads darker on its own. His plan is refreshingly boring. Now we just need to keep it there. So I am just going to drink water going forward.
A weekend off
I have to confess this weekend, because of Labor Day weekend, I got a lot of sleep. So that is really what I needed.
He relaxed, watched movies and took it easy for once. No measurement on this site can prove a rest day did anything. He simply sounds better than he has in a week and he wanted to say why.
The mirror
Then the part that makes day 39 worth watching. He stood in front of a mirror over the weekend and did some accounting on his own body.
I had a bigger top before. Now that has kind of gotten smaller and you could tell by the shirts that I am wearing. I went from an extra large to a large to like a tight large, maybe a medium in the next couple of weeks.
The lower half is moving too, just slower. He is a comfortable 36 from a 40, the same four inches he first noticed on day 34 and has held since. What is new today is the comparison between the two halves.
The top and the bottom did not mesh. They kind of shrunk disproportionately.
Nothing has gone wrong. Where the body takes fat from is set mostly by genetics and hormones and cannot be aimed. Plenty of men come down through the chest and arms first while the hips and thighs wait their turn. John’s read on it is that he wants the bottom to catch up in the next few weeks so the two halves line up.
So what I am hoping is that I lose more of the bottom so it matches the top, because right now the shape that I look like is a pear. What are you gonna do?
That is the whole man in one line. He noticed something unflattering, said it out loud on camera, laughed at it and kept going.
Day 39 of 90
So we will just keep going ahead, moving and moving and moving ahead. He wished everyone a good rest of the day and raised the glass.
Fifty one days to go. The strip is at the top of its chart, the scale is under 185 and the man in the mirror is a shape he intends to keep arguing with.
Quick answers
What does a 16 mmol/L urine ketone strip mean?
It is the darkest square on the chart John's strips ship with, the run being 0, 0.5, 1.5, 4.0, 8.0 and 16 mmol/L. There is nothing above it, which is why he called it maxing out. A strip that dark means his body is dumping a large amount of ketones in the urine. On a water fast that is the expected direction rather than a surprise. It is worth being precise about what the strip is not. It is not a measure of how fast fat is being burned and it is not a score to beat. Urine strips read concentration, so hydration alone can push the color up or down. His doctor tracks the real picture with monthly bloodwork.
Why did John's ketone strip jump from 4.0 to 16 in one day?
It skipped the 8.0 square entirely, which looks dramatic on a six step chart but is less so in practice. The gaps between squares get much wider at the top, since the chart runs 0, 0.5, 1.5, 4.0, 8.0 and 16, so a single step at the dark end covers far more ground than a step at the pale end. Concentration matters too. A more concentrated morning sample reads darker at the same underlying level. What the week actually shows is a steady climb out of the day 30 avocado. Zero for four mornings, next 0.5, next 1.5, next 4.0 and now the top square.
Why does the upper body get smaller before the lower body during a fast?
Where the body takes fat from is largely set by genetics, sex and hormones rather than by anything the faster chooses. It is not possible to direct loss to one area. Many men lose visibly from the chest, arms and face early while the hips and thighs hold on longer, which is what John is describing on day 39. His shirts have dropped from extra large to a tight large while his lower half has moved more slowly. Nothing has gone wrong. It means the pattern of his loss is following his own distribution. The areas that lag typically do come down later in a sustained deficit.
Does extra rest help during a long water fast?
John made a point of it on day 39. He used the Labor Day weekend to sleep in, watch movies and do very little. He said that was exactly what he needed. There is no home measurement on this site that can show a rest day working, so it belongs in the honest category of how he felt rather than what was proved. What can be said is that a long fast is a physical stress on top of ordinary life. John's own record shows his hardest stretches came when other things were going on. He is 39 days in with his doctor reviewing bloodwork monthly.