The fasting journal · matched to fast day 53
Day 53. The First Bowl That Filled Him Up
Day 53 and John has news he has been waiting a week to share. There are vegetables in the broth. He is smiling about it.
Numbers first. 188.9 pounds this morning. That is 0.5 pounds up overnight. Total change is 39.7 pounds in 53 days from the 228.6 start on August 1. BMI 28.6, body fat 31.4 percent, muscle 37.4 percent, 1981 calories burned. Ketone strip at zero.
Vegetables in the broth
So today we started actually eating beef broth with soft vegetables. And that tasted amazing.
Potatoes, carrots, some spinach and other vegetables like that. He lets them cook really soft and eats them with the broth. On day 51 he said this rung was coming and today it arrived.
Then the line that says the most about the last 53 days.
For the first time I am actually full.
Forty five days of water. Eight days of refeed. And now a bowl that actually fills him up. So that is great, he says. And the food tastes delicious.
Cleveland Clinic warns that bringing food back too quickly after a long stretch without it can cause refeeding syndrome. That is why the ladder moves one step at a time. Broth. Then soft vegetables. Then protein. His doctor watches the bloodwork the whole way.
The water is back
With regard to the water weight that I am gaining back, I am up to about 10.6 pounds in water weight since 9/15 when I stopped the water fast.
The scale agrees with him. He weighed 178.3 pounds on day 45, the last day of the fast. Today he weighs 188.9. That is 10.6 pounds on the nose.
The daily jumps have almost stopped. 2.8 pounds on day 51. 1.1 on day 52. 0.5 today. Two days ago he guessed the gains would shrink to about a pound and then level off. He was right. He does not really expect to gain any more water weight and says it will just be normal going forward. MedlinePlus describes how closely the body manages its fluid balance. After a long fast it takes water back. Once the stores are full the line goes flat.
Retiring the strips
As far as the ketone sticks, I guess I am gonna stop that too.
For weeks the strip was the daily proof of the fast. It read 16 on the last days of water. Now it reads zero every morning. They are just showing up zero, zero, zero all the way through, he says. There are no ketones in my system. MedlinePlus explains that a urine ketone test shows when the body is breaking down fat for fuel. With real food coming back that is not happening anymore and the strips have nothing new to say.
The count
Day 53 of the 90 day calendar. The water fast ended on day 45 and the refeed is eight days old. There are 37 days left on the calendar. Broth and soft vegetables for now. Protein next week. You have a wonderful day, he says. Cheers.
Quick answers
What did John add to his broth on day 53?
Soft vegetables. In the day 53 video he lists potatoes, carrots, some spinach and other vegetables like that. He lets them cook really soft and eats them with the beef broth. That is the step he talked about on day 51 when he said vegetables were coming this week. He says it tasted amazing and the food tastes delicious. It is still a small and gentle meal. Cleveland Clinic explains that food has to come back slowly after a long stretch without it because a fast return can cause refeeding syndrome. Soft cooked vegetables in broth are one careful rung on that ladder, with his doctor following along.
Why is John stopping the ketone strips?
Because they have nothing left to tell him. The strip read 16 during the last days of the water fast, fell to 0.5 on day 48 and has read zero every day since day 49. On day 53 he says they are just showing up zero, zero, zero all the way through and there are no ketones in his system. MedlinePlus explains that a urine ketone test shows whether the body is breaking down fat for energy, which is what happens during a fast. With food coming back his body is no longer doing that. A strip that keeps reading zero is doing its job. It is just confirming what he already knows.
Is John done gaining back water weight?
He thinks so. On day 53 he says he is up about 10.6 pounds in water weight since he stopped the water fast and that he does not really expect to gain any more. The math matches the scale. He weighed 178.3 pounds on day 45, the last day of the fast. He weighs 188.9 today. The daily gains tell the same story. 2.6 pounds on day 49, 2.9 on day 50, 2.8 on day 51. Then 1.1 on day 52 and 0.5 today. On day 51 he predicted the jumps would shrink to about a pound. They did. From here he expects the weight to be normal going forward.
When does John add protein back?
Next week. That is his plan in the day 53 video. He will keep going with the broth and the soft vegetables and then introduce some protein into the broth. It follows the same order he laid out on day 51. Broth first. Soft vegetables next. Protein after that. One step at a time so he can see how his body takes each one in. The refeed runs under the same doctor supervision as the fast did, with monthly bloodwork. He does not name a specific protein yet, so the site will not guess.