Fasting Journal, 6th Cycle : 1

Right now I am over 16 hours into the 6th 42 hour fast in a row.

This morning I did feel a little hungry for about an hour, as I woke up (7-8am) and started my day. It's an odd time for me to be hungry in any condition, since I usually wait several hours before my normal breakfast (1-2pm). I also felt a little hungry at 1:00, but that's probably just my normal ghrelin rhythm.

Not desperately hungry, but what it did was make me think more about what I want to end up doing. I really need to keep up the fasting for the autophagy effects (which are crucial for my health right now), but I also want to increase the comfort with which I achieve those effects. Fasting every other day is not bad, not uncomfortable, but in my experience I am not experiencing some of the benefits of a longer fast which makes the process easier after the third day.

I'm also having trouble getting the nutritional input I want. I felt like I had to stuff myself last night just to get to 2000 calories.

So my choices are:

1. Return to daily IF but doing a tighter window, maybe 23/1
2. Continue the 42/6 cycles, maybe changing to 40/8 to make getting my nutrition easier.
3. Occasionally double the fasting time, 90/6 in 4 days (96 hours)
4. Attempt to do even longer fasts (5-30 days), while returning to a less rigorous daily IF (18/6).

My recurring problem with longer fasts is that I am a poor man who eats only fresh whole foods. That means I have perishable foods in the fridge that I can't afford to just throw away.

Well, now that I say it, I realize that I CAN afford to throw it away. If I'm fasting, I don't have to buy any food to replace it. But I know I would hate throwing away perfectly good food.

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