Fast Day 6: Pacific Time 12:00 Noon

Sorry for the late blog today, but I am losing energy and will only be able to do this once a day from now on.

Physiology

The physiology remains the same everyday now until I end the fast, so I will discontinue this section for now. The body remains in the state of ketosis from the 3rd day on and detoxification occurs with the body breaking down fat cells and other non-essential tissues.

Personal

I has quite a difficult day yesterday with bad nausea and lower back pain. On a scale of 1-10 the lower back pain is about a 7. It makes it difficult to find any comfortable position. The worst part of it is it interferes with sleeping which is now my favorite activity of the day or night. I have a massage scheduled for 1 PM today and I am hoping that reduces some of the pain. Apparently this is a known complication of the fasting process, nothing unusual. So is the nausea. I am just lucky enough to experience both of these annoying symptoms.

I have now lost 13 pounds and I am starting to look a bit scary. Goodbye love handles! My cheeks are kind of sunken. Today, until noon at least I am doing OK, but my problems have been occurring in the afternoon and evening.

I am looking forward to the 2:30 PM lecture today and then at 5 PM and will watch the Yankee/Texas game. Lots of time to kill everyday when you do not have to shop, cook and eat.

One of my friends commented that I only blog about my physical issues and asked – What about your emotional/mental state?

I guess that is a good question. Like many men, however, I may not be that “in touch” with my feelings, but I will try to express how I feel.

I suppose anyone going through this experience at times questions himself. Should I really be doing this? Personally, these thoughts do pass through my mind on occasion. It actually would have been easier to do this if I were diabetic, or had hypertension, or cardiovascular disease, or if I were 50 pounds overweight like the vast majority of my fellow fasters. They have true outcome measures they are trying to achieve. In my case I am just try to achieve better health which is not measurable. Thus, I have occasional doubts. I have been able to slow down for the first time in many, many years. I thought I would be working on professional things, but I have given up on that for now and just trying to relax. I miss my wife, Maxine very much and my children and friends at work and in my community and feel a bit lonesome here all by myself. Although everyone is very nice here, they are still strangers. In the end, however, when I work through the doubts and loneliness I feel proud of myself for undertaking this very challenging task and I feel that it will have positive effects on the rest of my life.

Until tomorrow…