my first 24 hour fast
today i’m sharing the story on how i finally conquered my first 24 hour fast with all the details!
Ok, but before I jump into the story of the 24 hour fast I thought a little backstory might be worth telling so you can understand how I ended up here!
First of all, fasting has been on my radar for the past 6+ months, so it’s not something brand new to me. I became interested in it as another health tool (because if you know me… I’m always looking for ways to tweak + improve my health), but not just fasting in general… fasting for women, specifically.
I started following a doctor on YouTube by the name of Mindy Pelz because she was the ONLY one giving insight into how women should be fasting vs. men. If you look to the science + literature, it’s mostly done on males. And I hate to break it to ya… half of the population isn’t male which means our bodies do not function like males do (and why the research—even as detailed and tested as it is—does not neatly translate over to what a woman should do).
This had me VERY curious to learn more about how women should be fasting.
So, after reading Fast Like A Girl as quickly as I could, I started incorporating the findings of the books into my daily life. First, it started as mapping fasting to my cycle (VERY important for any woman who has a period—we can’t fast whenever like a male can). From this, I started with shorter fast (12-13 hours) in the beginning to get the feel for it, then I started to look into longer fast (17 hours)—but always mapped to my cycle!
Then, I started to follow the 30-day protocol she had for fasting. I didn’t follow it to a ‘T’ each and every month (you gotta live life too!), but it became a bigger health priority than I thought it was going to (where I was even fasting ON vacation)! She talks in the book about six different lengths of fasts, and at first, I never thought much of the fasts that were 24 hours and up.
BUT… after a few months of following the 30-day protocol, I started to get this itch to try a longer fast. My health has definitely gone through plenty of changes in the last 5+ years (I blame it all on birthing that second baby, 3 years of breastfeeding, chronic sleep deprivation, stress, postpartum hormonal shit storm & just trying to survive day-to-day🤣), so it felt like a “why not” situation. I still have a few health things I’m trying to work through and once I can actually post more info on why longer fasts are beneficial, you’ll understand why my desire to do a longer fast came in. Plus, I was turning 38 & I wanted to feel great in my body… and fasting can be a GREAT tool for that.
The mind is really the most powerful tool we have. Mine in the beginning thought a 24 hour fast sounded crazy. And then I knew I was ready to try one when I looked at it one day and said to myself, “24 hours really isn’t that bad!” That’s the moment I knew that I could do it.
My goal is to actually do a 36 hour fast, but after doing some muscle testing on my body, it strongly told me to start with the 24 hour fast in May before doing the 36 hour fast in June (so stay tuned…). So after mapping out my cycle and the best times to do a longer/24 hour fast, one of the dates was actually smack dab on my birthday😑. As you can imagine, I decided NOT to do it that day. The next best option was to do it at the end of May… which ended up working out ok, but I had my mom and sister in town for my daughter’s theatre production. I knew that I wanted the fast more, so I informed everyone what I was doing and that I was very committed to it, but would be as flexible as I could in those 24 hours (we went to the brewery the night I started my fast & I sat there…chewing my gum!).
My fast began on a Sunday at 12:30pm. My goal that morning was to get as close to 2,000 calories as best as I could aka operation wake up and stuff.yo.face! I started with pancakes, then made a protein packed smoothie (below) then finished with a nourishing salad (+ a few things thrown in between). By the time I got to the salad and finished it, I did NOT want to look at food again, so I knew I was leading into the fast on the right foot!
My blender was actually broken and in for repair this day so I had to run across the street to my sis-in-law’s and use her blender for my smoothie… hence the measuring cup🤣
Now for the hard part… because I started fasting at 12:30pm, I still had 10+ hours ahead of me of not eating. As I said, it’s definitely more of a mental game more than anything, and it was around the 7pm mark where hunger crept in a bit and I was getting a little fatigued (while at the brewery), so I focused on knowing that I CAN DO THIS… and then it soon passed.
Side note: Your body switches over from the sugar burner system (using glucose) to the fat burner system (using ketone) around the 8 hour mark, so this a good time to mentally prep yourself for that switch. Your body might try to ‘fight’ you on it; thinking you’re starving it (aka it’s saying: give me my glucose!), but once you switch over to using ketones for fuel, you will be laughing. You’ll have new found energy, clarity, and hunger disappears (but if this DOESN’t happen and you actually start feeling worse, this is an indication to break your fast. This is why I’m building up my fast lengths & if ever it doesn’t feel right, I would end my fast right away—there’s no shame in that whatsoever).
After that, I had no problem making it to bedtime. I woke up the next morning almost forgetting I was doing a 24 hour fast. In all honesty, I felt the exact same way in my body as I did when doing a 17 hour fast...I just had a few more hours on it😉. The days leading up to this, I was actually fasting most days until late morning/lunchtime so I knew this wasn’t out of the norm.
I had to drive my daughter downtown for her rehearsal day for theatre and that’s actually how I came to start and end my fast at 12:30pm. I knew it was enough time to drop her off and make it back home before it was time to eat. So I did just that. I dropped her off (and drank some yerba mate on the drive there)…
…and once I was home, I prepared my salad. BUT then quickly ran to my sis-in-law’s house for something (and of course got talking to her), which ended up extended my fast an extra 30 mins.
So there I was… 24.5 hours into fasting! I had done it!!
I broke my fast with an amazing Sakara salad which was exactly what I was craving.
I’m not sure if I’m more surprised at how easy it was to do that or why I’m only just finishing this now! But either way, I definitely gave myself a pat on the back and now it’s time to… BRING ON THE 36 HOURS NEXT, BABY! I’m so excited for that one, so stay tuned!
xo char
AND HOLD UP!
You might be wondering… why is she even fasting at all?! And this is where I have some exciting news. I am in the process of becoming a fasting certified coach (FOR WOMEN), so stay tuned for that! I cannot wait to add this to my toolbelt in the pursuit to help you glow in this life. As always, I like to be my OWN guinea pig before I start sharing with others (hence the past 6+ months of learning + living this) and this is one of the ways I’m SO pumped to start helping YOU out with next. Make sure to sign up for my newsletter to be in the known!
