Fasting Log

[Nina]

white rice? oat flakes? if you try whole grain brown rice(or 50% white-50% brown) and oat groats you will feel less hungry

Nah i already use brown rice. Doesn’t make me any less hungry

 

[Legna88]

Nah i already use brown rice. Doesn’t make me any less hungry

beware brown rice is not always whole grain... it must say whole grain brown rice (not just brown rice)

 

[Nina]

beware brown rice is not always whole grain... it must say whole grain brown rice (not just brown rice)

It is

 

[Nina]

Salt makes me feel soooo much better its crazy. I never ate extra salt but now i use a lot of salt on my food and i feel a lot better and stronger. Have been doing this for a few days and at first i got some water retention but thats all gone now. Its weird but i never crave salt so i never knew i needed it

 

[mattyb]

The faster your metabolism gets, the more salt you need. This is because your body produces water during metabolic reactions, which dilutes salt concentrations in the body. And if you sweat lots then you lose a ton of sodium as well.

When I run 3-4 times a week I notice my salt cravings get crazy. I often find myself eating chips and other salty snacks even though I otherwise never really like to eat them.

 

[Nina]

I told my mom about this forum and she got interested in the fasting part. She is a bit overweight (~20lbs) and her energy is pretty low. So i told her everything i knew about the water fasting and she attempted a 3 day water fast. On the 2nd day she started feeling really bad. She turned pale, sweaty and her face and stomach became puffy and bloated. Her snorring was really loud that night aswell, way louder than usual. Is it safe to say that this is from the increase in stress hormones (not sensitive so they skyrocket?) I told her to stop fasting for now and eat healthy diet instead. Any ideas?

 

[Orion]

First 3 days are sometimes called the low carb flu, and alot of people will have trouble pushing though, and get into ketosis. Start 1 day water fast, take break and then 3 day water fast, take break, try 7 day water fast approach... I just finished a 7 day water yesterday, first 3 days still sucked bigtime!

 

[Nina]

First 3 days are sometimes called the low carb flu, and alot of people will have trouble pushing though, and get into ketosis. Start 1 day water fast, take break and then 3 day water fast, take break, try 7 day water fast approach... I just finished a 7 day water yesterday, first 3 days still sucked bigtime!

Ok thanks i had the same thing during my fast but my moms symptoms were different from mine so i wasn’t sure

 

[Nina]

I got results back from a cortisol test and man it’s pretty weird. it is low all day and at 5-6pm it starts going up and then goes down again at 11pm. I have been bruising excessively lately aswell and my doc thinks its related to the cortisol. No clue really.

 

[supernature]

...

 

[mattyb]

How are you actually feeling though, Nina? Is energy good? Training good? etc.

There is this idea that low cortisol is associated with adrenal insufficiency due to liver disease, which will raise bilirubin and cause jaundice/bruising. I know mono can sometimes cause hepatitis, and you have consistently tested positive for EBV, haven't you? I am just thinking out loud here, not really saying anything conclusive.

 

[Nina]

How are you actually feeling though, Nina? Is energy good? Training good? etc.

There is this idea that low cortisol is associated with adrenal insufficiency due to liver disease, which will raise bilirubin and cause jaundice/bruising. I know mono can sometimes cause hepatitis, and you have consistently tested positive for EBV, haven't you? I am just thinking out loud here, not really saying anything conclusive.

Energy is good, but mornings are a bit rough as i have to wake up at 6 am. Energy is better after 4pm definitely, also look better/healthier at night. I feel good, just a bit tired sometimes. Tend to feel hypoglycemic in the morning when i wake up like 10 mins upon waking i start sweating and turn very pale which goes away after a good meal.

I actually tested positive for hepatitis twice but it kept going away and coming back so my doc didn’t do anything about it. This was at the same times when my mono was active again.

Cortisol is low at 8 am and at 12 pm, then slowly starts to rise at 4pm up till 11.

 

[mattyb]

@Nina Interesting. EBV is so fucked like that, it can be really persistent.

I think if you just keep everything up, keep eating a lot, let your body heal over time - things will get better on their own. Try your best not to overtrain, and keep that salt intake up. The EBV is probably persistent because your body was in a poor state and had a hard time killing the virus. As you get stronger, I think you will eventually shed the virus completely and my guess is adrenal and liver function will restore back to 100% eventually.

Eating lots of salty slow-digesting carbs and some fructose immediately before bed may help you feel a bit better in the morning for now, since it will help keep energy availability up more consistently throughout the night.

 

[Nina]

My thyroid levels came back fine besides rt3 which is elevated, i think it has something to do with the cortisol aswell.

 

[bruschi11]

I think we have similar issues @Nina based on reading this blog. I had pretty elevated EBV too. @Moonman did veryyy high a few years back. My biggest thing was mycoplasma which was insanely high.

@mattyb thanks for making sense of this to me. I think getting into balance is the key to this along with diet, exercise. @Nina have you had hair test done yet? Its so big for adrenal/thyroid stuff, it really is.

 

[Nina]

So my doc called me to tell me about my bloodwork results and my liver is enlarged (scan), folate vitamin c vitamin d are very low, lymph nodes in neck are enlarged (scan). Wants me to take those vitamins for 2 months then check again ..

 

[mattyb]

Did he retest for EBV?

 

[Nina]

Did he retest for EBV?

Nope. Liver enzymes were fine too. Its been 4 years or something since EBV and he strongly believes it has to be gone by now however the lymph nodes and fatigue and enlarged liver are all the symptoms i had when my EBV was active. I told him but he says its not possible, i think the EBV is still in my body somehow

 

[mattyb]

Nope. Liver enzymes were fine too. Its been 4 years or something since EBV and he strongly believes it has to be gone by now however the lymph nodes and fatigue and enlarged liver are all the symptoms i had when my EBV was active. I told him but he says its not possible, i think the EBV is still in my body somehow

Damn. This just sounds a lot like that theory I talked about above, where corticosteroid output is suppressed due to liver disease from EBV. The swollen liver and lymphs really support that.

But I doubt the Vit C/D/Folate would hurt. I know for sure as an athlete you'd benefit from folate and vitamin C any way, and with summer coming up you can just spend more time in the sun to get vitamin D.

 

[Nina]

Update

Been really tired last few weeks. Decided to cut back a bit regarding my training and reduced it to 3 times for now. School starts in 5 months, so i have some time left to do whatever i need to do to get my health to the next level.

Current schedule:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: training (10 am - 2 pm) work (4 pm - 10 pm)
Wednesday: training (10 am - 2 pm) work (4 pm - 10 pm)
Thursday: Off
Friday: training (10 am - 2 pm) work (4 pm - 10 pm)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Matchday

Diet:
Not taking any supplements. My diet is mostly meat based, macros somewhere around 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carbs. I eat low carb on my restdays as i dont feel good eating too many carbs on restdays. Calories around 2500~. Have also cut out all caffeine/stimulants to see if it has any effect on me.

I wont be training this week so i have decided to do a 7 day water fast from monday to sunday.

Trainings are usually 2 hours on the field and 1-2 hours in the gym.