Weekend binge eating versus a prolonged fast

On the weekend two weeks ago I binged. Let me tell you, friends, it was glorious. The journey started at Spudbar, followed by steamed dumplings before korean fried chicken. Next morning nasi lemak and durian gelato (!)…

A sidenote for my fellow Norwegian compatriots, Durian is a fruit that tastes and smells exactly like Maarud’s ost & løk potato chips. I know, in the near future Norwegian Durian import might cause a global shortage. Not unlike our self-inflicted butter debacle, but that’s a different story.

…The eating rampage ended with vietnamese noodles (if we overlook the two bags of potato chips that was devoured while watching Stranger Things later that night). Unsurprisingly, I was still full when I woke up on Monday. I went down the too-much-for-my-own-good-chimney. Without Santa’s down the chimney trick.

Earlier this year, in January. After feeling grossed out from the food-marathon-gorge-fest called Christmas. Also after being inspired by  Dr Dom D’Agostino talking about the health benefits of fasting I decided to make fasting a routine.

In a perfect world, if you tolerate fasting, I would do it ideally…5-7 days, 2-3 times per year -Dr Dominic D’Agostino (paraphrased)

If you do a fast 2-3 times a year it will purge any precancerous cells living in the body -Dr Dominic D’Agostino (paraphrased)

This is the man who, after a 7-day fast, deadlifted 225 kgs for 10 reps and finished with one rep of 265 kgs.

I aimed for seven days. An ambitious goal. I’d done intermittent fasting for at least a year leading up to this day so I was confident before getting started. Steadily and without too much trouble I made it to 5 and a half days, which wasn’t flawless but definitely a personal best.

Back to the Monday after the binge eating. I decided to fast again!

Monday was easy. On Tuesday hunger pangs were landing some jabs. At the time I was undecided about how long I was going for so I went ahead and did an intense Muay Thai session in the evening. Let me tell you, on Wednesday I was eating haymakers. I was demolished and slept 12 hours that night. In comparison, Thursday was bliss. Friday was similar and I beat my previous record. But that wasn’t enough..

Saturday came, and the aim of going for 7 days was within reach.

Although I’m sad to tell you I lost to the temptation, I consider it a split decision loss. Since 6.5 days without food was another personal best for me. I could feel it, how easily we can tap into energy reserves that are available all the time. How resilient we are. How we’re molded into this form that’s able to quite effectively keep going with little or no food. I had just finished a normal work week without any food (I did have about 5 tablespoons of MCT oil) and I was feeling great.

In retrospect it was timed quite well with The Keto Summit which started last Sunday. Sign up (yes it’s free!) and check out Dr Dominic D’Agostino’s talk. Be warned, it is biology vocab heavy. His talk is available today only!