Finding my true physical embodiment..

[AuthenticMe]

Hello, everyone. I am mainly posting this to keep a journal and document this process, as well as to look for support in times where I might need it. I am embarking on a fast of at least 60 days. I want to aim for 90 but I don’t know if that will happen.

A little history: I am 26 years old, male, 168cm. I have been overweight my entire life, however I have always been quite active physically (played tennis for YEARS, football, volleyball, swimming, gymnastics…I have also been doing yoga almost daily since I was 12 years old). Currently I weigh 152kg. SHOCKING! I know haha. But my highest weight was around 188kg. Back when I was around 22 I became a raw vegan and started losing some weight naturally there, and then got into juicing. I juice and ate raw foods for about 6 months or so and lost weight. I got down to about 130kg.

After that, I still juiced for breakfast but I was no longer a full time raw vegan. But juicing tasted good and made me feel great so I continued to do that for years. When I was about 24 or so, I had gotten back up to 150kg. This is when I moved to China, where I currently am now. I have been here for 2 years and the first year I lost 10kg, not through juicing but just a different diet I suppose.

Last may I decided enough was enough and I bought an entire at home gym set and kickboxing bag and decided to finally get in shape. And I did. I was doing great. Lifting weights, gaining muscle, and losing fat…(tracked all of this using equipment to measure my fat percentage and lean body mass so I would know if my workout plan was working)…and in 2 months I went from 140kg to 125kg (I was also using intermittent fasting during this time as well). I felt so great about myself and was starting to look “sexy” in my mind haha. A few days later, I got into a relationship, which ended abruptly 2 weeks ago. During that time, I wasn’t focusing on losing weight or working out or anything. Just being happy enjoying the relationship and eating, A LOT. Needless to say, after it ended I looked at myself and thought: “What did hell did you do to yourself?”

So I let myself go and ruined all the work I had put in over the summer, and could help but think, had I just kept going, I would be where I want to be now. So now, it’s time for me to finally meet the guy I have always felt like I was inside. To finally be able to look into the mirror and recognize the person looking back at me.

I am no stranger to fasting either. I have completed several water fasts over the years, the longest being 33 days, but I’ve never actually done a complete juice only fast, I’ve always done juicing with a raw food diet, or everyday processed foods. Today is Day 1 of my juice fast. I plan to update this daily as I go along, with weekly progress updates fitted with pictures and metrics.

I will be exercising while fasting. Based on my calculations, my lean body mass (LBM), which is my total body weight with 0% body fat is: 90.33kg . This is a high number, but it makes sense to me given that fat that I have done weight training and played sports for the majority of my life, while carrying around all of this fat as extra weight. So given that this is true, and my goal right now is to get down to 15% body fat, then I should be aiming for 106.27 kg. So, 110kg is my goal for this fast. We will see how it goes. As far as how i’m feeling right now, I feel great. I haven’t actually had my juice yet, and it’s almost 3:30pm here right now. Not even feeling hungry yet, which I credit to the fact that my body is already accustomed to water fasting and intermittent fasting. So Day 1, so good so far. I look forward to going through this process with you all! Pics and metrics after the jump!

Day 1: 150.8KG (332.46lbs)
Body Fat Percentage: 40.1%
LBM: 90.33kg (199.41lbs)

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Last summer when I was working out and had lost that 15kg
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2 years ago on the Great Wall of China
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[KnowAndDo]

Good luck in your search. I think it's wise that you'll be tracking LBM throughout as it will give you a chance to make adjustments if needed. I've been eating plant based for the past four months and think it's a great way to go particularly if you can avoid the processed foods.
So what ingredients will be going into the juices for Day 1? I include smoothies vs juices personally but I hear both have their advantages.

 

[AuthenticMe]

Yes I think tracking the LBM is going to be key for me, since I also want to build muscle while doing this also..so this is also going to be a little bit of an experiment for me to see if it's possible, and to what degree, can muscle building take place while just juicing. I have a theory and I want to see if it's true or not and I will test it during the fast.

Yeah processed foods are the worst..I remember after I had been raw vegan for about 10 months..my friend had given me some potato chips and i smelled them and it smelled chemical almost, so i didn't eat them..and some time after that I ate 3 chicken nuggest and had the worst stomach pain i had ever had afterwords..it scared me straight haha.

My juices will pretty much be the same. I have always made the same juice pretty much since I started juicing years ago. 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch spinach, 1 stalk of celery, 2 large cucumbers, 2-3 large carrots, 1 apple (Fiji or Gala), 1 lemon (skin peeled), 2 inches of ginger root. Some times depending on how i'm feeling, i'll throw in a 1 orange (skin peeled). Since i'm in China though, I haven't been able to find kale (i'm cried many times over this haha), so i'll use more spinach. I love smoothies but i prefer them with yogurt, so since i'm juicing i'm not going to endule, but I might save that for when i end the juice fast..a blueberry smoothie..omg yeeesssss!

 

[AuthenticMe]

Just doing a small update..it's 12:04am (Wednesday) here and still haven't had my juice so today is a water fast day. I didn't do it purposely, subconsciously perhaps, but I spent most of the day cleaning and redecorating. I decided to remodel my house a few days ago and everything arrived today. So I just got it done. Still going actually haha. Usually when I have started water fasts before, I typically spend the day cleaning to keep busy and the cleaning aids mentally I guess in the metaphoric cleansing sense of cleaning my surroundings while at the same time I'm cleansing my body, so I guess that's just what happened today. Anyway..Day 1 down..59(atleast) more to go

 

[KnowAndDo]

How have the first few days been? Hope you've been enjoying the juices and not being too extreme with the water fasts.

I agree with you about the processed foods, I think if everyone simply concentrated on limiting the amount of processed food they consumed the rest would mostly take care of itself.

 

[Baboon65]

Good luck on your journey and congrats on your previous success with juicing and exercising. Starting to consider juicing myself!

What are you doing for cardio? In the past, cardio was where I saw the most success. By the far most efficient I think is intervals/HIIT/whatever people call it now.