DAChampion
Registered User
- May 28, 2011
- 29,783
- 20,934
Tonight, I am completing a 10-day fast. I will be eating tomorrow morning (so ~10.5 days), I would go on longer but there's a cocktail/dinner with donors on Thursday that I have to attend, so I'd like to readjust in time.
Obviously I've lost weight, but what's been great are the neurological benefits. I've never fasted for this long, and I finally understand what people mean when they refer to the mental benefits. My mood, my drive, my concentration, my frustration tolerance, my focus have all been amped up to 11 in the past several days. I worked through the weekend and wrote hundreds of lines of code, and then wrote some text as well. I'm remembering things, making connections, and feeling good.
For now, I'm off the adderall. I did not want to take a pill while fasting so I stopped. My concentration actually improved and is better than it's been on adderall. The volume of work that I got done in the past ten days exceeds my previous productivity.
I also reduced my coffee intake from one cup to 2 cups. Around day 4 or 5 I noticed that I was drowsy until my first cup of coffee. Around then I switched from 2 cups to 1 cup of coffee a day. In the last two or three days I've noticed that ... I don't even need that first cup of coffee, I'm already awake by the time I have it.
I think that I understand this though. I read a study abstract the other day (didn't save it) that associated fasting with up regulation of Dopamine-2 receptor. That will explain at least some of the mental benefits that I and many others report.
******
Separately, I own several pairs of waist size 32 pants made by different brands. Some of them are now too loose, and some are too tight, lol.
Obviously I've lost weight, but what's been great are the neurological benefits. I've never fasted for this long, and I finally understand what people mean when they refer to the mental benefits. My mood, my drive, my concentration, my frustration tolerance, my focus have all been amped up to 11 in the past several days. I worked through the weekend and wrote hundreds of lines of code, and then wrote some text as well. I'm remembering things, making connections, and feeling good.
For now, I'm off the adderall. I did not want to take a pill while fasting so I stopped. My concentration actually improved and is better than it's been on adderall. The volume of work that I got done in the past ten days exceeds my previous productivity.
I also reduced my coffee intake from one cup to 2 cups. Around day 4 or 5 I noticed that I was drowsy until my first cup of coffee. Around then I switched from 2 cups to 1 cup of coffee a day. In the last two or three days I've noticed that ... I don't even need that first cup of coffee, I'm already awake by the time I have it.
I think that I understand this though. I read a study abstract the other day (didn't save it) that associated fasting with up regulation of Dopamine-2 receptor. That will explain at least some of the mental benefits that I and many others report.
******
Separately, I own several pairs of waist size 32 pants made by different brands. Some of them are now too loose, and some are too tight, lol.