Will Heffernan

16.04.23 – 112.5kg and 32.9
The start of week 3 and it is an early start…3.30am. One of the many things I have noticed over the last couple of weeks is that I am sleeping less but my sleep quality has improved. Like everything psychology and physiology related, nothing happens in isolation and I am sure one no one thing is responsible for it but I haven’t had a beer in a couple of weeks, I dramatically cut down on my caffeine consumption along with pretty much zero carb intake. I am not making a virtue of it…just mentioning it as an observation is all.
I am not sure what to do this week. I am re-feeding today. I don’t really think anything about it…as in I am not ravenous or excited or feeling anything emotional about it. I will enjoy my food today which I will eat slowly and over a prolonged period to be as gentle to my guts as I can. The plan today will be a couple of cups of coffee with milk and cream this morning, then mashed sweet potato and cheese pancake pancake and some LMNT mid morning after I get my work day up and running. This arvo I will introduce some fibre with another omelette type creation made with shredded cabbage, carrot and 5 eggs and cheese along with some tuna and then tonight I am out to dinner with my partners family and I will have a nice juicy steak. I will enjoy that and today I will come up with a plan for this week and next. I am torn between a few options.
Option 1 – Straight back to fasting. Back to water, tea and electrolytes for another week before a re-feed.
As a side note: I am not punishing myself, I am not struggling, I am not hanging in there…I am absolutely fully ‘fat adapted’ and ‘ketone fuelled’ at the moment. I don’t feel tired or lethargic, I am not suffering from any kind of ‘brain fog’ or cognitive issues. I feel good and am good to go. I have plenty of fat for fuel. The caveat is I am not in a ‘weight loss at all costs’ mindset. I don’t know where my weight is going to end up. I am focussed much more on my health and well being. I do have a goal now of being 10-15% body fat. I don’t need to be ‘shredded’ but I do want to only leave myself with a minimal fat reserve. In doing this I want to make sure I provide my body with the nutrients it needs for optimal health. So my re-feeds are really around that…giving my body what it needs for optimal health and ongoing body fat reduction.
Option 2 – Some kind of cyclic fasting as in 48-72hrs fasting periods with re-feeds.
Option 3 – Short fasting periods with re-feeds programmed around physical activity. That is fasting and then feeding only to fuel training. Which will entail fasting on workdays and feeding and training on my days off.

While I am feeling so good I am leaning towards Option 1 for this week and probably next with Option 3 as my strategy for the month of May in the lead up to my time off and the associated exercise/training ramp up. That month of June up on the farm I am definitely thinking will be a case of my intake being based around my training in a smaller early afternoon window. Which will see me consuming my food and fuel between probably 2pm and 4pm. Doing my low intensity cardio and calisthenics mid morning fasted and then eating in that time window and then in the afternoon/early evening doing my higher intensity cardio out in the National Park fire trails riding my mountain bike. Like everything else though…this plan will evolve and change I am sure.
I know these posts seem like the ravings of a lunatic because at one point you are reading one plan and then next minute I am doing something different BUT I am just writing each day…usually in the morning as to my immediate and longer term thoughts and then in the evening to make sure I don’t miss anything important and do so the next day and day after that.
I won’t be keeping as detailed a log of my nutrition and training here but I will still give an overview….I have gone full nerd and have started weighing and detailing my intake and output in built for purpose app now so I couldn’t be bothered doubling that up.
Easy morning workout:
20 16kg KB Swings
15 16kg Rows
10 Push Ups
for 3 sets

Re-fed with zero issues. Feel great. Have 2 days off now…going to really get in some good walks both days and do some more calisthenics and go back to fasting again. Give it another good push for another week. See where the end of Week 3 gets me. I will be super interested to see what I weigh tomorrow all carbed up and fully hydrated in the morning.

17.04.23 – 114.3kg and 33.3%
So, that’s interesting…well…it’s interesting to me…I am up 2kg’s. I was actually expecting more. I consumed 12o% of my daily calorie requirements yesterday. I got 230g of carbs and 170g of protein. I feel really good. The only thing that could make this week exciting for you is the same thing that could make it less than special for me. I am going to add some supplements to the mix. The reason I say that it could go bad is because some of them are not meant to be taken on an empty stomach…I am a rebel though so am willing to roll the dice.

I have today and tomorrow off and then late starts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’ve a beautiful creek, nature reserve nearby and I walked from home down one side of the creek and back up the other the other day. It was very relaxing…walked at a good clip. I am going to do it every morning this week. It was 45mins…a perfect dose of low intensity cardio for me. I am also going to do the super basic workout I did yesterday everyday. Some swings, some rows and some push ups. I am so unaccustomed to physical exercise of late that even that little bit of exercise gave me a little DOMS this morning. Not soreness…but I can feel it.
This week will be water fasting, in that I will drink as much tea and as much water as I like.
I am going to start taking some supplements more to form the habit than in the expectation of miracles.
I am going to get in at a minimum that 45minute walk in the morning.
I am going to do at a minimum that small dose of calisthenics/kb work.

As I have probably said multiple times…waking up on the 1st of April I just decided to reset…well after waking up and getting on the scales at 124.5kg…just a smidgeon off being a round 125kg literally and figuratively. To reset I knew based on experience not just with myself and with others that to reset I needed to form some healthy habits. That is what this 4 weeks of April is about for me. Trying different things and seeing how they work and how they feel.
April is the exploration and May will be about consolidation and then June will be about growth…in that I am going to be able to do in June what I won’t be able to do day to day but I really want to push myself physically. July is really where I hope to begin in that by July I will be in better health, shape and condition and that I will be in a place where I have reset and can move forward having established some healthy and more positive habits.
60 minute brisk walk this morning which involved a detour to post office before heading back to do my creek walk.
Easy midday workout:
20 16kg KB Swings
15 16kg Rows
10 Push Ups
for 3 sets
40 minute easy walk with the hounds.

18.04.23 – 113.6kg and 32.8%
Days off but prefer to stay in the same pattern whether working or not so up early. I know that I probably keep repeating myself but this log is mainly for me and only partly for you. When not walking, relaxing or doing my chores yesterday I was researching and reading about 2 things. 1. Kettlebell Swings and 2. Fat infused coffee.
Kettlebell Swings (KB Swings) because doing them as a part of my little training routine this week has put a smile on my dial and immediately made me think about doing a lot more of them in some kind of a structured way. I am thinking about either picking a number of sings…and timing length to completion i.e say 100 swings and just starting and seeing how long it takes me to get 100 good reps in with a 16kg KB. I couldn’t do a 100 rep set at the moment but working up to doing a 100 rep set I think would be a good goal perhaps. The other option is just doing 100 reps in total as a part of the little circuit I am doing now with the swings, rows and push ups. The latter is the plan I am going to go with at the moment as I want to try and get some variables in place for May that I can bed in without alteration. I like the idea of keeping it super simple…a 45 min brisk and the swings, rows and push ups everyday for every day of May.
The bulletproof/keto coffee whatever you want to call it I am looking at just as a way to kickstart my day…to give me a rush and some good healthy fats. I had flaxseed oil this morning and some cinnamon but and going to get some different fats, MCT, organic butter etc etc and just try and use different fats and see what I like/don’t like and have that in the morning and then my one meal a day through May with a walk and circuit as my goal.

100 Day Transformation – I’ve just realised while chatting with some friends/colleagues in the US that April 1 (when I started obviously) and July 10th (the 2nd last day of my leave not no obviously) are 100 days apart…I am doing a 100 day transformation and didn’t even realise it…not only is it a 100 day transformation by accident but I am 100 days away from becoming a health and fitness influencer and didn’t realise it 🙂

60 minute brisk walk with a outdoor gym quick 12 minute circuit toward the end…with 3 sets of 20 Leg Presses, 20 Chest Presses and 20 Pull Downs on a cantilevered set up. I thought my heart rate would of kicked up for this but it actually decreased a little…still I might include it…just for the variety and the change of stressor at the end of the walk.
Easy morning workout:
20 16kg KB Swings
15 16kg Rows
10 Push Ups
for 3 sets
Then had to take some bits and pieces to the mechanic…another 50 minute brisk walk.

I am going to go out on the ledge tomorrow and see how I feel. I have had my last fluid intake for today (1700hrs) and I am going to get up in the morning and have my fat infused coffee, go for my walk and I think that is it and I am going to see how I go not consuming anything until the next day when I wake up and do the same thing…I will have water and electrolytes at hand but I want to see how a 24hour soft dry fast feels again now that I think I am even more ‘fat adapted’ and see how my body responds.

19.04.23 – 112.3kg and 32.3%
Up at 4.30am and wide awake. Fasting’s effect on my sleep has been weird. My sleep quality has improved but my sleep duration has declined.
Up early and start work later. A nice combo…will get some more research and reading done…get out when the sun starts to come up and get a walk and workout in and then off to work.
Have had my fortified coffee…2 double shots, a bit of milk, a little cream and a teaspoon of flax oil and cinnamon (you can google cinnamon + fat loss/fasting/weight loss/health benefits etc etc). I am going to see how I feel doing 24 hours without any further fluid intake and see if I can get back to this spot tomorrow. I want to see how it feels and see what effects it has.
Didn’t train tonight as I actually have a bit of DOMS.

20.04.23 – 109.8kg and 32.9%
32.9%? I don’t get it. No one that knows me doesn’t realise how much weight I have lost and I haven’t lost 15kg’s of muscle mass LOL. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how lean I have to get for the body fat measurement on the scales to move.

In other news, I soft dry fasted for 24 hours hence the 2.5kg weight loss this 24hrs. I feel fine, zero issues…and if they were…I’d have noticed because one of the best things to come out of this month and process is that I have become very ‘in tune’ with my body. I can only explain it as listening more intently to my body. I went 24 hours from my coffee yesterday to taking some water today.
I am not punishing myself or pushing myself or anything like that and in fact I have this process easy and easier as time has gone on. Improving my heath has been my primary goal. Losing all the fat is process in achieving that goal. My health has definitely improved and there are some simple markers to that…my skin has been bad…and that has cleared up. I’ve had issues with heartburn and acid reflux for decades…that has gone. I am going to go get a full blood panel done soon which is something I do every 6 months or so and we’ll see what if any changes appear on that from last time till now.

So, back to normal water fasting. I will walk this morning and have my coffee after before I head off to work.

As the end of April and Phase 1 nears completion I am investing a huge amount of mental energy into planning a training and nutrition strategy to help me reach my short term goal…to get under 20% body fat (calliper and formula derived) by July 10th which is a nice round 100 day after I start on the 1st of April…my short term goal is improved health through body fat reduction.
My longer term goal (at the moment) will be to reach around 15% body fat and to also improve by body composition by increasing my lean muscle mass. What I am super interested in right now is in trying to develop a nutritional strategy to achieve both these goals. I am going to get some callipers and I am going to teach my partner how to take the measurements so I can get an accurate gauge on where I am at the end of April and then be able to calculate what kind of a deficit I have to create to achieve my short term goal and then put that strategy in place to make sure I make it with ease before the first of what will be more than a few finish lines.
So no training today and just tea and water.

21.04.23 – 109.3kg and 32.4%
Starting the day off with a fat infused coffee, 4 shots, 150ml milk, 50 ml thickened cream and a teaspoon of cinnamon and flax oil. Then out for my power walk like I am an old retiree and then off to work.
Another good day. Feel great. Only water and tea.

22.04.23 – 108.7kg and 32.7%
Another week done. Down 15.8kg…and if you believe the body fat measurement…fatter than ever. It only makes me laugh now because I have lost a lot of fat…it is visible for all to see,
Anyway a last day of fasting today and then I have tomorrow and Monday off (back onto nights Monday) and I will have 2 days of re-feeding in a very structured and planned manner and then another week of shifting fat at a rapid rate before I switch in May to another plan as discussed previously.
So far pretty much everything has gone exactly to plan and as expected.
Started my re-feed tonight with Low Carb Haloumi Salad and some tuna cheese and a bit of mayo.

Firstly, I know that last week was an 8 day week…but I wanted to move to a Sunday to Saturday pattern…and as you know…I will do whatever the hell I like.
The plan for this week is that I am going to continue to re-feed today…and enjoy it (I had 2 hot cross buns with my coffee this morning and they were delightful) and then after this evenings meal commence fasting again. I will have a coffee and cream tonight around 21.00hrs but after that I am going to ditch the coffee and switch to tea (black or green) and drink water and take a sachet or two of electrolyte supplement morning and afternoon until the afternoon of the 12th (48hrs plus) and see how I feel…and if I feel good go another 24hrs to the 13th with a view to ending my fast there and having a gentle re-feed that arvo and then having a high quality/low quantity re-feed on the 14th and 15th.
That will end out the week…even though I will continue this high quality/low quantity feed on the Sunday and go out to dinner and enjoy a nice steak with family on Sunday night…but that is a story for another week.

09.04.23 – 117.7kg and 34.3%
So working nights at the moment and have one more to do tonight.
Came home, slept till 10am…got up and had hot cross buns and shot my mouth off on the interwebs…hence the first post you saw in this series.
Had a dish with fried potato, carrot, cucumber with some cheese on top and then fried and flipped that and added a tin of tuna, a boiled egg with some Japanese dressing. Basically some leftovers from last night fried up with some tuna and egg added.
Had a coffee before work and then have made the transition just to black tea.
Overnight I am consuming a couple of bottles (600ml) of soda water and had a sachet of electrolytes as well last night when I felt a little off…which I think is a combo of tiredness and diet and it picked me straight up…a lesson to the kids out there.

10.04.23 – 118.6kg and 34.2%
So today will ideally be simple…as long as I feel ok…and I do feel quite good right now…I am actually not going to consume anything. My last fluid intake was around 2am last night and I am thinking right now having woken up at 2pm after having got home for work and into bed at 6.30ish that I might see if I can get through till tomorrow morning and get up and have some tea and some electrolytes then to kick off my day. Essentially to ‘dry fast’ for at the least for around 30hours. See how it feels.
So, it doesn’t look like there will be much to log today all going well.
I am actually going to go out for a walk though as well at some stage today. My plan is to make walking a staple exercise…to do 30mins plus every day I can. To start doing some intervals on the Echo bike to really give my heart a good going over and then to do some kettlebell work and calisthenics. That will be the full whack.
I am taking June off from work, so at the moment I am looking to try to bed this lifestyle change down before then and then I am going to MTB everyday up on the farm out in the national park while away and look to start increasing/improving my lean muscle mass as well.
Went for a 35 minute walk with the dog in the early evening. Energy still feels good.

11.04.23 – 116kg and 33.7%
I am up at 4am because switching from nights to living in the normal world is hard. I am wide awake so I figured I’d just get up and get on with the day.
So, I haven’t had anything to eat obviously…but I also haven’t had anything to drink since for lets say 24 hours plus.
4.30am now and had a long tall glass of Metamucil and a large cup of Irish Breakfast. I have to do a course from home today…I am going to get some electrolytes into me just before the course starts and get my brain firing and then got through the day without any other fluid consumption till I felt a bit funky around 4pm so thought I would give myself a break. Had a cup of Irish Breakfast, a glass of electrolytes and a lemon, apple cider vinegar and soda water beverage.
At the moment I have zero hunger…zero compulsion to eat…and this has always been my reason for recommending fasting with discipline to people over calorie restriction.
With fasting you just see an absolute crash in your hunger hormones so the ‘drive’ to cheat on your diet and or to start having some food and then have the desire to over eat…to consume more than required is removed.
When you don’t eat you don’t have to worry about insulin and without insulin your body is free to utilise whatever fat.
I am feeling good. As always discipline is more important than motivation. I have just decided to do this. I just woke up and weighed myself and just decided to fix it and by it I mean me.
Went for a walk with the pooch in my lunch break (35mins). Another good day done.

12.04.23 – 116.3kg and 32.8%
Interesting to see the body fat reading incrementally. Back drinking as much water as I like. Restricting my fluid intake just doesn’t feel very good. Doing it I didn’t feel ‘bad’ but not doing it I feel ‘better’. Have managed to ween myself off the coffee…which was easier than I thought. I say that because usually if I haven’t had a coffee by 9ish I am homicidal and have a headache that can only be soothed by my favourite bean and hot water. Going to keep drinking tea as needs be which has in fact only been 2 cups a day which I suppose must be the equivalent of a maintenance dose of caffeine (I usually start the day with 2 cups of 4 shots). I’ll continue to drink soda water as I please as well and will have some electrolytes mid morning just to make sure I am firing on all cylinders.
One of the things that you realise when you are fasting is that there is sooooo much extra time in the day. It comes immediately to your attention exactly how much time I spend thinking about food, preparing, cooking, eating and cleaning up and what a cycle that is.
What I am doing is not something that I am going to do forever. It is being done for a very specific purpose.
My current plan (and this is evolving) will be to continue fasting as I have been this week until Sunday. I will break my fast with some avocado and egg in the morning when I get to work…i.e some healthy fat, fibre and protein. Then mid afternoon I will have some white rice, chicken and vegetable…just a small portion. Then Sunday night I am going out to dinner with family and I’ll have a steak and whatever else takes my fancy. I won’t eat a lot..just a normal meal and then will essentially repeat this week again (tea, water, electrolytes). At the end of next week I will either have another re-feeding day like I plan to this week or if I am still feeling good I will push on through the following week to the end of the month. I will just play it by feel.
I got in 2 walks today of about 30 mins each. Felt good.

Time + Discipline = Results.

13.04.23 – 115.1kg and 32.4%
Still feeling good. I really thought ditching the coffee was going to be more difficult than I thought. But no real issue. I just weened off it and switched to tea (of which I have only been having 2 cups a day). I am going to have a good think and rejig of my plan today as I have got where I wanted to get a bit faster than I thought. Going to have a tin of tuna and 4 boiled eggs today and then go out and take a ride on the Echo Bike while watching a podcast. I want to keep feeling good.
Next week I am thinking I am going to ride my super low ‘hunger hormones’ levels and start introduce some really small amounts of healthy fats, protein and carbs and start introducing a structured exercise routine around it. At the moment I am thinking I might actually just do a week of one meal a day and use that meal to fuel an exercise session. I have Monday and Tuesday off and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I have later than normal starts and I am thinking now what I might do is get up, weigh in, drink my tea and make something simple to eat. Next week simple may be a half a cup of rice, a protein source .i.e a tin of tuna or some chicken, an avocado and some pickled vegetables. Just enough to put some essential nutrients into my system. Then as soon as I am done and cleaned up go out and walk 30mins plus (I am going to find a course around home to walk with purpose) which will flatten the post food intake insulin response and then do some calisthenics, a simple full body routine. I will develop 2 routines to do on alternate days.
Fasting is not sustainable long term. I can do it because I am fat. I can also do it because I understand the physiology and biochemistry of what I am doing…as I said…it used to be my job. I certainly am not recommending it to anyone. I am simply logging what I am doing for my own sake and because I thought there may be people interested in what is happening and what I am doing as a curiosity.
This phase of my re-build is very much a phase. It has a starting point and a finishing point. The next phase will be different and so will the phase after that.
The goal of this phases is really just to reset myself…primarily hormonally. I keep having to explain to people with fasting the first 48-72 hours are the hardest….after your body crushes your hunger hormones it just becomes a game because you are as hungry on Day 3 as you are on Day 13. It honestly doesn’t ‘feel’ any different. So yes, the goal of this phase is to reset hormonally, give my entire system a chance to reboot and repair itself and to promote all the conditions and to trigger all the physiological response the body is capable of given the opportunity to do that.
The next phase will be one of consolidation and ongoing repair. I have had a huge number of injuries over my life and athletic career and I want to use the next phase, the month of May to improve my ‘general fitness’ and to do what will essentially be rehabilitation as a training program. I will continue this next phase in a calorie deficit with a view to continuing to decrease my body fat but to maintain that deficit with enough essential nutrients and fuel to minimise any loss of lean muscle mass. To take in some protein to have a protein sparing effect and enough fuel to facilitate the training stimulus required to improve the quality of that lean muscle mass.
The phase after that will be the month up at the farm and I am hoping that my fitness levels will be such that I will be able to up my calorie intake and progress to 2 training sessions a day…fuel and then walk and calisthenics in the AM and then fuel and MTB in the National Park in the PM and see if I can stick to a routine where I can do that everyday that I am up there.
The phase after that…and this is a long time off may depending on the million variables that may happen in between now and then might see me return to the gym and meaningful resistance training for the first time since I stopped fighting.
Got some good exercise in today…a solid 45 minute walk and then another 30 minute walk with the dogs.
Had 50g of almonds in the evening…just for sport and because I had been reading about the benefits of nuts and seeds all day.

I also signed op for Cronometer today which is a nutrition and training logging site. I asked around and got more than one recommendation for it…and that is good enough for me, It has a lot of great features and I am looking forward to playing around with it over the next while. Like logging my training and nutrition here I am all for anything I can do for a little bit of extra accountability. As I said, previously…April is all about getting myself dialled in.

14.04.23 – 114.6kg and 32.2%
Started the day with a cup of black tea and drank 840ml of soda water between waking and work. I am actually going to start logging everything…it is not something that I necessarily think I will be doing forever but I will do it for now for no other reason than to be able to accurately gauge exactly where I am at. To be able to look at the calories going in and out and see what effect changing different elements have.
12 hour shift at work..felt good. Came home and had 50 grams of almonds. Today I just drank tea and water during the day and had 1 cup of bone broth.
That’s it. Weigh in again tomorrow and see where I am at after my second week.

15.04.23 – 113.5kg and 32.4%
The end pf week 2. Having coffee, milk and cream to start the day. It was good to give it away for a week for no other reason that just to prove to myself I can do anything…for those that know me…you all know how much I enjoy my coffee. Any way ditched it for a week and am enjoying my cup this morning.
Another 12 hour day today and tomorrow. I will continue fasting today and then ease out of my fast tomorrow and then dinner tomorrow night.

So after 2 weeks I am down 11kg’s and 3.2% body fat. We will be able see Monday how much fat I have actually lost after my re-feed tomorrow because as I have said before a lot of the weight in water and glycogen associated with my carb depleted state. It will be interesting to see how the re-feed also effects the body fat measurement via the bioelectrical impedance. I actually can’t even guess where that will settle once I have reconstituted myself.

Also, I have to tell you (this isn’t an ad) that I am really geeking out on cronometer which is the food and training logging app I settled on. Super easy to use and a lot of cool functionality. I am very much looking forward to using it to track and detail everything I am doing nutrition and training wise just to see the effects and to tweak and modify my intakes and outputs and to monitor the effects it has on my mind and body.

Speaking of effects, I am 25-30 mins post my double shot espresso and milk and I can REALLY feel the effects of the coffee.

I have a feeling you will see this same pattern in the next couple of weeks. That I will re-feed and then return to fasting and see a ‘drop, peak and drop’. It will be super interesting to see where another 2 weeks gets me…I think the fat loss will slow but be more consistent and due to the fact that I will re-feed more regularly I will exercise more and more exercise will minimise any lean muscle mass loss. Well, that is the plan.

So, end of week 2, 12 hour day done and a couple of cups of black tea, a couple of bottles of soda water and a sachet of electrolytes later I am home.

Have cooked my food for tomorrow. Breaking my fast and re-feeding…but that’ll have to wait till next weeks post.

So…I woke up on Saturday morning April 1st and I jumped on the scales and I was 124.5 kilograms and 35.6% body fat.

I decided that April Fools Day was a perfect day for me to do something about my fatness.
So what I am going to do is to improve my health…and I am going to do this primarily by decreasing my body fat.
I am unsure how much detail I am going to go into but I figure instead I would post some videos that are in all likelihood just going to describe essentially the background to what I am doing.
I will post each week of April and include some videos explaining/describing what i am doing. Rather than detailing it all myself I will just find videos on the ‘subject’ of fasting describing the methodology and all the why’s and wherefore’s and you can take from it what you will.

Week One
01.04.23 – 124.5kg and 35.6%
Did 20mins/10.45km on the Echo bike.
Had a double shot of coffee and drank as much water (soda water) as I wanted I also had 6 boiled eggs with salt in the morning.

02.04.23 – 122.9kg and 34.6%
Did 20mins/10.37km on the Echo bike.
Had a double shot of coffee with milk and drank as much water (soda water) as I wanted and also had 6 boiled eggs with salt in the afternoon. I also consumed a sachet of LMNT electrolyte supplement.

03.04.23 – 120.8kg and 34.4%
Had a double shot of coffee with milk to start the day. Then a couple more shots of espresso with milk during the day. Drank soda water and a sachet of LMNT.
Did 20mins/10.41km on the Echo when I can home from work.

04.04.23 – 118.4kg and 34.6%
2 single shots of coffee a little later than usual…i.e rather than immediately upon waking…I had a cup at 9am and another at 11.30. This month I am also going to see if I can ween myself off coffee over this month as well…not for any other reason other than that I want to have some time to ‘cleanse’…and that is in brackets because I hate the word and am only using it because I can’t think of another. I am obviously not drinking this month…but what I would like to do is the last week without coffee as well. I just know that it is going to give me withdrawal headaches…so want to minimise those while I am also fasting.
I am actually thinking about trying to do some ‘dry fasting’ also for no other reason that because I want to see what happens and to see what it feels like. Perhaps a day without consuming water…I am thinking next week when I’ve days off so I can do it at home without any risk.
I also had 3 eggs today. I am soft boiling them and just having them with salt. I had them at about 12ish. I am in a phase of really preparing myself for a ‘full on’ fast and by full on I mean…no coffee, no cream, no bone broth no nothing. I would like to fit a week in somewhere…I am thinking this Thursday (06.04) till the following Thursday (13.04) where I basically just do water and electrolytes and see where that gets me.
At 4pm I had 3 more soft boiled eggs. Then had a drink of soda water with the juice of one small lemon and 2 tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar and a sachet of stevia.

05.04.23 – 117.3kg and 34.6%
Feeling good. Interesting that the body fat hasn’t moved. I have a set of FitBit Aria scales. It will be interesting to see when the reading starts moving on the scales.
Had a single shot of coffee and milk and a tin of tuna mixed with some garlic mayo.
Lunchtime a lemon juice and apple cider vinegar drink. I am going to have this drink in the morning and in the evening…just because…it might do some good…I am relatively certain it will do no harm and because it is a treat.
I am also going to have a tablespoon of Metamucil in the morning just to make sure I have some fibre in my guts.
I am going look to use April to develop some healthy habits. I haven’t ‘dialled’ everything in but I will work towards it.
I am too fat, too unfit and not as healthy as I should or I could be…and I don’t need to let it continue…so I have decided that I won’t let it continue.
Another beverage with lemon, apple cider vinegar and stevia and soda water.
I will also try to ‘log’ my nutrition and training a bit better once I actually get a bit better at doing what I am doing.
Did 20mins/9.97km on the Echo bike. Noticeably lower on energy.

06.04.23 – 115.8kg and 34.9%
So…what I am trying to make a routine is getting up. Weighing in. Then a tall glass of Metamucil. Delaying my coffee with a little milk and cream. Like I said previously, I would like what I am thinking now will be the last week of April to be caffeine free and that is for no particular reason that I am thinking now that the last week of April or the 22nd till the 28th to be a water fast where all I will consume is water and electrolytes (LMNT) with a view to easing out of my fast with a gentle and systematic re-feeding over the 29th to the 2nd of May. I am going to put some serious thought into my re-feeding to make sure I take care of myself and optimise the bounce back from the month of calorie restriction.
So this morning after my coffee I took my partners car into town for a service and then walked the 6km home in about a hour. It is a beautiful morning and I enjoyed the walk. Came home and had a lemon, apple cider vinegar and stevia with soda water drink and am now cooling down and recovering.
Had a tin of tuna because I was feeling flat as a tack and have a bit to do today and tomorrow.
So walked another 6km into town to pick up the car. Then while I was driving home the bike garage called and told me that my bike was ready to pick up. So drove the car home and dropped it off and walked 2.5km…26,403 steps in total for that day…18.3km in all.
I came home and had 6 7 minute eggs with a sprinkle of fried shallots and some Japanese dressing. Today was not a normal day…I needed the tuna and definitely needed the eggs.

07.04.23 – 115.6kg and 35.2%
So coming up on a week now…I am down 8.9kg and according to the electrical impedance body fat measurement on the Aria scales…I am just as fat as I was when I started the week. I strongly believe this not to be true.
Of the 8.9kg loss there will be portion that is water, muscle glycogen and also some lean muscle mass loss but absolutely and certainly there is a portion of it that is fat.
As always when fasting…not that I am really even fasting yet in the absolute sense…the first few days are the worst with regards hunger. I don’t actually feel hungry anymore and in fact my appetite has really diminished to the point that eating those 6 eggs yesterday was an effort. I had about 3 and felt like it was enough but ate the rest for the protein. With yesterdays physical expenditure I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t cannibalising any muscle tissue in recovery.
I actually feel better than expected today in that I don’t have any soreness in my legs and the only place that it is sore is up along my spine, my erectors.
Had a small piece if barramundi and some greens with oyster sauce. Working tonight and just uncertain how my energy levels were going to go. Didn’t feel like I needed it, wasn’t hungry but thought what the hell it won’t kill me.
Had 2 venison cheeseburgers in the evening and they were great.

08.04.23 – 116.7kg and 34.4%
So have had a little re-feed yesterday and today and I really feel good. I think I am going to keep cycling different extended fasts of varying lengths from 24hrs to 72hrs while keeping my food quality high and portion size small. Fasting most definitely blunts my appetite and I want to use that to my advantage. Worked overnight had a hot cross bun and some other half muffin half croissant (overrated) around 12 when I first woke up and then some stir fried honey chicken and a weird potato, carrot and cucumber mash at around 1800hrs before I went to work along with 2 coffees. Drank plenty of water and had a few small chocolate and caramel chocolate eggs overnight at work because they were offered and it would have been rude to say no…well that is my story and I am sticking to it.

I started the week at 124.5kg finished it at 116.7kgs down a total of 7.8kgs. For whatever it is worth my body fat reading at the start of the week was 35.6% and at the end it was 34.4% down 1.2%. As I have intimated, I don’t put too much credence in it because in general I don’t think it is particularly accurate and I am really throwing off the readings with my varied states of hydration and my varied fasted and un-fasted state really all it is telling me is that I am too fat…and that is why I intend to fix it now.

…and now next week has already begun.

So my left hip has been bad for about 5 years…and as is and was my want…I’ve been ignoring it and just continuing to grind away at it. It has been painful…proper painful.

A couple of weeks ago pretty much at the spur of the moment I thought ‘Fuck this. I am going to get a new one.’ Pulled the strings I needed to pull and got myself squared away and scheduled for surgery.

I went in on Tuesday the 4th of May and had surgery late that afternoon early that evening. I was on my feet testing out my new hip a few hours later on a walking frame. Felt fine. Sore and painful…but not as sore and painful as it was before surgery. Zero issues or complications and slept through the night without much of an issue. Stayed awake until 11ish and woke the the next morning 6 ish.

Saw the physio around 10am and showed off my skills on the walking frame. They gave me some pretty simple and straightforward ‘rehab’ exercises to do that were mainly focussed around getting some blood pumping and had zero issues with any of them.

By the afternoon I was on crutches and spending time on my feet every hour. That next day the Wednesday I got the last of my IV antibiotics early in the afternoon. In hindsight…I probably could have gone home then but stayed overnight. I stayed mainly because I felt uneasy about how simple and straightforward everything had gone and was waiting for the ‘catch’.

So I stayed overnight Wednesday morning….saw the doctors and the physios the next morning and got the thumbs up to head home. It just seems incredible to me that they can replace my hip and have me out of hospital 40 hours later.

So, I got home and over the next day went from getting around on 2 crutches to getting around on 1. Made an effort to get on my feet every hour and do my rehab exercises.

On Monday the 10th of May I had the first of 4 weekly at home physio visits. Part of the assessment was around having a look at how I could walk without my crutches. So gingerly I took a few steps and then a few more and then the physio said ‘Yeah, don’t use the crutches anymore’ and I was completely unprepared for that mentally for no other reason than I was told I’d be on them for at least a couple of weeks. Anyway, I’ve not used the crutches since.

My routine now is…get up and caffeinate…do my ‘rehab’ exercises…which are as basic as calf raises, hip flexion, knee flexion, hip abduction and then go out and walk the block (6-7mins). I am doing it 3 times a day.