Day 1: Morning weight. 207.2.

Breakfast: 1 “L-bar” nut based, Algal oil, tea

Lunch: Tomato soup, olives, crackers, multi-vitamin.

Snack: 1 “L-bar” nut based, tea

Dinner: Minestrone soup, “L-bar” coco crisp.

Recap: Hungry but energy levels were good. Definitely missed my morning and afternoon cups of coffee. That was the most challenging part of day 1. The nut bars taste ok, soups pretty good, crackers not bad, olives are delicious and the coco crisp bar is meh.

Day 2: Morning Weight 204.4

Breakfast: 1 “L-bar” nut based, tea

Lunch: Mushroom soup, olives, multi-vitamin.

Snack: Olives, tea

1 cup black coffee

Dinner: Minestrone soup w/quinoa, “L-bar” coco crisp.

Recap: Overall pretty similar to yesterday. Relatively hungry throughout the day but energy levels were pretty good. Although caffeine is discouraged, you are allowed 1 cup of black coffee a day. I was going to go without it but my wife had a rare day of work so we decided to have a cup of coffee after exploring the mountains in the morning.

Day 3: Morning Weight 198.0

Breakfast: 1 “L-bar” nut based, tea

Lunch: Tomato soup, crackers, mulit-vitamin.

Snack: no snack today… I had a cup of black coffee to get me through.

Dinner: Minestrone soup

Recap: Hardest day so far. Feeling pretty good overall but found myself lacking energy while chasing my daughter around the park.

Day 4: Forgot to weigh in….

Breakfast: 1 “L-bar” nut based, tea

Lunch: Tomato soup, crackers, mulit-vitamin.

Snack: Olives and a cup of black coffee while watching the Bears game. Watching a Bears loss sober and hungry is no fun.

Dinner: Minestrone soup

Recap: Glad tomorrow is the last day of this.

Day 5: Morning Weight 192.8

Breakfast: 1 “L-bar” nut based, tea, 1 Algal Oil

Lunch: Tomato soup, crackers, mulit-vitamin.

Snack: No snack today.

Dinner: Minestrone soup

Day 6: Morning Weight 192.2

“Transition Day”

Breakfast: “fast” bar (received a free box of these with my order so tried one out), 2 eggs, spinach and a cup of bone broth.

Snack: Half cup of blue berries and strawberries

Lunch: half cup white rice, 4 oz ground bison.

Post WO meal: 1 sweet potato, 6 oz chicken breast

Dinner: Steak, home made french fries, broccolini

Reasoning:

The fast mimicking diet was created by Dr. Valto Longo, the Director of both the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California and The Program on Longevity and Cancer at IFOM in Milan. His research has shown that certain diets, including the one I just finished, can mimic the benefits of a prolonged fast. Two key benefits of a prolonged fast are weight loss (targeting visceral fat) and inducing autophagy (the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells).

My Experience:

I decided to kick off this years sober October with the 5 day fast mimicking diet with a few goals in mind. First, to reduce body fat as much as possible, live a healthy lifestyle that promotes longevity and to push myself mentally in a couple different aspects. (See my training blog to follow that). I usually do one 24 hour fast at the beginning of each month but the more I read about prolonged fasting the more I wanted to try it. If I can suffer for a bit and improve my overall health in the long term, I’ll take that any day. After listening to a couple podcasts with Valto Longo, it was clear his research on the subject was well done and his diet protocol was worth a try. Overall, I am happy with the Prolon product. At $250 I expected a package that was professionally put together and delivered on what it promised, and it met expectations. If I were to grade the food by taste I’d give it B. If I had to guess, my wife would not be as friendly but either way at the end of 5 days we were both ready for some real food.

Results: Lets get down to some results. I went from 207.2lbs to 192.2lbs in 5 days. Thats 15lbs. My belt was 2 or 3 notches tighter and my clothes in general felt baggier. Personally, I feel my best around 210lbs and haven’t been this light in a long time. It may sound weird to some people but I was happy to see my weight bounce back up to 201.8 after two days of normal eating. With that being said my belt is still tighter so I tend to believe the claim that this diet can promote the loss of visceral (belly) fat.

How I felt: The first two days were no problem. I actually felt that weird focused energy I get when I do a 24 hour fast. Days 3-5 were another story. Energy levels were down. I play this game with my daughter at the park where I chase her up a hill and we both run down together. After doing that a couple times I just felt like my gas tank was empty. My sleep went to shit for the last three nights as well. I was hungry and had a restless leg feeling that would not go away. I was irritable and although I tried to be aware of it, was shorter with my kids than I wanted to be. The weirdest part of the whole thing was developing a low back ache that was pretty brutal. The first day returning to a normal diet it went away. Never experienced anything like that before and don’t have an explanation for it. The best part of the whole thing was how I felt returning to my normal diet. Energy levels were extremely high. We will see how it translates into my training over the next month.

I think the most underrated part of fasting is the reminder of what it feels like to actually be hungry. Not just the “its been 3 hours since my last meal” hungry, but legitimately hungry. It is a humbling feeling laying in bed hungry knowing I will return to a healthy, substantial diet in a few days, while millions of people around the world are starving. This diet tested me mentally and will serve as a reminder to never take what I have for granted.