With a couple of Muslim clients I thought this year I would get involved with the most popular fast in the world – Ramadan. The rules seem simple enough , do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset. That is a whole 16 hours of no water or food….great!!
I love trying food eliminations and detoxes. There is nothing like a experiment and enforced change to your routine to shake up your nutrition and learn a bit more about yourself. To put some sort of consistency to it so I could compare to previous protocols I decided to eat twice a day at around 2200 calories. This would then allow me to compare it to eating 2200 calories a day over 4 meals. Obviously affecting this info is both the time of eating (night verses day), the lack of fluid intake and the longer day that I am up (up at 4.30am). Another difference is I cannot really exercise while not drinking and don’t want to disturb my sleep patterns by exercising at silly times during the night.
Ramadan
Day 1 started badly – I overslept!! So started an hour late (don’t tell anyone!!). Then being in a rush to get to a client I didn’t have much time to eat and drink. But with a 1000 calories to start the day off I was ready to roll. Though I was already feeling thirsty at 7am! A couple of clients early morning then i had purposely kept my diary free for the rest of the day. Hunger wise it was not overly bad, thirst wise it wasn’t too bad neither despite being thirsty before I started.
Low Carb Adrenaline Rushes
One of the real problems with any diet is that when the body is low on carbs/calories it tends to drop into a adrenaline fuelled stress response. When this happens the body cranks out some adrenaline to mobilise energy to fuel the body.
By 4pm yesterday I was low in carbs and calories having not eaten since early morning. My body was responding by throwing out adrenaline. So I was feeling pumped. I had the exact same feeling as pre race when competing in an athletics, the same feeling when Wales are about to score the winning try in Cardiff. I felt awesome and this is where the problem lies!
It is a great feeling when you are pumped. You feel unstoppable, energised, strong. But this is why you have a stress response – to get you out of a stressful situation. While great for the body to do this occasionally it isn’t a way to live life day to day. This is where super low carb/calorie diets run into trouble. I could easily conclude that by feeling awesome this diet (low carb state) is good for my body. But the reality is my body is stressed out. I have been in the house most of the day pretty relaxed but my body is pumping out adrenaline like no one’s business.
I have the good sense to not compound this stress situation by training hard. Which is difficult to not do as I have so much energy, but it is important to remember where this energy is being fuelled from – my adrenal glands and not my general metabolism / high energy. If I was to keep on with this protocol for a prolonged period i would soon see the impact it has.
This is why it is important to be aware of how you are feeling and why. With most my clients I spend my time telling them they need to eat more when being good and less when being bad. Then linking it to how they are feeling. In this situation you must be careful to note the difference between feeling good and feeling elated, feeling up verses feeling euphoric, energised vs totally psyched. If you can see the signs of the energised cycle being from more adrenaline rushes than increased metabolism then just look to increase the carb/calorie content or use the different types of calorie intake days to break the cycle. Obviously if just a very short time like the 3 days I am doing Ramadan then not such an issue, but for most this is ongoing and problematic.
I broke the fast at 22.15, (an hour after sunset due to my oversleeping issue) and had another 1000 calories. Then to bed with aims of catching the sunrise and eating times.
Tuesday
I went for 2200 calories and backed off all exercise. Though I jogged and sprinted to the tube as was feeling pumped and was running late.
Diet – Protein – 87g, Carbs – 270g, fat – 74g, calories – 2094 % P: 17 C : 52% F: 32%
Exercise – None
Weight – 72.1kg Body fat – Not take (37.5mm* last time)
Supplements – None
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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily.
** All reference to people, their goals, their jobs and even when I met them are completely distorted from the actual person/event I am talking about…this keeps their privacy but they are based on real people with real stories.
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