Day 4 — my IF keto journey. Read about the previous days here: days…
By: Andrea Crețu
Tags: Weight Loss, Keto, Journaling, Intermittent Fasting, Ketogenic Diet

Read about the previous days here: days 1 & 2, day 3.

Weight: 76.2 kg

Mood: it could be better, but the ibuprofen keeps the pain down

It seems like my calendar was way off on this one. Late last evening my period started and I was a bit surprised, but only a bit, since my two ovaries have decided a while ago that they’ll go on different paths, so they’re out of sync. Each one has its own cycle and it’s a bit confusing, but still manageable. I’m too lazy to calculate the real cycles (maybe on another day), but the good news is that the PMS is over. After only one day of really intense physical and emotional pain (compared to 3–5 days previously), it’s done. I’m so glad.

Now since I’m on the first real day (the main day), the heavy cramping started after I woke up (I was able to push it out of my mind for a bit while doing the 15 minute workout). So I had no choice but stop my fast early and take ibuprofen (I only take it once a month unless I’m really ill or in pain from other occasional illnesses, so maybe that’s why it works so well) and eat something. Between keeping my fast going and killing my stomach lining in the process or breaking my fast and having a healthy stomach, I’ll always choose the latter.

I didn’t want to break the keto cycle, though, so I prepared a fried egg (lightly, not even really fried, not like in those gross cafeterias where the eggs come out brown), a piece of grilled cheese, the final portion of eggplant salad, a tiny bit of bacon (there’s no equivalent for this in English, there’s no meat in this kind of bacon) and as many radishes as I could eat along (around 7–10, not sure). This should keep me satiated and happy for many hours.

Now if only I could stop dreaming about homemade chocolate, which I haven’t had in so long, but I may be able to make here… The only special ingredient it requires is whole milk powder, which I haven’t yet been able to find without all sorts of additives for babies. Babies are not the only ones that stuff made with powdered milk, there are so many recipes out there that use it, but it’s just impossible to find unless you buy industrial quantities (and then you probably need to have some sort of company).

To be continued.

Later:

The whole day was crappy, except for the very first minutes. The pain came back after about 7 hours (that’s how long one dose of 200 mg ibuprofen lasts for me), so I had to take another one. It calmed my cramps, but not my digestive system. It seems like I made a bad choice, giving myself a break from no carbs yesterday. I didn’t find any powdered milk, so I’ll order it online (ugh, it’s annoying to not be able to get all the things you need from one source).

As I couldn’t make the homemade chocolate, I allowed myself half a kinder bueno and a few chocolate covered peanuts (needed to get rid of them somehow, they were the last in the bag opened a few weeks ago), a few raisins and that’s about it with the carbs. I don’t think I went beyond the 50 gram “limit” of “total carbs” (whatever that may mean). For “lunch” at around 4 PM, we finished off the stew, which was much tastier warm and eaten slowly. I’m not sure whether it was the stew that made my whole system rise up or the sugar (probably the sugar), but there was nothing I could do about it after the fact. The whole issue started before I had any carbs, though, a few hours after breakfast, while I was walking around. It may have been the hormones from my first day…