For the last few weeks, we have been taking an in depth look at June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore. And, in order to get a real feel for what intermittent fasting has to offer, I have been following one of the regimens included in the book, giving you the chance to see what intermittent fasting looks like up close. (For more information about the particulars of my plan, check out this post.)

Today will not only be the last day of this little seven (eight?) day experiment, but also my last 24-hour fast day. To tell you the truth, I almost skipped it. The first two 24-hour fasts were no cake walk and I wasn’t exactly eager for a third. But! For the sake of really giving intermittent fasting a fair shake, I stuck it out and am now sharing with you, dear readers, how it went. Take a look!

Breakfast: Skipped. Had my usual coffee with half and half. Didn’t feel particularly hungry this morning, but also not feeling well.

Lunch: Skipped. By 11am, I was super hungry and had some pho broth with fresh herbs. Still feeling really hungry.

Snack: I made it until about 2:45 and then just had to eat. I had a hard boiled egg, about 2/3 cup of bran cereal, and a string cheese. An hour later I felt really gross. Nauseous even.

Dinner: Chicken, half a serving of tater tots, mixed veggie salad topped with avocado and thousand island, and apple slices.

Well, the 24-hour fasting days certainly haven’t gotten any easier. Technically, this was about a 22-hour fast since I didn’t quite make it to dinner time. Though it was a nice change to not wake up with a growling stomach, it was definitely rumbling by late morning and continued to do so until dinnertime. The snack gave me a short reprieve, but notice it came at a price; I really felt awful about an hour afterward. Though Fung often states in The Complete Guide to Fasting that the body adjusts to fasting and that hunger is largely in the mind, it certainly feels quite physical to me!

So for my nutritional intake today, I got in about 1050 calories with 54% from fat, 28% from carbohydrate, and 18% from protein. Given how I felt today, I did not particularly seek out physical activity, aside from my typical daily routine. As with all previous days while on this regimen, I have consumed an amount of calories that would certainly result in weight loss over time. Tomorrow morning I will weigh-in and see what my total weight loss for the week is. Should be interesting!

As we get closer to wrapping up June’s Diet of the month, I’ll be taking some time in upcoming posts to discuss my thoughts on intermittent fasting and The Complete Guide to Fasting, in particular. I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned along the way–both pitfalls to avoid as well as tips for success–so stay tuned!