After a long run on Saturday morning, I decided not to have breakfast. Why? Because I over ate the night before, so I thought I would give my body a break. I ran 21 km that morning, which put me in about 1200 to 1400 calories deficit. Despite such a large expenditure, I was surprised to note that I wasn’t feeling hungry. It was more of a habit, I realized, do you have a large meal after a hard workout. I scanned my body and asked myself: Am I really hungry? The answer was – no. So why do I eat, if I am not hungry? Of course there is a lot to do emotional eating and behavior patterns, however I will leave it for the next conversation.

I finished my run at 9 AM in the morning and haven’t eaten anything the entire day. The urge to put something in my mouse came up several times, however it wasn’t hunger. It felt weird not to have eaten for the entire day. Before bed I had about a handful of almonds, a bag of carrots and half a glass of wine. I thought to myself that I might spiral in uncontrollable binge the next day. The body will take its back – as I thought.

It didn’t. I felt like I could go the second day with no eating. In fact I started liking this sense of emptiness and lightness. I got worried that I could develop some sort of eating disorder like anorexia.

I was a little agitated and short tempered. I didn’t feel tired or lethargic. I had enough energy to do some easy 10 km run and a 60, 90 minute bike session. I continued training twice a day, as usual, but the hunger wasn’t there. I thought that my body was cleaning up itself on the inside. The next day, despite not being particularly hungry, I ate right before bed. I overeat. I felt bloated and ashamed. 

The next day I decided to repeat my experimentation with fasting. I haven’t had any food from the time I woke up until 4 PM in the afternoon. I went for an 80 minutes bike session that morning. I was expecting to feel weak and tired, however I ended up doing several hard intervals, averaging 200+ Watts. I knew that I was in an energy deficit, however I felt great both mentally and physically. I thought to myself: “This is great! I want to feel like this all the time.”

I have no problems fasting for 20 hours, but I do struggle to stop once I’ve started. 

It’s like the more you eat, the more you eat.