Following from Part 2:

1. A little share of what I actually do in my fasting & feed hours.
2. Bucket List for 10th year anniversary.
3. Closing thoughts.

From waking & end of fasting hours (18:6/20:4 sample).

It’s been a while since I disclosed what I do in a typical fasting day. So here is a retrospect share for my seventh year of Cyclical Keto + IF 18:6/20:4.

A sample weekday LCIF (Low carbohydrate + 18:6 / 20:4 IF) goes something like this.

• Upon waking: chug in 350-450ML worth of water.
• 9:30~10AM ~ chug in another 350-405ML of water, preferably just warm water. I used to be religious at this time to drink my green tea. But I’ve been trying to up my fluid intake.
• 12:30PM ~ first coffee. Black. With a little salt and/or KCL for minerals.
• 1:30-2PM ~ second coffee. Depending how busy I may not be able to get my second until as late as 3PM or even 3:30PM. This is where I also start taking in magnesium, be it chelated or mag oxide (with B6) for overall mineral insurance.
• 4-4:30PM ~ usually my end threshold for last caffeine intake. Just warm water at this stage, till some occasional overtime work 5:45PM - 6PM.

*I used to be quite religious about ACV in the past. Especially with carbonated water. Now,  I only incorporate ACV only if I’m on an extended fast or infrequently if I need additional digestif aid after meals.

Pre training / intra

For many years I prefer to train completely fasted. No solids in my stomach.

I usually don’t get home at last one and half hours after long commute. Often bleary and tired eyes, I take every chance for a nap in the bus.

• From 7-8PM ~ start drinking pre/intra training concoction.
  • Humble water + sugar free cordial + ALCAR (or choline bitartrate) with extra salt (sodium from rock salts) or potassium / KCL. 500-700ML worth.
  • More water about 300ML throughout the training. Fasted obviously.
• 9PM arrived home.

Back exercise: another reason for training fasted.

Sample training day-in-the-life.

I won't bother repeating any more than I have to in the last five or so years. 6x6, 5x5 limited rest <30sec to 1 min rest Gironda style training. Intent, not intensity. Activation, not exhaustion. RPE level = anywhere up to seven.

Time is getting scarce this year, due to very long commutes and lingering + collateral ~ obligates in and out of work. Unfortunately I had to constrain my overall time in the gym. But to make way  ~ I have been training more frequently. Up to six days per week, including accessory(s) usually either Wednesday or Saturday. But defenitely not as crazy as of last year where I attempted training SEVEN (7) days, months on end.

As per last year, I've been focusing / adding more exercises on my back. That, also considering my age ~ I had to start considering what I'd call "stress coordination" exercises. These are resistance training, stabiliser work and also mental coordination stress all-in-one.

Sample of a back day below. Of course highly generalised, things can be moved in various order. But within exactly less than an hour these are what I could (subject to intensity adjustments) do.

1. 50kcals stairmaster or 70-100 kcals brisk & run.
2. First super set stress coordination exercise.
   1. 27.5/30kg Bulgarian Split squats 4-6 rep each leg.
   2. Then ~ 40-50kg (if my lumbar spine felt confident) ~ T-Bar bent overs
3. Choce of compounds either:
   1. Custom Front ATG squats with resistance band 6x5-6. 15kg.
   2. Alternatively standard ATG squats 15-17.5kg.
   3. Alternatively smith lunges 4x12 combined set 35-40kg (each side).
4. ISOLAT Machine setup rows (angling down). 4x12 25-27.5kg (each side).
5. Feature stress coordination exercise ~ slow time-under-tension / TUT reverse smith bar lunges (no clips no straps no secure = no cheating) 13.25kg incrementally all the way to 18.25kg (if I'm lucky). *
6.  Standing upright rows 22.5kg-27.5kg 6x6.
7. (Finishing or this can be moved anywhere)
   1. "Pendlay Rows" ~ or simply fixed-bent-over deadlifts ~ 15kg. 6x5-6. With alternating shoulder width vs wider / sumo stance.
   2. Back Extensions 20kg
   3. 5 minute bike ride

 * The entire goal here is to remain as stable as possible, by stacking as much 1.25kg plates. No clips. No secure clamping. No cheating. I'll leave all egos to the test. Time under tension. Go all the way down on your knees. One or two seconds. Then all THE WAY UP. 4-6 reps. <45 seconds rest. BRACE ALL MUSCLE GROUPS. Times 4-5 set, the latter  if I'm feeling lucky.

Reverse free-bar smith lunges. Coordination stress test. Looks easy (at least from the outside).

Breaking the fast event to end of feed (9-11;45PM)

This is where PWO (post workout) + feature meal begins (simultaneously).

If I had to do this years ago - my gut would just say "nope, defenitely not ready". It literally takes years for me to write that passage alone. "Which is best for breaking the fast- solids or liquids?" My answer ~ depends on where you are in terms of fasting experiences. 

I consider simple, that being liquids (think protein shakes) or even a glass of milk (lactose free is not that bad) is more appropriate for fasting beginners. Slowly / overtime, however when additional stress comes in, eg more restricted feeding hours, then experimenting with solids will be inevitable.

The reason why I say solids is (at times) inevitable, is because at some stage wholefoods need to be digested as soon as possible. Now when you only have two hours or even less ~  in my case this year the shortest one was one and half, as I occasionally had to ~ that technically becomes just one (1) feeding session as what some arguably say - OMAD territory. 

Thus I’ve come to conclude:

• That most important first thing that goes in my mouth? Eggs. Either that or some milk (lactose free) but not a huge amount. The latter ~ is ideally planned on 16:8 Saturday after a prior week of LCIF (18:6/20:4) and thus beginning a carb allowance day (and half continuing Sunday). I’ve talked about eggs a lot in my prior videos that acetylcholine is paramount for acidity preparation. I consider this, at least for me ~ as non-negotiable. 
• Getting the most “sugar hit” no longer appeals that much to me, despite I still do have some sweet tooth.

Back then, I firstly sip some liquid calories.  Eg. protein shakes or 1/2 cup of milk, as"Entree" so-to-speak.  Feature meal then takes place about 15 minutes later. Though ideally no later than an hour. Now ~ I can tolerate a full meal right away, unlike where I started.

All eating finishes in less than four hours. In actuality ~ I’d say less than three, as I do tend to need at least 30 mins of no intakes at all, prior to sleep.

Bucket list 2025

There are still two things outstanding. My apologies (again) I am never fast enough to please everyone:

1. Rewriting the parent manuscript. As part of the rebrand, I remain indebted at making sure this is more or less close to a readable stage.
2. The book’s new visuals, including pull out graphics . Following from the above ~ the biggest elephant in the room. 400 pages of text. But not much pictures. That - has been the goal for me to solve.

But none, is as more important ~ what to give as feature content to commemorate my TEN (10 years, yes “ten”) of Anniversary for this entire initiative, humbly since 2015.  So what I am proposing and planning to “give” are two (big) things.

1. Starting Food For thoughts series
   As retrospective sharing on what to do - or the how to go about at implementing anything that I have done so far, at least in pragmatic but not prescriptive share at adopting this WOL and WOE (way of living and eating).   
2. Ten years, Ten (more) things I live by.
   In line to how I did my previous fifth year anniversary, five (more) things I'd like to add.

“Food For Thoughts” is the big one. Consisting of not just thought or "opinion" (much less I'd wager), but hypothetical guidelines on what I'd do were I in the shoes of someone new. Obviously, not prescriptive ~ once again disclaimer in full here.

Originally, these are the basis or the bulk of "What to do" chapter in my book rewrite. I was planning to keep these exclusively and entirely within the next Book.

Nonetheless, what I decided to do, is to re-write these. So that eventually , one way or another ~ people can find that there is a  "Guide" hypothetically speaking, that they can read into.

1. Overall Introduction - finding your baseline, importance of habits first (bickering second).
2. Mild calorie restriction - why and how.
3. Selecting a diet ~ why and how.
4. The low carbohydrate & IF phase. I will get to explain why my “default choice” here in the actual article itself. Well, you just have to wait.
   1. Low carbohydrate ~ the what, why and how
   2. Intermittent Fasting - the what, why and how
5. The cyclical phase ~ the what why and how.

At the moment, everything sits roughly at 4-5K words. All over the place obviously.

(Few rant/pet peeves) / Conclusion

Anyone turned off by this heading are free to skip. And enjoy their end of year.

As one grows old, so too obliges more surveillance. 

There has been an unpredictable turn of events obliging me months of heightened alert. This anxiety, is not only new to me, but quite a burden on top of everything else.

No matter how "good" things were coming my way, such is always inflationary. As per what I wrote back in my Five years anniversary. 

Chiefly, the two most perplexing events wereproblems surrounding my privacy & new living environment. Then ~ the mysterious "flank-pains" constant daily, since October. 

The latter forced me to see and deal with "doctors" again. The condescends and paternalisms included. 

For context, the last time I went (and gave up) seeing one face-to-face was eleven (11) years ago. All other GPs I have seen besides, have moved on elsewhere.

I do acknowledge that "Modern" in front of “modern health care” is good only at diagnosing a damage, or condition that is already apparent. Given, obviously ~ if they (the "experts, including "GPs: KNOW what to be aware of and where to look. More often than not, they don't. Reason: possibly lack of time. Everyone just seems to be in a damn hurry.

No matter how much I summarise in plain-English, nobody actually reads, these days. Perhaps given with hustle porn culture ~ we, consequently, treat everyone-else like stocks on a conveyor belt*.

*Quite literally, I had one telehealth consult hung up on me by about 10th minute conversation. But at least he did rang me up again and apologized because that's the timelimit as imposed/ part of the subcontracting system @ UPDOC.

The last three months of this year somewhat reminded me of my initial diagnosis of AS / Anyklosing Spondylitis back in 2014. GPs, then Chiropractors, then rheumatologist. At least back then - I was somewhat thankful that the system did eventually helped me identify a problem, that is uniquely mine.

But how long did the entire process took? Months on end of frustration. And a LOT of money (thankfully I was on stable income back then).

Fast forward ten (10) years later you'd think some things have improved, in some way shape or form? Sadly not in my case.

I suspect some people would “trade” their "lesser" circumstance to “what I have”. Probably because they'd think I am all "normal" but "privileged" just because I have a mortgage. Then blatantly wishing that trading with my circumstance, is all there is for solving all their problems.

"Trade"~  after all what 99% of people do not realize - is holistic barter.  Not partial "swap".

Genetics, skin, bones, blood, way of life and wait it for it - every other problem(s) I'm having (or yet to have).

December 27th - Breaking the Extended Fast ~ 46 hours total (since Wednesday 11:45PM to Friday 10PM).

In Closing

A good chunk of my waking hours gone / like -vapour. In a time where I should be celebrating (my home), I am still unable to do so.

Finding more time is increasingly an exercise of both art and science.

Facing my own music one short weekend, followed by need to “just simply do nothing”*. Then soon enough - “work” begins again in the blink of an eye. Hello Monday.

*That ~ I argue can be actually therapeutic ~ just simply drift, amidst and after all of life’s mayhem. Let your own mind firstly speak for itself. For once.

Alas, we're still in a damn hurry. Why? Because every "body" said so.

Live-It-forward,

AW.