Week 1: 7-14th May 2019
The fasting protocol is OMAD, one meal a day and it is a dry Fast, I cannot drink either.
Dry Fasting period:3.15am (first prayer)-8.45pm (sunset)
Last drink before first prayer, around 3.15am
Last food before 11pm, when I go to bed.
Total Dry Fasting period is 3-8.45pm or 18 hours.
Intermittent Fasting period is 11pm-8.45pm 22 hours.
My sleep is essential, I make sure to have time to rest as much as I possibly can. Last year I was exhausted during Ramadan as I have my priorities mixed up and didn’t know about the importance of sleep.
This year, I put a special emphasis on getting as much sleep as I can.
I go to the Mosque 3 evening in the week, so I am in bed at the latest at 11pm.
The other evenings it will be roughly the same, slightly earlier.
I get up around 3am to pray, brush my teeth and Drink 3-4 glasses of water.
I return to bed for whatever time I have before heading to work, 30 minutes, 1 hour, whatever.
The first time I did it, I felt “hangover”, not well, now my body has adapted and it works well for me.
Then at some point in the morning, I will nap, 30 minutes up to 2h30. Whatever time I have available.
My sleeping windows are:
Night: 9pm-3am
Early morning: 3.304.30am
Mid morning: whenever I have time between 30 minutes in the worst case scenario to almost 3 hours.
Fitness:
I turned 45 years old lately and was promoted BJJ Black Belt recently and something clicked. What I do in the gym is to be better on the mat when I practice BJJ and also to be fit for my kids.
I don’t feel the need to work too hard in the gym all the time, it takes a toll on my body and it is not necessary. I know focus on less training sessions/more quality and diversity in them.
How does it look like? I now train BJJ 5 times a week, for intense sessions and one Really intense at the academy with Heavier opponents.
I do weight training 4 times a week instead of 7-8 times and I now spin evenings only, on Tuesday and Thursday instead of 4 times.
I spin in the evening to avoid be dehydrated the whole day!
Fitness explained:
I dropped the quantity of my training and I am more focused.
The Resistance training focus is strength.
The Flexibility component has become a big part of my training.
The BJJ is focused on improving my defence coupled with some intense sparring sessions.
The spin classes are as intense as I can go without liquid.
My Mood:
I believe I am doing ok, I am feeling great in the morning within myself and with the people I deal with.
Then gradually I tire and become more irritable as I get closer to the time of breaking the fast.
Fasting or not, being with my boys is always demanding, so the most stressful moment of the day is before and after dinner when they still bounce, scream and shout.
In all honesty, my wife is the most qualified person to judge how well I do.
Conclusion:
I lost nearly one kilo the first week, I came to this Ramadan heavy, 86.3kg really 85.9kg due to the weigh5 of the iPad mini.
Nevertheless it is heavy for me as I normally sit around 84.2kg.
The reason I was so heavy is because 3 weeks prior to the Ramadan I stopped Intermittent Fasting altogether and was eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I remember last year that I got Saturated, tired of doing IF, so I wanted this year to have a Fresh start.
I am truly feeling great, 3 weeks to go? InshaAllah!
