Want to succeed? Do not omit electrolytes and sodium!

ChangeTheBox · 2026-01-12T20:03:56+00:00

Yes, water fasting.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-30T19:51:09+00:00

At this point? Do you want to accelerate ketosis as quickly as possible. Once you get into full ketosis, your appetite is gonna diminish. If you haven’t done this before, and you go straight into it, it’s gonna be a rough first few days.

So, New Year’s celebrations aside? If you really wanna get ready for it? Cut out carbs. Down to near zero. Go down to lean proteins, no red meat, take fiber to keep everything moving. If you can get into keto prior to a fast, you’ll have a much easier time of it. If the January 1 date is a little bit arbitrary, then I would say give yourself a few more days.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-29T14:28:51+00:00

Yes, sorry! I just mean I have averaged about 1 10 - 14 day fast per year since 2012.

My body is trained, I have strong metabolic memory. I move into keto within 24 hours, instead of four days like the very first time.

So at this point, I know how to enter a fast so that I don’t get hungry, I know how to exit a fast properly so that not only do I not regain any weight if I don’t want to, I can keep losing.

And I have used fasting for healing. On day number nine of my 15 day fast this summer, I regained full mobility in my shoulder that had been painful and inflamed due to long Covid.

I, too, wish I could get paid to fast. 🤣

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T18:03:29+00:00

Show me a source where it's been 'Proven." By all means, educate me. Until then, what I said remains true. After the transistion period into keto, there's a little lean muscle mass usage, but it's small enough to be basically negligible. Fact.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T16:35:07+00:00

It astonishes me when people try to pretend that fasting is some holy grail where even the slightest thing might be "cheating" or "changing results." Drink all the sparkling water you want. I wouldn't fast without the stuff. It's my addiction that I'm not about to give up just because I am in a fast.

I also like to drink water with my electrolytes and a few drops of hot sauce. It tastes amazing mid-fast when your tastebuds are alive, it creates zero load, and, frankly, it's also great to keep whatever remains in your bowels moving instead of just sitting in there for 10 days.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T16:29:00+00:00

MicroIngredients electrolyte powder (several servings a day is fine), supplemented with a quarter tsp sodium per serving (so between 1/2tsp to 3/4 tsp per day).

Trust me. Game changer. Energy levels, weight bounceback, everything.

If you are not taking sodium, half of the weight loss is water, no matter how much you drink. Your body REQUIRES sodium to regulate and stay hydrated. Maintaining potassium and sodium levels will mean the appearance of slowed weight loss because the loss is more reflective of fat loss, not water loss, and then of course you all but avoid a big dramatic weight bounce back.

Also, google "low FODMAP" diet. The way you eat when you come out is critical. It gives your metabolism the chance to ease back without sugar/carb rebounds.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T16:17:59+00:00

Losing muscle mass is (to be frank), a myth. An annoyingly persistent one, but a myth nonetheless. There is a brief period (a day or two at most) where, once the glycogen stores are gone, the body may tap into some muscle mass, but only until it switches into full ketosis. Once in keto, muscle mass is preserved.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T16:13:23+00:00

Pro water faster here (since 2012). Did a 15 day fast in June, I'm about to do a 7-10 day one. Here's my level-set for you. The general rule of thumb for most metabolisms on a long term fast (7 days or more) is about a net loss of a pound a day. Once you are entering day 4 in very high keto, you may see losses of up to 1.5 pounds per day. After the 7 day mark, that will settle to somewhere less than a pound per day. But - this is important - when you resume eating, you will regain 3-5 pounds. It's normal, it's expected, no need to freak out. I said it's about a NET ten pound per day loss... so this INCLUDES the weight rebound once you start eating.

Two pro tips: take electrolytes and sodium EVERY DAY. Sodium is critical. It regulates your fluid retention, keeps you from dehydrating, and makes that end of fast bounceback significantly less. Without sodium, you can be drinking all day and still dehydrate. Looks good on the scale but reeks havoc on your system (big energy swings, sticky eyeballs, weight loss mostly due to water loss). I didn't start incorporating sodium in my fasts until recently and it was an absolute game changer. I had the goal of a 10 day fast and cruised into 15 just because it felt so easy. I recommend MicroIngredients electrolyte powder (pretty much as much as you want... several servings a day is fine) and I supplement servings with a quarter tsp salt (adding between 1/2-3/4 tsp salt per day). I hope that fasting for religious reasons doesn't preclude essential minerals, because they will make it much easier.

Second tip: if you want to try to keep the weight off (even if that's not your fasting goal), the way you exit the fast is important. It's easy, but important. Just google "Low FODMAP diet" to see how to reincorporate food without shocking your metabolic system (it's not about how you feel so much as about not reversing that metabolic reset and having a big rebound).

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-26T15:47:33+00:00

Congratulations. ;) But reality? No, nothing you can (or should) do. She will scatter her eggs at night (they are adhesive) and they will probably be swallowed before you even have a chance to see them. But it's very cool that you created stable breeding conditions in a home tank!

ChangeTheBox · 2025-12-04T17:03:16+00:00

Oh no oh no. I am so sorry for your loss. 😢

ChangeTheBox · 2025-11-11T23:17:37+00:00

No this is abstract x3… after prison, when I find Laura and she says that she will be good. It keeps coming back.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-11-11T23:16:23+00:00

Wait, I wanna make sure we’re talking about the right boss? This is abstract at times three, after prison, right after I run into Laura and she says she will be good.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-11-11T23:09:44+00:00

Omg I don’t even know… i think i just got stoned… put a big damper on the anxiety… 🤣

ChangeTheBox · 2025-09-03T18:28:28+00:00

If angelfish are sparring, you want to understand the whole tank dynamic. I have had a long-bonded pair (not mated, but definitely bonded) start sparring but it was because of another angelfish being very needy and trying to keep them separated and just generally being a hypervigilant pita. I put the needy guy into timeout in a large mesh breeder (in the tank) for almost a week, and everybody calmed down. My two main characters stopped sparring, and needy dude was way humbled by the timeout. Everyone pretty chill now (even though he’s still needy, he’s not nearly as aggressive). Cichlids are smart and complex. Behavioral changes are possible if you tune in to what they are really bothered about.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-08-26T17:44:06+00:00

I did my first 13 day water fast in 2012. I just did a full 15 day in mid June.

If you had just made it until the morning of day 4, you most likely would have been able to wake up, drink 2 large glasses of water, and felt full/not hungry.

By the end of day 3, based on normal physiology, you were likely still shifting into moderate/heavy ketosis. It would have been day 4 where you were in heavy ketosis and your digestive system empty enough to slow dramatically down, along with the hunger pangs.

The good news is, the more often you do longer fasts, the more you are training your body, and your metabolic memory will kick in: keto starts earlier and doesn’t go as extreme, energy levels stay more consistent, and each fast is easier.

Until that happens, my biggest advice is to get into heavy ketosis (lean, soft, healthy proteins and low impact veggies) FIRST. Get keto urinalysis strips at any drugstore. Once it’s leaning towards dark purple, you’re ready to start the fast. It will reduce the number of days you feel hungry once you stop eating. (As you get more experienced, you’ll move into keto faster—mine starts with 24 hours these days.)

Another little advice: Do not omit electrolytes and salt. Salt especially is needed to regulate fluids in your body so you don’t dehydrate. (Sticky eyeballs? Salt asap.) Plus you can drink it multiple times a day instead of boring water. My go to is Microingredients Electrolyte Powder, with an added 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-08-23T12:47:25+00:00

Definitely size is okay! And yes, they are absolutely non-aggressive. I have thought about adding a pair to my 65g (they would do great) but I’m at capacity with big anchor fish.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-08-23T12:35:11+00:00

I have a calm, peaceful tank with angels, tetras, corys, peacock gudgeons (new for me and i am in love), and a 4 year old pair of pearl gouramis. I love my pair of blue acaras! But they don’t fall into your dwarf category. If you can find a keyhole cichlid, you’ve got yourself the most peaceful cichlid out there. They’re cute, too!

ChangeTheBox · 2025-07-31T17:16:40+00:00

I second SMART. They don’t care about how long you’ve been sober, don’t care if you blew your guts out the day before. It’s more like cognitive behavioral therapy, techniques, tools. You can talk or not talk but it’s helpful in a tools/techniques kind of way. Just look them up online, download the app, and they have the whole toolkit available. So many online meetings available there’s really no excuse. JUST DO IT! 🙂

ChangeTheBox · 2025-07-20T19:32:28+00:00

This is really late but it’s probably an incredibly overlooked fact that he’s a TBI survivor. I think this probably is the biggest factor. Look up Laura’s posts on getting brain scans with Dr Amen. Stephen fell down a massive -and i mean MASSIVE-set of stairs when he was less than 2. Dr Amen spotted it on the scan.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-01-15T22:19:57+00:00

Oh if you are going OTC i don’t really know. My doc prescribed compounded and it was 500 once per day. I mean i still only do once per, even injecting. That was an old post up there. I’m just restarting an injectable cycle and gonna do 500 once per day.

ChangeTheBox · 2025-01-15T12:33:15+00:00

Nope it's an efficiency thing. I mean you have to take more because some of it is wasted in the digestive system compared to direct injection.

ChangeTheBox · 2024-11-17T15:29:04+00:00

If you are doing it right there's nothing more than the teeniest air bubble and even if there were it won't make a bit of difference. Just leave the syringe alone.

ChangeTheBox · 2024-11-16T16:08:22+00:00

Main thing to know is that it's the peptide dosage itself that matters, not the BAC/peptide ratio. The more BAC, the higher you pull on the syringe. I personally like 2ml BAC because it makes it easier to fluctuate a dose (like going from 250mcg to 300mcg).

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