My week long fasting adventure

[gashin]

So for various reasons I started a water-only fast on Monday hoping to do it for 5-days. It was tough the first day but by the second day my hunger had dissipated significantly. By the third day all my hunger was gone but I cracked when I had a huge craving for beer and drank one - my self-control went out the window and I gorged - however, it seemed like I had lost my desire for beer as I stopped after only two while I drank a 12 pack last week in a day. I also seemed to have lost my desire for junk food as I usually eat fast food when I drink but I just didn't need to anymore. Well to make up for Wednesday night, from Thursday until now I have been on a dry-fast - no water, no food - and found it to be MUCH, MUCH easier than a water fast. I literally had no hunger pangs nor even thirst pangs and the weight-loss was impressive. I also had the most energy today and yesterday than I have in years! I really do think water makes things much worst during a fast as it stimulates your taste receptors and can give you some stomach distress.

My weight in the morning on each day:
Monday - 187.2 - Started water-only fast
Tuesday - 185
Wednesday - 182.2 - gorged and drank two beers at night
Thursday - 182.2 - started water fast at 12 pm
Friday - 178.6

Right now - 176.4 and expecting to be at 175 when I wake up

So approximately 12 lbs in 5 days of fasting with a breakin the middle . Some may criticize this and say that I'll just gain it all back but after dry fasting for the past two days I have 0 desire for food (or even water) - someone even offered me a free large pizza yesterday and a glass of orange juice and a Liter of coke and I easily refused. I can easily see myself doing intermittent fasting (eat one day, fast the next) for the rest of my life and making far better food choices because food has lost its emotional appeal when I realized that I can be happy and far more energetic without it. I'm planning on drinking water tomorrow and am going to eat at a Church dinner Sunday night so I have to break the fast but I'm planning an uninterrupted 5-day water-only fast starting Monday and ending Friday and then doing a dry-fast Saturday. I plan to do this every week until I get down to ~140lbs.

Gashin's 5-day fast

 

[keveck]

Just a note to point out.
I'm not going to say anything about the health issues in doing this.

However, when you skip meals/skip eating entirely, your body goes into a survival mode of sorts. The best way I can describe it is like a fire. It burns normally when you put a normal amount of wood on the fire. You take a bunch of wood off of it, and it will still burn. You put a bunch of wood back on and it will smolder.

 

[georgiasl]

Honey I tried everything and trust me fasting does not work long term. You loose water weight and muscle. So in the end you have a higher body fat percentage and a slower metabolism. I lost 60lbs 2.5yrs ago and have kept it off. Eat healthy and move more. The weight you lose that way will be a higher percentage of fat and you will build muscle making it possible to keep it off. Good luck

 

[gashin]

There are health issues but that's mostly for people with diabetes or immune system disorders. Fasting has been shown to reduce blood pressure, improve cholesterol, and decreased insulin resistance which are the main causes of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

I understand what you're saying - but ketogenesis on the whole is a GOOD thing for the body and death only occurs if ALL your fat has been consumed during ketogenesis and your muscles start breaking down. This means 0% fat - no one is this thin and I think most sane people would stop before reaching this point .

Just a note to point out.
I'm not going to say anything about the health issues in doing this.

However, when you skip meals/skip eating entirely, your body goes into a survival mode of sorts. The best way I can describe it is like a fire. It burns normally when you put a normal amount of wood on the fire. You take a bunch of wood off of it, and it will still burn. You put a bunch of wood back on and it will smolder.

 

[gashin]

It does not work long term if you go back to eating normally - I don't think I can after this experience. I plan on going vegetarian or even raw-food only and doing intermittent fasting for the rest of my life. I feel so high and energetic right now that I don't want to ever be bogged down by food again. BTW I was a heavy lifter and have a lot of bulk which explains why I lost so much weight in 5 days but I don't mind losing my muscles as I can barely run! When I was 40lbs lighter running was so much easier and I really believe that my cardio performance will greatly improve once I get down to 140 and stick to clean eating.

Honey I tried everything and trust me fasting does not work long term. You loose water weight and muscle. So in the end you have a higher body fat percentage and a slower metabolism. I lost 60lbs 2.5yrs ago and have kept it off. Eat healthy and move more. The weight you lose that way will be a higher percentage of fat and you will build muscle making it possible to keep it off. Good luck

 

[keveck]

Just to note--I don't want to give the impression that I'm lecturing you or anything, I'm just offering up some things I know about nutrition.

Another thing to point out:
Although I disagree with both vegetarian and fasting diets, you should still be supplementing with vitamins, whether you are just fasting or are switching to a raw/vegetarian diet. You're not getting enough of some key nutrients doing either. Good protein is difficult to come by as well. Soy protein is not a good protein...especially for men. Soy is similar to estrogen.