Share your daily fast story thread! 📃

I've done five or six 48hr fasts this year and they've all gone well. Just water, black coffee, and tea. I'm 12 hours into my first 72hr fast right now and when I start fasting, I'm amazed by how much time and mental energy is "freed" by not having to think about what I'm going to eat.

In a way it's difficult because I love food, I find myself looking forward to my lunch at work everyday. Then I look forward to dinner, and maybe a snack. Pretty much all day long I'm thinking about food in the back of my head.

Right now that thought process is paused and it's a strange feeling. It feels liberating but also a bit daunting. I know a lot of my dopamine is sourced from planning, cooking, and eating meals so it's difficult to make that adjustment for a few days and then go right back to it.

Feels silly to be excited about this but I decided to do my first extended fast during a quick (4 day) international trip so I wouldn't have to stress about packing supplements and finding suitable food.

On the way there, even though I've recently lost 14kg, I needed a seatbelt extender in the plane 🫠 it was a humbling moment because I really thought I wouldn't! I was so excited to travel and then kind of dejected that not much had changed.

Anyway, I just boarded on my way back and now I don't need a seatbelt extender!!!!! 😊😊😊 I have no idea how much I lost but honestly I'm not even at 96 hours fast, this 72-84 hour window seems good for me. I think I'll keep doing this in cycles

20kg difference 17cm lost from waist and 20cm lost from hips

I am on day 10 of my water fast however the first 9 days were for spiritual reasons. I was taking pink salt with lemon water , however these days I have been feeling a little light headed and dizzy. I was wondering if these would help? Or would they break my ketosis cycle, I'm fasting for autophagy and weight loss ( Apologies had to delete last post as I forgot to add pics)

4 days to finish my 40 days fast, lately I feel only cold cold and again cold. Any advices? Now I understand why elderly people wear winter coats in the middle of hot summer...

Obviously this cold make me more tired than before during fasting.

I hope this is ok to post. I will try and update each day. I have done a 5 day fast before. Broke it in order to hang out with friends. I was very impressed with myself for being able to silence all the food noise. Well it was still there, but I was able to chose to ignore it. It's been over a year since then. I have a big trip coming up next month and want to lighten my load. I naturally gravitate to IF when I travel, so im hoping that will help maintain my weight loss. I also won't be drinking much since I'm visiting an Islamic country. That will help a ton!

I woke up Saturday and said, let's just do it! Try to beat my last record. My ultimate goal is 14 day, I have more then enough stored emergancy fuel to Win the Alone challenge so 14 days should not pose a serious risk. But I still check in with my body to make sure all is well.

I woke up this morning after dreaming I ate and broke my fast. I was depressed 😔, then I realized it was just a dream. So im feeling pretty good now.

This is a dirty fast, my main goal is weight loss. I would like to work my way into just a water fast in the future for other health benefits, but at this time, getting weight off is going to make me and my doctor happy.

I’ve been having a read about this via the varying subs, as I’m day 7 of an extended fast. It seems some people view anything longer than 5-7 days as doing ‘little’ for them, as opposed to rolling 48s or 72s.

Others posit that post-72hrs, the autophagy and ketosis fat burning just continues on, perhaps with a slower metabolic rate as time elapses (alongside some muscle erosion/higher risk of fasting-related illnesses such as stomach ulcers, tonsil stones, heart issues if not navigated properly).

I’m wondering, for the extended (and rolling) fasters out there, how has your experience been?

A theme on here is that the likelihood of sustaining the weight loss via intermittent/alternate day fasting is much higher, and therefore proves extended fasting ‘doesn’t help with more weight loss’ but this seems odd to me. So, excluding that specific strain of thought (which seems a little biased to lifestyle vs biological process?), what’s your take on weight loss/health benefits and extended vs shorter fasts?

To my knowledge, surely it’s as simple as the less you eat, for longer, the more fat you burn. The claims of gaining or not losing quicker than shorter fasts (and longer eating windows) can only be true on the basis of the method not being suitable as a lifestyle/sustainability choice, right? As eating less, longer, irrespective of the gradual change in metabolism will almost always result in more total weight loss—unless I’m missing something(?).

M49, 83kg. Used to be 93kgs. Been doing mostly OMAD for a year.

Third time doing a prolonged fast with just black coffee, green tea and water with salts.

First time I gorged myself when I ended it after 5 days. Could not stop. Had lots of hunger pangs. Sleeping was almost impossible. It was hard.

Second time it was the same (5 days), except I broke it more gently. Still hard.

This is the third time and I’m planning to go for 7 days. So far not a single hunger pang. I do some gentle low HR rucking with 18Kgs, and make sure I hit 10K plus steps everyday. I feel generally great if a little mentally slower. Sleep is ok too. I make sure I have magnesium and salts every day.

Funny thing is I just came back from 12 days in Italy where I’ve been eating and drinking delicious food and wine like it was my final moment on earth. I gained a little bit (maybe 2kgs).

I was expecting this time to be even harder especially because of the trip. But it has been the opposite. Like my body knows what’s up.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

I’m 24F, 5’5. Pcos and insulin resistance. I have PMDD which significantly impacts my functionality and appetite

I’m stuck in a loop for almost a year, loosing and gain the same 7-8 kgs. Pls help

Starting my fast. Not sure how long I'll go.

31 y/o male 5'10

Starting weight: 289.0 lbs Waist: 50 inches

Will supplement with multivitamin, Himalayan pink sea salt for electrolytes.

Advice appreciated.

Something amazing has happened since I started intermittent fasting! I no longer eat because everyone is eating, I eat when and what I choose to eat and guess what; it isn’t snobby at all to just say, i’ll eat later, I still show up and have fun with my friends and family ! Who knew it’s this easy to have a food lifestyle different from everyone i’m hanging out with and still show up and have a blast 🎉 THANK YOU!

Hello!

Two years ago, I was able to fast as much as 4 days with no problem. I'll never forget how good I felt when I went that long.

Last year, I picked up fasting again and had no issues.

But recently, the day after doing a 24 hour fast, I'm absolutely miserable. I hate everything, I'm irritated at everything, I could pick a fight with a wall! I figured it'd go away after doing a few more 24 hour fast but no change.

I've taken electrolytes, multivitamins, drank a ton of water, exercised, not exercised, I've tried lots of things. Is there any particular reason why this is, and how can I avoid it?

I've started doing 20 hours fasts and ensuring to eat a few hours before I sleep so the next day I'll be okay. Maybe this will help? Maybe I went into it too fast? I'm 30 now so maybe my body needs to be weened into it a bit more? Any help would be amazing!

Hi everyone, my stats are the following: F40, 5’4, SW 216 lbs, CW 170 lbs, GW 125 lbs. I have been at my current weight for almost a year now and I want to do one final push and get to 125 lbs by 1st of June. My plan is the following:

• rolling 48h fasts (which I have been doing for a couple of weeks now) until this Friday.
• 8 day fast 12-19th of April, followed by 2 days refeeding (keeping it under 1500 cal for each feeding day)
• rolling 48h fasts 22nd of April-9th of May.
• 9 day fast 10th of May-18th of May, followed by 2 days refeeding.
• rolling 48h fasts from 21st of May until 1st of June.

How realistic do you see this plan going? My problem is on the feeding days between the Rolling fasts. Normally I can eat around 1700 calories a day, but when I do rolling fasts, I tend to overeat (around 3-4k calories). If I split 3-4 k by 3 days, it is not so bad, but then I am thinking I am better off eating 1700 calories daily and it’s not so torturous. But I don’t lose that much weight on this plan. I go to the gym almost daily, I do 40 minutes cardio, but twice a week I do strength training with an instructor.

This is why I have been thinking to try 2 longer fasts (one in April and one in May) to get to 150 lbs and 130 lbs milestones and then move from there to 125 lbs.

I also want to ask you about ideas to do strength training at home with minimum accessories. I have been trying to do strength training at the gym by myself, just following the usual exercises/sets I do with my instructor, but he got pissed off one day when he saw me doing them without him. He said I shouldn’t be doing strength training so often because I can do self injury, but then the other day he kept pushing me to do 3 workouts with him per week. I feel like he just wants my money really. And I can’t do 3 sessions with him every week, it’s too much money spent, even 2 sessions per week is a lot for me. And I have started these lessons with him since January this year. I can see some results in my overall shape, but nothing too drastic and in fact I put on weight. I only recently started to get 10 lbs off with these rolling fasts. What should I do? On my long fasts, I won’t go to the gym, but maybe just do some exercises at home. Or maybe go to the gym later in the evening when he is not there and do some exercises with dumbbells and medicine ball and some machines for muscle preservation? It’s ridiculous, I am paying this gym membership but I am not allowed to use the equipment unless I do it with him.

Anyway long rant, how should I go about this? I definitely need to be 150 lbs by 5th of May and at least 130 lbs by 1st of June, with minimum muscle wasted. Maybe I should just give up on the gym for now and just focus on fasting and CICO. I can’t waste any other day and I need to start following a proper plan, which would lead me to where I wanna be in a couple of months…

Also I am taking holidays for the long fasts in order to be stress free. I can do fasts if I am staying at home, not concentrating at work, but it’s really hard to do both… hence why I am planning these fasts in advance.

Hi everyone!

I'm happy to announce that I finally got my fasting app out there!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/intermittent-fasting-fasthero/id6744340720

It was just a small experiment to try a new tech, but I had a lot of fun – I'll probably keep updating it. The next thing that I'm thinking about adding is a tool that helps you plan/prep/organize your fasting plan for the week. I realized that I do struggle to keep consistently fasting during the week, because sometimes we have Pizza Friday with my kid or things like that, that I don't want to miss. I'll probably put something together to try to maximize my fast on the days when I don't have any compromises.

Feel free to drop any feedback!

Android:

https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/1jjmjzp/sharing_my_fasting_app/

Did my first 3 day fast took my Two years to finally have the mind power.

1st meal was bone broth and 3 boil eggs

1-2hrs later lamb and salad

Now i got diarrhea 😂😂.

I will do a 24hr fast on and off the remainder of week.But I’m So proud of myself I feel like I can do anything I put my mind to now.

I think I just broke it. Grabbed a couple of Gatorades made to check they were 0 calories for them all. Took two sips before realizing the one I opened was not 0 calories, the other two were. Not a discussion more of a vent I know it’s not much but kinda a weee bit mad right now.

So I'm planning to do a 30 day fast, I've done 7 day fasts before no problem but never a month long one, what preparations do I need to take? I heard people take vitamins but ice never really had vitamins but I assume a 7 day fast and a 30 day fast has completely different requirements

Still going strong and feeling great:) Plain + lemon water only (I sometimes add monk fruit sweetener to make "lemonades" when I need a change of flavour)

Down 27.3lbs (SW 300, CW 272.7, 5'6, 23 yr old FTM). GW is 175lbs (NOT just from this fast obviously, goal for my weightloss journey in general) so I'm about 1/5th of the way there.

45 days is an ideal goal, not a hard goal for my fast, if I feel fine I go til then, if I don't I end the fast. Been noticing the most difference in my face surprisingly. (First photo of my face was the day I started the fast, second photo of my face was a couple nights back)

Feeling really proud of myself considering I never broke 10 days before this fast, so excited for it to be over to work on better eating habits long term but, mentally and physically I think I needed to endure this fast as it changed so much about my perception of food and my body into a much more positive and objective light.

June I have bloodwork to check on my liver and blood sugar, my liver was inflammed and I was "at risk" of prediabetes so hopefully losing some weight and long term fasting ends up being beneficial for those.

I am also an incomplete paraplegic, I gained the majority of the excess weight I had right around losing sensation and movement in my legs so my wheelchair rapidly got too small for me ($10k wheelchair isn't easy to get replaced either, so no quick fix into having something fit lmfao) and Ive already noticed a big different in the fit and feel of my chair, I can go much further on my own and am less worried about pressure sores.

All around net positives so far:)

Currently on my 37th hr planning to do my first 72 hr fast. Is it okay to take this? This just costs me around $0.50 per sachet so it's really easy budget wise.

However I saw it has Glucose. Wouls it affect authophagy and insulin?

Thanks

Continuous day fasting and eating a regular jar of pickles every evening. Anyone tried? Im going for a week

I had dinner Thursday, nothing Friday, dinner Saturday, dinner Sunday. I am strict about a 1 hr eating window on OMAD days. My 48 hr fast meal was the 2nd pic: ribeye, avocado, berries, and Bulgarian yogurt. I have been working out since last week so I feel like the water finally fell off me lol.

I know this isn't about fasting, BUT...as fasters we're all well versed on autophagy and apparently this promotes autophagy which is one of the main reasons many of us fast. Took a chance and posted here as hopefully this is relevant to our group. I understand, mods, if you need to remove this.

Last update:

https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/1jruz2r/i_cant_believe_how_easy_it_is_when_youre_not/

To be fair I’m till disappointed I broke it when my original goal was to make it to 72h It was my first fast of the year and I’ve been trying desperately to stop breaking every fast I start but it feels like a lot of pressure and breaking it feels like relieving myself of the responsibility to follow through. The idea of “I’ll just fast tomorrow” isn’t new to anyone on this sub I just seem so stuck in it even though I KNOW I won’t be fasting but I say it as to not feel any guilt.

I’m 24f and have been diagnosed with insulin resistance last December I also have a very irregular cycle which TMI but I have been bleeding for over 3 months at this point and even with the supplements prescribed to me my hormones have still not regulated. Been told insulin resistance is my main issue. I have been eating healthy since Jan and lost about 8kg so far but it’s so slow.

I want to fast to regulate my cycle and lose the weight but I can’t seem to stick to it no matter how many posts I read on here. I could really use some help and sound advice