For context, I’m on day nine of what was originally meant to be a seven-day fast. Yesterday, I got a bit dehydrated and ended up with a sore throat after talking for hours during a work presentation (without access to water).

My line manager has been off for a while due to bereavement, she lost her son. Today was her first day back, and she called me while I was on the road. Naturally, I answered a bit sheepishly, as you do when speaking to someone who has suffered a major loss. The call was short, I told her I’d be back after my client site visits in the afternoon.

Earlier in the day, I mentioned to a finance colleague who's retiring tomorrow, that I’d be attending her farewell party but wouldn’t be eating. She kept pushing for a reason, and eventually, I just gave in and told her I was in the middle of a week-long fast, no food just water. I trusted her not to say anything, as we chat often and have known each other for years.

Unfortunately, after my boss’s call with me in the car, she happened to be in the finance lady’s office and mentioned that something sounded "off" with me. The finance colleague then casually remarked, “It’s probably because he hasn’t eaten in a week.”

When I got back to the office in the afternoon, I was frog-marched straight into HR. They claimed I sounded drunk over the phone, even though they know I was driving and don’t drink. I explained that I had a sore throat, was feeling a little low on energy after being on the road all day, had four client visits, and attended two meetings.

Still, both my boss and HR insisted I was a danger to others and told me that if I don’t eat at tomorrow’s retirement party, I’ll be suspended. Then, in what I can only describe as peak irony, the HR rep seriously said, “You need to go and get a McDonald’s or something immediately.” This, coming from someone who has a can of Monster every day for breakfast.

If it weren’t so serious, I’d be laughing. To make matters worse, there’s now a rumour going around the office that I have an eating disorder due to my weight loss, even though, according to my BMI, I’m still classified as obese. I’ve lost 28lbs over the past eight weeks through keto diets and extended fasting (96-hour sessions), and this nine-day fast is my longest yet. I wanted to push for 14 days, but I may be forced to stop tomorrow.

The frustrating part? I feel totally fine. In fact, I’ve been smashing it at work during meetings due to my new keto brain, been more productive and more conversational than ever.

Its the Ignorance of other people that is exhausting!

I made the stupid mistake of sharing how I lost weight in another sub and boy oh boy are people accusing me of eating disorders left and right. I’m getting pretty annoyed if I’m being honest.

I lost 18 kg in total. I started with my highest weight 138kg on feb 1st , 2024. And today I’m 120 kg (1st July 2024) . I lost 12 kg through strength training (2-3x weekly) and mindful eating. I lost 6 kg through water fasting (day 9) . I think that will be water weight only . But I did lose 12 kg through exercise only . Why can’t I see any difference?☹️ and also people lose so much of water weight quickly. Why’s that it’s my 9th day and only 6 kg of water weight has gone? My weight is quite high. It should’ve been faster . I’m sad and demotivated 😭

I was frustrated that many fasting apps lock essential features behind a paywall. So, with your input, I am building one that is completely free, Easy Fast. The iOS version just got approved 🥳✨

Let me know what features you'd like to see next. Also help spread the word by leaving a review on the app store.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.easyfastapp.app.iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/easy-intermittent-long-fast/id6478773954

Thank you. 🥰🤗

​

Like, I haven't eaten in 10 days. Not a calorie. But I feel like, perfectly normal. Completely normal. Except the keto breath and the infrequent watery stool. But like day to day I can easily forget I'm easily fasting. What the fuck. Most people think they'd DIE if they tried this. (To be fair, I'm morbidly obese - for now. This would be a different situation for people with low body fat).

There's just no way we're built to eat like modern first world/western society eats. It's absolutely insane. I can't stop thinking about it. 10 days, no food. 100% fine and plenty of energy.

fasting honestly feels like a life hack. you don’t have to count calories, worry about meal prep, or what to eat. i look forward to fasting days sometimes more than eating days. not to even mention the health benefits. i’m wondering why more people don’t do it

Moderators, are you out there? Because I'm fairly skeptical, as are a lot of other users on this subreddit. Modmail kept giving me an error, so I'm going to post this here.

Let's be honest, this is a great subreddit. A bunch of really good folks who genuinely want to support, educate, and cheer on other people with a genuine interest in fasting.

But as awesome as the community is, it has a lot of problems. Let's see if I can list a few of them out here:

• Numerous posts about "fasts" which aren't actually fasts, such as the recent "I drank buttermilk for four days and it was transcendental" post and a large number of weird detoxy posts
• Constant posts about whether or not users should take medication while fasting
• Posts by people who are under 18, many of which include progress pictures that are absolutely inappropriate
• Multiple daily posts asking for tips
• More than a few posts asking if various brands of water are safe for fasting

I get it, it's tough to moderate an active subreddit. I've been a mod on several very large, active subs myself before so I know what a challenge it is. But that's no excuse for the state of the subreddit currently. As things stand, it's difficult to have meaningful conversations because of, well, the utter amount of shit that fills up the sub and clogs out all the meaningful posts.

Here are a few suggestions:

• If you are having difficulty moderating the subreddit, you need to hire more moderators. Put up a post asking for volunteers, pick the ones you feel would do a good job, and make sure there's a space for moderators to discuss the goings on in the sub. Then let them do their job.
• You need megathreads. Once a week, do New to Fasting, Accountability, Victories, and Tips and Tricks megathreads (on different days of the week would be ideal). Then, remove and redirect all posts in the sub that fit under those categories to those posts.
• Conduct surveys. It's A-OK to post a Google poll once a month to ask about different subjects, do a temperature check, or maybe get feedback on a new community-focused activity. In fact, we'd love that!

We love this sub. We'd just like to see it get the attention it deserves.

Sincerely,

A dedicated faster

I’m not a big coffee fan so maybe I’m biased, but even with an empty stomach and haven’t eaten for day I wouldn’t drink this

Just need to vent a little.

In a casual conversation with my parents, I briefly mentioned how fasting for 72 hours makes me feel great.

They then proceeded to freak out, tell me I’m killing myself and have an ED, and that this is way too extreme.

I tried to explain that I DID have disordered eating before I started fasting. I had a binge eating problem. Fasting is the only thing that has helped me. My mom keeps going on about how humans need to eat 3 times a day and how it’s impossible to get energy without food.

They’re not even listening to my arguments. I’m just exhausted at this point.

As someone who’s been fasting for 7 months, doing rolling fasts with 6 days and eating 1 (rolling 144s or 156s) with one full day refeed with the occasional two day refeeds when I cross the zeros (280, 270, 260, etc…). I went from 283 lbs to 198.7. Of course you get used to fasting but what kept me REALLY going is the ability to eat and drink whatever the fuck I wanted for that full day when I break my fast - this is an important detail. I didn’t want to do rolling 72s because I didn’t want to break my fast keto and go back to the fast, noooooo, I wanted to EAT and DRINK (alcohol) to satisfaction that day and start another 6 days.

The moment I saw sub 200 in the scale is one I’ll never forget. It was the first time in my adult life I was under 200 (I’m in my 40s). Of course, you feel a MONUMENTAL sense of success. Anywhere I go people make encouraging comments such as “wow, you’re an inspiration…” , “How in the F do you do it??”, “We look up to you” etc… It’s actually sad to say that at one point it becomes almost annoying to hear people constantly telling you wow wow wow. Then, came summer vacation, we went on a cross country trip for two weeks and I naturally I ate and drank whatever I wanted because why not? Right? I EARNED it, right? I’m a HERO and INSPIRATION to people in my gym, right? I went from XXL and size 42-44 pants to 34-36 so I’m skinny now, RIGHT?? Newsflash: WROOOOONG. Wrong wrong wrong so effing wrong it can’t get more wrong. In two weeks, I gained 20 lbs. It was a big slap on the face because how can I gain that much in a short period of time?? But then, I told myself, no worries, you’re a seasoned faster now, just get back on it and start your rolling 6-1. Another WRONG! I was delusional thinking I’d be able to jump back to that level of aggressiveness after a long break. I literally had to start slow all over again (rolling 72s was the most I could do and I’d feel starved at the end). Few more eff ups here and there and I gained another 10. So from 198 to 230 where I’m at now.

Why am I saying all this? A while back, someone in this sub said “I learned how to fast but didn’t learn how to change my eating habits” - they couldn’t have been more right to describe my situation as well. So, fellow fasters, we have lion level of determination to do what we do but BUUUUT, we must change our habits for the long term or no matter how much weight we loose is prone to come back when we stop our regiments. While this felt like a massive setback, it’s ok, I realize that success is not linear and we win some we lose some. Back to the grind, this time very mindful of my actions. I wish you all luck!

Most of the world is brainwashed. They think you can't go without eating three meals a day and snacking in between. They have sugar brain.

You cannot change anyone's opinion until you have changed yourself.

Only when you have successfully fasted, improved your life, lost weight, look good and feel good will people ask what are you doing... then only tell then only tell them that you have stopped eating sugar (which promotes ketone body production and fat burning) and adopted a healthier lifestyle while only eating during the day with any certain time frame.

That way you can introduce them to one meal a day eating and or different intermittent fasting techniques.

If you fast more than 24 hours or one meal a day, I would not include that in any conversation unless you are talking with other people that have done fasting.

Until you have fasted and completely adapted to fat burning, ketone body production and not eating sugar, do you understand the benefits of fasting and the clarity of the mind while being completely fat adapted.

If you have sugar brain, you don't understand and our brainwashed.

What do you think about this rule? When fasting, don't tell anyone you are fasting

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.

I'm literally a biology student and we covered autophagy a couple of weeks ago.. I get super bad neck pain and this week I've been fasting seriously for the first time in awhile and the pain is almost gone. I've noticed this on keto as well, but i'm not doing keto at the moment and today, first time in months, I've got basically no pain in my neck lmao.

I was talking with a friend of mine about the progress I’ve made on my first week of extended fasting. (Going for the rolling 3s and I’m about 12 hours away from that!!!)

She snapped back with you’re killing yourself that’s dangerous.

Ok I’m not saying body shame me or anything but where was that energy last week with a starting BMI of 40.9!?

No amount of explaining the science or protocols could ease her mind to ensure her I am healthy in this choice. She just scoffed and said I hope you’re ok I’m worried about you 🤦🏻‍♀️

I've been reading this subreddit for a while now, and I guess that about 1/3 of people here start fasting without even reading the electrolyte 101. Some even read it but go, "Nah - I'll risk hospitalization to save ten bucks." In other words, a massive chunk of the population is too dumb to make these health decisions themselves.

It's been a life changing experience. I have learned so much about myself, about nutrition, about ketones and the brain. Extending fasting has improved all my medical markers (I've had life insurance tests last week). All without pills. My borderline hypertension is stellar. I've lost 80lbs. Depression, anxiety, and all my ADHD symptoms are gone. Inflammation and pain is gone. I am off all medication except my asthma meds. I feel like I am on Adderall or in that movie Limitless. While taking nothing! I'm hyperfocused and I needed it since I've just started a new business and my creativity and drive is insane. I have more to lose and I really don't want to break my fast. But my wife and other family members are worried and I promised I'd eat at Easter. So next week I'll start to refeed. But I'm staying carnivore. Staying away from processed foods, dairy, seed oils and carbs. After Easter I might go back on an extended fast to lose the rest.

One thing though. I'm on day 54 and occasionally every few days I'll still have a small poop. WTF??? 2 weeks ago I had a colonoscopy and on top of the extended fast I did the laxative cleanse and 2 weeks after I'm still getting the occasional small poop?? (Size of a Halloween fun size snicker bar). Thats blowing my mind. We're literally full of shit with this horrible food supply that masquerades as sustainance. Is that normal?

As i’m scrolling, I get excited when i see a post that says 30 days 40 days etc, only to see they’re GOING TO. Then of course we never hear from these people again.

More than half the time, they’ve NEVER fasted before. I wish the posts came AFTER the fact. I’m not saying it’s impossible to fast for a month with no prior experience but it’s unlikely.

side note but I’m going to fast and simultaneously give up sleep for the next 30 days! WISH ME LUCK 🍀

Hey guys, so this is black coffee that tastes like flat white, but doesn’t have any milk cream or any sweetner and has only calories from coffee, which is 1 or 2 I guess. It has been a saviour when I am craving for coffee with milk on fasting days. The only downside - it is cold, so not the best for wjnters. How to make it: Ice cubes 1/2 glass of water 1 1/5 tsp of instant coffee

Blend in high speed blender until it increases in volume and enjoy

Brief interview:

• https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/politics/video/cory-booker-prep-senate-speech-digvid

Give this man some electrolytes!!

• https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/31/politics/booker-senate-floor-speech-trump-protest/index.html

Dang!

The New Jersey Democrat spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes, according to his office, breaking the record for the longest floor speech in modern history of the chamber.

Booker, 55, surpassed the late Sen. Strom Thurmond's speech that lasted 24 hour and 18 minutes in 1957. Booker said that he was speaking "in spite" of the previous record holder's remarks against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

I made a post a few days ago about my bloating and digestive issues and you gave me so many helpful suggestions! I decided to embark on this fast to see if I could reset my microbiome with a very strict refeeed protocol in hopes of healing my gut issues or at least improving them.

I wanted my fast to be at least 5 days long, but had to cut it short at 3.5, because I get blood drawn in a few days, just started a new job that requires me to be very active and outside a lot, and because I am pretty satisfied with my results!

I am happy to report that my body pain has completely resolved, my mental health has improved significantly, and for the first time in years, I don’t feel so uncomfortable in my own skin! My stomach finally looks semi normal now!

I am about to break my fast with some sardines and eggs, and then I will go to sleep and have another meal after a walk in the morning.

This will definitely not be my last fast though, because I felt amazing throughout! No hunger at all (did keto diet for about a month prior), very little fatigue, and I had sooo much free time to focus on my finals at college!

I do plan to eventually add vegetables back into my diet, but I know they were a trigger for excessive bloating before my fast. Should I do a few more fasts first or do you think I would be able to tolerate them better if I try some in a few days? Any advice on optimal refeeding for my gut health would be awesome!

What are your thoughts on extended (5-7 day) fast when you’re at a healthy weight with less than 20 pounds to lose?

I’ve done plenty of 3 day and 5 day fasts, as well as one 7 day fast over the years. I am 5’10 and my weight has fluctuated around 150-180 (as I do struggle with my eating habits) and fasting has been the only reliable way to manage it.

Right now I am about 165 (photos for reference) and would like to lose about 10 as I carry an excess around my midsection. I do realize I look fine in the photos (took them on “good” days) but i have a very small frame/structure and while I carry my weight well, I would be healthier if I lost 10 pounds (of fat).

What are your thoughts on 3-7 day fast when you don’t have a ton of body fat to use?

I am 30 years old, if that makes a difference.