I just completed a 7 day water fast

[Shemp]

I'm moving this here to avoid hijacking another thread where the topic came up.

12 day water fast? I struggled to get past 3 days, how do you do it?

I just completed a 7 day water fast last week. Very easy actually if you start fat and don't do heavy exercise.

My problem was I was lean to start, so afterwards I had veins showing all over my abdomen like a body builder. I wasn't trying to lose weight, this was a cleansing fast for me. Plus I continued my daily calisthenics, which are strenuous (dive bomber pushups, handstands, one legged squats, tucked planche, etc). By the 7th morning, my body said no more and so I had to skip exercises that day. I'll probably skip exercises next year.

In general, you will feel significant bodily fatigue, a small mental slowdown, and you may feel cold, so best to fast in summer like I did. You will NOT feel hunger, other than maybe the first 3 days. If your body is messed up, you may also have terrible headaches and other flu symptoms the first 3 days. This will pass eventually. Your body will resist work once past the first 3 days, however if bodily work is necessary, like sprinting to catch the bus, the power is still there.

You will not lose muscle, provided you walk around a little and maybe do a few push-ups, but no need for the heavy calisthenics I was doing. I had to struggle with those calisthenics days 4,5,6 and skipped them day 7, as I noted, but the day after the fast and ever since, my performance is back to normal.

Boredom can be a problem. I was able to continue my usual routine if several hours masturbating per day, lots of valley orgasms but no peak orgasms (sexual kung fu). I spent a lot of time just lying bed staring at the ceiling, not bored, not even thinking. Sex drive will be stronger after breaking the fast than it was before fasting. Sex drive during the fast will be low, so hard to get erections, but you can still get and keep them, as I did while masturbating, you just have to struggle a bit to get going.

[El_Caudillo]

How many pounds did you drop out of interest?

[Shemp]

No idea. I don't have a scale. Typical male metabolism is 2500 kcal/day, times 6 days (since the first day you just run down glycogen stores, which are immediately replaced when you resume eating), equals 15000 kcal. About 3600 kcal/pound of fat, so maybe 4 pounds fat. Weight loss was NOT my goal and I deliberately added about a pound of fat back afterwards.

[w.p.o.]

Juice fasting is much better. Perfect for detoxing (works better if you have access to a sauna). Loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, not to mention tastes good (depending on the fruits and veggies you use). Water has absolutely no nutritional value. Water fasting is an excellent way to starve yourself. Nutritionists, doctors and physicians argue against it.... for good reason. You're neglecting your body of vital nutrients. When you go back to eating, your body goes into defense mode: Pack on the pounds in case that $hit happens again!! It happens all the time to professional bodybuilders. They dehydrate themselves to the point where posing on stage can result into severe cramping. Their glycogen stores are dangerously low. At the end of the contest, they eat a couple slices of pizza or pasta to replenish some seriously needed gylcogen. ONE slice of pizza could result into a 5 pound gain!!! Again, the body goes into defense mode.

[Shemp]

The glycogen part is true (everyone's weight goes up and down 5 lbs each day whether or not they fast, simply because of glycogen going up and down), the rest is nonsense. Of course, the body goes into defense mode when water fasting, that's the whole point. Defense mode is extremely beneficial to the body on an occasional basis. In particular, the body scavenges diseased tissue, such as pre-cancerous cells. Water fasting will also reset a broken metabolism, which is the underlying problem in overweight type 2 diabetics. I'm lean and had a fine metabolism myself, so that wasn't my reason for fasting. There is strong evidence that occasional water fasting will rejuvenate the body in many ways. That was my real goal.

What bodybuilders do is another story. They use a lot of drugs.

Juice fasting is not really fasting, it's just eating a light diet. None of the health benefits of water fasting.

Nutritionists are not scientists and neither are medical doctors. Human physiology is the underlying science, a subbranch of biology. Medical doctors study physiology in school and then forget much of it later. Medicine is more art than science. Nutritionists are lower intelligence types who couldn't get admitted to any other degree program. They lack the intelligence to study physiology. There are no physiologists warning against occasional water fasting. Doctors argue against it because it cuts into profits.

[cdnFA]

Nutritionists are not scientists and neither are medical doctors. Human physiology is the underlying science, a subbranch of biology. Medical doctors study physiology in school and then forget much of it later. Medicine is more art than science. Nutritionists are lower intelligence types who couldn't get admitted to any other degree program. They lack the intelligence to study physiology. There are no physiologists warning against occasional water fasting. Doctors argue against it because it cuts into profits.

So much bullshit. I had a reply wrote up but f**k it. It just isn't worth it.
Your first sentence is sort of right but totally irrelevant, educators don't work in labs, they get their information from others who do. The rest is complete and total made up bullshit, much like just about everything else on this forum.

[Shemp]

@cdnFA: Have you ever fasted for any significant length of time? Are you fat?

[w.p.o.]

Nutritionists are not scientists and neither are medical doctors. Human physiology is the underlying science, a subbranch of biology. Medical doctors study physiology in school and then forget much of it later. Medicine is more art than science. Nutritionists are lower intelligence types who couldn't get admitted to any other degree program. They lack the intelligence to study physiology. There are no physiologists warning against occasional water fasting. Doctors argue against it because it cuts into profits.

So much bullshit. I had a reply wrote up but f**k it. It just isn't worth it.
Your first sentence is sort of right but totally irrelevant, educators don't work in labs, they get their information from others who do. The rest is complete and total made up bullshit, much like just about everything else on this forum.

I was thinking the same thing. They actually refer to scientists as doctors (like they refer to dentists as doctors. MD, Phd etc). When you've done a $hit load of research and applied it to yourself and others (trial and error) - not to mention took classes in school for it - you tend to get a headache when you hear otherwise. 15+ years of obsessive study and research, but what do I know?! LOL.

Btw, doctors truly do argue against water fasting cause it may have fatal consequences. Not only am I a health nut, I'm also a natural homemade remedy junkie (you can see my blog "homemade remedy fanatics" on this thread). Doctors aren't going to tell you things that takes money out of their pocket, BUT they're not going to tell you anything that is harmful either. Let's be real.

[Adama]

I can see two possible problems from water only fasting, those being possible excessive loss of heart muscle mass due to the rapid weight loss and possible micronutrient deficiency.

[Shemp]

I can see two possible problems from water only fasting, those being possible excessive loss of heart muscle mass due to the rapid weight loss and possible micronutrient deficiency.

Not in 7 or even 10 days. These are actually short fasts. Humans are designed to undergo extended water fasts while continuing to look for food. If that weren't true, our ancestors would never have survived. Military studies showed negligible loss of muscle or ability to engage in heavy physical activity even after several weeks of water fasting, and these were moderately lean subjects to start (active duty soldiers).

The real danger is for those on medications whose dosage was calibrated based on certain assumptions that don't hold when fasting. The most important case is tyoe 1 diabetics. They definitely do NOT want to take insulin while fasting because that will put them into a hypoglycemic coma. Type 1 diabetics should probably not fast are all. By contrast, type 2 diabetes is easily cured by fasting, but they should fast under medical supervision and normally need to stop their medications, especially insulin. Anyone with health problems should probably fast under medical supervision. Typical quacks will pooh-pooh water fasting, but there are also plenty of competent doctors who will help with it.

The record for fasting was 382 days, but this wasn't a pure water fast. In particular, the guy drank some sort of yeast concoction every day, which presumably contained lots of protein, plus he took some vitamins, all under medical supervision. This was a fatty trying to lose weight. Started at 456 lbs, dropped to 180 lbs at end of fast, subsequently rose back to 196 lbs, then remained 196 lbs five years later.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/

Water fasting is actually better than dieting (eating daily but reduced calories) for weight loss, since the body fits not reduce metabolism while water fasting, whereas it does with dieting. But you are correct that nutrition would be a problem eventually. My recommendation for weight loss would be to simply eat every other day: slightly above normal one day, nothing the next day. This should prevent metabolism from dropping. That's the problem with dieting.

[Adama]

I was thinking more like 40 days. I always hoped to hit that number.

[Shemp]

I also do daily intermittent fasting, by simply eating within a 5 hour period, or sometimes within a one hour period (1 or 2 closely spaced meals per day). What this does is ensure my body is insulin free much of the day. This has MASSIVE health benefits.

By comparison, those who eat lots of small meals, late night snacks, big breakfast, etc are flooding their bodies non-stop with insulin, which causes eventual insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc. Sugar and carbs are not the big problem with most fatties, since protein is just as insulinogenic. Eating constantly is the problem.

I also do my morning exercises in the fully fasted state. Big health benefits.

[Adama]

I also do daily intermittent fasting, by simply eating within a 5 hour period, or sometimes within a one hour period (1 or 2 closely spaced meals per day). What this does is ensure my body is insulin free much of the day. This has MASSIVE health benefits.

By comparison, those who eat lots of small meals, late night snacks, big breakfast, etc are flooding their bodies non-stop with insulin, which causes eventual insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc. Sugar and carbs are not the big problem with most fatties, since protein is just as insulinogenic. Eating constantly is the problem.

I also do my morning exercises in the fully fasted state. Big health benefits.

I've been doing that too. Stuff is addictive. I figure after I have gotten to one year eating this way that I won't even be able to go back to eating three times a day. I just look at people around me and see them literally starving all day long, and they are just enraptured by food.

Now I can't even fit that much into the stomach anymore. The desire to pig out doesn't overwhelm me like it used to, and my limit is much lower now than before. I just wish I had started eating this way as soon as I entered adulthood.

And it doesn't hurt to get out of bed in the morning like it used to. That sleepiness which lasts all day long IF I don't get sleep the night before has almost completely evaporated (on most days).

This is almost like the cure for fatigue and excess daytime sleepiness. Just eat fewer times per day.

[livefreeordie]

Ive had symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) flare up while in the Philippines with bowel pains/stomach cramps, and on this 1 month long trip shakes fasting has really helped me get back on top physically. Day two of my liquid fast i feel a lot better. I had sex last night and I was really impressed with the feeling of awareness in my body, and I was able to avoid tensing up and I came a fair bit easier.

Personally Ive found fresh fruit shakes with no sugar or milk easier to do while fasting, ensuring the body is still getting nutrition and importantly fiber to help move the toxins. Ive read a good point that a harder fast like water only dumps the toxins into the colon where they get re digested, so it helps to have fiber to move the waste out. Ive been taking mebendazole 2x for de-worming which may have contributed to that, as i felt parasite symptoms previously, so ive been taking high quality probiotics, nutritional yeast, as well as wheatgrass and barley grass powder in water, as well as organic apple cider to increase stomach acid.

Im sorry but a lot of doctors/researchers are morons and cult-like nutbags who worship the death cult of big pharma. The basic functions of all living things are to eat, drink, sleep and excrete waste. When i read these so called 'experts' claiming there are no health benefits to fasting and enemas, which expedite the removal of waste, ( while simultaneously pushing drugs that kill hundreds of thousands each year ) that is another nail in the coffin that proves they are utterly full of s*#t and dont know what the feck they are talking about. Unlike real experts who embrace natural therapies, they have an inability to address causes of disease and that's a serious issue, believe them at your own serious risk. How many more billions need to be thrown at the issue before they come up with real cures, its disgusting.

[Adama]

Parasites are the worst. You won't even know you have them, til you see them come out of nowhere. I just wish I had the endurance to fast long term. I think there is some rate limiter that the body has. Somehow it knows when fasting has gone on too long and it won't let me go further. Actually I've only read about the parasites.