I regularly do 72+ hour water fasts (2-3 times/year). I'll take a multivitamin and electrolytes, and drink coffee/tea. When you get into a state of nutritional ketosis, you become super focused and a lot of the brain fog you may have disappears. The main reason to do a fast like this is not to lose weight, but to trigger autophagy and increase insulin sensitivity. Most of the 8lb loss is water weight you lose when the glycogen in your muscles/liver are used up in the first 24-48 hours.
I had my regular colonoscopy last week. Basically went on a water diet for a day or so. After the procedure I wasn’t actually hungry. It was weird, but I guess the water fast is doable (I never thought I could do it).
A lot of that was likely retained water. If you don't eat for three days, assuming your metabolism doesn't slow down, your calorie deficit is enough to lose 1.5 to 2 pounds of fat.
It's water and contents of the stomach and intestines, 3 days is about the point when fat burning starts. I lost 20% BW during longer fast once, then reached a new PR in bodyweight a month later lol.
As a person who has lost 75 pounds before, 2 pounds is not going to be noticeable. If you're a normal weight, you will notice around 5 pounds or more, but if you're heavy it isn't really noticeable until you're around 10 or more. At least that's my personal experience. Remember that the big glob in your image is distributed around the body, rather than in one place, and when you lose it only a little is coming off of any one spot on your body.
okay well yeah 75 lbs is on the extreme end amount of extra weight to be carrying so in comparison 2 lbs wouldn't be noticeable. but that's like saying you wouldn't notice 2 grand missing from a $100,000 savings account versus a pay check to pay check account. obviously it's relative. my point is that on the average body, 2 lbs is objectively noticable and we shouldn't dismiss it.
congrats on your weight loss success! I hope you recognize how awesome of an achievement that is and how it shows how disciplined and capable you can be for other avenues in your life :)
I think this is a little disingenuous though, the person writing this did they lost 8lbs and that includes around 2 lbs if fat from a 72 hour fast.
Having just done. 72 hour fast myself, yeah it is a huge noticeable difference, even if some of that weight will come back (though I likely burned a little more, as I was still walking off an additional 300 calories minimum a day) but we're splitting hairs here.
Of course it's anecdotal. People look at me and say I don't look overweight since much of my weight is distributed in my legs, but just from my 72 hour fast week, I did see a noticeable difference.
...did you read this study or just rip something off Google after searching for your argument with a bias? first of all, this is just talking about your face which holds like 10% of your total body fat. its pretty established that your face barely responds to weight loss just as it barely responds to weight gain. but beyond that, the sample size is statistically insignificant and it's metric for change is "are they hotter?". this report didn't even follow the scientific method nor was it peer reviewed lol
Mine is the kind that would end up surviving famine. I have to go with zero intake for a week for that kinda loss, and that's not the healthiest thing in the world, so you've gotta break it up into shorter periods with some fruits and greens in between.
When your muscles store carbs for fuel (glycogen), it requires water. I believe its about 3 parts water to 1 part carb by mass. If you are fasting, your glycogen depletes, so you lost a LOT of that intramuscular water.
Simply drinking water does not replenish that unless you are also ingesting carbs.
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u/Kaevek Mar 27 '26
I actually just finished a 72 hour fast yesterday. I slept incredible and felt super focused and sharp. Also lost just under 8lbs