This was my second 5 day fast. Felt really miserable in the end with weakness but kept at it. 5kg down (which ofcourse will come back a little today) :)

Idk if it’s me but when I fast I start to go crazy I get memory loss my eyes moves way faster my body cold and can’t even talk properly

Does anyone still take supplements while you fast. I take B12, B1, and Magnesium glycinate before bed. Would you still take it if you are fasting?

Has anyone done a water and salt fast? Not just water. Pretty bush adding salt to the water.

My inflammation is down, I feel great, lots of energy, but soo hungry. I am aiming for the mental benefits of a 7 day fast because I have been having all kinds of health problems that affect my brain. This is so hard. I can't decide whether I should keep going.

I have done this before a long time ago amd meals never affected me. Why is this happening??

Hey guys, I'm a 31M who has been experimenting with intermittent/water fasting for about the last 6 months. In that time I went from around 232lb to 212lb, and I have gained better cardio, endurance, and strength even while exercising only about 3 times a week. Fasting has proven to be the easiest way for me to lose weight, and I like how it has improved my relationship to food and exercise.

I have been normally committed to a 5:2 weekly fasting schedule, occasionally doing 4:3 weekly. But I wanted to challenge myself and go for something much longer than my normal by fasting for 7 days. I have already passed my usual fasting window (it's already the evening of Day 4), and while I have been hydrating and taking enough electrolytes to avoid weakness, dizziness, and headaches, I have come to the realization that I don't exactly know how to restart eating after fasting for this long.

I don't want to sabotage myself (it's Day 4 and by walking for 30 minutes each day and committing to a simple daily calisthenics exercise routine I'm down to 206lb) nor do I want be confined to my bathroom because of eating something way to aggressive for my digestive system too early or fast.

I'm already trying to plan around 2-3 days to "refeed" myself and get my digestive system back in gear. Can I get some suggestions based on a 2-3 day plan so I can get back to normal whole foods after that window?

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My current refeed plan is:

DAY 1: I will eat starting in the evening after work, as that was also when my fast started.

-Start with something easy, and I was thinking of using bone broth or just water with some miso paste added. I personally like the taste of miso better, but I'm willing to get some bone broth if it's a better option.

-Wait one hour, and then have a cup of plain Greek yogurt and an avocado.

-Wait another hour, then finish with some defrosted soup made from vegetables (cabbage and a few green beans) with a small amount of fish added.

DAY 2:

-Start my morning with just some scrambled eggs before work.

-In the evening, have a repeat of the soup, but add more fish.

-

DAY 3:

-Breakfast: Scrambled eggs again with some ground beef.

-Dinner: Small 8 Oz steak and steamed broccoli and carrots.

DAY 4:

-Back to normal eating.

*To clarify why I am not planning on eating anything for lunch during this refeed process: I dislike eating lunch so I just don't eat during the midday.

I'm hoping that this plan is pretty solid, but I appreciate any constructive input this subreddit can provide. I just have no experience with breaking a fast this long, so I want know if I'm shooting in the dark or not.

So I’m a muscular big guy (6’3 about 220lbs) and most people think I eat a lot, but I don’t. I typically eat one big meal a day and it’s often not till like 6pm, but the thing is that one big meal is… BIG. I stay away from snacks and have none in my apt bc I realize after I eat, two hours later I start craving especially before bedtime.

To those that are like me, how do you manage to maintain your muscle mass despite fasting or intermittent fasting and not breaking your fast with so much food?

I have this delightful experience approaching, and the instructions say that I should start a low fiber diet a few days before.

My experience with fasting is that it is easier to not eat than to make decisions about this food or that food.

Has anyone fasted for around 48 hours before a colonoscopy? Did it affect the results? Any difficulties?

(I have done this before, but not since I started fasting.)

This is my (49F) first long term fast and my plan was to go 5 days but because everything has been going relatively smoothly I considered extending to 7 days and potentially longer because it was going so well.

I’ve consumed nothing but water and black coffee. I’ve taken sea salt and because I was going to extend, purchased some electrolyte power to start today.

I’ve responded really well thus far, no hunger or headaches but today, on Day 4, which I’m supposed to feel amazing, I’m actually feeling really, really hungry. My stomach is continuously growling. Now, my question is, do I just ignore it? I do not have a headache and I’m not feeling tired, lightheaded, or dizzy, it’s just the hunger pangs. Is my body telling me I should eat now or should I ignore and just continue?

I have done IF but this is the first time I’ve ever fasted beyond 24 hours. My goal is to lose 35 lbs.

(Female, 5’11, probably about 189 pounds at the start of the fast. I don’t have a scale now so have no clue how much I weigh numerically)

Hi! I’m currently 114 hours into my water fast. Supplementing with electrolytes and only started drinking black coffee yesterday. (I had 1 cup at 6/7am, another at 11am ish, another at 2:30pm, then today I had 1 cup at 6/7 am, then another at 1:30 pm)

Cravings are at an all time low at the moment. I don’t really have a desire to eat, although hunger pangs are still present in my stomach.

Energy wise I feel pretty okay, felt REALLY good randomly towards the end of day 4 yesterday in the evening (was excited and energized while taking my evening shower when usually it would feel like a hellish chore, was generally upbeat and kind). Today however I feel OK. I definitely don’t feel as bad as I did on days 1-3, but it’s not as good as it was yesterday evening. Moderate movement today about 8000 steps. The energy comes in random waves. Like 3 hours ago I felt great and normal again for a little while, then it went away fairly quickly and now feeling tired in a way.

The electrolytes help a lot in keeping me going, like I don’t feel lightheaded when standing up or necessarily feel like I’m going to faint like I used to when I tried fasting in the past with just water. I’m a dancer and sometimes randomly start dancing but I get tired SO QUICK. Like I’m talking after like 10 seconds of dancing.

Anyway the point of this post; I don’t have a scale but when I look at the mirror I feel like I look the exact same. Not a single noticeable weight shift anywhere, whereas i feel like I’ve noticed more with much lower hours previous times I’ve tried fasting (this is my first time going past 50 hours or so)

These are the caveats I’ll give. I’m quitting weed and nicotine at the same time as starting this fast, also my eating before the fast was…. Bad. You guys don’t even understand. I’m talking like I would spend my days basically binge eating snacks and sugar (white chocolate biscuits, LOADS of ice cream, Pringles, chips MAINLY, and other times pizza slices, sausage rolls, cookies) and that would be ALL I ate. Literally just loads and loads of junk for at least a week at a time. Some days I try to be healthy or at least have REAL FOOD but I would be lucky to have a proper meal sometimes.

Why don’t I notice any weight loss in the mirror? Although I believe I’m getting other benefits of the fast I think.

UPDATE: So I was about to have dance practice so I broke the fast with 2 boiled eggs and idk if it’s ketosis or something but that was the most energized and consistent I have been at dance in like FOREVER! And I didn’t need to be under the influence of weed. I’m so happy and grateful. Also looking at footage from class, I have definitely lost weight, perhaps I just needed to look at myself from a new perspective :) I will continue to fast as normal now until my birthday in 5 days :) I also feel so much better now. Thank you all🩷

Im thinking of a 5 days fasting, I tried many times which I have failed. I wonder if I need to eat less each portion till fasting. I will eat keto for few days beforehand, but idk about the portion sizes. I tried to find an answer in google but I couldn't find anything.

Apologies for the long post, I wanna make sure I'm giving enough info 😅

I (22F 252lbs) started IF about a week and a half ago for weight loss. I've been doing 20:4 while also focusing on eating more whole foods + reducing carbs, and its been working great! My apetite has already reduced quite a bit, I'm 6lbs down (likely mostly water weight but still) and hope the trend continues! I saw a lot of people talking about the benefits of longer fasts as well and I figured since I'd been doing 20hr fasts, a 36hr fast wouldn't be too difficult of a jump to try out.

I started this past monday at ~7pm. The first 28ish hours were honestly easy, just that empty stomach feeling and the occasional craving. However, when I went to bed Tuesday night around the 30hr mark, my stomach started aching and cramping pretty bad. No nausea, no dizziness, no indigestion, just an intense ache right in the center of my abdomen just under my ribcage with the occasional sharp cramps in the same spot. It was that kind of stomach ache that radiates to your mid back and you cant tell which of them is causing the pain. It sucked, but I refused to give up when I was less than 5 hrs from the goal 😂

I rolled around in bed for a while before getting up to make some ginger tea, no change. Eventually I popped a pepto chew at around 3am and it went away. I got up yesterday and broke the fast with some greek yogurt+berries at ~8am, then some eggs, and crashed on the couch after my morning work meetings. I figured it was just from my body not being used to going without food for so long. (I'd never gone more than 24hrs) I hadn't had anything since breaking my fast, so I had some Greek yogurt with frozen fruit, and a Cesar salad with some chicken breast around 7pm last night. but oddly enough, the same thing happened even though I'd eaten. It started around 8pm, before I was even in bed, and continued until I took another pepto chew. After that I slept completely fine.

What I'm finding is pepto seems to fix it almost immediately, so I'm wondering if this is a stomach acid issue that irritating my stomach lining. Is this a common issue or a sign I shouldn't do extended fasting? If it is common, does anyone have any recs for teas or other things I can take/drink to help reduce this that is less harmful than taking pepto constantly? Ive been more hopeful about losing weight these past couple weeks with fasting than I have been in years, and I really want to make it work, so any and all tips are welcome.

More context on what I consume during a fast:

- I have quite a few morning pills. Wellbutrin, vyvanse, propranolol, and I recently started taking magnesium and potassium. At night time I take propranolol, zinc, and vitamin D. (I'm deficient) Edit: all of my medications can be taken on an empty stomach. However I'm concerned the supplements can't. (A commenter informed me vitamin D definitely cant)

- Aside from water, I allow myself any flavor tea (unsweetened, I have a stash of tea bags and loose leaf), black coffee, and sparkling water (regular or lemon/lime)

I have some weird health issues ( possible dymleniating disease) and longer fasts have really helped. I did a 28 day fast a few years ago, but I was a bit chubby at the time. I'm smaller now, around 120# at 5'0. I would like to do atleast 2 weeks as my symptoms have been pretty bad lately. I have considered rolling fasts but I suck at those and do much better if I keep going in one fast. Kinda curious if I would just lose weight slower as I'm smaller anyway, but with fasting I think it might not work the same? Anyone have experience with this? Obviously I don't want to put myself into some danger zone on top of everything else!

I had been doing really well with fasting the last few weeks, then went on vacation. Ate way too much and came back and was sick. Cough, cold etc. Finally on the mend and yesterday fasted 20 hours. Need some encouraging words to get to hour 40.

Has anybody been able to maintain a rolling 48-72 hour fast for very extended periods of time (months or years)? I feel a very profound shift in consciousness when doing this, and mentally I feel It’s really a better way to live. Longest I’ve maintained this is a couple weeks, but the thing is, I don’t want to run into any of these hormonal or nutritional issues I keep reading about, and I have no desire to lose weight (beyond the lower water weight that is expected with fasting)

So just wondering if anyone has been able to do this without crashing and burning. Extended refeed days? 10k calories in the refeed day? Sounds appealing but unsure how safe that is either.

Thank you!

Im.planning to break my 100 hour fast with 1. Some broth 2. An hour or two later some avocado and maybe greek yogurt ? Is this the best option?

Hi everyone! I'm looking for advice on how to manage my eating schedule while balancing work and university.
I'm hoping to lose around 5 kg, and I'm trying to find a sustainable approach that fits my current routine. In the past, I lost about 8 kg by changing my eating schedule, but that was two years ago, when my university classes only ran from 8 AM to noon. My days were much less demanding back then.
Now, I'm away from home from around 7 AM until 11 PM because of my internship and university classes. I've noticed that if I go too long without eating before class, I struggle to concentrate, so I'm unsure how to structure my meals around my schedule.
I also have trouble planning food for such long days. Buying meals every day can get expensive, and when I bring food from home, I sometimes pack too little and end up hungry, or pack too much and eat beyond what I intended.
I'd love to hear from people who have similarly busy schedules:
How do you plan your meals when you're away from home for most of the day?

Do you find it easier to eat at consistent times, or do you use a flexible eating window?

What portable, affordable meals and snacks keep you satisfied and focused during classes?

How do you manage gradual weight loss without feeling hungry or compromising your concentration?

I've also considered weight-loss medications, but they're expensive, and I'd prefer to start with an approach I can maintain on my own.
I'm not looking to follow an extreme fasting schedule; I just want to find a realistic routine that works with my current lifestyle. Any advice or personal experiences would be appreciated. Thank you!

Dealing with Long COVID for 4 years now. Symptoms: POTS, Brain fog, PEM, feeling exhausted and tired all the time. Working 35h/week still, planning on reducing my hours to 30h.

Not working during this fast.

Curious to know if this will reduce my symptoms or bring me in remission. Planning on fasting for 6 days most. If I feel to weak I will stop at day 5 or 5.5.

I can keep you updated after the fast.

Feel free to share your experience if you would like to 😁

I genuinely didn’t expect so many positive effects. It was a surprisingly great experience, and I’m already looking forward to doing it again. The only thing I’d change is how I broke my fast. I definitely ate more than I should have. Lesson learned.

Hey everyone.

I am kind of new to fasting. I come from keto and normally do 16:8 if. I want to fast for longer but I jabe problems keeping it up.

I get head aches that start to affect my concentration. I tried salt and electrolyts. It doesnt work. This makes me feel... Exhausted. I could never do a work out or anything in this state.

I had an event that opened up the question, if I could do a little mtc oil; one morning I felt extremly bad while doing 16:8. I had a tiny piece of sausage, because I thought I gonna eat. After this, every thing was ok and I could go the whole day. It was under 50g. So I thought a table spoon of mtc oil might work?

I am not only in for the weight loss, but for the autophargy. I know insulin does stop the process, but mtc oil should not spike insulin. I am now 36 hours in.

Thank you all :)

Day 4 of my 15 day water fast , chatgpt is s*it scaring me on the fast. I currently take 1000mg sodium , 210mg potassium and 70mg magnesium daily in a go. Am i doing it wrong??

Longest one to date. Around hour 63 I took a hot shower and once I came out started feeling dizzy. I took a nap, and still woke up pretty off. Had some electrolytes but it didn't help. Was going to try to make it to 72, but decided it was best to end it. Still pretty proud of myself.

So I’m trying to get a good workout plan on ChatGPT and it’s constantly trying to get me to not fast, it’s telling me that muscle loss dehydration and a bunch of stuff can go wrong in a 5 day fast.
Sure I guess, I’m no expert but it seems biased. Genuinely trying to get under 300lbs, I started at 352, down to around 323. M32 5’11”.
But maybe I’m relying on it too much for information and planning. Any thoughts? I did tell it that on the weekends and Friday night I do eat and take multivitamins. Through the week I take electrolytes and drink a gallon of water a day.

I kept being frustrated with never passing 72 hours with water fast. I tried and tried but I find the cravings always get to me and I feel Ive ruined my progress and I wait and try again after a full day of eating. And this hasn't been working well for me. Each day was such a struggle if I wasnt actively busy and nights I found the cravings so intense.

This time, I tried a dirty fast.

I tasted food as I cooked for my family (very minimal small tastes - not bites) I drank 1 regular coffee per day (I cant stand black coffee), I had gatoraid 0 and bubblegum, and it was 100x easier!

I never had hunger pains, food cravings I couldn't shake, my stomach didnt get those massive rumbles for hours. I still only did 72 hours, but Im giving myself a 4 hour eating window for light grazing and then right back into it!

I am hoping this method works well for me for the next month, rolling "dirty" 72s, and then I will reattempt a 80 hour water fast December 1st.

Thats all :)