TLDR, I fasted for 35 days, no food whatsoever and felt great. Adding electrolytes to your water is important. I lost a pound a day and my arthritic hands aren’t arthritic anymore.
First of all I had never fasted before except for 12hrs before blood draws for lab work. This is my experience on how it went down for me and why I did this. YMMV
Why?
due to military jumps and other abuse I inflicted on my body I have hand, back, knee, neck, and shoulder damage that I refuse to have surgery on until it’s absolutely necessary.
I love food that is bad for you. Fried, breaded, you name it, I love it. And soda.
Unsurprisingly after not working out and eating shit I got fat. About 70lbs overweight. (Have fun with that, I dont care)
I saw a picture of me and decided to stop eating. So I did. Water only.
I knew nothing about fasting and but as expected the weight started falling off. The first day sucked and I don’t doubt that at the least I was pre diabetic. Day 2 and 3 were less sucky but by day 4 I felt normal. I would have cravings at mealtimes that would go away in about a hour.
By day 14 I had lost about 20 lbs but for the previous 3 days I had started feeling sluggish. I had the brilliant idea to do some research... and discovered that electrolytes are important. Duh! I started adding electrolytes to my water and it felt like someone had installed a fresh battery in me. I felt GREAT! I also gained back 8 pounds of water in 2 days. Even though I was drinking plenty of water the first two weeks I was getting dehydrated from a lack of electrolytes evidently not allowing my body to absorb it.
After that I felt great and averaged loosing 1lb a day right up to day 35. I never felt sluggish or had a lack of energy.
By day 15 something amazing thing happened. Last year when we parked the boat we gutted and rebuilt a farm house. By February when we left the house to go back to the boat my hands were more arthritic than ever. I had to physically straighten my thumbs every morning and flex my fingers to get them to be usable.
I woke up and Realized that my hands didn’t hurt. At all! I don’t know if it was day 15 or before that this happened but that was the morning I realized it. Its been 2 months since I ended my fast and they are still pain free. Other joints feel better too but nothing that dramatic and my decreased knee and back pain probably has something to do with lugging around less weight.
I ended my fast after 35 days and 35lbs lost because I was just done with it. I still felt great but like when Forest Gump was done running, I just wanted to end it.
I gained back 5 lbs right away (filling up the digestive track) and have stayed there for the most part the last two months. My diet has changed somewhat from pre fast and I stay away from soda and fried foods.
Im halfway to my goal weight. Yesterday I started round two and am fasting again with electrolytes from the start this time.
It turns out that there has been a lot of research into fasting the last few years and you can search Dr Fung who is treating diabetes with it. Not for 35 days but still. There is data showing cellular repair is a side effect as well as other benefits. The biggest myth is that your body with eat its muscle tissue while fasting. For the record I haven’t loss any strength. Many athletes are incorporating shorter term fasting.
There are plenty of medical seminars on youtube talking about fasting and what the body goes through but here is a simple video that breaks it down for starters.
