Day 4 out of 21 - Daily Detailed Water Fast Journal

Hi everyone,

Introduction:
I’m relatively new to the consept of water fasting. I’m a 168 cm/5’5 feet female in my mid 20s in Europe. Start Weight 75.5 kg/166.4 lbs. I’ve only had 1 water fast before, and that was a 2 day water fast last week that went pretty well. I willingly after a lot of thinking and reflection, broke the fast by consuming 900 calories that day in total (this was before I had learned about the refeeding syndrome and was still doing research).

Current Fast:
I started a new fast on the LIFE app as soon as it had been 24 hours since I consumed my last calorie and spent those 24 hours researching on various forums, reading scientific papers, and peoples experiences overall and making sure I had everything I needed for the next fast and knowing what to not consume, and I am now at day 4, hour 79 of my current water fast. I started on Sunday, November 27th and the end date is Sunday, December 18th. Total amount of hours to do is 504/21 days.

Track of Progress:
I currently do not have a scale since my smart scale actually got stolen by a family member during the summer, but I will be scaling myself weekly at my doctors office during check ups. Other than that I will also keep taking and noting down measurements with my measurement band almost daily and I want to post daily on this forum for journaling purposes and to help others. I will post before, during and after photos at the last day of the fast. I’ll post other photos in the duration of the fast of sleep stats, resting heart rate progress, work outs, and so on, I track those through my FitBit app and smart watch. I’ll include both American inches, lbs, Ounches, and so on as well as cm, kg, liters for everything I post.

How Long?:
I plan to go on for 21 days in total at least and originally set out for 7 days, then 14 but now 21 as I feel great and I want to push myself, maybe 30 if possible if everything keeps going well until day 21, I will decide on that once I’m on day 21. I have a strong will power so I don’t see anything hindering me from finishing the 21 days, I will only stop if warning signs arise such as strong headaches, nausea, dizzyness, etc. I stopped my birth control over 1 week ago and I’ve noticed that all my hunger feelings disappeared once I got off of them, they have a side effect of feeling hungry often.

What Will I Consume?:
The only thing I’ll be consuming is 2 to 3 liters/64 to 80 ounces ish of normal water (depending on hydration levels and activity level of the specific day), multi vitamins and multi mineral pills, along with salt that contains potassium and magnesium which I’ll mix with some water. I’m not a fan of tea, coffee, carbonated things nor soda so I will not have any other liquid cravings. I am not taking any medicines. After day 2 I have not felt any hunger or food cravings either so I feel pretty good right now. The only thing I struggled giving up on is Extra sugar free gum and I was bummed to find out that it’s a no no for water fasting since I usually chew it 2-4 times a day, but I’ve now gotten used to giving up on it surprisingly so I’m not experiencing any gum cravings anymore.

Why am I Doing a Water Fast?:
I’m doing this for several health benefits and I’m also open to spirtual enlightment from it if that does occur. But the main reasons is that I have been wheelchair bound for 1 year and just learned how to walk again this summer. I suffer with chronic pain and some arthritis and heard that this might help improve it along with the weight loss that comes with water fasting long term, if done properly and safely. I feel that the pain I experience has improved so far and so that is quite motivating to keep going. I also want to lose the last pounds I have left to get back to what I used to be pre-wheelchair as that ultimately will help me walk even better. I felt a lot more mental clarity as well in these past 4 days and that I have much more energy and motivation in general, so improving myself mentally is also another big factor.

Day 1:
During day 1 I definantly felt hungry often. Currently live alone so I cleared away any food that I had in my apartment to avoid temptations and easy access. I also felt quite grumpy and easily irritated during work appointments I had during the day. Despite of this, I had a lot of energy. I did a 1 hour work out at the gym consisting of 15 mins in-door cycling and various weight lifting machine routines along with foot balance work outs. I’ve stuck to this routine since the summer togheter with doctors. Felt dehydrated and tierd after the work out, but strangely not hungry anymore. Drank a bottle of water during the hour of working out, had another one an hour after getting home mixed with salt, and then 3 more during the rest of the day. Kept thinking what should I eat for dinner and evening? And then reminided myself I’m on a fast and put those thoughs away. Craved tomato soup most of the evening. Slept only 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Day 2:
Felt better mood wise, started feeling clarity and very awake. Hanged out with some friends who I discussed the fast with. They tried to tempt and test me for fun and tease by eating salads and talking about my favourite food, chicken. Them eating and snacking around me didn’t bother me nor did it make me want food, but all the talking about chicken definantly made me want to go buy a bunch and cook some, but I resisted and we focused on other topics eventually and they made it clear that they support my desicion. Feelings of hunger went away on this day. Slept 9 hours. Noticed that I felt cold when waking up, notably feet and hands, but also cold overall.

Day 3:
Have no cravings so far today and I’m still not feeling hungry. Relatively calm easy day and focused on meditation, reflection, relaxing, getting in tune with myself. A day of organizing and deciding to drop several bad habits and to stay on track with that and the fast. Turned my phone off and kept alone for most of the day to get better in touch with my inner self and detatch from distractions. Slept another 9 hours.

Day 4:
It’s still early into day 4, hour 79, currently so just woke up. I plan to work out for 1 hour later, have some work appointments, might go for a walk as well. Will take it easy after finishing all the things I have to do and I’ll update this more. I’ll also be able to use a scale today.

Feel free to post any questions here for me, I’ll reply pretty quickly.

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Day 4 Continuation:
I’m now at hour 90 and 45 minutes. Finished work appointments, worked out for an hour with personal trainer, decided against going for an hour long walk today, will save it for tomorrow. Was able to use PT’s scale right before work out, I had made sure to not consume any water for the 7 hours prior (I woke up super early so I drank 0.5 liters of water then and made sure I didn’t consume any more until I’d weighted myself) but I somehow forgot to use the bathroom prior to using the scale… Scale showed 73.0 kg/160.9 lbs, which means I’ve lost 5.5 lbs/2.5 kg in total so far. Last time I weighted myself was at the total start of the fast. Didn’t notice any difference in my work out, was able to lift heavier weights today and cycle more than I did on Monday. Felt pretty hungry after the work out for around 2 hours so drank a bunch of water. Didn’t feel any fatigue, but don’t wanna push my luck with the long walk as well right after such an intensive work out. Definantly noticed how white my tongue is today, and how sensitive my smell senses are. Added 1/3 tsp of salt to my 0.5 liters of water that I drank during 1 hour work out. Added another 1/3 tsp to water I had when I got home. Had not had salt in my water since Day 1 but definantly felt that I needed it today for the potassium. Don’t even notice the salt taste anymore, think I found the perfect salt to water ratio now that works for me. My goal weight for the end of this is currently around 60-62 kg/132-136 lbs which is what I was days before getting wheelchair bound. Currently focusing on relaxing, focusing on philosophy, meditation, and unwinding for the day and preparing for tomorrows chores and work. Might hang with some of my old friends later before bed, will see how my energy holds up. Slept 11 hours and 5 minutes.

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I’ve read everything you’ve written. You write so well. I’m just so excited to be here and see how people deal with food. You’ve kicked all the temptation out of the house. And you’re so detailed in your plan. I’ve got to get more detailed. I’ll be very interested to learn any new science you discover, and I’m very open to any suggestions you may have for me, too. I’ll check out that Life app now.

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Hi,

Thank you! Whenever I do a diet or a work out routine I get very organized and detailed with it, as much as I can, it really helps me stay focused and on top of it all. The LIFE app is pretty handy for this, but I also found another app yesterday called ‘Fastient’ that I’m now also using in addition and added my current fast to that. I’ll add a photo so you can see what it looks like.

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Day 5:
Woke up with extremely sore legs. Know that I pushed myself hard during work out yesterday + I probably didn’t consume enough salt with magnessium and potassium so drank some water mixed with salt during the morning. Had a 2 hour long hot shower to try and help with the soreness as well. Did some work appointments and then went for the 1 hour walk, was definantly a good idea that I postponed it until today or the soreness would probably have been a lot worse. Recommend getting a metal bottle for the fasting, I’ve used several over the years and it keeps my water cold anywhere from 6-20 hours depending on the bottle and producer. I’m a sipper so I drink my water slowly instead of chug so my water goes room temp pretty fast if I’m not using a bottle like this and have to get new water constantly then, but with this I avoid that. When I got back home I added more salt to another bottle of water. Soreness kinda got better when I had been walking but I was freezing so took another warm shower. Woke up several times from freezing so got another blanket ontop of the one I use and put more layers of clothes on. Still no food cravings nor feeling any hungry today. Relaxed the rest of the day and unwinded. Got 10 hours and 30 minutes of sleep.

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I understand pain that seem related to electrolyte loss. Yesterday, my gym offers deep kneading massage chairs and that helped. But after my electrolyte cocktail :cocktail: in the evening I awoke brand new.

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Day 6:
Uneventful day as it was a Saturday. Relaxed and tried not to do too many energy consuming tasks and took things slow. Drank 2 bottles of water mixed with salt. The rest were without. Spent an hour showering due to feeling cold. Found more layers of clothes to wear to combat the freezing. Ordered more calcium pills and some low and no carb foods to consume after the refeeding phase to stay in ketosis or to continue with low carb diet. Looked more into the benefits of a 21 day fast and it helped with the motivation. Also reminded myself that it takes around minimum 18 days to break a habit so that encourages me to keep going as well. Water fasting for these 21 days will help me break several negative habits and teach me how to cope with things in different ways. Slept 11 hours and 53 minutes.

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Inspiring. Yes, I need to take these remaining days to prepare to break this fast. All the local fast-food establishments are starting to wonder where I am. I can’t stop thinking about the 30-some “essential” nutrients that we are not getting. These same doctors that say things like, “Americans aren’t getting enough magnesium” or “potassium” or “B vitamins” or “collagen” are also the same doctors that advocate for fasting :thinking:.

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I just keep taking my multivitamin and multimineral pills once a day in addition to the salt that also has potassium and magnesium in it. Not getting any collagen though. But preparing to break the fast is important, I’m still looking a lot into it so I got my plan ready for when day 21 is here. Don’t have to worry about it then and can take it easy while I slowly get back into normal eating. I’ll prepare my food and liquids in small containers and measure it with my food scale so I can count the carbs and calories, don’t wanna consume too much the first few days obviously and in general. I’ll start doing that the evening before I break the fast and I’ll cook my soup then and smoothies.

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Day 7:
Another day of preserving energy and relaxing as it was Sunday. Spent a lot of the time looking into research papers and others advice for water fasting in general. Worked on my refeeding plan for when Day 21 hits. Measured myself and saw that I’ve lost a couple cm/an inch here and there in the past 7 days on anywhere from my ankles to my arms. Was able to fit into the tall high heel boots that I wore weeks before being wheelchair bound, they did not fit me 3 days ago. My bras are too big now and don’t fit anymore. Tried on a button up shirt that I like to wear but has always been tight around bust area, it’s now a little oversized. I’ll be able to weight myself on a scale later so will write down the results of that as well. Slept 10 hours and 31 minutes.

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I am DYING to go clothes shopping. I’ve never even reached 145-150 lbs before. I’m totally focused on an ideal weight. Currently I have 2 sets of clothes: 1 for when I’m chunky, and 1 for when I’m trim. I’ve never EVER reached my ideal. Until now.

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Yeah I keep buying a bunch of new clothes already, probably not the best idea but I don’t wanna wait until December 18 when my fast finishes, because big xmas rush everywhere and it already takes forever to get any packages at the moment due to black friday and xmas purchases overloading logistic systems and transport workers. If it gets too big by the end of the fast I can just sew them in with a sewing machine so not a huge deal.

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Day 8:
Weighted myself today, scale showed 70.2 kg/154.7 lbs. That’s a loss of 2.8 kg/6.1 lbs since last Thursday. Total loss so far is 5.3 kg/11.6 lbs. Did my usual work out routine. Could lift a little heavier weights today than last week. No change in energy levels, strenght, and muscles it seems. Felt a little inpatient and grumpy during my work appointments I could feel. Drank a lot of salt water and walked for an hour as well in addition to 1 hour of in door cycling and weight lifting. Don’t feel any soreness. Think I’ll be able to reach my weight goal a little before day 21 at this rate, but I will continue until day 21 regardless for all the health benefits, considering going for another day or two extra. According to the Fastient app, I am now 40% done with my fast. Slept 11 hours and 4 minutes.

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Day 9:
Had work appointments, walked for around 6000 steps in total, didn’t feel grumpy or easily irritated. Had a lot of energy. Drank a bunch of salt water. Still freezing quite a bit. Overall productive day. No hunger nor cravings. Slept 9 hours and 59 minutes.

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Your salt water habit must be a very good idea. I just came off a fast early after missing my electrolyte cocktail ONE TIME. My blood pressure readings were below 100 systolic, which was 40 points lower than my pre-fasting number. I could barely walk.
I never did the Salt water thing because I’m scared it will work and I’ll be expected to do it the rest of my life.
I’m getting some Redmond’s real salt course size from Amazon on the 8th. I decided to forgoe salt until then and just brush my teeth with Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) and add it to my coffee. Lesson learned.

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Yup, the salt is very important. It’s not so bad when mixed with enough water. Whenever I feel a little light headed or odd for a few seconds when standing up from a chair, I just know that I need those electrolytes and salt. That’s when I know it’s time to add salt to the water.

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Day 10:
Around 50% done with the fast right now. Weighted myself on the scale of my gym and sadly it looks like I’m experiencing a plateau. Although, I’m not too shocked. Every forum post I’ve read on very extended water fasts, most people seem to plateau around day 10 or 15 for a few days. I’m currently at 70.8 kg/156 lbs . So I actually went up 0.6 kg/1.3 lbs since day 8. Since I’m consuming absolutely nothing but normal water, salt with potassium and magnesium and multivitamin multimineral pills, it can’t be anything other than water retention. Still annoying to experience. I’m also experiencing some bloating today even when I woke up, so I expected to see the weight being in a plateau due to that when I got to the gym. Also didn’t feel like I was freezing today, felt strangely normal in temperature, which was another indicator. Worked out a tiny bit, been keeping up my work outs and walking as normal. Been drinking more salt water today and keeping hydrated whenever I’m thirsty. Probably gonna buy a scale tomorrow so I have one at home without having to visit my family member that stole my smart scale and so I don’t have to wait so long to use scale at the gym. Already found one that I want and that is in the local store. I slept 10 hours and 6 minutes.

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That plateau business is just mind boggling. I’m sure when I get close to my target I’ll be plateauing too.

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Hey my name is Helio Quintero and I am looking for a water-fasting partner and here is my phone number +1 (727) 218-4299 I live in the united States; we can text in WhatsApp for free. I am looking forward to do a long term water-fast like you.

I really hope you’re successful!! The people that made this website encourage you to Start a daily journal where you tell us more about your idea of fasting and what success would mean to you. I will be happy to read what you write. All the best.

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