Redubshank's 5 day fasting journal

Intro
Hiyo, my name is Sean and I am 37. Aside from some time playing with IF and medical procedure stuff I have never really spent time fasting. I just signed up.

Why
I’ve struggled pretty much my entire life with hunger issues which has meant most of my life I have been overweight. I also have a chronic pain condition(CPPS). Recently some folks with similar conditions noticed improvements after water fasting. That and my desire to see if a water fast can ‘reset’ hunger hormones has led me to try a 5 day water fast.

My therapist also suggested looking into fasting.

Long Term and Short Term Goals:
At this stage I only have a short term goal which is to do a 5 day water fast and judge the efficacy to see if it is something I would be interesting in becoming a routine part of life in moderation. Losing weight would be nice but I would rather most of it be because my overall hunger levels are lower and not directly from the fast. I want to get back into endurance sports(triathlon, distance running, trail running, cycling) and I don’t think that would mesh well with extended fasting which is why I want to use fasting as more of a building block rather than my prime method.

** What is your game plan?**
Starting yesterday I am doing a 5 day water fast so I will eat again Saturday morning. I eat alone 100% Monday-Friday so no social pressure. On the weekends my wife and I will eat together so it makes sense to eat on the weekend. I also ordered a zero calorie electrolyte powder that I will do once or twice a day. It might not be necessary but it will give me piece of mind. I decided to start out with I am only doing water… no bone broth or herbal tea. If I decide this is for me and want to continue doing it regularly I will experiment with them but I figure going with a close to purist method at first would give me a good measuring stick.

How do I feel right now?
Hungry. I am 27 hours in and it seems the first 48 hours are the worst for hunger according to everything I have read. I am just trying to keep busy to get over that hump.

1 Like

Welcome to our fasting community!

Technical note: if you want to keep future entries on this single thread, CLICK on the REPLY in the lower right hand corner.

In regards to the tough beginning of a water fast, its actually 3 to 5 days while your body transitions from glucose to adipose burning. The transition period mitigated by factors such as being on a low-carb diet leading up to fasting and exercising before which depletes the glycogen stores.

Look forward to reading future entries on your fasting journey.

That is discouraging.

Sorry about that. Just wanted to explain the reality of the situation so you can better manage your expectations. But stick to your original plan. ReFeed and then go for a longer period on the next go around and build up that fasting muscle, as Yas likes to say.