Just finished a 20 day water fast - Page 3

What was your diet before the fast? Did you eat fast food everyday or something?

OP, did you by chance keep some sort of journal throughout this experience? I'd love to read in depth about how the process went.

Additionally, you mention intermittent fasting in your low carb diet. How often would you fast for, and how long (I presume a day?)

My biggest question is, how were your energy levels after the first week (especially the last five days...)? Was 20 days the original goal?

I'd love to learn more about this.

Everyone is beating up on this guy and telling him that what he did was unhealthy.

I completely a totally disagree.

The discipline that it takes to do this is considerable for a western person who is used to eating as something that is taken totally for granted.

As far as stuff about toxins and scars healing, I remain skeptical, but I applaud him for his discipline.

I don't know if 20 days without food is healthy but, historically at this time of year, we would pretty much be fasting. We would have carb loaded at the end of summer and most of our energy would come from that stored fat since food would be scarce during the winter (little bit of greens and whatever meat we could get our hands on). Modern ways of eating/gorging are but a speck on the evolutionary timeline.

Would you say that the intermittent fasting that came with your low carb diet prepare (of course... 1 day fasting vs 20 days... ) you for the real deal?

And this bit worries me:


Did you literally not have the energy to get out of bed at all? My worry would be trying to sleep at night!

Why do people keep using this argument? So fucking what?

Are we supposed to ignore all advances since the time of cavemen because they're specks on the evolutionary timeline?

Historically as of when? Humans have been storing food for thousands of years. It was one of the driving factors behind the formation of civilian and systematic agriculture.

Maybe you mean evolutionarily, but even that claim is dicey.

I've edited this post several times, trying to figure out what bothers me about this OP. Short answer is: a lot. Basing it purely on language (as I don't know the science), I'll try to briefly outline what it is: 1) It's not that I worry that some impressionable reader will assume that all forum members are experts and thus believe the OP to the word, but only that the fact that this OP exists is, in itself, impressionable. It's like when somebody crosses at a crosswalk on a Red Light; if you are waiting behind this person, there is a greatly increased chance you'll walk as well. It's not that you think that person is an "expert" or a "leader;" it's just that you assume that if they did, you can do it. Why not? For a forum like SF, where we all have a slight tinge of narcissism, some may look to this OP as something they might want to try. That's FINE, but take that OP with (1) a grain of salt and (2) do your own research first. 2) Assuming the OP is telling the truth about doing this for 20 days, nevertheless it seems that the whole experience was incredibly subjective and do-able ONLY for somebody with his exact circumstances. From what I read, his body had more "excess" ready to take on the fast, he had an unusually sedentary/privileged life (I mean, do you have no job? How do you support yourself? You surely can't be carrying on a full time job or caring for a family), and he has the sort of zealot/religious-esque devotion to this, such that he's getting a lot of psychological "kicks" out of it beyond just the fast. Perhaps "euphoria" at accomplishing his goal? Who knows. I think it's influencing the whole experience, much like religious folk seeing visions, speaking in tongues, or for whom self-mutilation/flagellation is a 'euphoric' experience bringing them closer to the eternal, etc. In short: his post reads with the rhetoric of someone having drank the KoolAid, not the water. Just be careful, girls...

Actual question to the experts: he said for the "last five days" he felt particularly increased energy... how would this be in any way possible without calories/food? What is producing this energy and is it real? Or is it some chemical the body is injecting in order to compensate? And, finally, did this OP find some way of disproving the law of Conservation of Energy? j/k

Yeah, this really can't be good for you. Your body's BMR can't be ignored. You need a certain amount of energy (calories) every day even if you don't do shit. Otherwise your body will start stressing itself out in any one of several different ways. Most are probably worse (taxing organs) than better

To the OP: be sure to come back on and let us know how quickly you pack on 15 lbs of pure fat. I'm gonna guess about 2 weeks.