I do 24-hr dry fasts monthly for religious reasons (and have basically every month for the past ~30 years). I've never dared to go beyond 24hrs.
Interestingly, because I have so much experience with dry fasting, I've got lots of variation in outcomes. Sometimes it's super difficult to get through, other times it's effortless. Mainly, I've found that if I eat a lot of (swamped) sugar/carbs right before the fast, it's much more difficult to sustain. I also find that in the summer time it's more difficult because of the heat outside.
None of the above is particularly surprising, but it's reassuring to confirm the hunger response to elevated blood glucose levels.
My usual MO these days is to try to drink water ahead of the fasting period and to not each too much junk right before.
I have no idea what the long-run health impacts of this behavior might be. Seems far-fetched that there would be anything noticeable.
Interesting, cause I did a 3 day swamp refeed before the dry fast. But I'm not surprised, insulin seems to drive up water use and retention. Maybe I could go longer after a bout of ex150?
Summer makes sense, and part of why I waited until the winter time to try it.
I similarly did about 48-72 hours a few years ago during a bout of 2-3 months of extended water fasting. I found it not unbelievably awful, but worse than snake juice fasting for sure, and outside of a specific medical therapeutic experiment I don't think I'll ever do it again.
Then again I have a wedding in Sept and almost 100 lbs to lose still so, never say never.
Snake fasting is just so much easier for almost the same effect.
Ive done a few 7-9 day dry fasts and its definitely harder in the summer than winter. I didnt even go outside except for short strolls. I think its less the heat, and more the air quality. Summer is so much worse for airborn pollution/allergens
The water thoughts really do get intrusive as it goes on. I have diet related nightmares (usually eating something with gluten as i got diagnosed with celiac in my early 20s) and around day 5 i started having nightmares about drinking water... :(
Ive been experimenting with dry fasts again since around november, ive been doing what i jokingly call "dry bog fasting" i got a membership to a wellness center that has hot mineral pools, cold plunges, and saunas. For about 2 hours 3-4 days a week i do 3 cycles of "170F sauna 15 min -> 51F cold plunge 5 min -> 102F bath 20 min“
When doing this i feel better than i do when water fasting, but have the same weight movement as a normal dry fast, even without the sauna. I find that with the sauna, more weight stays off after refeed.
So far ive gone from 200lbs->185lbs (refed) even though i skipped a few weeks and eat a lot during my refeeds so im happy with it, but will probably try something else once winter is over.
Interesting. I tried the sauna/cold plunge cycle a few times but it seemed to just cancel each other out - I didn't get hot in the sauna for the first 5minutes, and it took 1-2 minutes in the ice plunge to cool down after the sauna... it is fun though!
Interesting that you mention the gluten nightmares. I haven't had "food nightmares" like that for years now. Only intrusive food/water (heh) thoughts are typically when fasting and I hit the "pain zone."
I used to have nightmares my first 6-12 months in keto: I'd dream that I had cheated with a giant box of cookies, only to find out that I hadn't actually cheated heh. That went away and also any desire to even eat cookies - starting around 6 months and definitely at 12, I could walk through any candy/cookie aisle and not even blink. I simply had stopped wanting to eat those foods. And those "cheat day" nightmares went away with it I suppose.
I’ve water fasted a few times (3 x 7 days) and found they’re brilliant for motivation. Even though most of what you lose is water weight which you put back on quickly after refeeding you end up significantly lighter and it just makes it easier the then be more sensible with food and to stick to exercise. There are so many doom mongers around. They’re just not happy unless they’re opining on something they have little experience of.
I am 40 hours into my dry fast. Down 3.2 kg (7 pounds). Dry fasting and walking works. I have done 4 days dry before, and I plan on going between 2 and 4 days dry, then switching directly to water fasting plus added salt. My longest water only fast is 17 days.
Any idea how much caffeine you were consuming daily before undergoing the fast? This had held me back from trying it for years. I have bad withdrawal symptoms, and can never seem to wean myself all the way off. I’ve seen some suggest that the dry fast itself may mitigate caffeine withdrawal … I should probably just give it a go.
very fascinating tst. No water form 10 pm. Upon waking, I walked around 6 hours, with heat around 26 degrees celsius and some direct sun. I took a few weight measurements throughout the day. I felt fine. Water was taken again after waking the next day.
A Russian doctor whom has written books on dry fasting, suggests single days dry fasting with extensive walking, to lose weight.
The next time I can do this, I would want to do a dry fast/walk regime once or twice a week. I do not know if it was only water loss. I am curious as well.
My concern is that there might be a small probability of bad things happening. I prefer to water fast for 24 hours and stop there ... so far, anyway :-)
Yea there sure could, and dry fasting adds the extra danger of dehydration on top of whatever water fasting has.
But I've never had any lasting downsides from water fasting (as far as I can tell) and the signs are always pretty clear to me, so it's easy to stop. I was extra careful though this time because of this concern. Honestly, I think the way I did it was quite unspectacular and not dangerous:
1. It wasn't hot out
2. I wasn't very active
3. I committed to immediately stopping once I noticed ANY symptoms, not even "pretty bad" ones
4. It was a very controlled environment, so it was very easy to spot changes
Obviously if you did this on a hike in the summer in Arizona, you'd probably die the first day :)
I do 24-hr dry fasts monthly for religious reasons (and have basically every month for the past ~30 years). I've never dared to go beyond 24hrs.
Interestingly, because I have so much experience with dry fasting, I've got lots of variation in outcomes. Sometimes it's super difficult to get through, other times it's effortless. Mainly, I've found that if I eat a lot of (swamped) sugar/carbs right before the fast, it's much more difficult to sustain. I also find that in the summer time it's more difficult because of the heat outside.
None of the above is particularly surprising, but it's reassuring to confirm the hunger response to elevated blood glucose levels.
My usual MO these days is to try to drink water ahead of the fasting period and to not each too much junk right before.
I have no idea what the long-run health impacts of this behavior might be. Seems far-fetched that there would be anything noticeable.
Interesting, cause I did a 3 day swamp refeed before the dry fast. But I'm not surprised, insulin seems to drive up water use and retention. Maybe I could go longer after a bout of ex150?
Summer makes sense, and part of why I waited until the winter time to try it.
I similarly did about 48-72 hours a few years ago during a bout of 2-3 months of extended water fasting. I found it not unbelievably awful, but worse than snake juice fasting for sure, and outside of a specific medical therapeutic experiment I don't think I'll ever do it again.
Then again I have a wedding in Sept and almost 100 lbs to lose still so, never say never.
Snake fasting is just so much easier for almost the same effect.
What's that, using his snake juice electrolyte drink?
just water with sodium potassium, optional baking soda / magnesium. i have bags of all of them and mix up a 2l of it like twice a day when fasting.
Ive done a few 7-9 day dry fasts and its definitely harder in the summer than winter. I didnt even go outside except for short strolls. I think its less the heat, and more the air quality. Summer is so much worse for airborn pollution/allergens
The water thoughts really do get intrusive as it goes on. I have diet related nightmares (usually eating something with gluten as i got diagnosed with celiac in my early 20s) and around day 5 i started having nightmares about drinking water... :(
Ive been experimenting with dry fasts again since around november, ive been doing what i jokingly call "dry bog fasting" i got a membership to a wellness center that has hot mineral pools, cold plunges, and saunas. For about 2 hours 3-4 days a week i do 3 cycles of "170F sauna 15 min -> 51F cold plunge 5 min -> 102F bath 20 min“
When doing this i feel better than i do when water fasting, but have the same weight movement as a normal dry fast, even without the sauna. I find that with the sauna, more weight stays off after refeed.
So far ive gone from 200lbs->185lbs (refed) even though i skipped a few weeks and eat a lot during my refeeds so im happy with it, but will probably try something else once winter is over.
Interesting. I tried the sauna/cold plunge cycle a few times but it seemed to just cancel each other out - I didn't get hot in the sauna for the first 5minutes, and it took 1-2 minutes in the ice plunge to cool down after the sauna... it is fun though!
Interesting that you mention the gluten nightmares. I haven't had "food nightmares" like that for years now. Only intrusive food/water (heh) thoughts are typically when fasting and I hit the "pain zone."
I used to have nightmares my first 6-12 months in keto: I'd dream that I had cheated with a giant box of cookies, only to find out that I hadn't actually cheated heh. That went away and also any desire to even eat cookies - starting around 6 months and definitely at 12, I could walk through any candy/cookie aisle and not even blink. I simply had stopped wanting to eat those foods. And those "cheat day" nightmares went away with it I suppose.
So that's a huge bonus for me on keto.
I’ve water fasted a few times (3 x 7 days) and found they’re brilliant for motivation. Even though most of what you lose is water weight which you put back on quickly after refeeding you end up significantly lighter and it just makes it easier the then be more sensible with food and to stick to exercise. There are so many doom mongers around. They’re just not happy unless they’re opining on something they have little experience of.
I am 40 hours into my dry fast. Down 3.2 kg (7 pounds). Dry fasting and walking works. I have done 4 days dry before, and I plan on going between 2 and 4 days dry, then switching directly to water fasting plus added salt. My longest water only fast is 17 days.
Any idea how much caffeine you were consuming daily before undergoing the fast? This had held me back from trying it for years. I have bad withdrawal symptoms, and can never seem to wean myself all the way off. I’ve seen some suggest that the dry fast itself may mitigate caffeine withdrawal … I should probably just give it a go.
About a gram probably. I only get 1-2 days of mild withdrawal. Lucky I guess haha.
I've done a few dry fasts and many water fasts.
--
how about this one ....
dry fast plus extensive walking during the daytime.
I lost 10 pounds in my 36 hour dry fast, which stayed down for 5 more days.
Haha well 5 days isn't exactly sustained weight loss ;) Do you think it was just all water that came off and back on?
very fascinating tst. No water form 10 pm. Upon waking, I walked around 6 hours, with heat around 26 degrees celsius and some direct sun. I took a few weight measurements throughout the day. I felt fine. Water was taken again after waking the next day.
A Russian doctor whom has written books on dry fasting, suggests single days dry fasting with extensive walking, to lose weight.
The next time I can do this, I would want to do a dry fast/walk regime once or twice a week. I do not know if it was only water loss. I am curious as well.
My concern is that there might be a small probability of bad things happening. I prefer to water fast for 24 hours and stop there ... so far, anyway :-)
Yea there sure could, and dry fasting adds the extra danger of dehydration on top of whatever water fasting has.
But I've never had any lasting downsides from water fasting (as far as I can tell) and the signs are always pretty clear to me, so it's easy to stop. I was extra careful though this time because of this concern. Honestly, I think the way I did it was quite unspectacular and not dangerous:
1. It wasn't hot out
2. I wasn't very active
3. I committed to immediately stopping once I noticed ANY symptoms, not even "pretty bad" ones
4. It was a very controlled environment, so it was very easy to spot changes
Obviously if you did this on a hike in the summer in Arizona, you'd probably die the first day :)
No F!@#$% way;.
?