Hi all. Day 21 of my first water fast completed yesterday, and everything is going well so far.
My goal is primarily weight loss / fitness, and so far I have lost 16.2Kg (36lbs or 2st 8lbs), with another 41.8Kg to go.
Already I am feeling more agile, and I am thinking about things which I have not done for over 25 years, eg ride a bike long distance, climb mountains.
Previously I have tried diets, which made me miserable and hungry, especially when I reached a plateau of around 95Kg (I am 101.8Kg now so that point will come fairly soon). At that point I gave up and put the weight back on. Simple mathematics tells me is not possible to plateau out when fasting (though I know weight loss will slow up at some point).
Another annoying thing I found about diets is that I always longed to go back onto my usual foods (meat, fast food etc). Fasting however is much better. Not only do you feel good when doing it, you also yearn to eat healthily when you come off it. As people have pointed out, it re-educates your body to recognise what's good for it.
My objectives are to fast to completion, then eat raw foods and exercise (repeat, as necessary :-) ! In fact Fonty here has mentioned that he does exercise while fasting, and now I feel comfortable with using my exercise bike twice a day. I find it helps break the boredom, and at the same time gets rid of excess energy. And Chris here has often given me reassurance when I have doubts about fasting, so thanks to you both.
I may be wrong, but I have a feeling this fast will last for 40 days or more. So I will post some more updates as time goes on, including the day I feel hungry (whenever that may be).
By the way I visited someone who leads a stressful life yesterday, and some of that stress rubbed of onto me. I came home and felt an urge to eat. An hour by myself and I had forgotten about any desire to eat. They say it is difficult to fast when you are under stress, now I can see how this is probably true.
Mouseclick,
you have done extremely well so far and you should be feeling very proud at what you have accomplished.
However, if you do achieve your aim of fasting to completion, and on a precautionary note, I would also bear in mind the following:
Monitor your blood pressure daily.....and.........
The usual indications for breaking the fast (these help to determine the dividing line between fasting and starving), are as follows:
Hunger invariably returns.
The Breath, which during all or most of the fast has been offensive, becomes sweet and clean.
The Tongue becomes clean. The thick coating which remained on it throughout most of the fast vanishes.
The Temperature, which may have been sub-normal or above normal, returns to exactly normal, where it remains.
The Pulse becomes normal in time and rhythm.
The Skin reactions and other reactions become normal.
The Bad Taste in the mouth ceases.
Salivary Secretion becomes normal.
The Eyes become bright and eye sight improves.
The Excreta loses its odor.
The Urine becomes light.
Besides the usual signs that it is time to break the fast, Prof. Levanzin lists a feeling of cheer and elation as a manifestation that the time has arrived for the termination of the fast.
I cannot do better than quote Carrington's description of the feelings of the patient at this stage. He says, Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition, p. 544: "A sudden and complete rejuvenation; a feeling of lightness, buoyancy, and good health steals over the patient in an irresistable wave; bringing contentment and a general feeling of well-being, and of the possession of a superabundance of animal spirits."
Circulation improves, as is seen by the resumption of the normal pinkness under the fingernails. The increased rapidity with which the blood flows back into the skin, when this has been forced out by pressure, is another indication of the rejuvenating effect of the finish fast.
However, the primary indication that the fast is to be broken is the return of hunger; all the other indications which are have listed are secondary.
Often one or more of these secondary signs are absent when hunger returns, but one should not refrain from breaking the fast when there is an unmistakable demand for food, merely because the tongue, for example, is not clean. Inasmuch as all the signs do not invariably appear in each case, do not hesitate to break the fast when hunger returns.
Congratulations on three weeks of fasting mouseclick. Awesome stuff. It sounds like all is going very well still too. As always it is great to here your updates.
Yes, going very well. To think I was prevented doing this natural function for 52 years by my cultural upbringing which told me that if I did not eat, my muscles and bones would waste away, and anyway I would get even fatter after "starving" myself. What utter nonsense, I now realise.
This will be the biggest change of direction ever in my life. Already thinking about doing the 58 mile London to Brighton cycle ride in June, something I last did in 1983. At least if not this year, it will be next year, all health issues permitting.
I just want to let you know, I think what you're doing is awesome. If everyone in the world started to fast every now and again, especially affluent Americans, their fasts for the most part would last over 20 days. Now I want you to imagine a world where nobody eats unless they truly have to for 20 days. That is so much less garbage in in the junk heaps, so much money SAVED from not going out to eat, so much more time to get important things done! There is some complicated ideas in that of course, some people would loose out, resturaunt owners, farmers (but in the long run it might help them), grocery stores, and so on. But I think it would be better for the enviroment and the world as a whole.
Unfortunatly, most of the world isn't as strong as you. Kudos! Keep on trucking!
I quite agree bluedisc, I had the same thoughts myself recently, and I am into green and eco friendly stuff.
I also wondered why astronauts are not sent into space on a fast, and soldiers into battlefronts. In the former case, it would save weight, space, development costs and rocket fuel, and give the astronauts more time, plus they should be very much alert. In the latter case, it would save massive costs and staff in logistics and supplies. Even though fasting may be commercially unpopular, I find it hard to imagine that the military are not aware of fasting and how long a soldier can go without food. So I imagine fasting in battle is not done for psychological reasons. I think the "problem" may be that fasting puts you at peace with yourself, so I think the desire to do what soldiers generally do, i.e. kill people, would be diminished or absent. I don't know if anyone has any other ideas on this, but that's all I can think of.
Anyway I agree, it would be great if everyone learned about fasting. It would solve lots of problems, including the "obesity epidemic".
Hi mouseclick. Thank you for writing about your fast on a day by day basis. It's helping motivate me to start my own fast. And while fasting, I know I'll have something to read just in case my urge to eat(although I'm not really hungry) comes on.
The weight loss ticker is a great visual as well! =)
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